Russia’s leader Putin and the Donald
What with Syria, hacking and the toxic relationship with Moscow, what to do about Russia was bound to come up in yesterday’s presidential debate, and it did.
Hillary Clinton charged that Russian President Vladimir Putin was backing Donald Trump because “he’d rather have a puppet as president of the United States”.
Trump denied any relationship with Putin and said he would condemn any foreign interference in the election. But he declined to back the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia was involved in the hacking of Democratic organisations.
The Republican has said so many things about Russia, only to contradict them later. Trump knows Putin. Or does he? Back in May 2014, Trump said he “spoke, indirectly and directly, with President Putin”.
In November 2015, Trump said he “got to know him very well because we were both on 60 We were stablemates, and we did very well that night.”
And then in July, Trump said at a news conference in Florida: “I never met Putin. I don't know who Putin is.”
The verdict: No, Trump has never met Putin. He'd like to some day, and he has expressed interest in becoming his best friend. But none of that has happened yet. Does Trump have business with Russia? Trump in the second debate flatly declared: “I don't deal there. I have no businesses there”. But there's all kinds of evidence, including statements from his advisers and family members, that Trump has done business with Russia. His son, Donald Trump jnr, said in 2008 that “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets”.
Alan Garten, general counsel of the Trump Organisation, said in May: “I have no doubt, as a company, I know we've looked at deals in Russia. And many of the former Russian republics.”
The verdict: It's really hard to accept that Trump has never done any dealings with Russia. Russia is hacking the US campaign. Or is it? Trump has never accepted the Clinton campaign's assertion that hackers controlled by the Kremlin are trying interfere in the 2016 elections; even after the Obama Administration officially accused Russia, Trump has maintained his doubt. But his running-mate, Mike Pence, contradicted Trump, saying: “I think there's more and more evidence that implicates Russia.”
The verdict: The GOP ticket has yet to work that out. Russia has denied it. Trump knows nothing about Russia. Or maybe he knows something? The verdict: It depends on the day.