Trump and Putin strike a deal
It's not enough anymore for Trump to just deny reality. Now he wants to rewrite it so that officials from then-President Barack Obama's administration who correctly identified the 2016 Russian interference are pursued in criminal investigations just for doing their duties.
This inversion of justice and intelligence acts as some kind of balm for Trump's constant state of irritated grievance. And it presents an obligatory abdication of truth for Republicans in Congress who now swallow and regurgitate his lies about 2016.
Opinion: Midterms are more than a year away, but Trump is already challenging them
Trump's only win around Russia is obedient silence
That obedient silence about 2016 from Republicans was really the only win Trump logged in Alaska while meeting with Putin about Russia's unjust invasion of Ukraine. Just consider how Republicans in Congress have contorted on this.
Trump, standing next to Putin at a news conference in Helsinki in 2018, embraced the Russian president's denials about the 2016 election meddling and rejected the assessment from America's intelligence agencies. It was a strikingly shameful moment from his first term, which had no shortage of shameful moments.
Republicans swiftly rebuked Trump, including Marco Rubio, then a senator from Florida, for siding with Putin over America. A bipartisan backlash prompted a rare walk-back from Trump, who, a day later, was forced to say: "I accept our intelligence community's conclusion that Russia's meddling in the 2016 election took place."
Opinion newsletter: Sign up for our newsletter on people, power and policies in the time of Trump from columnist Chris Brennan. Get it delivered to your inbox.
That was Trump, seven years ago, grudgingly accepting what was obviously true. But now he wants you to forget what he claimed to accept and see it all not just as a "hoax" but as a criminal conspiracy against him.
We have to take that sort of nonsense seriously because, unlike Trump's first term, his second administration is politically populated with people who would never dissuade him from his worst impulses. This time around, they're jostling to be first in line to amplify those impulses.
Trump and Putin are old hands at rewriting history
Rubio, now Trump's secretary of State, was in the front row for the Trump-Putin news conference on Friday, Aug. 15. He clearly no longer has a problem with Trump lying about Russia and 2016. Congressional Republicans kept quiet about it this time, too.
In Trump's twisted history, his first term was unfairly hobbled by the investigations of election interference, which he again called "the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax" during the Alaska meeting with Putin.
"He knew it was a hoax, and I knew it was a hoax," Trump said as Putin beamed beside him. "But what was done was very criminal, but it made it harder for us to deal as a country, in terms of the business, and all of the things that we'd like to have dealt with, but we'll have a good chance when this is over."
Hear the shift there? Trump is saying that attention paid to what Russia did in 2016, when Putin clearly favored him over Hillary Clinton as America's next president, is an abuse aimed at him that needs to be prosecuted.
That is the shoddy foundation for Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's director of national intelligence, making the easily debunked claim in July that Obama's administration "manufactured" intelligence about the 2016 election interference, which she handed off to Attorney General Pam Bondi in a criminal referral.
Opinion: Gabbard yells 'Russia hoax' to distract MAGA from Epstein for Trump. It won't last.
Bondi has set a grand jury in motion on that, not because it serves justice but because it complies with the false narrative Trump and Putin are still pushing.
Rubio may be on board with Trump's push for senseless prosecutions to rewrite our history. But his own Senate history is still around for us to read. His party controlled the Senate in 2020 and he was acting chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, issuing a report in August of that year that cited "irrefutable evidence of Russian meddling" in the 2016 election.
Special counsel Robert Mueller, appointed by Trump's first attorney general, issued a 2019 report that confirmed the Russian election interference was driven by Putin's desire for Trump to beat Clinton in 2016.
Putin declared that in public in 2018, standing next to Trump in Helsinki, saying he thought a Trump presidency would be better for Russia.
That turned out to be true. And it might be the only time we hear Putin speak truth, as Trump tries to erase the history of 2016 and replace it with a fabrication that he and Putin prefer.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Translating Politics, here.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BreakingNews.ie
a few seconds ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Nato defence chiefs hold virtual meeting on Ukraine security guarantees
Nato defence chiefs are due to hold a virtual meeting, a senior alliance official said, as countries pushing for an end to Russia's war on Ukraine devise possible future security guarantees for Kyiv that could help forge a peace agreement. Italian admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chair of Nato's Military Committee, said that 32 defence chiefs from across the alliance would hold a video conference as a US-led diplomatic push seeks to end the fighting. Advertisement US general Alexus Grynkewich, Nato's supreme allied commander in Europe, will take part in the talks, Mr Dragone said on social platform X. US president Donald Trump met last Friday with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska, and on Monday hosted Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and prominent European leaders at the White House. Neither meeting delivered concrete progress. Last night, a drone strike on Okhtyrka in the Sumy region injured 14 people. A family with wounded children – 5 months, 4 years, and 6 years old – sought assistance after the attack. In Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, a glide bomb strike damaged five apartment buildings, and at… — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 20, 2025 Mr Trump is trying to steer Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky towards a settlement more than three years after Russia invaded its neighbour, but there are major obstacles. Advertisement They include Ukraine's demands for Western-backed military assurances to ensure Russia will not mount another invasion in coming years. 'We need strong security guarantees to ensure a truly secure and lasting peace,' Mr Zelensky said in a Telegram post on Wednesday after Russian missile and drone strikes hit six regions of Ukraine overnight. Kyiv's European allies are looking to set up a force that could backstop any peace agreement, and a coalition of 30 countries, including European nations, Japan and Australia, have signed up to support the initiative. Military chiefs are figuring out how that security force might work. The role that the US might play in is unclear. Mr Trump has ruled out sending US troops to help defend Ukraine against Russia. Advertisement Russia has repeatedly said that it would not accept Nato troops in Ukraine. Attacks on civilian areas in Sumy and Odesa overnight into Wednesday injured 15 people, including a family with three small children, Ukrainian authorities said. Mr Zelensky said the strikes 'only confirm the need for pressure on Moscow, the need to introduce new sanctions and tariffs until diplomacy works to its full potential'.
BreakingNews.ie
a few seconds ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Musk quietly puts brakes on plans for new political party
Billionaire Elon Musk is quietly putting the brakes on plans to start his new political party, telling allies he wants to focus on his companies, The Wall Street Journal said on Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the plans. Mr Musk, without commenting further on the report, said in an X post: "Nothing @WSJ says should ever be thought of as true." Advertisement Mr Musk, the world's richest man, unveiled the 'America Party' in July after a public dispute with president Donald Trump on the tax cut and spending bill. He has recently been focused in part on maintaining ties with US vice president JD Vance, the paper said, and has acknowledged to associates that forming a political party would damage his relationship with Mr Vance. Mr Musk, the world's richest man, and his associates have told people close to Mr Vance that the billionaire is considering using some of his financial resources to back Mr Vance if he decides to run for president in 2028, the paper said. The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX spent nearly $300 million (€256 million) in 2024 to help Mr Trump and other Republicans get elected, exerting enormous influence in the first few weeks of Mr Trump's term as head of newly created efficiency department DOGE. Advertisement Elon Musk is reportedly considering backing US vice president JD Vance if he decides to run for president in 2028. Photo:Reuters could not immediately verify the Journal report. Tesla and the White House did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside regular business hours. Mr Vance, who had called for a truce following Mr Musk's all-public feud with Mr Trump, reaffirmed his position this month and said he had asked Mr Musk to return to the Republican fold. Tesla shares are down more than 18 per cent this year after it posted in July its worst quarterly sales decline in more than a decade and profit that missed Wall Street targets, though its profit margin was better than many had feared. Mr Musk also warned of "a few rough quarters" after the end of support for electric vehicles by the Trump administration. Investors worry whether he will be able to devote enough time and attention to Tesla after locking horns with Mr Trump over his ambitions for a new political party.
The Guardian
a few seconds ago
- The Guardian
National intelligence director strips security clearances from 37 current and former national security officials
Update: Date: 2025-08-20T09:47:51.000Z Title: Gabbard strips security clearance from dozens of intelligence officials Content: Good morning and welcome to the US politics live blog. I'm Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours. We start with news that national intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard said on Tuesday that she had stripped security clearances from 37 current and former national security officials, including some who worked on the intelligence community's assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. In a memo posted on X, Gabbard accused the targeted individuals of having engaged in 'politicizing and manipulating intelligence, leaking classified intelligence without authorization, and/or committing intentional egregious violations of tradecraft standards'. This move is the latest in a series of retributions by the Trump administration against national security officials and political opponents he views as adversaries. 'These are unlawful and unconstitutional decisions that deviate from well-settled, decades-old laws and policies that sought to protect against just this type of action,' Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer whose own clearance was revoked by the Trump administration, said in a statement. He called it hypocritical for the administration to 'claim these individuals politicized or weaponized intelligence.' In March, Trump revoked security clearances for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and several other Democrats and critics. The order also stripped access from former secretary of state Antony Blinken, former representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, New York attorney general Letitia James – who prosecuted Trump for fraud – and Biden's entire family. In other developments: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it will open a new migrant detention facility in Nebraska as part of President Trump's ongoing efforts to bolster Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (Ice) detention network. The facility, located in the southwest part of the state, has been called 'Cornhusker Clink' by the department and will hold undocumented migrants arrested by Ice. The project is a partnership between the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services and Ice, adding up to 280 new detention beds. National guard members from West Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana began arriving in Washington on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports, to help with President Donald Trump's federal crackdown on crime and homelessness. The Joint Task Force District of Columbia, the military unit overseeing the Guard, told the news wire that those troops will perform similar duties to local Guard members already on the streets. These tasks include protecting landmarks and crowd control. The White House launched an official TikTok account, joining the social platform with more than 150 million US users. Reuters first reported the move. The first video posted by the White House on TikTok shows a video montage with a Trump voiceover saying: 'Every day I wake up determined to deliver a better life for the people all across this nation. I am your voice.' More here. Texas Democrats are tearing up the 'permission slips' they signed in order to leave the chamber, joining state representative Nicole Collier ahead of Wednesday's vote on the controversial Texas congressional redistricting maps. The slips are part of new surveillance protocols set by Texas Republicans in the House chamber, stating that Democrats would 'be granted written permission to leave only after agreeing to be released into the custody of a designated [Texas department of public safety] officer' who would ensure their return to the chamber. Federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into allegations that Washington DC police systematically manipulated crime statistics to make the city appear safer than it actually is. The probe, anonymous sources tell the Washington Post, NBC News and Fox News, being conducted by the US attorney's office for the District of Columbia under Jeanine Pirro, is the latest escalation between the Trump administration and DC officials over federal control of local policing. More here. The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it will look for 'anti-American' views, including on social media, when assessing the applications of people wanting to live in the United States. In an announcement, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which handles requests to stay in the United States or become a citizen, said it would expand vetting of the social media postings of applicants and that 'reviews for anti-American activity will be added to that vetting'. More here.
