Post Helsinki: Fill in the Blanks to Give Putin What He Asked and Was Promised

My caption after I watched, listened, and read about 

that event in Helsinki

Rather long post, but easy to follow. As expected the headlines from Helsinki – no big surprise – enjoy:

“Trump says he believes Putin that Russia didn't

Interfere in the election”Trump says he believes Putin that Russia didn't interfere in election

Two sources:

The Washington Post here and from Trump’s most-hated “Fake News” agency, CNN here.

CNN included this headline from former CIA director, John Brennan. It is stunning.  

John Brennan: “Trump news conference performance nothing

short of treasonous”

  

President Trump emerged from his historic summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland saying he doesn’t “see any reason to think that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election,” adding: “I don’t see any reason why it would be. President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.”

Trump said the pair spent a great deal of time in their discussions on Moscow’s meddling. Putin told reporters that Trump raised the issue of the “so-called election interference” in their one-on-one talk, adding: “The Russian state has never interfered and is not going to interfere into internal American affairs including election process. Any specific material, if such things arise, we are willing to analyze together.”

Putin’s denial, and Trump’s seeming acceptance of it, flies in the face of the conclusions by six top U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

In early January 2017, the Office of the DNI (Director of National Intelligence) (former GOP Senator Dan Coats (R-IN) released a report concluding with “high confidence” that Putin “ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election.” 

Putin’s goals, the DNI report also said: “…were to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency — and to boost Trump’s election chances.”

Noteworthy: Putin is that he did acknowledge that he preferred Trump over Hillary Clinton in the election saying: “Yes I did. Because he talked about bringing the US–Russia relationship back to normal.”

Trump said that while he has “great confidence” in U.S. intelligence agencies, he wants to know what happened to the emails missing from Hillary Clinton’s private email server, the Democratic National Committee server and those of a DNC staffer. 

Trump tweet: “Where is the server? What is the serving saying? What happened to the servers of the Pakastani (Note: Spelled Pakistani) gentleman that worked on the DNC? Where are those servers?”

Note: Trump was referring to a conspiracy theory that he and conservative media outlets have pushed that congressional technology staffer Imran Awan was a Pakistani operative who worked with House Democrats to steal government secrets. 

Earlier this month federal prosecutors charged Awan with making a false claim on a loan application but cleared him of violating any law related to the House computer systems. 

Then Trump went off on his standard Clinton rant: “Where are Hillary Clinton’s emails? Thirty-three-thousand emails gone, just gone. I think in Russia they wouldn’t be gone so easily. I think it’s a disgrace we can’t get Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 emails.”

Twelve Russian intelligence officials were indicted by a grand jury convened by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in connection with the hack of the DNC’s computer server and subsequent leaking of Emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta (via DC Leaks – website set up by those Russian agents passing as a valid American-owned website – it was Russian-backed).

During the summit, Putin said he would “look into the charges, and then he offered to help U.S. investigators.” Trump called it “an incredible offer.”

Putin the suggested that the U.S. and Russia form a “joint working group on cybersecurity.”

Noteworthy: That subject was something apparently both Putin and Trump discussed on the sidelines at the G20 summit in Hamburg last year. At that time, Trump appeared to backtrack on the idea when he said via a tweet: “The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit doesn’t mean I think it can happen. It can’t.”

Now, Trump says: “An interesting idea.”

Earlier, Trump and Putin met for a private discussion — with each accompanied only by their translators — that lasted nearly two hours. The pair then met for an expanded hour-long working lunch with top aides.

Prior to their one-on-one sit-down, Trump expressed optimism that the talks would lead to “an extraordinary relationship” between Washington and Moscow.

“I think we have great opportunities together as two countries that, frankly, have not been getting along very well for the last number of years,” Trump said.

Most-Noteworthy from the Trump-Putin Press Spin:

Overall and in the run-up to this meeting, Trump blamed the tensions between the two countries, in part, on special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Then later in his remarks, Putin also blamed Mueller.

Or as Trump once tweeted: “Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now the Rigged Witch Hunt!”

Ironic and sick about that: The Russian foreign ministry promptly re-tweeted that Trump tweet adding: “We agree.”

I say: Hell why not: Obvious Russian goal is to keep Vlad in control with more fluffing of Trump – painfully obvious and damn worrisome.

  

My 2 cents: I watched and listened to the Trump-Putin press conference and have only a couple of observations and these two other posts I make that relate to the run-up to this Helsinki meeting here and here.

#1: Putin’s performance was spectacular and shows the seasoned cunning man he is with tons of intelligence training and experience vs. Trump who stuck to his previous attacks on our intelligence agencies, Mueller (and he and Putin were in tune on that point – I wonder why), and of course winning the election while still blaming Clinton and DEMS, or so it always appears, blaming them for his win.

#2: Trump came across more of a lapdog for Putin agreeing with him on just about everything.

What about the things we still don’t know about at their one-on-one meeting, and totally shows that he is NOT the “greatest and most-successful negotiator ever.”

One final note and my long-held observation: Why does the GOP always play the DEMS rigged and election and got “dead” people to vote, or illegal aliens, or people not qualified or registered, and other forms of “fraud” (99% not valid), yet they are willing to excuse the hard evidence against Russia and Putin in 2016 – that is 100% amazing to me – how about you.

Anyway, we now stay tuned to see any fallout or any movement whatsoever from that sideshow from the two top con artists in the business: “The Donald and His Handler, the Puppet Master Pootie.” 

*from the World leader’s moniker list.

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Afterthought: This story is kind of related to this Trump-Putin whatever we choose to label it as it shows the pathetic, mostly phony ways that Trump “makes deals, sees them backfire or fall apart, then he blames the side he was against all along.”

That story is about his recent steel tariffs now in place that are backfiring seen here from Bloomberg. The Trump administration is hitting back at what it considers unjustified retaliatory tariffs that were imposed in response to U.S. steel and aluminum duties.

The U.S. Trade Representative, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in his statement about the administration launching a formal challenges at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against China, the EU, Canada, Mexico, and Turkey for retaliating against Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs.

Trump earlier this year imposed 10% duties on aluminum and 25 percent on steel after finding imports of the metals pose a risk to national security.

Lighthizer said: “Instead of working with us to address a common problem, some of our trading partners have elected to respond with retaliatory tariffs designed to punish American workers, farmers and companies. We will take all necessary actions to protect U.S. interests and urge trading partners to work constructively” with the Trump administration to address overcapacity in both metal sectors.”

Backlash against Trump from Canada, China, the EU, Mexico, and Turkey saw them impose retaliatory tariffs on $23.4 billion worth of U.S. goods in response to Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum.

As I said, Trump blames them for their actions for the blame he laid on them. 

Just like him blaming the DEMS and Hillary Clinton constantly for him winning the election by blaming them for the Russian investigation and everything surrounding the 2016 outcome.

Thanks as always for stopping by.