rooster59 Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Concern in White House over intelligence chief's Russian summit surprise By Steve Holland and Doina Chiacu U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin shake hands as they meet in Helsinki, Finland July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque WASHINGTON (Reuters) - While U.S. President Donald Trump defended his efforts to build a relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, aides said on Friday there is some frustration that the U.S. intelligence chief did not know about plans for a second summit and they hope that meeting will follow a more traditional pattern. Since Monday's summit and joint news conference in Helsinki, Trump and his aides have been trying to control the damage done when he stunned the world by siding with Putin over U.S. intelligence agencies on the question of Moscow's meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. The U.S. director of national intelligence Dan Coats, who on Monday immediately defended intelligence personnel on the election issue, expressed surprise at Trump's invitation on Thursday to Putin to visit Washington in the autumn. Coats was on camera while at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado when news broke of the invitation, clearly taking him aback. He advised against a one-on-one meeting with Putin, saying he "would look for a different way of doing it." If Coats had been in Washington instead of the conference, he would have been informed about the plan, one source familiar with the inner workings of the White House said on condition of anonymity. "That DNI Coats was surprised, and his fanciful reaction, is what is most alarming to people," the source said. Some in Trump's inner circle saw the Helsinki summit as problematic for the president and that he looked weak, another source close to Trump said, as he missed a chance to show strength in dealing with Putin by confronting him about the election interference. In a CNBC interview broadcast on Friday, Trump said he and Putin had a rapport in Helsinki. U.S. intelligence agencies accuse Putin of directing interference to sway the election against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton toward Republican Trump. "Look, the fact is we got along well," Trump said in the interview, which was taped on Thursday. He added that the two did not agree on everything. "It wasn't always conciliatory in that meeting," he said, without elaborating. Five days after the two-hour Helsinki meeting, attended only by the two leaders and their interpreters, some U.S. officials remained in the dark about what was discussed. On Twitter, Trump listed topics he and Putin talked about, but gave no details. He said they discussed counterterrorism, Israel's security, nuclear proliferation, cyber attacks, trade, Ukraine, Middle East peace and North Korea. There are hopes inside the administration that the next summit will be more traditional, with U.S. and Russian negotiators meeting ahead of time to set up an agenda and try to reach agreement on some issues. One official, asked if the reaction to Helsinki would be a more organized process, said this is often how the White House operates. Another official said aides thought a proper procedure had been put in place for Helsinki, but it did not work out. SYRIA, UKRAINE As Americans groped for information about the meeting, Moscow offered snippets of its version on Friday. Russia's Defense Ministry said it sent detailed proposals to Washington on organizing the return of more than 1.7 million refugees to Syria after agreements reached by Putin and Trump, RIA news agency said. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters at the United Nations later that Trump and Putin discussed how to return refugees who fled the civil war in Syria, but offered no details and did not mention any Russian proposals. Russia's Interfax news agency reported that Putin also made proposals to Trump involving eastern Ukraine, citing Russia's ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov. He did not spell out what they were. A White House National Security Council spokesman said later the United States on Friday rejected a proposal from Russia for a referendum to decide the fate of eastern Ukraine. The Russian ambassador said Moscow is ready to discuss a proposed new meeting between Putin and Trump, Interfax said. Putin has rejected accusations that his government meddled in the election won by Trump. A week ago, a federal grand jury indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers for carrying out cyber attacks to undermine Democratic Party networks. A special counsel is also investigating whether Trump campaign aides coordinated with Russian officials, which Trump denies. U.S. intelligence officials have said Moscow is targeting congressional elections in November, as well. A Microsoft Corp executive said on Thursday at the Colorado conference that Russian hackers have targeted at least three candidates running in November. The company found evidence of a fake Microsoft site being used for phishing attacks and was able to take down the page and hackers did not get in, said Tom Burt, vice president of customer security. Burt declined to identify the candidates. -- © Copyright Reuters 2018-07-21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtls2005 Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Good luck trying to fire Dan Coats. And Rod Rosenstein for that matter. Those ships have sailed. Besides, if you're not a witch what do you have to worry about? Coats laughing at Trump live was priceless, as was Rosenstein's standing-O at the same security conference. Very few ways out for President Biff Tannen. Doc fire up the DeLorean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klauskunkel Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 2 hours ago, rooster59 said: "Look, the fact is we got along well," Trump said "I rolled over, he scratched my belly and then I fetched his newspaper for him." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirineou Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 2 hours ago, rooster59 said: If Coats had been in Washington instead of the conference, he would have been informed about the plan, one source familiar with the inner workings of the White House said on condition of anonymity. Shouldn't have waited for him to return and ask his opinion then . If the decision to invite Putin was in the interest of the USA then couldn't have waited a day until he returned, or was the decision made in the interest of Trump? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destiny1990 Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Why he needs public-ally condemning The Russians for any Meddling? He and The Russians are in the same team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srikcir Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 4 hours ago, rooster59 said: If Coats had been in Washington instead of the conference, he would have been informed about the plan Yep, there was no way to contact Coats. Never heard of mobile phones. Yet, Trump had no problem firing Comey when Comey was in Los Angeles by a hand delivered letter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tug Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Did our Donald do a spur of the moment idea you know mouth before brain?Did he consult his advisors to see if it was a good idea?I think not after all he is a condo salesman a flackery contractor he is much more qualified than anyone who worked in intelligence or any of the leaders tempered by experience that’s our Donald!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liberty9133 Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Trump is President and as such has no responsibility to inform anyone of his actions and thoughts, much less an employee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolboy Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 3 minutes ago, liberty9133 said: Trump is President and as such has no responsibility to inform anyone of his actions and thoughts, much less an employee. Like Trump you think of government workers as his employees. They're not. That's why an Attorney General isn't supposed to run interference for the personal benefit of the President. And we can see from the fiasco that was Trump's Singapore summit how unwise it is for any President to make snap decisions. But you're right. Trump is under no legal obligation to avoid doing stupid things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opl Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 13 minutes ago, liberty9133 said: Trump is President and as such has no responsibility to inform anyone of his actions and thoughts, much less an employee. Do you sometimes question what Trump does, says, tells, or do you believe Trump is always right because Trump needs your support to be unconditional? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liberty9133 Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 2 minutes ago, Opl said: Do you sometimes question what Trump does, says, tells, or do you believe Trump is always right because Trump needs your support to be unconditional? So, you like the Establishment Globalists? When your freedoms are gone, let me know,if you can, how that works for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirineou Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 4 minutes ago, liberty9133 said: So, you like the Establishment Globalists? When your freedoms are gone, let me know,if you can, how that works for you. How does one go from " has no responsibility to inform anyone of his actions " to "So, you like the Establishment Globalists? " ?? please don't reply, but Hillary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolboy Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 9 minutes ago, liberty9133 said: So, you like the Establishment Globalists? When your freedoms are gone, let me know,if you can, how that works for you. 12 minutes ago, Opl said: Do you sometimes question what Trump does, says, tells, or do you believe Trump is always right because Trump needs your support to be unconditional? I guess his answer to that is a big "YES". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirineou Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 1 minute ago, bristolboy said: I guess his answer to that is a big "YES". But in Trump talk YES could also mean NO , Would can also mean Wouldn't , and Putin's ideat to question US officials goes from "GREAT!!" one day to "I don't support it " the next . ~ LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opl Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 15 minutes ago, sirineou said: But in Trump talk YES could also mean NO , Would can also mean Wouldn't , and Putin's ideat to question US officials goes from "GREAT!!" one day to "I don't support it " the next . ~ LOL It's not an issue for a stable genius to tell alternative truths depending on the circumstances and the person he is speaking to. Gordon Bonnet @TalesOfWhoa Next time I'm late for work, I'm going to tell my boss that I'm not late, that I used an "alternative clock." #AlternativeFacts 20:26 - 22 janv. 2017 Nancy Wilson @nancydawn4041 Next time I get pulled over by the cops, I am going to tell them I was going the alternative speed limit. Thanks KAC! #alternativefacts. 19:03 - 22 janv. 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomacht8 Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 46 minutes ago, liberty9133 said: Trump is President and as such has no responsibility to inform anyone of his actions and thoughts, much less an employee. Yeah one country - one Führer Donny Boy knows everthing better. Teamwork, knowledge sharing, expertise, subject areas, all modern management garbage or what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trouble Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 The issues in the news cycles over the last few days are really meaningless. Yes, Trump misspoke at the news conference and I did watch the whole thing. Can't say I am loosing any sleep over it. Trump has said on any number of occasions that he believes the intelligence agencies with regard to the election meddling issue. How many times must he say it. His waffling on the issue is because he views the collusion issue and the meddling issue as two separate issues but the left keeps the two tied together. In effect, is the Mueller investigation a criminal investigation or a counterintelligence investigation? The would be normally handled quite differently. Seems to many like it has all gotten greatly confused not only by the press but by Mueller himself. And of course the confusing of criminal vs. counterintelligence leads to confusion as to what Mueller is actually investigating. With the overall narrative a bit confusing to everyone, Trump tends to reject the whole investigation as a witch-hunt as he rejects the overall narrative of collusion. The Mueller investigation seems to have grown out of the collusion issue but after 1 1/2 years not one indictment regarding collusion, which in itself is not a crime. His indictment of the Russians is just show. It's, of course, going nowhere. Of course Mueller could go to trial to convince a judge to convict them but then he would have to reveal more information than surely the intelligence community would want him to do. It's a catch 22 for Mueller. No one knows what Trump and Putin talked about in private. As far as I know, no one but the attendees of the meetings know what was specifically discussed in the private meeting or the broader attended meeting. We only know what was said at the press conference with the quite stupid questions asked by the press corps. So what if Trump wants to invite Putin to Washington for another meeting. Is it really relevant that Trump gets approval or notifies the intelligence agencies first. Is inviting Putin for another meeting a security threat? No. The President gets intelligence briefings daily. It's just the media trying to keep things in the news. If Coats was miffed about not being informed first, too bad, it wasn't his decision to make. Personally, I would be happier if Trump didn't tweet, give news conferences, and would cut down the White House briefings to once a week or less. Honestly, it might even be better to just make news releases and get the news vultures out of the White House altogether. Most of the news these days is not news but meaningless drivel to keep people tuned in to cable news, which does nothing but repeat the same stories every hour with a different host and their phony panels of paid contributors. What I would not give to have a Walter Cronkite, and others like him, back for their nightly newscast instead of the endless news from the cable news circus. Thank God, I have a life outside of Cable TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opl Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 ( sorry, I can't manage to remove the colour) "Vladimir Putin Set a Trap for Robert Mueller in His Press Conference with Donald Trump. It was a calculated attempt to pull the Mueller investigation onto a playing field that Putin can control. This, at least, is the roadmap Putin laid out during his press conference on Monday with President Donald Trump, who referred to it as an “incredible offer. Here’s roughly how the Russian leader would like things to unfold:” http://time.com/5340695/putin-trump-press-conference-robert-mueller-russia/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wayned Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 I think that it was a setup. He said that he had talked to Washington 15 minutes before the interview and nothing was said. I expect that Trump was watching the interview and had Sanders send the tweet during the discussion to see his response and be able to use it against him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtls2005 Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 44 minutes ago, wayned said: I think that it was a setup. He said that he had talked to Washington 15 minutes before the interview and nothing was said. I expect that Trump was watching the interview and had Sanders send the tweet during the discussion to see his response and be able to use it against him. Meh. This makes Trump seem like a chess player when he continues to just eat his checkers. And even if it was a "set-up", what exactly did he "set-up"? And Mueller is NOT going to fall for Putin's machinations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neeray Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 If Coats had been in Washington instead of the conference, he would have been informed about the plan, one source familiar with the inner workings of the White House said on condition of anonymity. What a stupid freaking statement to make in this age of digital communications ! This "source" is quite obviously a Trump brown noser. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srikcir Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 3 hours ago, wayned said: He said that he had talked to Washington 15 minutes before the interview and nothing was said. I thought I had heard the same comment. But I couldn't find any confirmation about such a call or any call from the White House to Coats just prior to his interview. Such alleged call was not mentioned by any major news media. Even if Coats had such a call I'm not sure what "talked to Washington" means. Not the "White House," not the President's Office, etc. Of course "Washington" is the center of US government agencies including Coats' own office and headquarters for the US intelligence agencies. If Coats did get a call from the White House, I'd expect him to say so. I do agree that Coats was set up to check his loyalty to Trump by Trump's surprise announcement while Coats was on stage. Immediately afterwards Trump's senior advisors called for Coats to resign. For too quickly to not have been planned in advanced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tumama Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 As a European I fully support the return of Syrian refugees. That alone is worth that so called summit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Credo Posted July 22, 2018 Share Posted July 22, 2018 7 hours ago, tumama said: As a European I fully support the return of Syrian refugees. That alone is worth that so called summit. Well let's see if Assad will agree to it and if the refugees will agree to it. Let's also see how many who Assad views as foes are not persecuted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtls2005 Posted July 23, 2018 Share Posted July 23, 2018 18 hours ago, tumama said: As a European I fully support the return of Syrian refugees. That alone is worth that so called summit. It will likely include returning Syrian refugees from the U.S., all eighteen (18) of them. Thank you for your full support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncc1701d Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 On 7/21/2018 at 1:12 PM, mtls2005 said: Very few ways out for President Biff Tannen. Doc fire up the DeLorean. Post of the year ? "Concern in White House over intelligence" - fixed the headline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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