Ties with Russia Donald trump appeared in the 1980-ies, but the immediate causes of the recent crisis in the White house are rooted in the April visit of Secretary of state Rex Tillerson in Moscow.
It was the first visit by a senior representative of the management of trump in the Russian capital, and he was burdened by the baggage of the past. As President, Tillerson was at the center of attention because of their former ties with the Russian authorities.
As head of ExxonMobil, Tillerson maintained extensive contacts with the Kremlin, including Vladimir Putin, who personally awarded him the order of Friendship. But after the arrival of trump and Tillerson to power the long-awaited “reset” with Moscow has not happened.
No sanctions were canceled, and on 6 April, i.e., six days prior to arrival Tillerson in Russia, the United States launched a missile attack on the Syrian air base, which, in their opinion, the Syrians carried out an aerial attack using chemical weapons, and which are placed on the Russian military.
As usual, the Kremlin only at the last moment confirmed that Putin will Tillerson. However, the Secretary of state called this meeting, which took place late in the evening, “productive”, despite the “low level of trust between our two countries.”
The result of this meeting was the ill-fated return visit of the Russian Minister of foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov in the White house, which took place on may 10. Lavrov was in Washington four years, i.e. since the US imposed sanctions against Russia over the annexation of Crimea and covert military actions in Eastern Ukraine.
Usually in meetings of the Russian Minister of foreign Affairs with the American President is not anything extraordinary. Earlier, Lavrov met with Barack Obama in the White house. But today we have a very unusual time. The day before the visit, the President dismissed the Director of the FBI James Komi Republic, making it at a time when the Bureau is conducting an investigation of possible collusion between the electoral headquarters of the trump and Moscow.
The holding of official meetings with high-ranking Russian leader after such an extraordinary step shows complete indifference to how it will look, regardless of the content of the conversation. But American officials have indicated Tillerson meeting in the Kremlin and stated that in this case it was necessary reciprocity. But this does not explain the presence of the Russian Ambassador Kislyak, who became the Central figure of the investigation against Russia. His contacts with the former trump’s assistant for national security Michael Flynn eventually led to the resignation of the latter.
At a meeting in the oval office was also attended by a successor to Flynn Herbert McMaster, Deputy Dina Powell (Dina Powell) and Tillerson. American journalists was not allowed to meet, unlike their Russian colleagues that it turned out. Russian state news Agency TASS published very quickly caused the scandal pictures of trump, Lavrov and Kislyak that smile and obviously share jokes — just at the moment when the American special services have accused Russia of meddling in the elections of the American President, a few days before the meeting at the White house also accused her of meddling in the French presidential elections. Officials from the White house later said that the Russian delegation has misled them and they didn’t know what the official photographer Lavrov also works in TASS.
As soon as those pictures showed, former intelligence officers worried talking about the fact that Russian was allowed in the Oval office with electronic equipment, which is why it can be vulnerable to eavesdropping. As it turned out, the President voluntarily shared information with the Russians, which has caused a storm.
On Monday evening the Washington Post reported that trump was discussing with the Russians the top secret information obtained by intelligence of the allied States. It was about a terrorist threat from the “Islamic state” (banned in Russia organization — approx. TRANS.), which is intended to use laptops on Board aircraft.
Among those present in the office of heads of security services and counter-terrorism organizations such disclosure, immediately caused great concern. Adviser to the President on combating terrorism Tom Bossert (Bossert Tom) immediately called in the NSA and the CIA to warn them. According to McMaster, he did so “to be safe”.
© REUTERS, Jonathan ErnstТелевизионный report on a recent meeting of US President Donald trump with the Minister of foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov
The white house has sent McMaster and Tillerson disprove the message, insisting that the President did not say anything about the “sources, methods of intelligence and military operations”.
On Monday evening reporters the White house reported that they heard a lively debate behind closed doors because members of the administration again switched to emergency mode in order to eliminate the negative effects.
But by Tuesday morning trump nullified all attempts by his aides to justify his actions. He did it with a pair of tweets published after seven in the morning.
“As President, I wanted (a pre-planned and a well-known meeting in the White house) to share with Russia the facts related to terrorism and flight safety airlines, to which I am entitled. Humanitarian reasons, and plus, I want Russia seriously stepped up its fight against ISIL and terrorism,” wrote the President.
This is an incredible confirmation of published messages has sparked new White house attempts to calm the situation. McMaster was sent back to answer questions about his rebuttal, made the day before, relate to the recognition of the President.
The original premise of this story is about, he said, because the President has the right to share that information, which he wants to share. And disclosure of the information in the course of conversation “was appropriate”. McMaster focused on the damage the leaks caused national security. But in so doing, he did not dispute the key points from the report of the Washington Post disclosure of the information that she received from abroad, the call of the Bossert in the NSA and the CIA, and that the trump called the city, which were collected intelligence information, jeopardizing secret source.
Attempts are poorly informed and confused officials to extinguish the fire caused by trump’s relations with Moscow, once again added fuel to the fire.
