Donald Trump, Russian asset
Who remembers the “Steele Dossier”? Well, it’s back in the news. And if you have any doubt that Donald Trump’s capacity for vengeance is unlimited and deadly dangerous to human life, doubt no more. And if you have any doubt that Trump has always been a useful tool to the Russians, doubt that no more as well.
As if Trump hasn’t got enough drama going on in his life, in London he’s currently suing the British private investigations firm co-founded by ex-British spy Christopher Steele. And as an act of monumentally ironic hypocrisy, Trump is suing Steele for breach of data protection. In the course of the suit it was revealed on Tuesday that, owing to his cavalier attitude toward secret documents and his insatiable need for revenge, Trump may have cost the lives of two human beings.
In what Steele terms in a witness statement released on Tuesday as “one of the most egregious breaches of intelligence rules and protocol by the US government in recent times,” the ex-spy alleges that “Two of the named Russian sources have not been seen or heard of since.” That’s another way of saying they’re probably dead, and all thanks to the blithering moron who used to squat like a toadstool in the Oval Office.
As part of the Robert Mueller probe, Steele gave evidence about an alleged conspiracy between Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Russian government. It was understood that the interview was classified in order to protect US government sources and information.
On the last day of his benighted presidency, the twice-impeached, four-times indicted felon Trump declassified Steele’s evidence and provided a copy of his testimony to a journalist. By so doing, Trump released the names of two Russian assets now probably dead on that account. Vladimir Putin and gravity no doubt did the rest.
As you may recall, among other things, the so-called “Steele Dossier” alleged in part that the Russians were blackmailing Trump. You may recall further that it is not in fact a “dossier” at all but a summary of anti-Trump opposition research originally commissioned by Republicans before Trump secured the 2016 Republican nomination. Hillary Clinton’s campaign then bought the dossier from the Republicans once they no longer needed it.
One of the items in the “dossier” included an allegation that the Russian government was using the so-called “pee-pee tape” to blackmail Trump. The tape allegedly shows
Trump demanding that two Russian hookers urinate on a bed that Barack and Michelle Obama once slept in. Yes, I know, scabrous and sleazy and disgusting stuff. But that’s the life of Donald Trump on the inside.
Presumably Steele got some of the information contained in the dossier from two Russian assets who he in turn was required to name to the FBI. Steele named them with the understanding that the information would remain private. Trump probably cost both men their lives when he leaked the testimony to the reporters, as one of his last hateful and stupid and irresponsible acts as “president.”
This insouciant endangerment of the lives of two human beings would be the biggest scandal of the twenty-first century had it been done by any other president, especially one belonging to the Democratic Party. With Trump it’s just business as usual, and will probably remain buried in an ocean of words on page six in most newspapers.
This is the monster we deal with. This is the thing, the hateful and dangerous and evil thing, called Trump. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.