dagblog - Comments for "Outrage erupts over Trump-Putin 'conversation' about letting Russia interrogate ex-U.S. diplomat Michael McFaul"

Fuggedaboudit! Senate fires

artappraiser — Fri, 20 Jul 2018 04:27:02 +0000

In reply to Outrage erupts over Trump-Putin 'conversation' about letting Russia interrogate ex-U.S. diplomat Michael McFaul

Fuggedaboudit! Senate fires bipartisan Russia warning at Trump The Senate voted 98-0 to oppose giving Russia access to U.S. officials like former Ambassador Michael McFaul.

By Elena Schor @ Politico.com, Updated 07/19/2018 03:54 PM EDT

The Senate overwhelmingly approved a resolution on Thursday stating that the United States should refuse to make any current or former official available for questioning by Vladimir Putin's government.

The 98-0 vote amounts to a bipartisan slap at President Donald Trump, whose White House on Thursday reversed its previous openness to giving Moscow access to former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul and other longtime Putin critics.

But beyond the lopsided vote to pass the symbolic resolution, proposed earlier in the day by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), it remained unclear if the Senate would move ahead on any substantive action in response to President Donald Trump’s widely criticized appearance with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said after a meeting with Banking Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) that he had asked their two committees to hold hearings on the implementation of last year's bipartisan Russia sanctions bill "and to recommend to the Senate additional measures that could respond to or deter Russian malign behavior."

Routing the matter through those committees, however, promises to slow down action on any potential legislation ratcheting up pressure on Moscow [....]

Seems like the perfect issue

artappraiser — Fri, 20 Jul 2018 03:57:53 +0000

In reply to Outrage erupts over Trump-Putin 'conversation' about letting Russia interrogate ex-U.S. diplomat Michael McFaul

Seems like the perfect issue to bring up with, say, a nominee for the Supreme Court https://t.co/1rTyq7fNnb
— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) July 19, 2018

"If this is not treason, then

AmericanDreamer — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 16:19:14 +0000

In reply to Outrage erupts over Trump-Putin 'conversation' about letting Russia interrogate ex-U.S. diplomat Michael McFaul

"If this is not treason, then what is it?", Daniel Drezner, WaPo op ed 8:15 am https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/07/19/if-this...

As bad as that was — and it was really bad — it was just a prelude to yesterday’s revelations about what Trump and Putin had actually discussed in Helsinki. According to Bloomberg’s Toluse Olorunnipa:

President Donald Trump entertained a proposal from Vladimir Putin to let Russian authorities pose questions for the former U.S. ambassador to Moscow, Michael McFaul, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday.

Trump made no commitments to the Russian leader when Putin raised the idea at a private meeting in Helsinki on Monday and is “going to meet with his team,” Sanders said.

Allowing the interrogation of a former American ambassador, who held diplomatic immunity while in Moscow, would be an unprecedented breach in protections traditionally provided to the nation’s foreign service. …

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters Wednesday that such a grilling of a former diplomat “would be a grave concern to our former colleagues.” She said the Russians are making “absolutely absurd” assertions about 11 American citizens they want to question, although she declined to rule out the Russian proposal when asked about it repeatedly.

Why yes, yes it would be an unprecedented breach, and yes, it would be a grave concern to U.S. diplomats. How big a concern? The Daily Beast’s Spencer Ackerman interviewed several current and former diplomats to gauge their reaction. It was … salty:

Current and former American diplomats are expressing disgust and horror over the White House’s willingness to entertain permitting Russian officials to question a prominent former U.S. ambassador.

One serving diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was “at a [expletive] loss” over comments that can be expected to chill American diplomacy in hostile or authoritarian countries — a comment echoed by former State Department officials as well….

“It’s beyond disgraceful. It’s fundamentally ignorant with regard to how we conduct diplomacy or what that means. It really puts in jeopardy the professional independence of diplomats anywhere in the world, if the consequence of their actions is going to be potentially being turned over to a foreign government,” the U.S. diplomat told The Daily Beast.