USA Today: Trump pursued a deal in Russia and hid it from voters

[kpete]

..............

You have to wonder what the fallout would have been if those negotiations had been exposed before Trump debated his Republican primary opponents or Hillary Clinton. The electorate certainly was robbed of knowing about this crucial information at a time when:

►There were news reports that Russia was interfering in the election.

►Trump was expressing praise and admiration for President Vladimir Putin, even as he was insulting hundreds of other people, places and things on Twitter.

►The candidate said that, as president, he would consider easing sanctions placed against Russia for its violent seizure of Crimea.

►Trump was questioning America's continued role in NATO, a bulwark against Russian aggression that Putin has historically despised.

►A plank in the GOP platform regarding U.S. support for Ukraine was watered down.

►Trump challenged Moscow to release Democratic emails that Russians were reported to have hacked.

How does the president explain the appearance of a quid pro quo? By claiming that he was just keeping his options open. "There was a good chance that I wouldn't have won," Trump said in November, "in which case I would have gotten back into the (real estate development) business. And why should I lose lots of opportunities?"

Exactly when the Trump Tower Moscow "opportunity" collapsed remains murky. On Sunday, the president's current lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, quoted Trump as telling him that project talks were "going on from the day I announced to the day I won." By Monday, Giuliani was scrambling to walk back his comments to The New York Times and other news outlets.

But whether Trump was pursuing the arrangement until he clinched the Republican nomination, or right up until he was elected president, isn't the main point. What matters is that a presidential candidate was secretly negotiating a major business deal with a major U.S. adversary — an extraordinary conflict of interest that was concealed from voters.



MORE:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/01/22/donald-trump-pursued-business-deal-russia-hid-voters-editorials-debates/2642773002/

[UpInArms]

1. And tRump continues to give Putin

Aid pro quo

[2naSalit]

2. K&R

[Amaryllis]

3. ANd Turtle kept it from voters when Obama wanted a bipartisan statement.