Blimey, no holding back from Senator Jeff Merkley this week. The Oregon-based official went in hell-for-leather during his appearance at the Foreign Relations Committee, and asked some incredibly direct questions about President Trump.
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Is President Trump a Russian asset? US Senator pops the question
While grilling nominees put forward by POTUS for plumb government jobs, Merkley raised the possibility of Donald Trump actually serving as a Russian asset. Reports emerged last week claiming that the Kremlin had wooed the president some decades ago.
The Senator listed all the ways in which, he believes, President Trump may be acting in the best interests of Russia, and not the United States. He raised five actions taken by the head of state that could be perceived as those taken by an asset:
“Is President Trump a Russian asset? People back home have been asking me this question, saying, if he was a Russian asset we would see exactly what he’s doing now. For example, he’s sharing Russian propaganda that Ukraine started the war.”
“He says That Zelenskyy is a dictator. He has cut-off arm shipments to Ukraine, undermined the partnership with Europe. Discredits Zelenskyy on the international stage. What else could a Russia asset possibly do that Trump hasn’t done?” | Jeff Merkley
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Giving his right of reply, former US Ambassador to Mexico Christopher Landau went into bat for President Trump. He completely avoided the question, and instead chose to simply praise him as a ‘gifted dealmaker’. Merkley wasn’t so convinced…
“No, he is not a Russian asset. He is an elected official. President Trump is an exceptionally gifted dealmaker. His top priority is to end this savage war. He is probably the only individual in the entire universe that could actually stop this.” | Christopher Landau