Ex-president’s support for the Russian strongman has experts fretting over American interests and security sources overseas https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/18/us-intelligence-trump-putin-threat Donald Trump’s continuing lavish praise and support for Russian president Vladimir Putin are fueling alarm among former intelligence officials and other experts who fear another Trump presidency would benefit Moscow and harm American democracy and interests overseas. Trump praised Putin as a “genius” and “pretty savvy” when Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, and has boasted he would end the war in a “day”, sparking critics’ fears that if he’s elected again Trump would help Russia achieve a favorable peace deal by cutting off aid to Kyiv. Trump also recently greenlit Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to Nato members who don’t pay enough to the alliance. “Trump views Putin as a strongman,” said Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution and a national security official in the first two years of Trump’s administration. “In a way they’re working in parallel because they’re both trying to weaken the US, but for very different reasons.” More recently, instead of criticizing Putin for the death of Alexei Navalny, Russia’s leading opposition figure, who the Kremlin once tried to kill with poison, and who died suddenly last month in an Arctic penal colony, Trump weirdly equated the four criminal prosecutions he faces with Navalny’s fate as political prisoners “The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform Trump’s adulation for autocrats was displayed again this month at Mar-a-Lago where he hosted far-right Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, a close Putin ally and foe of Ukraine aid, whom Trump extolled. “There’s nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orbán,” Trump said. In turn, Orbán lauded Trump as “a man of peace”, and said if Trump’s re-elected, he “won’t give a penny” to Ukraine and the war will end. Ex-officials fret too that Trump would gut US intelligence by appointing far-right loyalists like retired Lt Gen Michael Flynn, who briefly served in 2017 as Trump’s national security adviser and later plead guilty of lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador during the transition. Deep concerns about another Trump presidency are rooted in part on his acceptance of Putin’s word in 2018 that Russia didn’t meddle in the 2016 election, despite strong evidence to the contrary from US intelligence officials, a bipartisan Senate panel report and an inquiry by special counsel Robert Mueller. A two-year investigation by Mueller found that Russian interference to help Trump win in 2016 was “sweeping and systematic”. There were other significant signs of Trump cozying up to Russia during his presidency, including a bizarre Oval office meeting with the Russian ambassador and foreign minister where Trump shared classified information. Now veteran intelligence officials and other experts say they have strong worries should Trump become president again in light of the ongoing Putin-Trump bromance. “Putin much prefers the chaos agent of Trump because it undermines the US,” Hill said. “Trump’s not worried about national security, but focused on himself. In paring back the US government and appointing loyalists, Trump will get rid of vital security expertise.” “Trump is shockingly ignorant” about foreign affairs, Hill added. “Trump rarely read materials he was given before meetings. Trump is less a threat to Russia, and more to the US given his approach to governance.” Other ex-officials raise related concerns. “I think Trump and Putin are natural bedfellows,” said Douglas London, a retired senior CIA operations officer and author. “They complement each other well. They have common goals and objectives. Given Trump’s oft stated agenda to seek retribution against his enemies, London worries that via executive orders Trump will “use the CIA like his own Praetorian guard. Trump could do this by using the agency’s unique capabilities and authorities to spy on, silence and perhaps even bring harm to his enemies.” Similarly, key Democrats are deeply worried about the international and domestic repercussions if Trump wins the presidency again. “There is literally nothing about Trump that suggests he would put our country’s interests ahead of his own interests under almost any circumstances,” said the Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. “So when he has a close and long standing, almost servile, relationship with a foreign enemy, who is also a multi-billionaire oligarch, the recipe for disaster is self-evident.” Trump’s efforts to placate Putin and undercut US intelligence were underscored by their infamous 2018 meeting in Helsinki, Whitehouse noted. “We’ve seen Donald Trump’s assault on our national intelligence community prefigured by his horrifying performance with Putin where he said that he accepted Putin’s representations about election inference, election meddling and other mischief, putting our own intelligence agency’s determinations to the contrary, right under the bus.” Likewise, ex-Republican Representative Charlie Dent voiced fears about another Trump presidency given Trump’s adulation for Putin “Trump identifies with illiberal, populist and authoritarian leaders,” Dent said. “Trump has autocratic inclinations, and Putin is simply an autocrat.” On the campaign trail, Trump has sparked new criticism with bizarre statements underscoring his authoritarian instincts. One example: as Trump has ratcheted up his attacks on prosecutors who have charged him with 91 felony counts including 17 for conspiring with others to overturn his 2016 loss to Joe Biden, he even cited cynical comments by Putin last fall that echoed Trump’s false charges of political persecution. “Even Vladimir Putin says that Biden’s – and this is a quote – politically motivated persecution of his political rival is very good for Russia, because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy,” Trump told a New Hampshire rally this year before the state primary. “Trump speaking favorably about Putin and using him as a credible source, is the language of extremist politics,” said Steven Levitsky, a Harvard government professor and coauthor of How Democracies Die. “Trump is an authoritarian personality if there ever was one in American politics.” In a cagey twist, after Putin last month said he’d prefer a Biden victory this year because he’s “more experienced”, and “more predictable”, Trump tried to capitalize on the former KGB spy’s comments by thanking Putin for paying him a “great compliment”. “Putin’s trying to make as much mischief as possible,” said Hill. “It inoculates Trump and Putin if Biden is re-elected. Putin is covering all his bases.” Still, ex-intelligence officials see Trump’s pro-Putin affinities leading to a politicized intelligence community if Trump wins again, weakening intelligence sharing with allies and benefitting Russian interests. “Trump almost certainly will politicize the intelligence community by going forward with his public promise of installing people on the extreme fringes of rightwing politics such as Michael Flynn and Kash Patel,” said Marc Polymeropoulos, a former senior intelligence service official. Patel, a former defense department official in the Trump years who has been touted as a possible acting attorney general or top CIA official if Trump wins again, late last year echoed Trump’s talk of seeking retribution against his enemies. Patel told Steve Bannon’s War Room: “We will go out and find the conspirators, not just in the government but in the media … who helped Joe Biden rig elections” Polymeropoulos stressed that appointments of Flynn or Patel by Trump “would damage US ties with key allies. You’ll see old allies not sharing critical intelligence, and for good reason. They’ll slowly reduce sharing, so as not to provoke the ire of Trump, but their source protection concerns will be paramount and over-ride all else. The intelligence will dry up.” “If Trump wins, forget the Brits or French – two of our best bilateral intelligence partners in Europe – ever sharing anything significant with us on Russia, for example.” Likewise, London sees a second Trump presidency posing extraordinary dangers for the US and its allies. “Trump terribly underestimates Putin. It’s in his interests to keep the US preoccupied domestically and politically polarized,” he said.
Did they run out of letters to sign? Named and Shamed: The 51 Intel Officials Who Lied About the Hunter Biden Laptop Emails March 21, 2022 by Nate Ashworth Remember back to the Fall of 2020, right as the original Hunter Biden laptop story broke in the New York Post and Twitter interfered in the election by shutting down the distribution of the story and disabling the Post’s Twitter account? Just hours after the Post report, which turned out to be entirely true and accurate, other media sources began circulating a letter allegedly signed by 51 intelligence officials, both current and retired, allegedly from both parties, who called the Hunter Biden laptop and the information contained therein a sophisticated Russia disinformation campaign. Joe Biden even said so on the debate stage calling the allegations “utter garbage” and referring to the intelligence officials, none of whom had actually seen or examined the laptop, as proof that the story was made up and planted by Russia. Thankfully, during one of the New York Post’s multiple victory laptops in the past week, the paper named and shamed these 51 intel officials for their role in the big lie of killing this story which could’ve potentially derailed Joe Biden’s entire 2020 candidacy: They are the supposed nonpartisan group of top spies looking out for the best interest of the nation. But the 51 former “intelligence” officials who cast doubt on The Post’s Hunter Biden laptop stories in a public letter really were just desperate to get Joe Biden elected president. And more than a year later, even after their Deep State sabotage has been shown again and again to be a lie, they refuse to own up to how they undermined an election. The officials, including CNN pundit and professional fabricator James Clapper — a man who was nearly charged for perjury for lying to Congress — signed a letter saying that the laptop “has the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” What proof did they have? By their own admission, none. “We do not know if the emails .?.?. are genuine or not,” the letter said. They’re just “suspicious.” Why? Because they hurt Biden’s campaign, that’s evidence enough. If we’ve learned anything from the Russia collusion hoax and attempt to take down Donald Trump’s 2016 candidacy and presidency, it’s that the intelligence community is anything but “nonpartisan.” It’s very partisan and very left-leaning in the way it controls the narrative and attempts to usurp control over the electorate and keep big-government bureaucrat-friendly politicians in charge.
On the plus side, the NWO globalist warmongers has done something miraculous. They turned a Russia whose military was in shambles and not a major threat to anyone into a major superpower, stronger and much more fearsome today. The Ukraine war with unlimited sanctions imposed by NATO awakened the bear and now that bear is roaring, ferocious, angry. Russia vs NATO is not going to be pretty and Emmanuel Macron better suit up and take Joe Biden, Rishi Susnak, Olaf Scholz with him. They need to see what is coming for them. Russia today is stronger militarily because they saw NATO as an existential threat with their unlimited financial and military assistance to Ukraine. In response, Russia has its factories manufacturing weapons and ammo non-stop, 24/7. They have upgraded their fighter jets, helicopters, howitzers, tanks, rockets, missiles (including nuclear) and now those dumb bombs, they turned to glide bombs which Ukraine is unable to stop.
https://www.cnn.com/factsfirst/politics/factcheck_036fb62c-377f-4c68-8fa5-b98418e4bb9c Did Trump spread Russian disinformation during the debate? CLAIM Biden accused Trump of spreading Russian disinformation after the President brought up recent articles in the New York Post about Biden’s son, Hunter, and his business dealings with Ukraine. Trump specifically cited a “laptop” that contained emails allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden. “There are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what he's accusing me of is a Russian plant,” Biden said. “… Five former heads of the CIA, both parties, say what he's saying is a bunch of garbage. Nobody believes it except his good friend Rudy Giuliani.” CONCLUSION This is somewhat misleading. Many of the claims in the articles overlap with Russia’s known disinformation efforts against Biden, and CNN reported that the FBI is investigating whether there is a connection. Biden accurately cited the letter from ex-officials, but their analysis was based on experience only, not any current insights. Trump’s handpicked intelligence chief, John Ratcliffe, who has credibility issues of his own, said there is no intelligence “that the alleged emails are part of a disinformation campaign.” EVIDENCE The letter was signed by respected career officials who served under Democratic and Republican presidents, and some ex-officials who are outspoken Trump critics. They said the stories about Hunter Biden have “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” They acknowledged they “do not have evidence of Russian involvement” but said “experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.” The New York Post has said it was tipped off to the story by former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, and was given the alleged emails by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who has coordinated some of his past anti-Biden efforts with a Ukrainian official who the US says is a known Russian agent. The top US intelligence official for election security, Bill Evanina, announced in August that the Russian government is interfering in the election to hurt Biden’s candidacy, primarily by spreading disinformation about alleged “corruption” by Biden and his family regarding Ukraine. Trump, his campaign staff, Giuliani and pro-Trump media outlets have embraced many of these debunked theories about Biden, including disinformation being peddled by Russian agents. Ratcliffe, who Democrats and ex-officials have accused of politicizing intelligence to help Trump, said in a recent interview on Fox Business that “Hunter Biden’s laptop is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign.” Days later, the FBI sent a letter to Congress saying it had “nothing to add at this time” regarding Ratcliffe’s comments. Former intelligence officials who served under Democratic and Republican presidents have accused Ratcliffe of abusing his position and politicizing intelligence to help Trump’s campaign.
They certainly have a role but the oligarchs hasn't pissed off democrat voters as much as Biden and the current Democrat Party has though.