Posted on 07/16/2018 7:56:05 PM PDT by Mariner
HELSINKI, July 16 (Reuters) - Standing side by side with Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump refused on Monday to blame the Russian leader for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, casting doubt on the findings of his own intelligence agencies and sparking a storm of criticism at home.
Although he faced pressure from critics, allied countries and even his own staff to take a tough line, Trump spoke not a single disparaging word in public about Moscow on any of the issues that have brought relations between the two powers to the lowest ebb since the Cold War.
Instead, he denounced the "stupidity" of his own country's policies, especially the decision to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election.
snip
But Republican Senator Rand Paul defended Trump, telling CNN: "Absolutely I'm with the president on this; the (U.S.) intelligence community was full of biased people."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.trust.org ...
My sentiments exactly. The rot in our own government is far more dangerous than any nation adversary.
Good for Rand Paul. However I am not sure who else in Congress is standing with Trump on this.
It’s a one-two punch if Trump manages to cool the fires within both Russia and North Korea. In fact, Russia could be a strong counterweight against China if the need should arise. Trump is playing the long game and moving the pieces into position one by one. Putin can be a strong player if it is to his advantage. Trump can use our economic strength to control China and bring Russia closer to our side.
MSM not commenting on this:
Who cares about their meddling? We meddled in Israel’s election during Obama’s time and even sent millions of American dollars to campaign against Bibi. Pot calling kettle black.
Also by Clinton. He and Bibi got in a shouting match, and in response he sent Carville and his team to run Barak’s campaign. Bibi lost the election. Years later Obama tried the same thing, but happily failed...
Hmm...Your explanation gives me something to think about.
There is some logic and some precedence. Didn’t we team with Russia during WW2 against Germany?
Wow that is nice to see Paul supporting him.
If the Russian goal was to undermine confidence in our elections, they failed.
The deep state has done a better job undermining our elections.
It did not matter what Trump said or did not say. The media narrative was written before this summit that Trump was soft on Russia and Putin.
Rand Paul oscillates back and forth between being my favorite Senator, and my least favorite. Sometimes on the same day!
Didn’t we team with Russia during WW2 against Germany?
....................................
We did.
..... Unsurprisingly .... The Clinton campaign would have surely known this and also would have known that all they had to do would be to raise a stink about it for public consumption if the need would arise ... and a little rudimentary scraping around the intelligence community by the FBI would predictably garner some basic results ....
..... Which would then in return be revealed to the uninitiated public by the hungry Main Steam Media who would obediently blow the whole thing out of proportion .... while at the same time also emotionally feeding the newly politically indoctrinated activists emerging from High School and College.
...... In the mean time ... I am sitting here, having being taught about all this stuff in High school, wondering what the F#@K is wrong with people today ....
..... Evidently .... They are not truly .... "WOKE" ....
16 Jul: Breitbart: Ron Paul: ‘Trump Won’ in Summit with Putin, ‘Neocons Aren’t Very Happy’
by John Binder
In comments after Trump and Putin wrapped up a press conference together, Paul said he was “delighted” to see the two power players speaking while noting that the interventionist wings of the Democratic and Republican parties — commonly referred to as “neoconservatives” — are outraged by the meeting.
https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/07/16/ron-paul-trump-won-in-summit-with-putin-neocons-arent-very-happy/
didn’t meddle for Trump, but did meddle for Clinton:
NYT has no problem contacting Browder!
16 Jul: NYT: Who Is Bill Browder, Kremlin Foe Singled Out in Putin’s Offer?
By Michael Schwirtz and Kenneth P. Vogel
(Michael Schwirtz reported from London, and Kenneth P. Vogel from Washington. Sewell Chan contributed reporting from New York, Andrew E. Kramer from Moscow and Katie Rogers from Helsinki, Finland)
Mr. Putin on Monday detailed on television a variation of some of the allegations that the lawyer, Natalia V. Veselnitskaya, brought to the Trump Tower meeting — namely that some of Mr. Browder’s associates had funneled $400 million to the Clinton campaign with money illegally moved out of Russia.
“Business associates of his have earned over $1.5 billion in Russia,” Mr. Putin said. “They never paid any taxes. Neither in Russia nor in the United States. Yet the money escaped the country. They were transferred to the United States. They sent huge amounts of money, $400 million, as a contribution to the campaign of Hillary Clinton.”
Additionally, Mr. Putin declared, “we have solid reason to believe that some intelligence officers accompanied and guided these transactions.”...
Mr. Trump later called Mr. Putin’s suggestion of an investigative quid pro quo “an incredible offer,” though how such reciprocity would work was unclear. Mr. Browder long ago gave up his American passport in favor of British citizenship...
In a phone interview on Monday, Mr. Browder said that Mr. Putin’s denunciation was just another sign of the Kremlin’s unhappiness with the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 law that Mr. Browder championed, in which the United States imposed sanctions against Russia...
Out of safety concerns, Mr. Browder, who holds a British passport, would not say where he was located...
It was not clear from where Mr. Putin derived the $400 million figure, or whether he was referring to the Ziffs or possibly other donors as well. Former Clinton campaign officials did not respond to requests for comment...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/16/world/europe/putin-bill-browder-magnitsky-investor.html
16 Jul: GatewayPundit: PUTIN DROPS BOMB AT HELSINKI PRESSER: Says US Intelligence Helped Move $400,000,000 to HILLARY Campaign!! (VIDEO)
by Jim Hoft
For instance we can bring up Mr. Browder… They sent a huge amount of money $400,000,000 to Hillary Clinton!...
Bill Browder’s grandfather was head of the Communist Party USA.
The Russian government put Browder on the Interpol most wanted list in 2017...
Browder spoke out against Trump meeting with Putin on Sunday...
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/07/putin-blows-apart-russia-collusion-probe-says-russian-group-gave-400000000-to-hillary-clinton-video/
pity the video at GP ends before the final lines:
STAFF: (OFF-MIKE)
QUESTION: And did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?
PUTIN: (THROUGH TRANSLATOR) Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal..
http://time.com/5339848/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-summit-transcript/
Glad to hear Rand supports the President, and just as disappointed to see Gingrich bail on him. Did Newt out himself as a neo-con, or has he always been.
Because you catch more bees with honey than vinegar.
The left demands that Trump use the Hatfield-McCoy Paul Ryan neighbor bully approach - tackle Puttie to the ground at the presser, blacken his eye and throw a drink in his face. And then say, will you work with us on such-and-such, and if you don’t, we’re going to send our (heavily-majority-republican) military lads into battle with you?
Otoh, most adults with neighbors we can’t stand, find a way to put emotions aside and at least be courteous to each other in order to accomplish a common goal. That’s what mature, reasonable grown-ups do. Trump is a grown-up. He’s not going to come home and lift all sanctions against Russia - he might even hit them with more. His job was to open the door to more talks. To get the phone ringing. Looks like he accomplished that in spades. Acting in a threatening manner as if one is in divorce court is never an advisable tactic in peace talks; admitting mistakes were made on both sides is always a first step to progress.
You are correct - he didn’t back Putin, he backed due process. Intelligence reports are not verdicts, and indictments against “Russians”, even if found guilty, is not conclusive proof of involvement of the Russian government.
Present the evidence, most of which, as Trump said, is on that DNC server.
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