One thing seems certain when it comes to retiring junior Senator Bob Corker, he intends to make himself as much of a pest for President Donald Trump as he can during his remaining time in the U.S. Senate. Now, he’s lecturing him on Crimea: Corker warns Trump against recognizing Crimea annexation “Recognizing Crimea as part of Russia would undermine the rules-based international order that was created with U.S. leadership and has caused democracy to thrive around the world and made America a safer home for our citizens,” Corker said in a tweet on Monday, without directly mentioning Trump. Corker added that in the “upcoming Helsinki summit, the U.S. must stand firmly with our NATO allies and affirm our transatlantic partnership. Doing otherwise strengthens Putin and undermines democratic values.” Additionally, Corker’s criticism comes as he’s abroad. He’s currently traveling in Northern Europe. As we look forward to the upcoming Helsinki summit, the U.S. must stand firmly with our NATO allies and affirm our transatlantic partnership. Doing otherwise strengthens Putin and undermines democratic values. — Senator Bob Corker (@SenBobCorker) July 2, 2018 Trump is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland. Meanwhile, Putin has said there’s no expectation the issue…
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Senate Intelligence Committee Releases Report On Russian Meddling In 2016 Election
by Chuck Ross The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is endorsing a January 2017 report from three intelligence community agencies that found the Russian government, with the approval of Vladimir Putin, attempted to influence the 2016 election. The Senate panel released a summary report on Tuesday, two weeks before President Trump is poised to meet with Putin in Finland. “The Committee finds that the overall judgments issued in the [Intelligence Community Assessment] were well-supported and the tradecraft was strong,” reads the Senate Intel’s unclassified summary report. “The course of the Committee’s investigation has shown that the Russian cyber operations were more extensive than the hack of the Democratic National Committee and continued well through the 2016 election.” On Jan. 6, 2017, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report known as the Intelligence Community Assessment [ICA] that reviewed Russia’s efforts to meddle in the 2016 election. In the ICA, the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency (NSA), all determined with a high degree of confidence that the Russian government was behind email hacks aimed at Democrats during the campaign. Putin also approved of the influence campaign, the ICA said. [ RELATED: Senate Intel Still Wants To Interview…
Read the full storyTrump-Putin Summit Shows Why the President Is Ahead of the Curve
By Robert Romano President Donald Trump will be meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland on July 16. There the two will discuss nuclear weapons and U.S.-Russian relations. This is not only the right time to cool tensions between the two foremost nuclear powers — who have clashed over Syria, Ukraine and other potential hotspots — but also the right time politically for Trump to take to the international stage. Coming off a successful summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, achieving an agreement in principle to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, President Trump’s popularity is soaring. He has the political capital to meet with Putin. Trump’s surge, simultaneously stunning and perplexing to D.C. elites — but not to his supporters — comes as he does not appear to be hampered even in the slightest by the ongoing Russia investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Probably because there was no collusion. But not only does Trump have the political capital to meet with Putin from a position of strength, it is politically smart for him to do it. Peace is popular. Not only is this what Trump ran on in 2016 — achieving a better relationship with American adversaries…
Read the full storyKremlin: Trump, Putin Will Meet for Summit
Kremlin officials say there is an agreement for Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump to hold a summit in a third country. The announcement came Wednesday as U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton was in Moscow for talks with Putin and other senior Russian officials. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said details about the venue for a Trump-Putin summit would be announced Thursday. The meeting is expected to take place after Trump attends the NATO summit July 11 and 12 and visits Britain on July 13. Vienna and Helsinki are among the venues being considered. Earlier, Putin told Bolton that his visit to Moscow increased the chances of a restoration of Russian-U.S. relations. Putin said relations between the two countries were “not in the best shape.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters “the sad state” of bilateral relations between the two countries would be discussed, as well as a range of international issues. Bolton had said he hoped his one-day visit would lay the groundwork for what would be the first summit between Putin and Trump. Trump and Putin have met twice on the sidelines of international summits and have spoken several times by telephone. Washington-Moscow relations…
Read the full storyReport: Plans Underway for Possible Trump-Putin Summit
White House officials are making plans for a possible summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to The Wall Street Journal. The report, citing a senior administration official, said U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman, has been in Washington to help schedule the meeting. “This has been an ongoing project of Ambassador Huntsman, stretching back months, of getting a formal meeting between Putin and Trump,” the official said. People familiar with the plans said the purpose of the summit would be to address long-standing differences between the two countries. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election with the intent of helping Trump win. The findings have led to a special counsel investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia. Trump has denied any collusion. The U.S. also has denounced Russia’s alliance with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has expressed opposition to Moscow’s military intervention in eastern Ukraine. Tensions between Washington and Moscow escalated in March when the U.S. and dozens of other nations ordered Russian diplomats to leave their countries after a former Russian spy and his daughter were poisoned in the United Kingdom with a military-grade nerve…
Read the full storyMore Diplomat Ousters in Spy Poisoning Row
Russia on Saturday demanded that Britain further reduce its diplomatic staff in Moscow, the latest move in an escalating tit-for-tat dispute following the poisoning of a former Russian spy on British soil. Russia had already kicked out 23 British envoys and closed a British consulate in response to the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats by Britain, which accuses Moscow of poisoning former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.
Read the full storyPresident Trump Expels 60 Russian Officials Over UK Nerve-Agent Attack
President Trump expelled 60 Russian intelligence officers Monday and closed Russia’s consulate in Seattle in response to Moscow’s nerve-agent attack on a British former double agent in England. In one of his most dramatic confrontations with Moscow on its covert actions, Mr. Trump ordered the expulsion of 48 officials working at the Russian Embassy in Washington, and 12 intelligence officers assigned to Russia’s mission at the United Nations in New York City.
Read the full storySurprising No One, Putin Wins a Fourth Term – But Will There Be a Fifth?
In power for almost two decades, Vladimir Putin predictably won a fourth Kremlin term in Russia’s presidential election on Sunday, extending his long rule for another six years. With no successor and no political competition, what are the possible scenarios when his term ends in 2024?
Read the full storyMark Halperin: Trump ‘Tougher’ on Russia Than Previous Presidents
Author and senior NBC News political analyst Mark Halperin said that in many ways, President Donald Trump’s administration has “been tougher” on Russia than those of his predecessors, during an interview Wednesday on “The Laura Ingraham Show.” The cloud of Russia-collusion allegations has hung over Trump’s presidency ever since reports surfaced that the Russians meddled in…
Read the full storyWhite House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus: Trump Did Not Accept Putin’s Denial of Meddling
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus denied Sunday that President Trump accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim at the G20 summit that the Kremlin did not meddle in last year’s U.S. election. “The president absolutely did not believe the denial of President Putin,” Mr. Priebus told “Fox News Sunday.” However, Mr. Priebus reissued the White…
Read the full storyDonald Trump, Vladimir Putin Face-Off at G-20: ‘Very, Very Good Talks’
President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin sat down for their first face-to-face meeting Friday for highly anticipated talks that Mr. Trump said were “going well,” even as both leaders looked to project power and cooperation to audiences at home and around the globe. “President Putin and I have been discussing various things, and I think…
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