In 2016, the U.S. Intelligence Community and subsequent investigations found that Russia heavily interfered in the 2016 presidential election on Trump’s behalf through a hacking and disinformation campaign ordered directly by Vladimir Putin. Though Trump denied it, a Senate committee report concluded that the interference was “sweeping and systematic.”
Additionally, a Special Counsel investigation detailed numerous links between Russia and the Trump campaign resulting in 37 indictments and seven guilty pleas or convictions. Moreover, the investigation found that Trump obstructed the investigation on numerous occasions.
Despite the findings, Special Counsel Robert Mueller declined to charge Trump with crimes as it was believed that only Congress could hold a sitting president accountable.
Of course, there are plenty of other reasons to question Trump’s ties with Russia. A Reuters review of the Trump real estate business found that Russian oligarchs close to Putin invested more than $100 million in Trump properties, including five Trump Tower condos purchased by the Russian mob for more than $4.9 million. And, in most cases, it was found that Russians grossly overpaid for the properties, often a clear sign of money laundering.
Not coincidentally, we recently learned that Capital One closed 385 Trump bank accounts in 2021 over concerns that they were being used for money laundering.
In other signs of a “special arrangement” between Trump and the Kremlin, Trump has sided with Putin over our own intelligence community. He clearly sided with Putin in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by verbally attacking and demeaning Ukraine President Volodamir Zelensky during an Oval Office meeting, by withholding arms to Ukraine, by calling for Zelensky to resign, by suggesting that Ukraine should cede territory to Russia, and by recently blocking Ukraine’s use of Starlink for its self-defense.
Trump has promoted trilateral “peace talks” with the U.S., Russia and China, notably excluding Ukraine. He signed an Executive Order dismissing the most recent congressional-approved economic sanctions against Russia. He violated other sanctions by agreeing to purchase millions of gallons of diesel fuel from Russia providing them an estimated $3.8 to $5.3 billion with which to provide military help to another of our adversaries – Iran. And this week, his special envoy charged with negotiating an end to the war called the murderous Putin a “great humanitarian.”
Further, Trump’s actions including accelerating the national debt, decapitating the leadership of our military, breaking relationships with longtime allies, weaponizing the DOJ, and undermining the Constitution all suggest that he is a leader intent on destroying America, not making it great.
Given all of the evidence, it should be said that if Trump is not a Russian asset, he’s clearly so stupid, so naïve and so entranced by Putin that he is unqualified to continue to hold office.