James Clapper: President Donald Trump Is Making Russia Great Again

>>> THE LAST TIME PRESIDENT TRUMP MET WITH RUSSIAN THAT'S
THE IN THE OVAL OFFICE IN MAY, HE REPORTEDLY REVEALED HIGHLY
CLASSIFIED INFORMATION FROM ISRAEL AND TOLD THEM FIRING
JAMES COMEY WHO HE CALLED AT THE TIME A NUT JOB RELIEVED GREAT
PRESSURE ON HIM WITH REGARD TO THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION.
WELL, YESTERDAY WE LEARNED THE PRESIDENT MET ALONE FOR AN HOUR
WITH VLADIMIR PUTIN AT THE G-20 CONFERENCE IN GERMANY.
AN HOUR THE TWO OF THEM WERE PRESENT WITH A TRANSLATOR.
THE WHITE HOUSE NEVER DISCLOSED THE MEETING.
IT WAS FIRST REPORTED BY IAN BREMMER WITH THE GROUP THE
YOU'RE ASJHA GROUP. >> MANY OF THE LEADERS,
INCLUDING AMERICA'S MOST IMPORTANT ALLIES WERE QUITE
SURPRISED. THEY FOUND IT UNUSUAL AND NOTEO
WORTHY. THE BODY LANGUAGE, THE
CHEMISTRY, THE FACT IT WENT ON SO LONG.
AND IT REFLECTED A MUCH WARMER RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRUMP AND
PUTIN THAN HE HAS WITH ANY OF THE OTHER LEADERS IN THE ROOM.
>> WELL, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN SEAN SPICER TOLD "THE NEW YORK
TIMES," IT WAS PLEASANTRIES AND SMALL TALK.
HOW WOULD SEAN KNOW? A REPORT THAT FAKE NEWS STORY OF
SECRET DINNER WITH PUTIN IS SICK.
WHAT HAPPENED AFTERWARDS? THE "WASHINGTON POST" REPORTED
PRESIDENT TRUMP IS PLANNING ON ENDING THE COVERT PROGRAM TO ARM
AND TRAIN SYRIAN REBELS. ACCORDING TO THE POST, OFFICIALS
SAID THE PHASING OUT OF THE SECRET PRAL REFLECTS TRUMP'S
INTERESTS IN FINDING WAYS TO WORK WITH RUSSIA AS AN ASSAULT
ON HIS INTERESTS. I'M JOINED BY JAMES CLAPPER,
DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE UNDER PRESIDENT
OBAMA. HE SAID HIS WHOLE GOAL WITH
RUSSIA IS TO DEVELOP A DEAL OF SOME KIND TO FIGHT ISIS AND IT
LOOKS LIKE EVERYTHING HE'S BEEN DOING SO FAR, FORGIVING THEM ON
CRIMEA, EVEN TO FORGIVE THEM ON INTERFERE WITH THE ELECTION.
BRINGING A BLIND EYE TO IT. NOW TO FORGIVE THEM FOR
SUPPORTING ISIS. COMING ACROSS TO ME LIKE A
POLAROID FILM. THIS IS WHAT TRUMP IS UP TO.
YOU'RE THE EXPERT. WHAT DO YOU SEE TRUMP DOING
HERE? >> WELL IT SEEMS CLEAR TO ME
THAT HE IS VERY, VERY INTERESTED IN A PRODUCTIVE WORKING
RELATIONSHIP WITH THE RUSSIANS. >> I GUESS WHAT CONCESSIONS ARE
BEING MADE. IF THERE ARE CONCESSIONS BEING
MADE, OR AGREEMENTS BEING MADE, WHAT IS THE QUID PRO QUO FOR US?
WHAT IS THE UNITED STATES GETTING OUT OF THIS?
I'VE READ THE MEDIA REPORTING ABOUT STOPPING OUR SUPPORT FOR
THE MODERN OPPOSITION GROUPS, A VERY PRO FOUND MOVE.
AND I SHOULD CAVEAT BY SAYING THAT CERTAINLY HIS PREROGATIVE
AS THE PRESIDENT TO DO THAT. THROUGH THERE ARE SERIOUS
IMPLICATIONS. IT APPEARS TO ME THAT HE IS
THROWING IN WITH THE RUSSIANS AND HELPING THEM AS THEY HAVE
SUSTAINED PROPPING UP ASSAD, WHO BY THE WAY WAS THE ORIGINAL
CAUSE OF THE CIVIL WAR IN SYRIA TO START WITH.
IF WE'RE STOPPING THAT ASSISTANCE, THEN WE'RE CUTTING
THE KNEES OUT FROM TUNNELED MODERN OPPOSITION GROUPS WHO
HAVE GROWN VERY DEPENDENT ON US. AND I THINK OTHER THINGS TO
GAUGE THE REACTION OF THE REGIONAL NEIGHBORS.
ARE I READ THAT JORDAN IS SUPPORTIVE.
I'M NOT SURE ALL THE OTHERS WOULD BE.
SO IF THIS IS TRUE, THIS HAS HUGE IMPLICATIONS.
>> WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THAT FIRST MEETING IN JUNE OF LAST
YEAR. IT SEEMS TO BE THE FIRST YEAR
WHEN DONALD TRUMP WAS APPROACHED FOR THE PROPOSITION THAT THE
RUSSIANS APPARENTLY, AT THE GOVERNMENTRNMENT LEVEL, HAD SOM
ON HILLARY CLINTON. BASED ON YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF
RUSSIAN METHODS, WHAT WERE THEY UP TO THERE IN ESTABLISHING A
RELATIONSHIP WITH TRUMP'S SON? >> WELL, FIRST OF ALL, THIS WAS
THE CLASSIC TEXTBOOK SOVIET AND NOW RUSSIAN TRADE CRAFT.
THE SOFT APPROACH. AND I THINK THE PRINCIPLE, THE
TWO OBJECTIVES. ONE WAS TO DETERMINE WHETHER
THOSE CLOSE TO THEN CANDIDATE TRUMP WOULD BE INTERESTED IN
TALKING WITH THEM ABOUT, AND RECEIVING DIRT ON HILLARY
CLINTON. THAT WAS POINT ONE.
AND POINT TWO WAS PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY.
AND THESE ARE CHARACTERISTICS OF TYPICAL SOVIET/RUSSIAN ARE
INTELLIGENCE TRADE CRAFT. AND I THINK THAT WAS THE PRIMARY
OBJECTIVE. TO FIND OUT IF THEY REACHED OUT.
IF THEY WOULD BE INTEREST AND THERE WAS.
>> WHAT KIND OF A RESPONSE DID THEY GET?
TRUMP SEEMED VERY PRO RUSSIAN IN THE MONTHS AFTER THAT.
>> THAT'S TRUE. WE PUBLISHED OUR ASSESSMENT ON
THE 6th OF JANUARY AND BRIEFED HIM AT TRUMP TOWER ABOUT THE
RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE IN OUR ELECTION, IN 2016.
AND HE ALSO WAS SKEPTICAL ABOUT IT.
ALTHOUGH HE WASN'T WHILE WE BRIEFED HIM.
BUT THE SUBSEQUENT COMMENTARY WAS DISPARAGING OF IT AND AT ONE
POINT HE SAID NAZIS FOR HAVING REPORTED TO HIM WHAT OUR
JUDGMENT WAS ABOUT THE MAGNITUDE AND THE EXTENT AND THE SCOPE OF
RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE. AND THE RESULTS FOR THEM, I
THINK. ALL THEY'RE GOING TO DO.
DO IT MORE. THEY'RE GOING TO BE BACK THERE
AND EMBOLDENED TO BE MORE AGGRESSIVE.
>> SO EVEN AFTER SENDING THE MEN TO PAUL MANAFORT, THE CHAIRMAN
OF THE CAMPAIGN AT THE TIME, AND HIS SON THAT THEY WERE ON HIS
SIDE, THAT THEY WERE WILLING TO HURT HILLARY CLINTON IN THE
CAMPAIGN. EVEN ARREST GETTING THAT MEN
CLEAR AS A BELL. HE TOLD YOU FOLKS, THE
INTELLIGENCE EXPERTS, THAT HE DIDN'T BELIEVE THE RUSSIANS WERE
TRYING TO HELP HIM. >> HE DIDN'T, HE JUST KEPT IT
RATING THE POSSIBILITY THAT IT COULD HAVE BEEN SOMEBODY ELSE.
IT COULD HAVE BEEN THE 400 GUY BED IN HIS JERSEY.
KIND OF REITERATED THAT MESSAGE IN A SPEECH IN POLAND.
>> BUT WASN'T A 400 POUND PERSON LYING IN THEIR BED THAT CAME TO
HIS PEOPLE, THREE OF THEM IN TRUMP TOWER, INCLUDING HIS
SON-IN-LAW AND HIS SON AND CAMPAIGN CHERYL.
THAT WAS NOT A 400-POUND PERSON THAT CAME TO HIM WITH THE DIRT
ON HILLARY. >> THAT'S RIGHT.
I MENTIONED THAT ONLY BECAUSE HE WAS TRYING TO OBFUSCATE THE
ORIGINS OF THIS INTERFERENCE. TO BE CLEAR, IN OUR MINDS, IN
THE MINDS OF THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY, THERE'S NO DOUBT IT
WAS CLEARLY THE RUSSIANS. WE HAD A VERY HIGH CONFIDENCE
LEVEL ABOUT THAT AND STILL DO. >> LET'S TALK ABOUT HIS
REACTION. WE KNOW THAT HE'S DENIED THE
DOSSIER. YET HE HAS BEEN SO NICE TO THE
RUSSIANS. HE WAS NICE TO MR. GORBACHEV,
MR. PUTIN IN THE G-20 MEETING OPENLY.
THEN WHEN THEY HAD THE MEETING, THEY SAT WITH HIM JUST HIS OWN,
PUTIN'S OWN TRANSLATOR, INTERPRETER.
HE BRINGS OUT THIS NEW OVERTURE IN TERMS OF SUPPORTING ASSAD BY
OPPOSING, OR GIVING NO MORE FUNDING TO ASSAD.
THE SIDE WE'VE BEEN ON. THAT ADDS UP TO ME AS SXOOPGS
COLLUSION. >> IT IS VERY HE CONCERNING TO
ME THAT THIS APPEARS TO BE GOING ON.
I UNDERSTAND IT IS A GOOD THING TO LOOK FOR AREAS WHERE OUR
INTERESTS CONVERGE. IT SEEMS TO ME WE'RE SUBORNING
OUR INTERESTS TO THOSE OF THE RUSSIANS.
>> IF THIS IS TRUE ABOUT THE IN ACCORDANCE SYRIA, THIS IS A VERY
SERIOUS THING. AND THIS AFFINITY FOR RUSSIA IS
VERY ARE, A VERY CURIOUS THING. AND BEAR IN MIND, RUSSIA IS AN
EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO THIS COUNTRY.
THEY EMBOORKD A VERY AGGRESSIVE MODERNIZATION PROGRAM.
THEY HAVE A VERY AGGRESSIVE COUNTER SPACE PROGRAM.
AND THESE ARE ALL DESIGNED WINE ONE ADVERSARY IN MIND.
THAT'S THE UNITED STATES. BY THE WAY, THEY'RE IN VIOLATION
OF THE INCH NM TREATY. SO THEY ARE NOT OUR FRIENDS AND
ARE NOT DOING, THEY ARE NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING IN OUR
INTERESTS. >> LASTLY, HOW WOULD YOU
DESCRIBE PRESIDENT TRUMP'S RESPONSE TO THIS ADVERSARY SINCE
TAKING OFFICE? >> WELL, AGAIN, IT APPEARS TO ME
THAT THE APPROACH TO BE TAKEN IS TO BE VERY SOLICITOUS.
THE REPACKS I'VE READ IN THE MEDIA ABOUT SYRIA IS TRUE, IT
SEEMS TO ME WHAT WE'RE DOING IS ESSENTIALLY SUB ORDINARY NAIGT
OURSELVES TO THE RUSSIANS AS A SUSTAINED HAD, ASSAD, WHICH HAS
BEEN THEIR POSITION ALL ALONG. AND I THINK WHAT THAT DOES IN
THE LONG RUN IS REALLY MARGINALIZE WHATEVER LEVERAGE WE
HAD IN INFLUENCING DEVELOPMENTS THERE.
>> WHEN AN AMERICAN, OR ANY OTHER POWER LAYS DOWN BEFORE
PUTIN, WHAT IS PUTIN'S REACTION TO THAT?
HOW DOES HE DO WITH THAT ACCEPTANCE?
>> NECESSARY MY VIEW, NOT A THROW BACK OF THE SOVIET ERA BUT
TO THE CZAR ERA. HE IS NOT REALLY AN IDEALOGUE.
I THINK HE HAS THIS RUSSIAN GREATNESS MINDSET.
AND RUSSIA IS A GREAT POWER IN
THE WORLD. AND HE CRAVES THAT KIND OF
RECOGNITION. HE USES THAT RECOGNITION TO I
THINK INTIMIDATE HIS OWN PEOPLE. AND USES THAT AS A WAY OF TRYING
TO EXHORT THEIR PATRIOTISM SO. THIS ALL, THIS PHENOMENON PLAYS
RIGHT TO HIS SWEET SPOT. >> DO YOU THINK OUR PRESIDENT IS
HELPING RUSSIA BE GREAT AGAIN? >> YEAH, IN A WAY.
I GUESS HE IS. PARTICULARLY AS PUTIN GETS HIS
WAY IN SYRIA. AND IF NOTHING IS DONE TO PUSH

James Clapper: President Donald Trump Is Making Russia Great Again | MSNBC

Latest Posts