Another back-flip from Trump

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After political backlash from Republicans and well as Democrats, the White House said Thursday President Donald Trump now "disagrees" with Russian President Putin's proposal that Russian investigators be allowed to question Americans, including a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow. Putin had proposed the idea in exchange for allowing special counsel Robert Mueller's team to go to Russia to witness interrogations of 12 Russian military officers indicted in the U.S. -- what Trump then called "an incredible offer." Thursday's development marks the third time the president has walked back a statement he made at Monday's summit in Helsinki.

“It is a proposal that was made in sincerity by President Putin, but President Trump disagrees with it," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement Thursday. And in an apparent new twist, Sanders raised the prospect of Putin sending the accused Russians to the U.S, something Putin had nor publicly proposed at the summit news conference. "Hopefully President Putin will have the 12 identified Russians come to the United States to prove their innocence or guilt,” her statement continued. The latest Trump walk back came as the Senate was about to vote on a resolution barring U.S. diplomats from being questioned by foreign countries.

Sanders statement Thursday stands in contrast to her response in Wednesday's press briefing, when she would not rule out the possibility that the U.S. could provide Russia access to a group of Americans they have accused of being involved in a criminal plot. Asked whether the president would actually entertain the idea of having U.S. persons questioned by Russia including former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, Sanders said no agreement was made yet, but acknowledged that it was indeed a topic of the president's two-hour private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. ["There was some conversation about it, but there wasn't a commitment made on behalf of the United States," Sanders said. "And the president will work with his team, and we'll let you know if there's an announcement on that front."

However, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert was soon after asked about Sanders' comment and shot down the “assertions by the Russian government” that it could question 11 American citizens as “absurd." “I can’t answer on behalf of the White House with regard to that,” Nauert said. “But what I can tell you is that the overall assertions that have come out of the Russian government are absolutely absurd, the fact that they want to question 11 American citizens and the assertions that the Russian government is making about those American citizens – we do not stand by those assertions that the Russian government makes.”

Thursday's statement represents the third straight day of walk-backs by the White House related to Russia. On Tuesday, the president sought to clarify that he meant to say "wouldn't" instead of "would" when he said on Monday that he didn't see any reason why it would have been Russia that meddled in the 2016 election in contradiction of his own intelligence agencies. Then on Wednesday, Sanders attempted to give a different meaning to the president's comments earlier in the day, when he said "no" to two questions about whether he believes Russia is still attacking the US. (Sanders said the president was saying no to taking questions, though he then went on to take a different question.)

Lawmakers and former intelligence officials have expressed outrage over the White House's previous suggestion that Putin's proposal from the Kremlin to potentially interrogate a group of Americans including a former U.S. ambassador was under consideration. Putin first raised the idea of the Kremlin being provided access to question U.S. citizens in his press conference alongside Trump, where he openly accused American-born British financier Bill Browder of funneling illegal donations to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Browder is a long-time Putin critic and whistleblower on Russian tax fraud who is credited with helping push Congress to pass the 2012 Magnitsky Act that has resulted in sanctions against top members of Putin's inner circle.

Putin suggested in the Monday press conference that he would consider permitting Robert Mueller’s prosecutors in the Russia investigation to potentially interrogate the 12 Russian officials indicted last Friday for meddling in the 2016 election in exchange for Russia being able to question “some intelligence officers” who “accompanied and guided” Browder in his alleged transactions. The Kremlin later named former ambassador McFaul, among other Americans, as on their list of specific persons of interest. Even as his State Department has dismissed the charges, standing alongside Putin Trump did not push back on his claims and described the idea of connecting the Kremlin with Mueller’s investigators as “an incredible offer.”

Sanders has not responded to follow up questions from ABC News as to whether the proposal is indeed under serious consideration. Lawmakers and former intelligence officials have so far been unsparing in their criticism of the idea. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., the ranking member of the CIA Subcommittee for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, went as far to say that Trump could be impeached if he sought to hand over any U.S. citizens to Russia. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi similarly slammed President Trump for offering up U.S. diplomats for interviews with Russian investigators. “The outrageous suggestion of handing former Ambassador McFaul over for Russian questioning. What!?” Pelosi exclaimed incredulously in her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill. “That the president would even entertain the idea of subjecting our diplomats to Putin's thuggery? That is an abuse of power.” Pelosi demanded Trump apologize to the American people “for his disgraceful, dangerous and damaging behavior with Putin in Helsinki.”

A quintet of Democrats – Reps. Eliot Engel, Ranking Democrat of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Anna Eshoo of California, Gerald Connolly of Virginia, David Cicilline of Rhode Island and Gregory Meeks of New York -- wrote a letter to Trump on Thursday calling on him to reject Putin’s idea. “You had the opportunity to denounce this outrageous idea when you stood next to Mr. Putin earlier this week; instead, you praised it,” the letter states. “Now you must make clear that you will not allow American citizens or anyone on American soil to endure interrogation or harassment at the hands of Putin’s thugs.”

Criticism was again not confined to Democrats. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in a tweet called for the White House to "unequivocally rule it out." Speaking on Good Morning America Thursday, President Trump's former Homeland Security Advisor and ABC News contributor Tom Bossert said he agreed with critics who have called the idea "appalling." "In fact, it's galling really because having seen the evidence, especially that I've seen, there's no investigative benefit to that," Bossert said. "It just benefits Russia and clouds the matter a little bit.”
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/lawmake ... d=56687264

Republicans blocked an attempt Thursday morning to subpoena the interpreter who sat in on President Donald Trump’s one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland on Monday.

Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, joined with fellow California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell to make a motion to subpoena Marina Gross, a State Department official. While the motion was made at a hearing titled, “China’s threat to American government and private sector research and innovation leadership,” Schiff justified his request by recounting that President Trump had a “disastrous summit with Vladimir in Helsinki.”

“One of the issues that’s come about as a result of the public comments he has made during that summit is what took place in the private two-hour meeting that the president had alone with Mr. Putin,” he said. “It appears there were commitments made in that meeting that affect American national security interests.”

Schiff’s motion specified that the interpreter would be subpoenaed to testify in closed session before the House Intelligence committee.

“I regret that we have to raise this at today’s hearing,” Schiff said, adding that his request for a business meeting was rejected.
“As you know, Mr. Schiff, this is a hearing, and the only motion you can make is a motion to adjourn,” Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., responded.

“This is an extraordinary remedy, I realize,” Schiff countered, repeating his motion. “But then it’s extraordinary for the president of the United States to ask all of his senior staff essentially to leave the room and have a private conversation with an adversary.” “I think this remedy is warranted,” Schiff stressed.

After Nunes ruled that Schiff’s motion was out of order, Schiff repeatedly appealed the ruling of the chair – requesting a committee vote on the ruling. Nunes then recessed the hearing for about 15 minutes, when he recognized Schiff again to offer his motion.

Schiff once again repeated his motion, and Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, moved to table Schiff’s motion.

After a brief roll call vote down that fell along party lines, Schiff’s motion was successfully tabled 11-6, squashing the effort.

Senate Democrats are also exploring ways to hear from the interpreter and have demanded the Trump administration turn over all the "contemporaneous notes" taken during the meeting.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/republi ... d=56687970
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Another back-flip from Trump

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On the fourth chaotic day of fallout from President Donald Trump's hugely consequential remarks regarding the US relationship to Russia, Congress did something rare: it took unified action. The Senate overwhelmingly approved a proposal to oppose sending US officials to be interrogated by Russian officials, though it's unclear what if any concrete legislative options Republican leaders in Congress would take beyond statements and non-binding resolutions.

The 98-0 vote came after the White House announced it now disagreed with the proposal from Russian President Vladimir Putin to question former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul and others, which the White House had up until Thursday afternoon said it was considering.
Thursday's vote was a rare sign of consensus to address the divisive fallout of Trump's highly controversial remarks earlier this week, where the US President appeared to back Putin over the US intelligence community assessment that Russia interfered with the 2016 US presidential election. Trump's comments have reverberated across Capitol Hill all week as lawmakers from both parties sharply criticized the President, and Republicans in Congress -- who control both chambers -- are considering multiple options for how to respond.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also announced plans for hearings on a sanctions bill from Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen. The sanctions would snap into place if the director of national intelligence identified additional Russian meddling into future elections.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/19/politics ... index.html
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Another back-flip from Trump

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Just heard a discussion on this "offer" by Putin on NPR. All Russia experts say that Putin's offer of the 12 Russian agents was not genuine, was never going to be honored, and was meant as a sly test of the Donald. An IQ test? International brinkmanship? Just to see what kind of a twit our president is? Any knowledgeable statesman would have known the offer was made in jest. But Donnie-deeper naively stepped right into it... and then opened his mouth up to the press saying he was considering to let the Russians "interview" the former US Ambassador to Moscow. As a rule you simply never, ever offer up your Ambassador like that. It is just not done and Putin knew that. Therefor he made an absurd offer for an absurd price effectively saying, "Ha-ha-ha-f*ck-you-ha-ha-ha. My joke. Is funny, yah?"

Jeebus, I bet Putin had to bite his tongue to keep himself from pissing his pants in laughter when Turnip said he was actually considering Putin's offer at the press conference (while everyone else was picking their jaws off the floor).

***The messed up thing is most Russians probably think we Americans are generally about as lackluster (and fat) as Turnip.
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

Re: Another back-flip from Trump

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Wow, more insight about Putin's "offer":
https://truthout.org/articles/heres-an- ... ld-resign/
Some background: A Russian lawyer named Sergei Magnitsky exposed “a $230 million fraud against the Russian treasury carried out by a criminal organization operating in collusion with corrupt Russian officials,” according to The Daily Beast. What he uncovered, in the main, was a Russian money-laundering scheme that was unprecedented in scope. For his trouble, Magnitsky was tortured and beaten to death in a Russian prison and then posthumously tried and convicted of the very crime he had uncovered.

One of Magnitsky’s clients, billionaire financier Bill Browder, wanted justice for Magnitsky, so he pushed for what became the Magnitsky Act in Congress, a series of sanctions against Russian oligarchs that have real teeth, and were later compounded by similar sanctions from the UK, Estonia, Canada, Latvia and Lithuania. For local reference, the infamous “Trump Tower” meeting during the 2016 campaign was about getting those sanctions lifted after Trump won.

Russian officials — corrupt to the core and beholden to powerful oligarchs — despise the Magnitsky Act and want Browder’s ass, along with the ass of anyone who helped him get the Act passed into law. Putin’s “incredible offer” involved exactly that, with the seemingly enthusiastic support of the president of the United States.

The list of people Putin wants to interrogate includes former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul; Jonathan M. Winer, former US deputy assistant secretary of state for international law enforcement; David Kramer, formerly the president of Freedom House and assistant secretary of state for human rights under George W. Bush; and senior Senate human-rights staffer Kyle Parker.

An incredible offer, indeed.
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

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