As time goes on, the Trump administration is continuing to take the world by surprise with just how much they can sucker up to Vladimir Putin’s Russian government.
After a couple of other such major instances just this week, the Trump administration’s State Department has now taken its own move that could be taken as along those same lines. Whereas on every past anniversary of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 being shot down by a Russian missile over Ukraine, the State Department has issued a solo statement, this year for the first time they have not.
According to Foreign Policy, a draft statement was prepared that was — wait for it — critical of Russia. Although Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed onto a statement along those lines with other foreign ministers from the G7 nations, his department declined to put out their own solo communique. The joint communique only went up on the department’s website after they were contacted by Foreign Policy.
Unsurprisingly, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert sought to downplay the significance of the lack of a solo statement.
She said:
‘I hope the decision that the United States made this time to go with the G7 statement doesn’t cloud anyone’s judgement about our steadfast conviction that Russia stands responsible for the shoot-down of the MH17.’
That sentiment may in fact remain in place at the U.S. State Department, but the absence of a solo statement stands poised to strike a nerve thanks to repeated, pointed Trump capitulations to Russia. On Monday, standing next to Russia’s Vladimir Putin himself, Trump said that he saw no reason to believe Russia had meddled in the 2016 U.S. elections. He offered a clarification of his views on Tuesday, asserting that he meant to say that he sees no reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.
Then, on Wednesday, Trump asserted that Russia poses no ongoing threat to American electoral processes, despite assertions from the nation’s intelligence community to the contrary. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders followed that up with the leap of “logic” claim that Trump ACTUALLY was just saying “no” to more questions — a claim disputed by a number of those who were in the room.
In the end, harried retractions, cover-ups, and reassurances will only cover the Trump administration for so long.
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