Trump's allegiance is clearly with Russia.
Trump's joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday disintegrated into a stunning display of what some are calling treason when Trump essentially announced to the world that he believes Putin over his own American intelligence community.
Trump was pressed specifically about the overwhelming evidence that Russia not only launched a massive campaign to attack the 2016 election in the U.S., but that Russia did it to help Trump get elected.
Trump, standing next to man who basically oversaw the attack on the United States, forcefully sided with his Kremlin ally.
"I have great confidence in my intelligence people. But I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today," said Trump, clearly signaling that a hollow denial from Putin carries more weight than exhaustive research and investigation by the entire U.S. intelligence community.
Trump's stunning embrace of Putin comes just three days after 12 Russian intelligence officers were indicted for a computer hacking conspiracy to steal private Democratic communications and publicize them to damage Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Trump then praised Putin for offering to "help" investigate Russia's attack on the U.S. election.
"What he did was make an incredible offer," Trump said. "He offered to have the people working on the case cover and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people. I think that's a really incredible offer."
Trump's treasonous meltdown, which included a rambling dialogue about Hillary Clinton's emails, produced guffaws among American journalists:
Putin, a former KGB spy chief, has a pretty good poker face. BUT even he looks like he can't believe his luck, as Trump stands next to him, on foreign soil, and trashes his own intelligence agencies, and repeatedly praises Russia.
— Ashley Parker (@AshleyRParker) July 16, 2018
Just prior to the summit, Trump trashed America overseas, a narrative the Russian press gleefully echoed.
With his stunning comments on Monday, Trump seemed to confirm his long-held belief that if Putin denies attacking the U.S., Trump is powerless to do anything about it.
“What am I going to do?” Trump asked incredulously last week. “He may deny it, it’s one of those things. All I can do is say ‘Did you?’ and ‘Don’t do it again,’ but he may deny — you’ll be the first to know, OK?”
The two men met alone, with no one else present other than interpreters, for more than two hours.
If Trump is willing to so aggressively cover for Putin in public, as he did Monday at the press conference, imagine what he's telling Putin in private.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
