“The
President's defensive response to a new Russia interference drama,
colored by his belief that all such revelations are a 'Deep State'
assault on his own legitimacy, already appears to be exacerbating the
damage caused by Moscow's meddling.”
– Stephen
Collinson, White House reporter
FBI Director Christopher
Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee last month that Moscow was
continuing to "engage in malign foreign influence" online
with the goal of sowing division and discord, "and to generate
controversy, to generate distrust in our democratic institutions in
our electoral process."
Just last week,
Intelligence officials warned House lawmakers that Russia was
interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get President Trump
re-elected. Five people familiar with the matter stated this
disclosure to Congress – a matter that angered Trump, who
complained that Democrats would use it against him.
The day after the Feb. 13
briefing to lawmakers, the president berated Joseph Maguire, the
outgoing acting director of national intelligence, for allowing it to
take place, people familiar with the exchange said. Mr. Trump was
particularly irritated that Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat
of California and the leader of the impeachment proceedings, was at
the briefing.
Trump has fixated on Mr.
Schiff since the impeachment saga began, pummeling him publicly with
insults and unfounded accusations of corruption.
In a tweet, Schiff said
that it appeared that Mr. Trump was “again jeopardizing our efforts
to stop foreign meddling” with his objections to the briefing.
Now, Trump is working to
place loyalists inside the intelligence agencies. He dismissed the
assessment that Russia wants to see him reelected as a
“misinformation campaign” being driven by Democrats, as fallout
continued from that classified congressional briefing last week.
Trump tweeted …
“Another
misinformation campaign is being launched by Democrats in Congress
saying that Russia prefers me to any of the Do Nothing Democrat
candidates who still have been unable to, after two weeks, count
their votes in Iowa. Hoax number 7!”
On February 19, the
president announced that he was replacing Mr. Maguire with Richard
Grenell, the ambassador to Germany and an aggressively vocal Donald
Trump supporter – in fact, such a supporter that his views have
angered many in Germany.
Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron
Wyden expressed doubt that Grenell meets the DNI’s basic job
requirements for expertise in intelligence – even if he’s only on
the job in an “acting” capacity. Wyden says …
“If there was any
doubt that Donald Trump values unquestioning obedience over the
safety of the American people, this appointment settles the question.
Senators who take their oath of office seriously must oppose Trump's
practice of dodging Senate confirmation practices to place
unqualified individuals into highly sensitive national security
posts.”
Der Spiegel,
German weekly news magazine published a profile of Grenell on January
11, 2019, using interviews with 30 “American and German diplomats,
cabinet members, lawmakers, high-ranking officials, lobbyists and
think tank experts.” The magazine claimed …
"Almost all of
these sources paint an unflattering portrait of the ambassador, one
remarkably similar to Donald Trump, the man who sent him to Berlin. A
majority of them describe Grenell as a vain, narcissistic person who
dishes out aggressively, but can barely handle criticism."
The profile claimed that
Grenell is politically isolated in Berlin because of his association
with the far-right Alternative for Germany Party, causing the leaders
of the mainstream German parties, including the Chancellor herself,
to avoid contact with him. The sources claimed that Grenell "knows
little about Germany and Europe, that he ignores most of the dossiers
his colleagues at the embassy write for him, and that his knowledge
of the subject matter is superficial."
In March 2019, Wolfgang
Kubicki, deputy chairman of the Free Democratic Party, called for
Grenell to be expelled from Germany, stating, "Any U.S. diplomat
who acts like a high commissioner of an occupying power must learn
that our tolerance also knows its limits."
The way the news of the
latest Russian meddling allegations emerged raises new doubts about
Trump's sincerity to defend the election or to put his own political
interests to one side.
Rep. Kathleen Rice, a
Democrat of New York, says …
"The really
disturbing part of this is that it is so important for us as
lawmakers who are privy to this information, this intelligence, to
get it openly and honestly, then figure out what to do about it.”
Russia is in the business
of interference to splinter U.S. influence and to undermine the West.
Trump's reelection assures them of four more years of this goal.
Consider how Trump has already withdrawn from Syria; claimed that
Ukraine, not Moscow, interfered in the 2016 election; and frequently
attacked NATO and Western unity. Russia will continue to attempt to
dismantle democracy, and Trump – both willingly and unwittingly –
is among the most useful tools for their destructive work.
Nathan Hodge, Moscow
bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, says, “Trump is an
open admirer of Putin, even publicly expressing the hope on Twitter
that the Kremlin leader would become his new best friend.” And
Hodge continues, “Trump's response to the Russia investigations –
heaping scorn on intelligence and law enforcement bodies – also
plays into Russia's strategy, undermining Americans' faith in the
rule of law and stoking mistrust of government.”
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