On Tuesday, Donald Trump made a phone call to Russian president Vladimir Putin. The subject was not the poisoning of at least 38 people in the UK with a Soviet-era nerve agent. And it wasn’t Russia’s ongoing cyber-war with the United States, including the recent revelation that Russian operatives attempted to interfere with the nation’s power grid. Instead, Trump called up Putin to say how nice it was that Putin had defeated the people he allowed to run in an election where Putin’s chief opponents were either jailed, forced into exile, or otherwise … unavailable to run.
Trump told reporters that he had offered his well wishes on Putin’s new six-year term during a conversation that covered a range of topics, including arms control and the security situations in Syria and North Korea. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that Skripal’s case was not discussed. Information on Syria and North Korea was also provided to the president in writing before the call, officials said.
Trump’s choice of priorities—congratulating Putin, da, complaining about a chemical weapon attack on America’s closest ally, nyet—infuriated members of the White House staff who had provided just one instruction to Trump.
President Trump did not follow specific warnings from his national security advisers Tuesday when he congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on his reelection — including a section in his briefing materials in all-capital letters stating “DO NOT CONGRATULATE,” according to officials familiar with the call.
But … of course he did. Because Trump always takes time out to congratulate Putin, and never fails to go against sound advice, whether it comes from the military or what remains of a diplomatic service.
And now the results of that phone call are getting attention. Not because of Trump’s astounding congratulations to a dictator who has seen Russia launch invasions of allies, attacks on the United States, and purges of dissidents within Russia. The big concern coming out of the White House is that … someone leaked.
According to Axios, the White House is on high alert again, not because of Trump’s unaccountable fawning over Putin, but because someone was frustrated enough about Trump’s actions to talk to the Washington Post.
The speed and sensitivity of the leak prompted immediate finger-pointing within the administration, as aides reeled from a leak that could only have come from a small group of people, each of whom is trusted with sensitive national secrets.
The leak did emerge quickly, but it’s difficult to say that anything in the Trump White House is actually “sensitive.” When Trump is daily making attacks on whole departments of the US government, taking swipes at people he appointed himself, and encouraging war against US allies, it’s difficult to see how any statement can be sensitive in the sense that its release will do more harm than what Trump is already saying publicly.
It might be sensitive in the sense of being embarrassing to Trump, but that would require that Trump was capable of being embarrassed.
A White House official, furious about the WaPo story: “This is the way Trump is. If he’s doing business with you or working with you in some way, he’s going to congratulate you."
While Trump was happy to make a statement about congratulating Putin, his comment on the nerve agent attack in the UK was restricted to putting his name on a joint letter. The US finally announced belated sanctions—against people who were already under indictment by Mueller—but that message was delivered by Stephen Mnuchin. Trump is yet to call out Putin by name, or even make a clear public statement of Russia’s responsibility in the attack.
This isn’t the first nicey-nice phone call Trump has made to Putin. In December Trump made an equally … tough call.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had some kind words for President Trump's handling of the U.S. economy on Thursday — so Trump called Putin to personally thank him.
And apparently it’s something of a regular thing.
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have held two friendly phone conversations with each other in the past four days, showering each other with gratitude as they discussed terror threats, the American stock market, and North Korea, according to the White House and the Kremlin. The two even discussed the perks of intelligence sharing, despite the ongoing U.S. investigations into Russian interference in the presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.
So … congratulations you brutal, duplicitous, manipulative, thieving, autocratic, murderous tyrant! No matter what you do, an admiring Trump will always be there with a very special call.