Putin invites sends DC into the Russian twilight zone



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"Repeat that," said Coats, making a double take and laughing with disbelief at the absurdity of the last episode of the Russian saga. Once he had gathered, he added, "Okaaaay … this is going to be special."

It was a comical twist that illustrated how Trump has overthrown US foreign policy and the presidential convention since its controversial summit. with Putin on Monday, in which he was deeply deferential to the Russian leader and took it to his own country.

The barely credible events of recent days are provoking a growing debate in Washington and in the media about the fact that incriminating information holds the head of the president who influences his behavior towards Putin. Steve Hall, a former CIA chief in Moscow, on Thursday issued an alarming warning about CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" – which, if it turns out "Before the Helsinki summit, I was not ready to go to the darker corner of the room and say that there is kompromat – there is compromising information – about Donald Trump, "Hall said. 19659002] "After … I saw Donald Trump treat (Putin) in a way that is just inexplicable, the only conclusion I can draw is … I think there's has information and data out there that imply that there are indeed compromises Vladimir Putin on Donald Trump, why would he treat it differently? "

In Aspen, Coats' good humor masked the implications troubling that the nation's highest intelligence chief discovered a reporter, in live television, that the Russian president had First of all, he was humiliating for Coats, a few days after Trump had Putin's "very strong and powerful" denials of electoral interference in the assessment of Russia's guilt at best, it was an example of incompetence on the part of the White House – since not having informed Coats before the announcement was p profoundly embarrassing for a

But Trump's disregard for US intelligence agencies and their findings on Russian election interference do not rule out Coats deliberately dragging on in length , after reiterating the warnings that Russia still ingests in the American democracy

Trump doubles with the invitation of Putin

The humiliation of Coats was not however not the most disturbing. The development of another day of reverberations from the summit of Helsinki, on which Trump went from hazardous cleaning efforts to a provocative counterattack that was embodied by the invitation of Putin .

Coats also revealed that he still did not know what had happened at the nearly two-hour meeting in Finland, when the two presidents met alone with only present interpreters. The disclosure indicates that the content of the Trump meeting is still a mystery at the highest level of its own government – suggesting a lack of a normal political process and raising new suspicions about the Russian leader's mysterious grip on the president. American.

Indeed, the appearance of Coats was a direct challenge to Trump – the kind of demonstration of independence and mistrust that does not generally fit well with the president.

At the end of Coats' appearance in Aspen, there were new questions about how long he could survive in his job – or even if he actively dared the President to dismiss him.

The prospect that Putin can visit Washington is astonishing in itself – but it is consistent with Trump's practice of falling back into a fight and refusing to give ground to his critics, in this case those who believe that Helsinki was a debacle.

A visit by Putin will be controversial as it will bring an American opponent accused of orchestrating a program designed to help Trump take power in the United States at about the same time as the mid-term elections , according to US spy agencies.

Max Boot, US National Security Analyst and Military Historian, Agree "Donald Trump is the subject of an FBI investigation for colluding with Vladimir Putin in order to influence United States." Boot, said on Boot on CNN's "Erin Burnett Out Front."

Boot lamented the likelihood that senior officials would not know what Trump agreed to in private head-to-head in Helsinki – even if Russia begins to dribble the details.

"The most important people in the US government who should know, including the director Coats, they do not know." he said. "Putin knows but Coats director does not know not – that's wrong, especially given the highly suspect relationship between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. "

Coats' tragedy eclipsed another development turning after Helsinki, as the White House backtracked on its Previous statement that he was considering an offer by Putin that Trump called "unbelievable" – to send US officials to Moscow to interrogate.

Putin suggested to the summit that in exchange for agents of the FBI see in Moscow to interview accused suspects Washington, the Obama ambassador to Moscow, Michael McFaul, whom Putin considers an enemy, is at the disposal of Russian investigators.

The White House reversed its course just hours before the Senate, in a rare bipartisan event. resistance, voted 98-0 to pass a resolution condemning the idea.

Even when announcing the rise, the White House showed an unusual deference to Putin.

The man Sarah Sanders said the proposal had been made "sincerely by President Putin, but President Trump does not agree with it."

Why Trump is unleashed

The president himself stepped out of his squatting defensive, accusing his detractors of preferring the war to Russia to his diplomatic radiance.

"The summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media.I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed. "Trump tweeted

Everything indicates that the president thinks that a visit from Putin could help – given that a new CBS News poll Thursday, 68% of Republicans approve of the How He Managed the Summit

Whenever Trump stands up against his media critics on a major national issue, he has the effect of cementing his connection with the basic constituents he needs. voters rallied to him when they realized that he was attacked by the media – a state of mind that the president's tweet about the "real enemy of the people" is destined to foment. [19659002] The former CIA Director Michael Ha Yden used an analogy from the intelligence community to suggest that Trump's approach was intended to demonstrate his belief that the meeting in Finland went well and that he led the relationship:

"L & rsquo; Cover story for the president (is) that it was stro ng, that it was effective, that it was a successful meeting. He is perhaps the only one in the National Capital Region to say it, but that is his story and he stands by it.

Mike Rogers, a former Michigan MP who is now a national security commentator for CNN, warned that Trump was playing a dangerous game.

"If you kiss Vladimir Putin, you'll have a knife in the back," he told Anderson Cooper. [ad_2]
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