Kremlin blocked job for Romney, says Steele
UNITED STATES: Russia blocked US President Donald Trump from appointing Mitt Romney as his secretary of state, a former British spy has reportedly claimed in an unreleased memo.
The Kremlin intervened through ‘‘unspecified channels’’ to make sure Romney was not given the job, according to the secret memo from Christopher Steele, the contents of which have been reported by magazine.
Steele, an ex-MI6 officer, reportedly wrote the memo in late November 2016 – after Trump’s election victory – but it has yet to be published, unlike others he wrote before the vote.
Romney, who called Russia the greatest threat to America in his 2012 presidential bid, met Trump a number of times after the US election, fuelling speculation he could become secretary of state.
However, the role eventually went to Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobil, who had a long-standing relationship with the Kremlin through his career in oil.
The memo – which
has not seen – was reportedly one of the topics which Steele discussed with investigators working for Robert Mueller, the special counsel looking into Russian election meddling.
Romney refused to comment, and the White House said he was never a first choice for the role, according to
Other reasons have been put forward for Trump’s decision to meet with and then drop Romney after the election, including getting revenge for his fierce public criticism during the campaign.
Details of the memo came in a 15,000-word article about Steele, who is at the centre of the Russian election meddling row after looking into Trump before the election. Steele’s memos of raw intelligence containing claims that Trump got prostitutes to perform lurid sex acts while in Russia – something he has denied – eventually became public after the US election.
The most eye-catching claim is that Steele wrote an additional memo in late November 2016, after Trump’s win, which has not yet been revealed – unlike his other notes, which were published by the website Buzzfeed.
In it, Steele is said to have passed on the views of just one source, a ‘‘senior Russian official’’, who in turn was relaying talk circulating in the Russian foreign affairs ministry.
The memo reportedly said the Kremlin had asked Trump to appoint someone who could lift sanctions imposed over Russia’s actions in Ukraine and co-operate on security issues.
describes the memo as ‘‘fantastical’’, noting: ‘‘If what the source heard was true, then a foreign power was exercising pivotal influence over US foreign policy – and an incoming president’’.