Trump remains silent on Putin
Russia is once again threatening to become a major factor in a U.S. presidential election as long-standing fears about President Donald Trump’s deference to Russian President Vladimir Putin crystallize in a scandal over alleged Russian bounty payments targeting U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
The emergence of Russia as an election theme comes four years after its operation to hack and release emails of Trump’s Democratic rivals put the Kremlin front and center during the last presidential campaign.
The possibility that Russia paid Taliban-linked militants to target U.S. forces — and that the president received intelligence reports about the activity but did little about it — has revived allegations, particularly among Democrats, that Trump is loath to confront Russia, even when it comes to an issue as fundamental as protecting American troops.
“It is bringing [Russia] back to the center of the election not so much as a foreign policy challenge but as a tool for domestic political struggle,” said Thomas Graham, a senior adviser at Kissinger Associates who served as senior director for Russia on the White House National Security Council under President George W. Bush.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo came to Trump’s defense Wednesday, reasserting that the Trump administration has been particularly tough on Russia. As evidence, Pompeo cited U.S. military budget increases partially targeting Russian forces, the White House’s withdrawal from a key nuclear treaty over the Kremlin’s objections and U.S. pressure on the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, which has operated in Syria at times in proximity to American forces.
“This administration has taken seriously the threat from Russia,” Pompeo said, accusing the Obama administration of leaving a lot to “clean up.”
Russian involvement against U.S. interests in Afghanistan is “nothing new,” Pompeo said. Russia has been “selling small arms that have put Americans at risk for 10 years.” Without referring to the bounties, Pompeo said he brings up Afghanistan “each time” he talks to his Russian counterparts, “maybe not every time but with great frequency.” His message to them, he said, is: “Stop this.”
Still, the hawkish moves and words by the administration against Russia that Pompeo regularly cites as proof of the president’s firmness toward Moscow have done little to quell concerns that Trump may be advancing Russian interests and is consistently shying away from rebuking Putin.
The question has surfaced time and again, most recently with Trump’s decision to withdraw 9,500 U.S. troops stationed in Germany, a move criticized as advancing Russia’s interests.