David Frum: The Worst Security Risk in U.S. History

[babylonsister]

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/07/putin-trump/565604/

The Worst Security Risk in U.S. History
No one knows what President Trump told Vladimir Putin in Helsinki—or why even his own national-security adviser was excluded from the room.
David Frum
1:43 PM ET

snip//

In the weeks after Donald Trump was elected, bad things started happening to senior Russian officials. Two of Russia’s leading cybersecurity figures were arrested and charged with treason in December 2016. Over the following months, Russian officials worldwide abruptly began dying in suspicious numbers and suspicious ways. A 61-year-old former FSB general was found dead in his car in Moscow on December 26, 2016. On December 20, 2016, a senior Russian diplomat was found dead in his apartment with a pillow over his head, and a fatal gunshot wound beneath the pillow. A lawyer for Sergei Magnitsky—for whom the U.S. sanctions law is named—tumbled from his fourth-floor apartment and nearly died from his injuries. And so the tally runs.

Are these coincidences? Or something more sinister? Trump inadvertently disclosed at least one high-level U.S. secret to the Russian foreign minister in the Oval Office in 2017. How secure are other secrets in his trust?

Usually, at moments like these, Congress would be subpoenaing documents and quizzing witnesses. As is, the Republican majority sadly shrugs. “We’re frustrated, too! But what can we do?”

The place to start is by pressing National-Security Adviser John Bolton. If he has the president’s confidence, he should attend the president’s high-level meetings. If he has lost the president’s confidence, that is something the country needs to know—and raises the question of why he has not already resigned. If Bolton is aware of agreements with Russia, he can be questioned about them. If the agreements have been withheld even from him—again, Congress needs to know why.

Congress can also put itself on record as not being bound by executive agreements not submitted to the Senate for ratification, as Senator Tom Cotton and 46 other Republicans did with regard to the Iran deal in 2015.

Congress can delve into whether Russia holds undue influence over the president, by, for example, subpoenaing his tax returns. While Congress’s subpoena power is not as broad as that of the courts, it has a powerful argument in this instance. At a minimum, it’s a matter Congress can litigate, rather than submit to Trump’s claims.

And if this Congress, even now, cannot think of anything more to do about what increasingly looks like the worst security risk in U.S. history, maybe it’s time to hire some congressional leaders with more creative imaginations.

[yonder]

1. "As is, the Republican majority sadly shrugs. 'We're frustrated, too! But what can we do?'"

From a DU post the other day, try this repukes:

Imagine what you would be doing if President Obama were doing this same shit.

Do that!

[Stuart G]

2. k and r....no text.