Washington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee issued a report finding that the Trump presidential campaign chairman’s interaction with Russian intelligence officials during the 2016 election posed a “grave counterintelligence threat.” In response, Neera Tanden, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
This report confirms that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia during the 2016 election. It confirms the worst suspicions about Trump’s relationship with Russia, filling in the holes left in the report from former special counsel Robert Mueller. As Trump excuses Russian President Vladimir Putin placing bounties on U.S. troops and Russia continues to interfere in our democracy to aid Trump’s reelection, this report makes clear that there is no such thing as a coincidence with Trump and Russia.
The report from the Republican-led panel details close political coordination among the Trump campaign, Wikileaks, and Russian intelligence and operatives in 2016. At the most pivotal moment of that campaign, when the Access Hollywood tape revealing President Trump’s confession of a lifetime of sexual assault, Trump’s confidante Roger Stone successfully requested that Russia’s illegally hacked materials be released immediately.
This revelation also explains why President Trump dangled a pardon for Roger Stone for months, why U.S. Attorney General William Barr gave Stone special treatment amidst an open rebellion from U.S. Department of Justice professionals, and why Trump went even further to commute Stone’s sentence as Stone was concealing these facts from federal investigators. Trump lied to law enforcement about his conversations with Stone and needed Stone to keep quiet about it. This raises serious criminal questions for both Trump and Stone to which the next administration should give full scrutiny.
For more information, or to talk with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected].