Donald Trump could rightly be seen as a Russian asset, according to a former FBI director the ex-president fired in his first term.Andrew McCabe appeared on the One Decision podcast co-hosted by former British intelligence agency chief Sir Richard Dearlove, who asked whether he thought it possible t...
  • Coelacanth
    62·
    5 days ago

    “I don’t know that I would characterize it as [an] active, recruited, knowing asset in the way that people in the intelligence community think of that term," McCabe said. "But I do think that Donald Trump has given us many reasons to question his approach to the Russia problem in the United States, and I think his approach to interacting with Vladimir Putin, be it phone calls, face-to-face meetings, the things that he has said in public about Putin, all raise significant questions.”

    “You have to have some very serious questions about, why is it that Donald Trump … has this fawning sort of admiration for Vladimir Putin in a way that no other American president, Republican or Democrat, ever has"

    He is obviously not a recruited asset, but I think it’s fair to say he is so dense, dumb, self-unaware and transparently susceptible to simple flattery that he is almost having the same impact as one in practice.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
      18·
      5 days ago

      Useful idiot is a recognized term…

      I don’t know why he came just short of using it.

      I think it’s that thing (actually professional) law enforcement does where if they can’t prove it they just talk around it and just imply it.

      But I’m just not used to seeing law enforcement act professionally these days.

      • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
        4·
        4 days ago

        I don’t think so. The dude went to Russia in the '80s and then the first thing he did after he got back was take out a big full page ad calling for the execution of the Central Park 5.

        You mean to tell me that KGB did not tell him how to divide Americans and promise him something in exchange?

        All the real estate Russians have bought from Trump and the massive loans, by itself, compromises his ability to be neutral on matters of national security. That makes him an asset to our enemy.

    • RubberDuck@lemmy.world
      4·
      5 days ago

      I don’t know, with his fragile ego and perpensity for doing stuff like “grabbing em by the pussy” and “changing room sexual assault” I’m confident that a country like Russia, that had some time to spend to get dirt on the guy has a nice file.

      With the comment he made about shooting someone on 5th avenue, I would not be surprised if he has actually killed or ordered the murder of someone and they have it on tape.

      So not a direct asset… I’m not sure.

    • dudinax@programming.dev
      1·
      5 days ago

      He is obviously not a recruited asset

      Why do you say that? Has ever taken any kind of illicit help from Russia? Who did Don Jr. and Manafort call in the middle of their meeting with a Russian agent, where they agreed to accept Russia’s help?