WILL THE REPORT ON TRUMP’S “COMPROMISED ACTIVITIES” BE LEAKED TO THE MEDIA?



…Trump’s Secretary of State nominee, Rex Tillerson

 

Trump always denies all negatives comments against him or his businesses, regardless of their truthfulness.

 

A classified report delivered to President Obama and President-elect Donald Trump included a section summarizing allegations that Russian intelligence services have compromising material and information on Trump’s personal life and finances, US officials have reported.

 

Trump, however, obviously replied Tuesday night in his normal fashion with a Tweet declaring: “FAKE NEWS - A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!”  Of course, what else would you expect but an all-caps tweet as a classic Donald Trump response.

 

OK, but is what was in the report for real?

 

The intelligence officials said that US agencies have not corroborated these allegations, but they do believe that the sources involved in the reporting were credible enough to warrant inclusion of their claims in the highly classified report on Russian interference in the US presidential campaign.

 

What is so glaringly obvious is that any foreigner with the reputation of a billionaire American as visible as Donald J. Trump, what has been reported is that Trump has visited Moscow multiple times in the past.  These visits were for both the Miss Universe Competition, and he has been in Russia multiple times for attempting to obtain approval for his building a luxury hotel in downtown Moscow.

 

What is now only becoming apparent is that during these visit, it is normal in Russia today, for the Foreign Intelligence Service to assign a team to follow any high-level American when they visit the country.  Their job is to build a dossier on the visitor.  In the past this was the job of the KGB, of which President Putin was at one time at the head of this main Russian spying operation.  Today, those functions are performed by the Foreign Intelligence Service, and this organization is now referred to as the SVR the Russian Federal Security Service.

 

What is so alarming about these visits of Mr. Trump to Moscow, is that Mr. Trump made these visits using unsecured cell phones; unsecured e-mails; and of course, it is a requirement of the SVR that all communications of a visiting foreigner will be recorded, especially if they are staying in a major local hotel as was Mr. Trump on those visits.  And these visits were made long before Mr. Trump had considered running for the most powerful political office in the world.

 

The point here is that one must remember that historically, the Russians in general are a suspicious people that have always had a negative complex about all outsiders.  Today, Russia may have a certain level of power as a nuclear nation, this is due to what was left over from the cold war and after the fall of the Soviet Union.

 

However, as a financial power, Russia is a third world power.   Other than their vast oil reserves, Russia is way down the list on being an international financial juggernaut.  They do not have a major technology industry, they require importing food from many other nations for their people, and due to sanctions from the countries of the free world for their annexing the Crimea, their financial position is anything but strong.  In fact, at any given time, some have said that Russia is only months away from going broke.

 

But, Russia is one of the most capable organization for cyber-attacks and for collecting information on other countries and their citizens.  Russia has had a reputation for years of becoming involved in the elections of the democratic countries of western Europe, and of course the recent involvement in the latest US election.

 

The point here is that Mr. Trump has given a response that is totally consistent with his always denying any negatives comments against him, his family or his business, regardless of their truthfulness.

 

What else would you expect from Donald J. Trump to any accusation that someone like Russia’s SVR has a dossier on Donald Trump?  Of course his answer is a tweet saying: “FAKE NEWS - A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!”  And of course, it will always be in capital letters.

 

Based on all the lies that this individual has spouted, (As proof, one organization recorded and fact-check Trump’s speeches while on his election campaign and they found that Trump had lied every 3½ seconds in his campaign speeches.)  Therefore, why would it be a surprise that a super paranoid organization like the SVR might have a steaming dossier on someone like Donald J. Trump?

 

The senior US official with access to the document in question that was presented to the president and the president-elect, said that the allegations were being presented at least in part to underscore that Russia appeared to have collected embarrassing information on both major candidates.  However, the SVR had decide to only release material that might harm the Democratic nominee.  (It is well know that President Putin hates the former US Secretary of State.)  This is also a reflection of the Russian motivation that has bolstered the US spy agencies’ conclusion that Moscow actively sought to help Trump win in 2016.

 

The most important part of this is that the inclusion of such unsubstantiated allegations in the report, a development that was first reported by CNN, it adds a disturbing new dimension to existing concerns about Russia’s efforts to undermine American democracy, and those of other European democracies.

 

But what is also interesting is that it adds another bizarre twist to an already strange election year, injecting another new controversy over the Trump team’s relations with Russia.  And this is just when the president-elect is trying to consolidate and launch his new administration with a Secretary of State nominee that is a “good buddy” of the Russian President..

 

The point of all this is, if the Russians do have “embarrassing and damaging information on Mr. Trump”, with an ego like Trump’s, this information is important enough that it could conceivably be used to ­coerce the next occupant of the White House.  In addition to this potential problem, the report’s claims were presented as an addendum that also included allegations of there being ongoing contact between members of Trump’s inner circle with representatives of Moscow.  And this apparently occurred during the election campaign.

 

Of course, when asked, the spokesman for Russian President Vladi­mir Putin said its accusations have “no substance.”  That’s obviously, no surprise.

 

By the way, this has just been presented, but claims about Russian possession of compromising material were based not on information obtained through traditional intelligence channels. Instead, the research was done by an outside entity engaged in political consulting work. The material was first mentioned in a Mother Jones report back in October by David Corn.

 

US officials have considered the reports highly credible, and they determined that it was very plausible that the outside entity would and could have firsthand knowledge of Russia’s alleged dossier on Trump.

 

Of course, the CIA, the FBI and the White House have declined to comment on the matter.

 

One US official said that Trump was briefed on the reports allegations because they were already being circulated widely and it was “mostly a courtesy” to let him know they were out there.  He still insist it’s “FAKE NEWS”, but since he doesn’t know exactly what is in the Russian’s dossier, it’s impossible for Trump to truthfully make this statement.

 

What is so disturbing is that other reports compiled by intelligence official allege that there were contacts between Trump’s personnel and business officials and Russian officials, and this was done during the election campaign.

 

This two-page addendum summary was attached to the most highly classified of the three versions of the report on Russian election interference that were circulated in Washington last week.  This included the abbreviated, declassified draft that was eventually made public. 

 

As of today, the addendum itself has only been distributed to the president, the president-elect and the 8 leaders of the Senate intelligence Committee.

 

One wonders how long it will take for that secret “addendum” to be leaked to the media.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017