Trump Is Being Manipulated by Putin. What Should We Do? by Will Hurd, R, TX; Former CIA officer.....
Opinion
Trump Is Being Manipulated by Putin. What Should We Do?
Lawmakers must keep the American people informed of the current danger, writes a Republican congressman from Texas.
By Will Hurd
Mr. Hurd, a former C.I.A. officer, is a congressman from the 23rd District of Texas.
July 19, 2018
Over the course of my career as an undercover officer in the C.I.A., I saw Russian intelligence manipulate many people. I never thought I would see the day when an American president would be one of them.
The presidents failure to defend the United States intelligence communitys unanimous conclusions of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and condemn Russian covert counterinfluence campaigns and his standing idle on the world stage while a Russian dictator spouted lies confused many but should concern all Americans. By playing into Vladimir Putins hands, the leader of the free world actively participated in a Russian disinformation campaign that legitimized Russian denial and weakened the credibility of the United States to both our friends and foes abroad.
As a member of Congress, a coequal branch of government designed by our founders to provide checks and balances on the executive branch, I believe that lawmakers must fulfill our oversight duty as well as keep the American people informed of the current danger.
Somehow many Americans have forgotten that Russia is our adversary, not our ally, and the reasons for todays tensions go back much farther than the 2016 election. For more than a decade, Russia has meddled in elections around the world, supported brutal dictators and invaded sovereign nations all to the detriment of United States interests. Mitt Romney had it right in 2012 when he told President Barack Obama that Russia was without question our No. 1 geopolitical foe.
Our intelligence community has concluded with high confidence that President Putin personally ordered his security services to undertake an influence campaign aimed at undermining confidence in American democracy to sow chaos in our electoral system. Russias efforts to hack political organizations and state election boards are well documented, as are the Russian disinformation campaigns on social media platforms. .........................................
50 Shades Of Blue
(9,978 posts)duforsure
(11,885 posts)stopdiggin
(11,299 posts)This guy intends to vote for Trump AGAIN in 2020 .. just to reestablish where the Republican party is these days.
(So I guess it's OK to vote for a Russian asset in the White House .. just so long as you let the public know he's an asset)
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)aspect of Trump for more than three years. It is only going to amp up as the days go by.
Notice how Trump ducks out of sight for a few hours not to get caught up in the moment. Sure appears he rehearses all his responses before he goes on Camera.
rainin
(3,011 posts)Now, not so much. He told the truth when it sounded like a conspiracy theory.
Grasswire2
(13,568 posts)Now that he's leaving Congress, he could be valuable in other ways in a Dem administration.
shraby
(21,946 posts)is for impeachment?
bucolic_frolic
(43,137 posts)pangaia
(24,324 posts)and invaded sovereign nations ."
Humm, sounds like somebody else I know.
lutherj
(2,496 posts)BamaRefugee
(3,483 posts)IronLionZion
(45,432 posts)Encourage your colleagues to block Trump's agenda. Censure him. Vote for impeachment.
NCjack
(10,279 posts)the Senate to replace Moscow Mitch with a senator with a backbone and a brain.
CreekDog
(46,192 posts)we can't even tell where it was published.
inexcusable.
IronLionZion
(45,432 posts)Mc Mike
(9,114 posts)How about an intervention, where 200 million of us surround him and tell him how his actions are hurting us, and we care about him.