On August 16, 2020, Trump retweeted audio purportedly between Biden and former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko from a February 18, 2016 recording.
Trump’s retweet of what intelligence officials already confirmed to be Russian propaganda. CNN
The video had already been described by US intelligence officials as part of a Russian campaign to attack and spread conspiracy theories against Trump’s 2020 opponent, Joe Biden.
The excerpt of the retweeted conversation centers on the ouster of Ukraine’s chief prosecutor, who had previously investigated the owner of a Ukraine energy company where Biden’s son, Hunter, once held a board seat. During the Obama administration, Biden led the charge to oust the prosecutor in the first place, with backing from several European allies, because of his failure to pursue corruption cases.
The account that originally tweeted the recording was suspended.
It was revealed in June of 2020, that Russia was likely offering bounties to the Taliban to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan. The intelligence was of medium confidence, meaning it was credibly sourced and plausible, but fell short of near certainty. Trump had been briefed in February about the bounty program. Large financial transfers were discovered between the Russian intelligence services and a Taliban-linked account, and Afghan sources alleged that up to $100,000 was offered per American.
Despite the bounty program, Trump advocated for Russia to be returned to the G7, though the proposal was rejected by its other members. Russia was removed from the economic forum in 2014 because of their invasion and annexation of the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine.
Trump said via tweet that he had never been briefed on the matter, labeling it as “fake news,” and claimed that “nobody’s been tougher on Russia than the Trump Administration.” He repeated this claim when asked about US intelligence indicating that Russia was attempting to influence the 2020 election.
Nobody briefed or told me, @VP Pence, or Chief of Staff @MarkMeadows about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians, as reported through an “anonymous source” by the Fake News @nytimes. Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us…..
In an August 3 interview, Trump said that he never raised the subject of Russian bounties with Putin.
Later in August, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo acknowledged that Russia offered bounties to militants, saying he and the US military warned Russian officials about possible repercussions.
In a June 2019 interview with ABC News’ Stephanopoulos, Trump said that he would accept information from foreign governments without reporting it to authorities.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Somebody comes up and says, ‘hey, I have information on your opponent,’ do you call the FBI?”
TRUMP: Okay, let’s put yourself in a position: you’re a congressman, somebody comes up and says, “Hey I have information on your opponent.” Do you call the FBI?
STEPHANOPOULOS: (inaudible) if it’s coming from Russia you do.
TRUMP: I’ll tell you what: I’ve seen a lot of things over my life. I don’t think in my whole life I’ve ever called the FBI. In my whole life. You don’t call the FBI. You throw somebody out of your office, you do whatever you–
STEPHANOPOULOS: Al Gore got a stolen briefing book. He called the FBI.
TRUMP: Well, that’s different. A stolen briefing book. This isn’t a (inaudible). This is somebody who said “We have information on your opponent.” Oh, let me call the FBI. Give me a break, life doesn’t work that way.
STEPHANOPOULOS: The FBI Director says that’s what should happen.
TRUMP: The FBI Director is wrong. Because, frankly, it doesn’t happen like that in life…
During an August 7 press conference, Trump dismissed his own intelligence community’s belief that Russia was working to again have Trump elected.
REPORTER: Thank you, sir. Mr. President, the intelligence agencies today said that Russia is already meddling in this year’s elections to hurt Joe Biden, and that China is considering meddling to hurt you. Do you believe that intelligence, and what do you plan to do about it?
TRUMP: I mean, I could be very much. I think that the last person Russia wants to see in office is Donald Trump, because nobody’s been tougher on Russia than I have, ever.
REPORTER: That’s not what they calling it.
TRUMP: Well, I don’t care what anybody says. Nobody with any common sense would say, “Do it.” Look at what we’ve done with our military. Look at what we’ve done in exposing the pipeline with billions of dollars going to Russia. Look at all of the things we’ve done with NATO, where I’ve raised $130 billion a year from countries that were delinquent, and now they’re paying all of this money. And the $130, by the way, $130 billion, not million, billion, goes to $400 billion over a few years. And that’s all money to protect against Russia. China would love us to have an election where Donald Trump lost sleepy Joe Biden. They would dream. They would own our country.
National Counterintelligence and Security Center William Evanina released a press statement the same day that asserted, “We assess that Russia is using a range of measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden and what it sees as an anti-Russia ‘establishment.'”
On July 16, 2018, Trump and Putin met at a conference held in Helsinki, Finland. At the conference, when asked about Russian interference in the 2016 election, Trump remarked:
I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this. I don’t see any reason why it would be…So I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that president Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. And what he did is an incredible offer. He offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators, with respect to the 12 people. I think that’s an incredible offer.
Before the conference, Trump and Putin had a two-hour meeting in private, with only a single translator present.
At the conclusion of the 2018 Helsinki conference, Putin offers Trump a gift, remarking “the ball is in your court.”
After the conference, Trump reiterated his position on Twitter.
As I said today and many times before, “I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people.” However, I also recognize that in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past – as the world’s two largest nuclear powers, we must get along! #HELSINKI2018
US intelligence agencies were in agreement that Russia had actively interfered in the 2016 election. In April, 2020, the Republican-controlled US Senate affirmed their findings.
Michael Cohen was Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer for over a decade. Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts of campaign finance violations and tax evasion regarding a payment of $130,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, with whom Trump had an affair.
Michael Cohen / Wikipedia
Expenditures in defense of a candidate’s political outcome can be considered campaign contributions, subject to laws that bar corporate donations and establish donation limits. After acting as an intermediary for the payment to Stormy Daniels, Cohen filed fake invoices to Trump’s company.
As part of Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, Cohen’s home and office were raided in April 2018 by the FBI. In August 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to 8 counts of tax evasion, bank fraud, and campaign finance violations. He later pleaded guilty to an additional count of lying to a Senate and House Intelligence Committees regarding the proposed Trump Hotel Moscow.
In February 2019, Cohen asserted that all he had done was at Trump’s direction. While his testimony was colored by his previous lie to Congress, Cohen claimed that he then only sought to tell the truth as he was no longer working to defend the President.
Last fall I pled guilty in federal court to felonies for the benefit of, at the direction of, and in coordination with Individual Number 1. And for the record, Individual Number 1 is President Donald J. Trump.
Cohen’s attorney, Lanny J. Davis, noted that Cohen had committed his felonies at the request of Trump to influence the election: “He stood up and testified under oath that Donald Trump directed him to commit a crime by making payments to two women for the principal purpose of influencing an election. If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn’t they be a crime for Donald Trump?”
Trump said he never directed Cohen to do anything illegal.
I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. It is called “advice of counsel,” and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is why they get paid. Despite that many campaign finance lawyers have strongly……
Rudy Giuliani, who was added to Trump’s legal team, admitted in a Fox News interview that Trump repaid the money to Cohen. However, he defended it by saying it wasn’t campaign money, and so there was no campaign finance law violation on Trump’s behalf. He also indicated that Trump was aware of the payment from the beginning, though Trump had repeatedly denied any knowledge of Stormy Daniels or the $130,000 in hush money.
It’s not campaign money. No campaign finance violations…[it was] funneled through a law firm, and the President repaid it.
…everybody was nervous about this from the very beginning. I wasn’t. I knew how much money Donald Trump put into that campaign. I said $130,000? You’re gonna do a couple checks for $130,000. When I heard Cohen’s retainer of $35,000, when he was doing no work for the President, I said that’s how he’s repaying, that’s how, how he’s repaying it. With a little profit and a little margin for paying taxes for Michael.
[Trump] didn’t know about the specifics of it.
For pleading guilty to the following counts, Cohen was sentenced to 3 years in federal prison, along with fines, asset forfeiture, and disbarment:
5 counts of tax evasion
1 count of making false statements to a financial institution
1 count of willfully causing an unlawful corporate contribution
1 count of making an excessive campaign contribution at the request of a candidate or campaign
1 count of making false statements to a congressional committee
Michael Flynn is a retired United States Army Lieutenant General who served as National Security Advisor for Trump from January to February 2017.
Retired United States Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn / Wikipedia
As part of the wider Mueller probe into Russian election interference, a phone call from 2016 was unearthed between Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. After speaking with Trump’s Presidential Transition Team, Flynn had reached out to Kislyak after Obama’s passing of Russian sanctions as punishment for 2016 election interference. Flynn urged Russia to refrain from retaliatory measures, as Trump was already President-elect and could eventually undo the sanctions. The following day, the Russian government announced they would not retaliate. Trump tweeted praise for the decision:
Great move on delay (by V. Putin) – I always knew he was very smart!
In his recounting of the phone call to the FBI, Flynn denied anything substantive was discussed, including sanctions. Nonetheless, Trump asked Flynn for his resignation in February 2017. He had served as National Security Advisor for a record 24 days.
Trump still defended Flynn, claiming that his lies to the FBI were not about anything illegal, and so he should not be prosecuted for them.
I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!
Flynn was charged with perjury for his false explanation to the FBI, and in December 2017, pleaded guilty.
Flynn had also failed to register as a foreign agent for lobbying work he had done on behalf of the Turkish government. Through his Flynn Intel Group Inc, an organization that provides intelligence services to businesses and governments, Flynn worked to defend Turkish hardliner President Recep Erdoğan from anti-government elements. He also failed to disclose income from Russian companies in his financial disclosure forms.
Trump had been warned about Flynn’s conflicts of interest at least 6 separate times, including by Obama during the post-election transition. Obama had himself fired Flynn in 2014.
Despite having pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, sentencing was deferred multiple times until May 7, 2020, when the Justice Department announced that it would be dropping all charges. The explanation provided in the motion to dismiss was that “Mr. Flynn’s statements were never ‘material’ to any FBI investigation.”
Trump defended the move, claiming that Flynn, and by extension himself, had been unfairly targeted by the Obama administration:
He is an innocent man. He is a great gentleman. He was targeted by the Obama administration and he was targeted in order to try and take down a president and what they’ve done is a disgrace and I hope a big price is going to be paid. A big price should be paid. There’s never been anything like this in the history of our country. What they did, the Obama administration did, is unprecedented, never happened, a thing like this has never happened before in the history of our country. And I hope a lot of people are going to pay a big price, because they’re dishonest crooked people, and they’re scum. I say it a lot, they’re scum. …Treason, it’s treason.
Throughout Flynn’s legal troubles, Trump has repeatedly defended him over Twitter:
Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!
So General Flynn lies to the FBI and his life is destroyed, while Crooked Hillary Clinton, on that now famous FBI holiday “interrogation” with no swearing in and no recording, lies many times…and nothing happens to her? Rigged system, or just a double standard?
Roger Stone is a longtime Republican strategist who has served as campaign adviser for Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump. He pushed several conspiracy theories during the campaign, including birtherism and the murder of Seth Rich by Democratic operatives. He was arrested during the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, which Trump referred to as an “attempted coup.”
Stone was investigated for his connections to Wikileaks, which disseminated emails from Hillary Clinton that had been hacked by Russian intelligence. Trump famously called on Russia to hack Clinton’s emails.
On November 15, 2019, Stone was convicted of one count of obstruction, one count of witness tampering, and five counts of false statements regarding his testimony to Congress. On February 20, 2020, he was sentenced to 40 months in prison.
During the trial, Stone’s threats to Wikileaks intermediary Randy Credico were unearthed: “you are a rat. A stoolie. You backstab your friends…I am so ready. Let’s get it on. Prepare to die.” Stone’s rocky trial also included a a gag order from the court, which he violated by posting a photo of the judge with a crosshairs in the corner on his Instagram. He later claimed he thought that the crosshairs were a Celtic symbol.
Stone is known for his unorthodox style of dress and back tattoo of Richard Nixon’s face, as well as his self-avowedly dirty political strategies. He paid an operative to infiltrate Democrat George McGovern’s presidential campaign, which was revealed during the Watergate hearings. No stranger to the dissemination of conspiracy theories, he penned a 2013 book in which he suggested that LBJ was responsible for John F. Kennedy’s assassination. He is also the subject of the 2017 Netflix documentary, Get me Roger Stone.
Roger Stone at Trump’s inauguration. stoneonstyle/TwitterRoger Stone’s back tattoo alongside Alex Jones. ellefs0n/Twitter
Over the course of Stone’s trial, Trump took to Twitter in Stone’s defense multiple times, including upon his conviction and his sentencing.
“I will never testify against Trump.” This statement was recently made by Roger Stone, essentially stating that he will not be forced by a rogue and out of control prosecutor to make up lies and stories about “President Trump.” Nice to know that some people still have “guts!”
So they now convict Roger Stone of lying and want to jail him for many years to come. Well, what about Crooked Hillary, Comey, Strzok, Page, McCabe, Brennan, Clapper, Shifty Schiff, Ohr & Nellie, Steele & all of the others, including even Mueller himself? Didn’t they lie?….
This is a horrible and very unfair situation. The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them. Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice! https://t.co/rHPfYX6Vbv
Even though prosecutors recommended nine years of prison time, the Justice Department intervened with their own recommendation of a drastically shorter sentencing. Four federal prosecutors withdrew from the case in protest. Stone was ultimately sentenced to 40 months in prison.
On the day of the sentencing, Trump spoke at length in Stone’s defense, attacking his detractors as liars and leakers.
Some people HATE the fact that I got along well with President Putin of Russia. They would rather go to war than see this. It’s called Trump Derangement Syndrome!
Trump Derangement Syndrome, a descendant of Bush Derangement Syndrome, is a phrase used to deflect criticism by painting it as rabidly unreasonable. Accepting criticism isn’t one of Trump’s strong suits, because despite his claims of humility, he has also said that he doesn’t admit to mistakes.
When asked by Fox News host Tucker Carlson why America should have to defend the country, Trump again cast doubt on the core tenet of NATO, the mutual defense of all member nations.
I understand what you’re saying. I’ve asked the same question. Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people. They’re very aggressive people. They may get aggressive, and congratulations, you’re in World War Three.
Montenegro is a Balkan nation of 630,000 people, and has been a NATO ally since 2017, officially joining during Trump’s presidency. Russia has behaved aggressively towards Montenegro, as it has with other neighbors, waging propaganda campaigns in the lead up to its joining NATO.
