OPEN TREASON
Trump backs enemy Putin over U.S. intel Russian spy busted, tied to GOP & NRA
President Trump deflected questions about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election while standing alongside Vladimir Putin on Monday, and suggested he believed his Kremlin counterpart’s “extremely strong and powerful” denial over his own intelligence agencies.
The President refused to publicly confront Putin over Russia’s role in the campaign against Hillary Clinton and instead attacked the U.S. intelligence community for engaging in a “witch hunt” against him.
“I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today,” Trump said, repeatedly denouncing the special counsel investigation into Russian interference efforts, which intelligence officials say are ongoing. “I don’t see any reason why Russia would interfere in the 2016 election.”
Putin and Trump took questions at the Finnish presidential palace in Helsinki after a private meeting over trade, China and presumably the hacking of the election. Trump shot Putin a knowing wink just before the two men sat down for the international powwow, which stretched nearly two hours — double the scheduled time. Only the two world leaders and their interpreters attended.
Trump spent most of their joint news conference afterward lauding the Russian leader and expressing optimism for better relations between the two countries. “It went very well,” the President said.
Putin gave Trump a soccer ball, which the President tossed to First Lady Melania Trump, sitting in the front row, to give to their son Barron.
The summit came days after special counsel Robert Mueller won indictments on against 12 Russian intelligence officers accusing them of hacking the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign. The Russian government was accused of using phishing attacks, money laundering and trying to gain illegal access to state election boards by the country’s top intelligence service.
Trump, however, soft-pedaled Putin’s role in the meddling.
“All I can do is ask the question,” Trump said when asked whether he would denounce the Russian leader for hacking the election and demand that he not do it again.
“My people came to me … they said it’s Russia. I have President Putin, he said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be,” Trump said.
Trump said he ran a “clean campaign” and he beat his Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton “easily.”
Trump called Mueller’s investigation a “disaster” for America that has driven a wedge between the two countries.
He claimed there was “no collusion” between his campaign and the Russian government, and criticized the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s emails.
“Why haven’t they taken the server” from the DNC, Trump demanded, riffing on a theory popular among right-wing conspiracy theorists. “Where is the server? Where is the server?”
The Russian president denied his country was involved in the hacking, but conceded it was possible some people in his country might have tried to help Trump because of his positive talk about Russia during the campaign.
Putin sidestepped a question about whether he’d extradite the indicted intelligence officers, and offered his own plan to “help” Mueller’s investigators.
“He offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people,” Trump gushed. “I think that’s an incredible offer, OK?”
In an interview with Fox News after the press conference, Putin took a shot at Mueller that echoed Trump’s frequent “witch hunt” accusations against the special counsel.
“It’s quite clear to me that this is used in the internal political struggle, and it’s nothing to be proud of for American democracy, to use such dirty methods in the political rivalry,” Putin said.
During the press conference, the Russian strongman chuckled when asked if he had any compromising information on Trump and his family, but never directly denied it.
“When President Trump was in Moscow back then, I didn’t even know he was in Moscow,” Putin said. “Back then when he was a private individual, a businessman, no one informed me that he was in Moscow.”
He said that hundreds of American businessmen travel through the country, making it impossible to collect information on all of them.
“It’s hard to imagine an utter nonsense on a bigger scale than this,” Putin said. “Please disregard this issue and don’t think about it again.”
Asked if he personally favored Trump in the race — something Trump has denied — Putin responded: "Yes, I wanted him to win because he spoke of normalization of
Russian-U.S. ties.”
The summit began hours after Trump blamed the United States — and not Russia’s election meddling, actions in Syria or annexation of Crimea — for a low point in U.S.-Russia relations.
“Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse,” Trump tweeted Monday morning, blaming “many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!”
The Russian Foreign Ministry responded by liking Trump’s tweet and then replying: “We agree.”
Asked about whether he held Russia responsible for anything, Trump said he held “both countries responsible” and that “we’re all to blame.”
Both Democrats and Republicans were stunned by the President’s performance.
“In the entire history of our country, Americans have never seen a President of the United States support an American adversary the way President Trump has supported President Putin,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. “For the President of the United States to side with President Putin against American law enforcement, American defense officials and American intelligence agencies is thoughtless, dangerous and weak.”
Schumer’s fellow New Yorker, GOP Rep. Pete King, took an unusual jab at Trump over his refusal to accept the intelligence community’s conclusion.
“President Trump’s refusal to accept the documented findings and overwhelming evidence that Russia flagrantly interfered in our 2016 election is indefensible,” King said. “His knee-jerk defenses of Russia and Putin are inexcusable.”
Republican Sen. Jeff Flake was similarly stunned by Trump’s statements.
“I never thought I would see the day when our American President would stand on the stage with the Russian President and place blame on the United States for Russian aggression. This is shameful,” he said.
Flake’s fellow Republican senator from Arizona, John McCain, agreed, calling the summit “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American President in memory.”
John Brennan, who was CIA director under former President Barack Obama, when even further, calling Trump’s performance “nothing short of treasonous” — and grounds for impeachment.
It “rises to & exceeds the threshold of ‘high crimes & misdemeanors,’ ” Brennan tweeted. “Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???”
Trump’s director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, stood by his agencies, saying, “We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing, pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy, and we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security.”