Kremlin stopped Trump from hiring Romney, claims spy memo

RUSSIA blocked Donald Trump from appointing Mitt Romney as secretary of state, an ex-british spy has reportedly claimed in an unreleased memo.

The Kremlin intervened through “unspecified channels” to make sure Mr Romney did not get the job, according to the memo from Christopher Steele, reported The New Yorker magazine.

Mr Steele, the ex-mi6 officer, reportedly wrote the memo in late November 2016 – after Mr Trump’s election win.

Mr Romney, who called Russia the greatest threat to America in his 2012 presidential bid, met Mr 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, who had a long-standing relationship with the Kremlin through his career in oil.

The memo – which this newspaper has not seen – was reportedly one of the topics which Mr Steele discussed with investigators working for Robert Mueller, the special counsel looking into Russian election meddling.

Mr Romney refused to comment and the White House said he was never a first choice for the role, according to The New Yorker. Other reasons have been put forward for Mr Trump’s decision to meet, and then drop, Mr 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 New Yorker article about Mr Steele, who is at the centre of the Russian election meddling row after looking into Mr Trump before the election.

Mr Steele’s memos of raw intelligence containing claims that Mr 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 Mr Steele wrote another memo in November 2016, after Mr Trump’s win, which has not yet been revealed – unlike his other notes, which were published by website Buzzfeed. In it, Mr 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 Mr Trump to appoint someone who could lift sanctions imposed over Russia’s actions in Ukraine and cooperate on security issues.

 Sam Nunberg, a former political adviser to Mr Trump, last night announced he would refuse to comply with a subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller asking for his emails.

In a series of extraordinary rambling TV interviews Mr Nunberg said: “Screw that. Why do I have to? I’m not going to cooperate, let him arrest me. I think it would be funny if they arrested me.”

Mr Nunberg said the subpoena included “ridiculous” questions like whether he had heard Russian spoken in Trump Tower. He added: “Mueller has enough on Trump, he doesn’t need me. I think they have him on something.”