Friend or foe, Putin’s making the most of Trump

The Wall Street Journal later reported Trump was “warmly” greeted by Kislyak as the then-candate met with the Russian official along with three other foreign ambassadors during a reception prior to his speech.

The Wall Street Journal, at the time, reported on the meeting – noting that the then-White House hopeful was trying to establish foreign policy credibility early on during his campaign.

Other Trump advisers also have been caught up in the controversy, including former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who was forced to resign, as well as J.D. Gordon and Carter Page. First of all, The New York Times put out an article with no direct sources that said that the Trump campaign had constant contacts with Russian spies, basically, you know, some treasonous type of accusations.

At least eight of his closest associates have had improper contact with Russian Federation: reports in the New York Times disclosed that between 2007 and 2012 Paul Manafort, Trump’s original campaign adviser, received more than $12 million in secret payments from a Putin ally in Ukraine.

“In the Newsmax piece, Trump states, “.and I’ve had a sort of a semi-nice relationship with Putin”.

“I have nothing to do with Russian Federation”.

Since then it’s come to light that at least five members of his team talked with Russian officials during the 2016 United States presidential campaign.

Sessions reversed course last week and acknowledged that he had spoken with Kislyak once at the Republican National Convention last July and again at a meeting in his Senate office in September in the presence of his Senate staff. CNN reported that President Vladimir Putin’s deputy spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, made the following lukewarm comment about the USA president about a week ago: “We have heard various statements by President Trump”.

Trump hinted he favored a warming of relations with Russian Federation in the speech, saying improved ties with Russian Federation – “from a position of strength only – is possible, absolutely possible”.

A White House official today said that the Russian ambassador did not attend the speech at Trump’s invitation and that the Trump team was not responsible for inviting or vetting guests. The Russian Foreign Ministry denied the claim somewhat emotionally: “Oh my God … shameful … fake news”.

What we are left with is a still-vital need to know just what exactly the Russians did in our 2016 elections. Haven’t made a phone call to Russian Federation in years, ‘ he said. White House officials and leaders of the GOP-controlled House and Senate say an ongoing FBI investigation and oversight by congressional committees are sufficient. However, after last week’s Washington Post report revealing that the head of the Justice Department, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, had not disclosed his contact a year ago with the Russian ambassador, it further complicated that plan.

Trump has been in an open war with U.S. intelligence.