Tag Archives: Russian meddling

national news

Mission accomplished at the Kremlin

Quite clearly I am not privy to what they’re doing in the halls of power in Moscow, Russia, at this very moment.

However, if I were a betting man I’d wager real American money that Vladimir Putin and his high command are high-fiving themselves if they’re watching the sideshow that has unfolded today in Washington, DC.

They meddled in our 2016 election intending to disrupt our political process. They intended to sow seeds of discord. The congressional hearing with FBI agent Peter Strzok today — and the grilling he has endured by Republican members of the House — demonstrates graphically the success of the Russian meddling.

Putin and his goons are crowing: mission accomplished!

legal news

‘Rigged witch hunt’? C’mon, Mr. President!

Donald John Trump took a moment today from berating our allies in Europe to send a message out via Twitter.

He wrote: How can the Rigged Witch Hunt proceed when it was started, influenced and worked on, for an extended period of time, by former FBI Agent/Lover Peter Strzok? Read his hate filled and totally biased Emails and the answer is clear!

I believe I need to declare once again that Strzok works for a man, Robert Mueller, who was hailed universally when the Justice Department asked him in 2017 to serve as special counsel in the hunt for the truth behind the Russia meddling/collusion matter.

The president has been calling the “Russia thing” probe a “witch hunt.” Now it’s “rigged.”

Mueller is a man of impeccable integrity. He was identified that way when DOJ named him special counsel. His integrity is intact now, even as the investigation inches closer to its conclusion.

I hasten to add that Mueller’s team has been tight. Sound proof. Hermetically sealed. There hasn’t been a single leak from Mueller’s cadre of legal eagles.

The man is doing the job he has been asked to do.

Settle down, Mr. President.

International news

Did he really say Germany is under Russia’s ‘control’?

Did I hear this correctly?

Donald J. Trump goes to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and declares that Germany is under Russia’s “total control.”

Is this man, the president of the United States, in touch with the real world? Don’t answer that. He isn’t.

What’s more, for this president to declare that another great power is under the thumb of Russia utterly is laughable on its face. Not because he is wrong. It is because many Americans back home believe the president himself is under the control of a nation that attacked our electoral system.

International news

Settle down, Mr. POTUS

Why in the world is Donald John Trump Sr. so darn angry?

He is lashing out yet again at our North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies in advance of a NATO summit.

I mean, c’mon, man! You’ve been elected to the highest office in the land; you live in damn good public housing (even though you once called the White House a “dump”); you have access to state-of-the-art public transportation; you eat well; you’ve got that big nuclear button at your fingertips.

Still, he rails and rants at our allies. NATO comprises nations that signed on after World War II to an agreement to protect each other in case of an attack from the Soviet Union. The USSR faded into oblivion in 1991, but the need remains strong, with Russia making noises about European conquest.

So, why is the president continuing his anger campaign … against our friends?

As I watch these machinations, I am compelled yet again to wonder: Why doesn’t he channel at least a bit of his outrage against the Russians? They meddled in our election. They sought to influence the election outcome. They have sown the seeds of discord and discontent in our electoral system. They have launched another meddling campaign in the 2018 midterm election here.

Trump’s lingering anger — and this is the least I can say about it — is entirely misdirected.

national news

Hillary talked for hours; now it’s Trump’s turn

Evan McMullin, who ran for president as an independent in 2016, poses an interesting thought via Twitter.

McMullin wrote: Hillary Clinton testified to the House Benghazi Committee in public for 11 hours and won’t even sit with the special counsel for a minute. Now, why is that?

He might have posed his question rhetorically, but I think I can answer it for him.

I believe it’s because Donald Trump doesn’t want to get trapped into lying under oath, which I believe is entirely possible, if not probable.

You should recall that the U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton in 1998 for lying to a grand jury. He took an oath to tell the truth. He didn’t. The House used perjury as the basis for its impeachment.

Special counsel Robert Mueller might want to summon the president to talk about whether his 2016 campaign colluded with Russians who interfered in our election. Trump, in my view, cannot tell the truth. He is not wired for truthfulness.

It’s dangerous for him to talk to a meticulous lawyer, such as Mueller.

national news

Listen to this former GOP leader, Republicans

Bill Frist needs to be heard and heeded.

The former U.S. Senate majority leader worries that the Republican Party he served on Capitol Hill has become something foreign, something he doesn’t recognize.

He has written an essay for the Washington Post in which he says it is imperative to let special counsel Robert Mueller to complete his investigation into whether the Donald Trump campaign “colluded” with Russians who meddled in our 2016 election.

Read the essay here.

Frist, a heart and lung transplant surgeon, doesn’t believe Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russians. Nor does he suggest the Senate where he served lacked partisanship. He does say that it was his belief that politicians should put patriotism above party.

He suggests that’s not the case at this moment in our history. It’s dangerous in the extreme to undermine Mueller, Frist writes: Every American should be rooting for Mueller’s success in determining precisely how Russia interfered in our fundamental democratic process. I had no illusions about the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and I have none about Putin now. Mueller’s most recent court filings indicate that Putin is seeking to meddle in this year’s elections. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and FBI Director Christopher A. Wray — all Trump appointees confirmed by the Republican-led Senate — have also warned of foreign interference. We should heed these warnings and empower Mueller to see his important work through to its conclusion.

The president is intent on derailing Mueller. Indeed, to the extent that Mueller is under such attack by fellow Republicans, it looks to me that Putin has succeeded in undermining our electoral process.

And please … spare me the notion that Bill Frist is a Republican In Name Only. He is no such creature.

Dr. Frist served his country with honor and distinction. Did I agree with every decision he ever made? No. However, he is speaking a fundamental truth about the deteriorating condition of our national political discourse.

Listen to this man!

As he has written: No matter who is in the White House, we Republicans must stand up for the sanctity of our democracy and the rule of law.

International news

Will Putin follow Kim’s lead in dealing with POTUS?

Kim Jong Un appears to have deceived the president of the United States. He pledged to “work toward” ending his nuclear weapons program, only to be revealed to have accelerated nuclear development at secret sites in North Korea.

Donald J. Trump is getting set to meet with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin. They will meet one on one. Putin has met with four previous U.S. presidents at these high level summits; Trump is a rookie at it.

How are supposed to have faith that the president is going to fare any better with Putin than he did with Kim Jong Un?

I have zero faith. No surprise there, right?

Kim snookered Trump, or so it appears. Pure and simple. The president was waylaid by the young despot, who seemed to tell Trump what he wanted to hear — only to reveal his true character, if you want to call what he exhibits any form of “character.”

The New York Times’s David Sanger has written a fascinating piece on how Trump evolved from “fire and fury” to dismissing the North Korean threats. Read it here.

Kim went from Little Rocket Man to a man of peace, a man to be trusted, a “strong leader,” someone who “loves his people” who love him in return.

Trump hasn’t made such an about-face with Putin. He continues to talk about the Russian president in much the same manner he always has talked about him. Even in light of the Russian meddling in our 2016 presidential election!

This is a frightening time, man!

I’m frightened for the United States. I love my country too much to sit still while the president continues to get handed his head by foreign leaders.

national news

Senate panel takes command of the obvious

The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee has weighed in with what the rest of the country — except for perhaps one man — already knows.

The Russians meddled in our 2016 presidential election and worked to elect Donald J. Trump as president of the United States.

Senators have concurred with what every intelligence expert in this country — and some around the world — have concluded. The Russians attacked our electoral process.

According to The Hill: “The Committee has spent the last 16 months reviewing the sources, tradecraft and analytic work underpinning the Intelligence Community Assessment and sees no reason to dispute the conclusions,” said Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said in a statement.

Did you note that Burr is a Republican? That he’s the chairman of the panel? That he has done what his GOP colleagues on the House Intelligence Committee failed to do, which is issued a bipartisan conclusion?

Trump, meanwhile, continues to give the Russians a pass. He won’t condemn their actions as a virtual act of war on our electoral system. He won’t scorch Russian President Vladimir Putin the way he has, say, the U.S. intelligence and law enforcement communities. Justice Department and FBI leaders have been vilified by the president, who cannot bring himself to say publicly what intelligence experts have said for months, that the Russians meddled in our election.

The Hill reports: All in all, the Senate panel’s report was a unflinching contradiction of many of the core claims made by Trump allies in the House. 

Read The Hill story here.

Will the president take this latest confirmation any more seriously than he has the previous reports? Absolutely not!

Indeed, he’s getting ready to meet with Putin in a few days in Helsinki, Finland. Don’t expect the president to criticize the Russian strongman over his attack on our election.

national news

Comey has done the impossible: He has ‘pissed off’ everyone

James Comey once ran the FBI. Then he inserted himself into the climactic end of the 2016 presidential election.

He announced he was taking a fresh look at the email controversy that dogged Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign. He did so 11 days before the election that would send Donald Trump to the White House.

Democrats were enraged at Comey.

Then he declined to give the new president, Trump, a loyalty pledge. He was conducting an investigation into whether the Trump campaign “colluded” with Russians who meddled in our election.

Trump became very angry. In May 2017 he fired Comey.

The president has then launched into a Comey-basing campaign ever since.

As RealClearPolitics has reported: “Whether you agree with them or not, they were good decisions in the way that they were made and values that guided them,” Comey said. “I actually think in the long run people will see that… I really hope that in the long sweep of things, it will be clear that we weren’t on anybody’s side.”

“Most Republicans don’t talk to me anymore,” he also said, “I’ve succeeded in pissing off everyone.”

See Comey’s interview with the Aspen Ideas Festival here.

When I think about that, I liken the bipartisan anger at Comey to what journalists often encounter while they report the news. If both sides of an controversial issue are angry with the journalist, then he or she is doing his or her job.

Thus, James Comey feels as if he did his job.

“The long sweep of things” will make that determination … eventually.

national news

The national mood is getting more sour by the day

Am I feeling the burn out there?

The national mood, which wasn’t great prior to the 2016 presidential election, appears to be worsening.

Yep. I’m sure of it, actually.

Donald Trump Sr. pledged to unify the country after being elected president. How has he done? Uh, terribly. Maybe that’s just me, but I don’t think so.

Yes, congressional Democrats are stunned that their candidate, Hillary Clinton, lost to this guy. She should have won in a landslide. She didn’t. Democrats haven’t gotten over it … yet!

Now, that takes us to the guy who won. How has he done in the “gracious winner” department? Let’s see. He keeps harping on his record-breaking victory, which it wasn’t. Trump keeps reminding us how Democrats supposedly favor things like high crime, high taxes, open borders … those kinds of things. He won’t meet with Democrats to discuss legislative priorities.

The president has continued to stick his thumb in the eye of his foes. He yaps, yammers and yelps about how it’s everyone else’s fault that his legislative agenda gets stalled.

He disparages the FBI, the Department of Justice and the special counsel (Robert Mueller) who has been given the task of finding out whether the Trump campaign “colluded” with Russians who meddled in our electoral process.

And now …

The president has implemented an executive policy of “zero tolerance” on our southern border. The policy allows for the separating of children from their parents. Educators, clergy, human services experts, lawmakers (many from his own Republican Party) are aghast at the policy. They call it institutionalized “child abuse.” Four former first ladies have said the same thing independently about the policy: that it is inhumane.

There is a virtual uprising seemingly about to occur.

Trump’s response? He calls the children and their parents a threat to our nation. Hey, what about those Russian goons who meddled in our election, Mr. President? When are you going to drop the hammer on them? Ever?

Meanwhile, the nation is more divided than ever. Americans are growing angrier by the day.

Hey, it occurs to me yet again that the Russians’ attempt to sow discord and disunion … is working!