Former State Department official Dan Fried just appeared on the Rachel Maddox Show to say that virtually from day one, the Trump State Department was tasked with developing options for lifting sanctions on the Russian government and individuals, unilaterally and with no reciprocal demands.
Fried’s account serves as the basis for new reporting by Michael Isikoff over at Yahoo News.
Fried says he and other current and former officials became so concerned that they mounted a lobbying effort aimed at key senators to head off a diplomatic catastrophe.
The scheme, which included the return of the two Russian diplomatic “retreats”, apparently fell apart when the pressure became too great as a result of the Michael Flynn scandal.