{"id":52021,"date":"2017-11-13T04:44:36","date_gmt":"2017-11-13T04:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=52021"},"modified":"2017-11-13T04:44:36","modified_gmt":"2017-11-13T04:44:36","slug":"donald-trump-being-played-by-putin-on-us-election-meddling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/donald-trump-being-played-by-putin-on-us-election-meddling.html","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump being ‘played’ by Putin on US election meddling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump being ‘played’ by Putin on US election meddling<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Donald Trump being ‘played’ by Putin on US election meddling:- UNITED States President Donald Trump has been slammed for giving Vladimir Putin a free pass amid claims he is being \u2018played\u2019 by the Russian leader, critics argue.<\/span><\/p>\n

Intelligence officials have also questioned whether Mr Putin was manipulating his US counterpart with flattery during the President\u2019s trip to Asia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Trump\u2019s trip, which is focusing on trade and the North Korean crisis, has seen him dogged by the continuing investigation into Russian interference in last year\u2019s presidential election.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said he believes both the US intelligence agencies when they say Russia meddled and Mr Putin\u2019s sincerity in claiming that his country did not.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that he feels that he and Russia did not meddle in the election,\u201d Mr Trump said in Hanoi, Vietnam. \u201cAs to whether I believe it, I\u2019m with our agencies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs currently led by fine people, I believe very much in our intelligence agencies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However in a barrage of tweets, the President criticised the haters and fools who questioned his effort to improve ties with Moscow.<\/span><\/p>\n

His comments come just one day after he lashed out at the former heads of the US intelligence agencies, dismissing them as \u201cpolitical hacks\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Trump also claims there were plenty of reasons to be suspicious of their findings that Russia meddled to help him defeat Democrat opponent Hillary Clinton.<\/span><\/p>\n

Appearing on CNN\u2019s State of the Union on Sunday with former national intelligence director James Clapper, former CIA director John Brennan said Mr Trump was deriding them in an attempt to \u201cdelegitimise\u201d the intelligence community\u2019s assessment.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think Mr Putin is very clever in terms of playing to Mr Trump\u2019s interest in being flattered,\u201d Mr Brennan said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd also I think Mr Trump is, for whatever reason, either intimidated by Mr Putin, afraid of what he could do or what might come out as a result of these investigations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Clapper called the threat from Russia \u201cmanifest and obvious\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo try to paint it in any other way is, I think, astounding and, in fact, poses a peril to this country,\u201d he told CNN.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Brennan said the President\u2019s ambiguity on Russia\u2019s involvement was \u201cvery, very worrisome from a national security standpoint\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s giving Putin a pass and I think it demonstrates to Putin that Donald Trump can be played by foreign leaders who are going to appeal to his ego and play upon his securities,\u201d Mr Brennan said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Trump has been plagued by questions since January about whether he believed there had been Russian meddling in the election and if he accepted that Russia was behind last year\u2019s hacking of Democratic officials that roiled the White House race.<\/span><\/p>\n

A special counsel\u2019s examination of potential collusion between Moscow and Trump aides involved in the election win so far has led to indictments against Mr Trump\u2019s former campaign chairman and another top aide \u2014 for crimes unrelated to the campaign \u2014 and a guilty plea from a Trump foreign policy adviser for lying to the FBI.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Trump told reporters travelling with him to Hanoi on Saturday that Mr Putin had again vehemently denied the allegations.<\/span><\/p>\n

The two spoke during an economic conference in Danang, Vietnam and Mr Trump danced around questions about whether he believed Mr Putin but stressed his denials.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time he sees me, he says: \u2018I didn\u2019t do that\u2019. And I believe \u2014 I really believe \u2014 that when he tells me that, he means it,\u201d Mr Trump said.<\/span><\/p>\n

He also argued that it made no sense for him to push the matter when Russia could help the US on North Korea, Syria and other pressing issues.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Trump also pointed to sanctions the US had imposed on Russia as punishment for election meddling.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey were sanctioned at a very high level, and that took place very recently,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s now time to get back to healing a world that is shattered and broken.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018AMERICA FIRST?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

In a stinging rebuke US Senator John McCain, a strong critic of the President, said it was clear the Russian President didn\u2019t have America\u2019s best interests at heart.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr McCain also said the view was not only naive but also put the country\u2019s security at risk.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing \u201cAmerica First\u201d about taking the word of a KGB colonel over US intelligence community,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no \u2018principled realism\u2019 in co-operating with Russia to prop up the murderous Assad regime. To believe otherwise is naive and places national security at risk.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/www.news.com.au\/finance\/work\/leaders\/donald-trump-being-played-by-putin-on-us-election-meddling\/news-story\/500b2aba1d04cfa9516f6038b31cc31e<\/span><\/p>\n

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