BEAR TRAP
THE TRUMP
DIARIES: WEEK SEVEN
49 Days of Trump
By Jack Random
Through six weeks of the Trump presidency the dominant
issue, the ghost that haunts this White House like the first wife of an aging
billionaire, the storm that never clears, is that of Vladimir Putin and the
Russian intelligence machine.
We are receiving updates on the many communications of the
Trump administration-slash-campaign and Russian agents on a daily basis. The early Times report of constant
contact was spot on. What we do
not know is what was said in those communications. We do know that a transcript exists of the communication
that got former National Security Adviser and registered foreign agent Michael
Flynn fired. We do not know what
Trump knows and when he knew it.
It stretches credulity however to believe that he did not know that
son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in Trump
Tower.
This is the seventh installment of the Trump Diaries.
DAY 43: THE
BEAR TRAP
March 3, 2017
Politico publishes a timeline of the relationship between
the Russians and Team Trump before and after the election – see timeline below.
[1]
As more information emerges, we should understand that in
today’s Russia there is no distinction between the government, the intelligence
service and the business community.
They all answer to the strong man at the top.
Trump people with the deepest ties to Russia include
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, former campaign manager Paul Manafort,
Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and former adviser Carter Page. As the Exxon CEO Tillerson negotiated a
multi-billion dollar deal for drilling rights in the Arctic – a deal that was
put on hold by Obama sanctions.
Manafort is a consultant noted for his representation of dictators,
including Russia’s puppet in Ukraine.
Ross is a billionaire banker implicated in laundering Russian money at
the Bank of Cyprus. Page lived in
Moscow for three years and once partnered with Russian oil executive Sergei
Yatsenko.
Members of the Trump team who
are known to have had contacts with Russian agents during the campaign or after
the election include: Former
National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, Carter Page, campaign advisor J.D.
Gordon, Manafort, son-in-law Jared Kushner and Attorney General Jeff
Sessions.
What is clear at this juncture
is that at least one person knows exactly what took place in the meetings
between Russian agents and Trump surrogates and that person is Vladimir
Putin. If Trump takes an aggressive
stand in an attempt to prove his innocence, Putin could take him down. If Trump eases sanctions or takes other
pro-Russia measures, the American people will know why. It’s a bear trap and the president
cannot break free.
There are others who may have
critical evidence. We know that
the Flynn-Kislyak conversation was recorded. Were any other conversations recorded? Then there’s the Christopher Steele
dossier – a work that has forced the highly regarded former British
intelligence officer into hiding.
The truth will out. Whether
it takes a day or a decade, it will out and it will not be kind to those who
withheld the facts or participated in this treachery.
DAY 44: TRUMP ACCUSES OBAMA OF WIRETAPPING
TRUMP TOWER
March 4, 2017
Trump goes on a tweet attack,
accusing his predecessor of wiretapping Trump Tower. We can only guess how the man’s mind works: How else would the media know about
Kislyak’s meeting with Kushner?
There is another possibility:
That the FBI received a FISA warrant to listen in on Trump’s
communications. A warranted
surveillance would mean that a federal judge was convinced that there was
probable cause of a crime being committed. [3] A third possibility is that the
Russians did the tapping in which case Russia has the goods. A fourth possibility is that the whole
thing is the product of paranoid minds courtesy of Breitbart News.
The White House is running
scared. The president resembles a
tortured Macbeth, imagining daggers in the dead of night.
Trump supporters stage rallies across the nation. Their numbers are decidedly
underwhelming.
DAY 45:
WILDFIRE
March 5, 2017
Trump demands that congress
investigate former President Obama’s abuse of power during the recent
presidential election.
A reportedly unhinged Trump raises
the specters of McCarthyism and Nixon’s Watergate in a storm of tweets. Trump’s reaction to the daily
revelations regarding Russia can only fuel the fire which is now engulfing the
nation’s capitol and spreading like a summer wildfire in all directions. It seems he’s been reading from the
Book of Rove – as in Karl Rove, George W. Bush’s mastermind. Rove worked to perfection the art of
deflecting blame. The rules of
Rove include: Do not simply deny a
story but proclaim the opposite to be true. When accused of wrongdoing, accuse the accuser.
When Rove worked his dark arts,
however, he never used the president to deliver the message. He always used expendable surrogates –
like spokesman Sean Spicer or counselor Kellyanne Conway. It is beneath the dignity of the office
to accuse one’s predecessor of high crimes without compelling evidence. That dog just might come back to
bite.
The FBI asks the Justice
Department to refute Trump’s claim of wiretapping. No response thus far from the recused Attorney General.
North Korea fires four missiles
into the Sea of Japan. Coming on
the heels of Kim Jong Nam’s assassination, it raises new questions regarding
the mental stability of the North Korean dictator. No response thus far from the White House.
DAY 46: MOSTLY MUSLIM BAN
March 6, 2017
Trump finally releases his new
and improved Muslim travel ban.
This one exempts Iraq, visa and green card holders, and eliminates
special treatment for Christians. The
revision is an attempt to overcome legal challenges but the intent remains
clear. It doesn’t matter that the
Department of Homeland Security undermined the rationale for the ban. [4] The
president wants a Muslim ban and this is the best he can do. He can’t stand the idea that any court
can overrule his divine authority.
DAY 47: TRUMP CARE UPSTAGED
March 7, 2017
The rollout of the Republican
replacement for Obamacare is upstaged by the continuing uproar regarding the
president’s accusations of wiretapping.
The draft bill provides huge tax breaks for the wealthy, implements an
“age tax” that will harm older people and will most certainly result in
millions losing medical insurance.
The American Association of Retired People (AARP) opposes the bill. [5]
AARP is a powerful lobby composed of mostly old white people who consistently
vote Republican. Trump could not
have become president without them.
Think Progress reports that the
president met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak on April 27th
of last year. [6] Despite Trump’s repeated claims to the contrary the meeting
was noted at the time by the Wall Street Journal.
The occasion was a foreign
policy speech for an invitation-only gathering in which the presumptive
Republican nominee called for better relations with Russia.
Why these guys continue to think
they can get away with denying the obvious truth despite all evidence to the
contrary is beyond credulity. It
is becoming apparent that everyone who is or was anyone on the Trump team met
with the Russian ambassador – including the president.
DAY 48: WIKILEAKS CIA DUMP
March 8, 2017
WikiLeaks releases thousands of
classified CIA documents, revealing extensive surveillance capabilities. Bottom line: If you’re connected to the world via phone, computer or
television, the CIA can spy on you.
If you’re an influential person on the international scene, you are
being monitored. Watch your
step.
While it is fascinating to learn
that the nation’s leading spy agency can observe you through your Samsung TV,
this is not new ground. If the
agency tapped Trump Tower and pinned the blame on Obama, that would be
compelling. If Julian Assange
makes a fortune shorting stock in Samsung, that too would be interesting.
Christopher Steele, author of
the Dirty Dossier (think Yellow Rain), emerges from hiding in London as
elements of his report are confirmed by independent news sources. Perhaps the most significant is an
allegation of a quid pro quo regarding Russian sponsored WikiLeaks dumps in
exchange for candidate Trump not raising intervention in Ukraine as a campaign
issue. [7]
Former ambassador, governor and
presidential candidate Jon Huntsman accepts the position of ambassador to
Russia. My advice: Watch your back.
As demonstrators take to the
streets for International Women’s Day, Trump takes to the tweet to remind us
that he respects women big league.
“Believe me.”
DAY 49: PREPARING FOR FAILURE
March 9, 2017
In an Oval Office meeting with
rightwing groups – Tea Party Patriots, Club for Growth, the Heritage Foundation,
Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works – Trump reveals his contingency plan
on healthcare reform: Blame the
Democrats.
We can blame the Democrats for a
lot of things, including allowing Trump to become president, but we can hardly
blame them for a failed attempt at healthcare reform when the Republicans hold
clear majorities in both houses of congress. Take care of your own house, Mr. President, or face the
consequences. All the trump cards
are in your hand yet you have all the signs of a losing player. You’re running scared and looking for
escape routes. Stand up and take
responsibility.
Julian Assange implies from his
refuge at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London that the CIA inadvertently released
its bag of hacking tools to bad actors on the open market. He pledges to assist tech companies in
defending their systems and devices from hacks. [8]
The mystery of Julian Assange
grows. The Russians used him as a
conduit in its campaign to elect Donald Trump and now his CIA dump seems timed
to distract us from the central story of this administration: Team Trump and the Russians. I’d like to hear less of Assange and
more of Christopher Steele.
It is ironic that Donald Trump
has chosen Mar-a-Lago as his home away from the White House. More and more he resembles the mad king
alone in his tower, surrounded by sycophants and servants, afraid to inform him
that he has no clothes. His circle
of trusted advisors shrinks by the day – some stripped of access and others
banned by their misdeeds. His
presidency has only begun but he looks like Nixon in the final hours, clutching
Kissinger’s hand and praying to a god he never believed in.
The ghosts of his sordid past
surround him and the walls to begin to close. He tries to escape by running to Mar-a-Lago but the
nightmares return and the ghosts will not let him sleep in peace.
“Is this a dagger which I see
before me?” [9]
Trump entered the White House on
an irrational high, a sense of invincibility surrounding him. No one could stop him. No on could tell him he was wrong. Now, only seven weeks into his reign,
he curses the day he decided to run for the nation’s highest office. Now reality begins to seep in: This cannot end well.
Jazz.
TRUMP-RUSSIA TIMELINE:
AUGUST 2011: Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson signs major
deal with Russian oil giant Rosneft to drill in the Arctic Sea. In 2013 Putin awards Tillerson an Order
of Friendship.
NOVEMBER 9, 2013: Trump holds Miss Universe Pageant in
Moscow.
SEPTEMBER 2015: FBI reveals Russians hacked the
DNC.
NOVEMBER 10: Trump claims to know Vladimir Putin
“very well” at the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee.
DECEMBER 10:
General Michael Flynn attends Russia Today’s tenth anniversary dinner in
Moscow, seated two chairs down from Putin.
DECEMBER 17: Putin praises Trump at a news
conference. Trump returns the
favor.
MARCH 19, 2016: Russians hack Clinton campaign chair
John Podesta’s email account.
MARCH 21: Trump names Carter Page as one of his
foreign policy advisors.
MARCH 28: Trump hires Paul Manafort, a former
advisor to Russian puppet and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. In April, Manafort is promoted to
campaign manager.
APRIL 27: Trump calls for better relations with
Russia. Seated in the front row at
the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C. is Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Trump meets with Kislyak and three
other ambassadors before his address.
JUNE 15: Documents stolen from the DNC are
posted online.
JULY 7: Carter Page delivers harsh criticism of
US and European policies in Moscow.
JULY 18-23: Three Trump advisers, including Carter
Page and J.D. Gordon, meet with Ambassador Kislyak in Cleveland at the
Republican National Convention.
JULY 18: The RNC adopts a platform with an
amended policy that does not call for providing arms to independent
Ukraine.
JULY 20: Then Senator Jeff Sessions meets with a
group of ambassadors including Kislyak at the Republican convention.
JULY 22: WikiLeaks posts emails stolen from the
DNC, forcing DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign two days later.
JULY 26: Intelligence officials report with
“high confidence” that Russia is behind the DNC hack.
JULY 27: Trump calls on Russia to expose Hillary
Clinton’s missing emails.
JULY 31: Trump defends Russia’s annexation of
Crimea.
AUGUST 14: A New York Times report suggests
Manafort is receiving large sums of money from Russian agents.
AUGUST 17: Trump names Kellyanne Conway campaign
manager and Steve Bannon chief executive of his campaign.
AUGUST 19: Manafort resigns.
SEPTEMBER 8: Sessions meets with Kislyak in his
office at the US Senate.
SEPTEMBER 26: Carter Page withdraws from the Trump
campaign as Trump continues to doubt that Russia was behind the DNC hack: “It also could be somebody sitting on
their bed that weighs 400 pounds, OK?”
OCTOBER 4: Founder Julian Assange announces that
WikiLeaks will release new information every week for the next ten weeks. Three days later, hours after the
infamous “grab ‘em by the pussy” video becomes public, they make their first
info dump.
Hoping to curry favor from
the next president, it appears Assange joined Team Trump.
OCTOBER 9: At the second presidential debate Trump
asserts: “I know nothing about
Russia… I don’t deal there. I have
no businesses there. I have no
loans from Russia.”
Release your taxes, Donald,
and we’ll judge for ourselves.
OCTOBER 31: The FBI reports it has found “no clear
link” to Russia in the hacking scandal.
Director Comey strikes a new
blow for Team Trump and in the process destroys whatever was left of his
credibility.
NOVEMBER 8: Trump elected. The Russian Parliament celebrates.
DECEMBER: Jared Kushner and
General Flynn meet with Kislyak in Trump Tower.
DECEMBER 8: Carter Page is spotted in Moscow.
DECEMBER 15: Putin writes Trump to suggest a new era
in Russian-American relations.
DECEMBER 26: Former KGB agent Oleg Erovinkin,
suspected of aiding Christopher Steele with the infamous Trump-Russia dossier,
is found dead in Moscow.
DECEMBER 29: President Obama orders the expulsion of
35 Russian operatives, closes two spy stations and imposes sanctions on Russian
intelligence services. Soon to be
National Security Advisor Michael Flynn engages in a series of phone calls with
the Russian ambassador.
DECEMBER 30: Putin announces he will not
retaliate.
JANUARY 6, 2017: The US intelligence community releases
its conclusion that Russia interfered in the election with the purpose of
denigrating Hillary Clinton and, if possible, electing Donald Trump. Trump calls the whole Russian business
“a political witch hunt.”
JANUARY 10: Jeff Sessions testifies before the
Senate Judiciary Committee: “I did
not have communications with the Russians.”
JANUARY 10: BuzzFeed releases the Trump-Russia
dossier compiled by former British intelligence analyst Christopher
Steele. The implication is that
Trump’s people colluded with Russian intelligence and that Russian possessed
compromising information with which the new president could be influenced. Trump is incensed and goes on a twitter
rant: I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH
RUSSIA – NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NOTHING!
Release your financial records, Donald, including your
tax returns, and let us decide whether you represent America or a hostile
foreign power.
JANUARY 13:
Trump tells the Wall Street Journal he is open to lifting sanctions on
Russia.
Of course you are, Donald. Who wouldn’t be open to lifting sanctions after repeated
briefings that Russia deliberately interfered in our election with the intent
of altering the outcome?
JANUARY 17-20: Outgoing President Obama takes
extraordinary measures to assure that intelligence documenting the Trump-Russia
connection is not purged by his successor. [2]
JANUARY 26: Acting Attorney General Sally Yates
briefs White House Counsel Don McGahn on Flynn’s recorded conversation with
Kislyak.
FEBRUARY 8: Sessions is confirmed as Attorney
General.
FEBRUARY 9: The
Washington Post reveals that Flynn did talk sanctions with Kislyak.
FEBRUARY 13:
Flynn resigns.
FEBRUARY 14:
The New York Times reports that Team Trump had “repeated contacts” with
Russian intelligence agents in 2016.
FEBRUARY 16:
Trump calls the story “fake news” and coins a phrase: The Russian Ruse.
MARCH 1: The
Washington Post reports that Attorney General Sessions met with Kislyak on two
occasions during the campaign.
MARCH 2:
Sessions recuses himself from any investigation involving the
campaign.
Not good enough,
Sessions. First, if recusal were
sufficient, you would need to recuse yourself from all Russia-Trump
investigations during the campaign and the presidency. Second, you need to resign immediately
in lieu of prosecution for perjury.
NOTES:
1.
“The definitive Trump-Russia timeline of events” by Matthew Nussbaum. Politico, March 3, 2017.
2. “Obama Administration Rushed to
Preserve Intelligence of Russian Election Hacking” by Matthew Rosenberg, Adam
Goldman and Michael S. Schmidt.
New York Times, March 1, 2017.
3. “Trump’s Wiretapping Claim Based on Warrants
Granted to FBI” by David Z. Morris.
Fortune Magazine, March 4, 2017.
4. “DHS report casts doubt on need for
travel ban” by Matt Zapotosky.
Washington Post, February 24, 2017.
5. “AARP hates Trumpcare – good thing GOP
doesn’t need old people or anything” by Drew Salisbury. March 8, 2017.
6. “Trump personally met with Russian
ambassador during campaign” by Judd Legum. Think Progress, March 7, 2017.
7. “The Steele Dossier Is Increasingly
Being Corroborated” by Nancy LeTourneau.
Washington Monthly, March 8, 2017.
8. “Assange: CIA letting files leak a ‘historic act of devastating
incompetence” by Joe Uchill. The
Hill, March 9, 2017.
9. Macbeth, Act II, Scene 1. William Shakespeare.
JACK
RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION, THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES, A
PATRIOT DIRGE AND OTHER WORKS PUBLISHED BY CROW DOG PRESS.
