Government - Trump Just Can't Quit Putin
The White House national security staff gave the orange clown Donald Trump a cheat sheet with explicit instructions to avoid congratulating Russian President Vladimir Putin for winning Russia's election. Naturally, Trump ignored it.
The Washington Post reported the memo said "DO NOT CONGRATULATE" in upper case letters. Critics say the Russian election was anything but free because the Kremlin prevented any serious challenger from running against Putin. The most prominent opposition leader Alexei Navalny had been arrested several times and convicted on what critics believe are bogus corruption charges.
The memo also told Trump to condemn the nerve agent attack on a former Russian double agent in Salisbury, UK earlier this month. The US, UK, and several allies directly blamed Moscow for the attack, which involved a chemical weapon developed by the old Soviet Union and passed down to Russia.
"I had a call with President Putin and congratulated him on the victory, his electoral victory," Trump said to reporters in the Oval Office. "The call had to do also with the fact that we will probably get together in the not too distant future so that we can discuss arms, we can discuss the arms race."
No mention of the first chemical weapons attack on a NATO ally's soil. Trump's comments drew significant criticism among US politicians, especially from Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain, a noted Trump critic.
"An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections," tweeted Sen. John McCain. "And by doing so with Vladimir Putin, President Trump insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election."
The White House National Security Council declined to comment on the report. But that just raised more questions, especially from Rep. Ted Lieu, who said it appears to be a sign that more White House staffers have completely lost faith in the orange clown.
"Why would officials leak that Trump's national security staff told him in all caps 'DO NOT CONGRATULATE' Putin?" tweeted the California Democrat. "Because folks in the White House are beginning to realize that the American President seems to have been compromised by the Russians. What is @realDonaldTrump hiding?"