President Donald Trump speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the telephone in the Oval Office, January 28, 2017, in Washington. ((Pete Marovich/Pool via CNP/MediaPunch/IPX))
As more and more details of President Donald Trump’s troubling links to the Kremlin emerge, a striking pattern is evident. This fact sheet shows that on issue after issue, Trump appears to agree with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s positions over the expert advice of his own party, his own Cabinet, the intelligence community, and the U.S. military.
Whether the issue at hand is Russian involvement in the U.S. election, the future of a key military alliance such as NATO, or sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, President Trump has abandoned longstanding and bipartisan national security priorities in favor of a pro-Putin line. All of these things raise the still-unanswered questions of why Trump refuses to release his tax returns, what leverage Putin might have over Trump, and the need for an independent bipartisan select congressional committee to investigate Russian ties to Trump’s inner circle.
Carolyn Kenney is a Policy Analyst with the National Security and International Policy team at the Center for American Progress. John Norris is the Executive Director of the Sustainable Security and Peacebuilding Initiative at the Center.
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