How Trump got to ‘yes’ on purge of Russian spies

In the days leading up to the largest expulsion of Russian spies in US history, few people inside or outside the Trump administration knew exactly what the president would do.

US intelligence officials, who had been pushing to dismantle Moscow’s spy networks, believed the president might decide against a recommendation to close the Russian Consulate in Seattle. In conversations with European leaders, Donald Trump said the US was not interested in expelling spies in response to the poisoning of a Russian spy if other countries were not doing the same.

Surprising move

But yesterday, the president’s national security team presented him with three options, and Trump’s final decision set in motion an exodus of 60 Russian spies — a surprising rebuke that even caught US allies off guard.

The uncertainty surrounding the president’s decision reflected a phenomenon that has baffled the US’s closest allies for almost a year: Despite Trump’s reliably warm rhetoric toward Moscow, the Trump administration has at multiple times taken aggressive action against Russia.

“This fits the pattern of our policy toward Russia in the Trump administration,” said John Herbst, a Russia scholar at the Atlantic Council. “If you just look at policy, this administration has taken steps the Obama administration was not willing to, such as supplying antitank missiles to Ukraine. The president’s heart doesn’t seem to be in it, but for whatever reason, he’s willing to go along with his advisers.”