Trump Is Being Manipulated by Putin. What Should We Do? by Will Hurd, R, TX; Former CIA officer.....

[riversedge]

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 president’s failure to defend the United States intelligence community’s 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 Putin’s 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 today’s 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. Russia’s 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]

1. K & R

[duforsure]

2. I agree 100%

[stopdiggin]

4. That's all fine and good, but

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]

3. Malcom Nance has covered this

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]

10. And I think he got taken off MSNBC for it. I used to see him there all the time.

Now, not so much. He told the truth when it sounded like a conspiracy theory.

[Grasswire2]

5. Hurd ought to flip to D.

Now that he's leaving Congress, he could be valuable in other ways in a Dem administration.

[shraby]

6. If he is such a "white hat" when is he going to announce he

is for impeachment?

[bucolic_frolic]

7. Wow

[pangaia]

8. For more than a decade, Russia has meddled in elections around the world, supported brutal dictator

and invaded sovereign nations ."

Humm, sounds like somebody else I know.

[lutherj]

15. You beat me to it. We just need to change "decade" to "century".

[BamaRefugee]

9. Thanks for the insight Uncle Tom!

[IronLionZion]

11. You could try voting against his policies in Congress

Encourage your colleagues to block Trump's agenda. Censure him. Vote for impeachment.

[NCjack]

12. What should we do? Well, a great start would be for your GOPer cohorts in

the Senate to replace Moscow Mitch with a senator with a backbone and a brain.

[CreekDog]

13. why didn't you post a link to the article you quoted?

we can't even tell where it was published.

inexcusable.

[IronLionZion]

16. NY Times link

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/opinion/trump-russia-putin-republican-congress.html

[Mc Mike]

14. Deprogram him via psychosurgery.

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.