Trump's odd outburst at Zelenskyy echoes Russian plot reported by Republican-controlled Senate committee

The Senate Intelligence Committee, during a time it was under Republican control, found Russian operatives believed Trump had agreed to help Russia acquire part of Ukraine.

This is a good time to reflect on the fact that the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee found in an exhaustive report, with detailed evidence, that Russia interfered aggressively in the 2016 US presidential election, and that one of their crucial findings was that Russian operatives believed they had secured from Trump a commitment to help them annex parts of Ukraine.

On page 99 of the Senate Intel report on Russian interference, it is documented that a Kremlin operative wrote in an email to Paul Manafort that "[a]ll that is required to start the process is a very minor 'wink' (or slight push) from DT saying 'he wants peace in Ukraine and Donbass back in Ukraine' and a decision to be a 'special representative' and manage this process.”

On page 123 of the Senate Intel report, a Kremlin plan that was presented to the Trump campaign is produced. It includes language echoing Putin talking points now in use, suggesting that then Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is “not interested in the peaceful settlement” of the conflict and warning explicitly, in bold letters, that “Continuation of the conflict in Donbass leads to uncontrolled scenarios, and presents a risk of the violence getting out to other countries of the region.”

This language mirrors the White House talking points during and since the meeting in which Trump and Vance verbally abused Zelenskyy. Trump is using the carefully distorted language given to his 2016 campaign, and after he was sworn in, to allies working with him, by Russian operatives. According to the Senate Intel report, Russian operatives’ instructions to Trump, through staff, were (paraphrasing): Support Russia by saying you will mediate a peace negotiation; blame Ukraine for not wanting peace; note Ukraine’s resistance risks a wider conflagration.

Read Trump’s near screaming at Zelenskyy that by declining to agree to Putin-friendly terms, he was “risking World War Three” in light of this documented evidence of a Russian plot; then compare Trump’s attitude to any other leader of any NATO country since the 1940s. Only Trump accuses a European country invaded by a KGB-trained dictator of being the instigator of the crime committed against it, and of choosing conflict over peace and “risking World War Three”.

This matters not only as context for the awful, dangerous behavior of Trump and Vance toward Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, not only as context for discussions about whether Trump is loyal to NATO, as the Constitution requires him to be (more on this below), not only because the Putin regime and its tightly controlled media operations gleefully celebrated Trump’s actions, and Putin later ordered the bombardment of a medical facility in Kharkiv—an overt war crime, whose purpose had to be to communicate to the world that he had received the message loud and clear.

On page 124 of the Senate Intel report, the plan involving this signal language is reported to include the creation of an independent pro-Russia “Autonomous Republic of Donbass”. The plan envisioned installing the pro-Putin disgraced kleptocrat Viktor Yanukovich as head of this new republic. Trump would be tasked with supporting the pro-Putin plan to either divide Ukraine permanently or “reintegrate” it with Yanukovich or another pro-Putin leader as part of the deal.

Dozens of pages are blacked out, likely to protect sources and methods of intelligence gathering, but what is revealed is that the people Manafort and the Trump campaign were engaging with were known to be not just representatives of pro-Putin political interests, but Russian intelligence assets who participated in active measures to influence the internal politics of other countries. Their role, here, was to influence the internal politics of both Ukraine and the United States. Their method was to offer something of value in exchange for support from Trump. What they believed they had secured was a commitment to endorse this plan—that Russia would either militarily or politically take permanent control of eastern Ukraine.

The fact the Senate Intelligence Committee found that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to support Donald Trump, and that Russian operatives believed they had the requested “wink” from Trump that he would support their efforts to take permanent control of at least part of Ukraine, is vitally important for all Americans to understand, because… if at any time Donald Trump uses the powers of the Presidency to serve his own personal interest, or to follow through on an unlawful commitment that was made to serve his own personal interest, he is not only violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution, he is violating his oath, acting outside the legal authority of the Presidency, and committing himself to a criminal enterprise.

• Doing this in league with a military adversary, at the expense of an ally, in direct violation of the UN Charter, which under Article VI of the Constitution the President has a duty to uphold and defend, would mean Trump has abandoned his country and the Constitution to aid a war criminal in committing atrocities.

• If that illicit deal was made, however tacitly, and Trump takes any action, however small, to advance it, then Trump started down the road of acting outside the legal authority of the President nine years ago, and he would clearly then still be acting outside the legal authority of the President now.

• Anyone aiding him in furthering that criminal enterprise, assisting him in providing material aid to Vladimir Putin’s illegal seizure of territory, using the Presidency unlawfully to enable or advance Putin’s ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity, is party to that criminal enterprise.

No American law authorizes the President to engage in such an exchange of illicit goods and services, and no person can be lawfully empowered to assist Mr. Trump in carrying forward any element of such an illicit arrangement. No statute of limitations will apply, if Trump is abusing his office to aid war crimes.