RawStory: 'What do you think?' Trump asked Putin if he should arm Ukraine: former officials
Thomas Kaine
'What do you think?' Trump asked Putin if he should arm Ukraine: former officials
3:09 PM · Oct 5, 2024
RawStory - 'What do you think?' Trump asked Putin if he should arm Ukraine: former officials
Tom Boggioni
October 5, 2024
2:55PM ET
According to a report from the New York Times, Donald Trump's hostility toward Ukraine originated during a meeting in 2017 with Russian President Vladimir Putin where the recently elected former president asked the Russian strongman for advice.
The report notes that Trump's meeting with Putin in Hamburg led to former Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson hustling out of the meeting and telling "nervous" aides, "Weve got work to do to change the presidents mind on Ukraine."
According to insiders, Tillerson had just witnessed Putin "put on a master class in seeking to shape the thinking of the new American president" who was a novice when it came to international relations.
At one pivotal moment, Trump asked Putin for advice ("What do you think?"
on whether he should help arm Ukraine only to have the Russian leader tell him it would be " a mistake" before adding that Ukraine would come asking again if he complied.
/snip
Agent of Putin. Has been for decades. Running for POTUS. Fuck, how'd we get here?