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After 3 days of trans-Atlantic meetings, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has concluded that Donald Trump simply is not a reliable ally that her and her country have depended on in the past. Trump walking away from the Paris climate agreement upset many EU leaders.“The times in which we could rely fully on others they are somewhat over,” Angela Merkel spoke on Trump, “this is what I experienced in the last few days.”
Michael Flynn has been issued a subpoena pertaining to information involving Russia just a day after former FBI director, Comey, was fired. Flynn had declined to give any documents that the Intelligence Committee had requested, therefore was issued with a subpoena, the first one, to be issued in this investigation over Russia’s meddling in the election.
Yesterday, Moon Jae In was appointed the president of South Korea, receiving a congratulatory call from President Trump where Trump agreed to cooperate on the nuclear North Korean issue and to also help strengthen ties between the US and South Korea. Moon wants to hold meetings in both Washington and Pyeongyang to help ease the crisis in North Korea. North Korea is suspected to be holding their sixth nuclear test soon, with efforts to create a missile that would be able to reach the USA.
White House national security adviser H.R. McMaster did not deny that Trump told Russian officials his motivations for firing the FBI director in the Oval office earlier this month. He would not directly address the details of the meeting but he did not deny reports that Trump revealed classified intelligence information. He said it is difficult to understand the scope of the conversation based on “a few lines” of notes leaked to members of the press.
On Wednesday, news broke that Putin is offering to give a transcript of Trump’s meeting with Russian envoys. Puttin told, “If the administration of the United States deems this possible, we will be ready to provide a transcript of the Lavrov-Trump meeting to the U.S. Senate and Congress”. The offer was laughed off by both parties, Senator Marco Rubio saying, “I wouldn’t put much credibility onto whatever Putin’s notes are and if it comes in an email, I wouldn’t click on the attachment, that’s for sure”.
Former FBI Director Robert Mueller has been appointed to lead the investigation regarding the Trump-Russia ties in the 2016 US presidential election. This is a clear signal to the White House that federal investigators will pursue the matter aggressively no matter what the president insists about there being no “collusion” with the Kremlin. “In my capacity as acting attorney general I am determined that it is in the public interest for me to exercise my authority and appoint a special counsel to assume responsibility for this matter,’’ Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein said in a statement. Trump’s statement on this story was “a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know”, that the Trump campaign had no involvement with Russians during the election.
The White House offered a statement regarding the case of Trump releasing classified information to the Russians saying that he was not breaking the law and that it was “wholly appropriate for the president to share whatever information he thinks is necessary to advance the security of the American people. That’s what he did.” The statement was made as what can be seen as damage control as many are questioning where Trump’s affiliations lie. Russia has denied the claims that Trump disclosed any information with them calling the report “another piece of nonsense, and we do not want to have anything to do with this nonsense at all.”
President Trump met with president Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey on Tuesday at the White House and praised him as an ally to the US in the “fight against terrorism.” Erdogan praised Trump on his “legendary triumph” in the elections but stated very seriously that his country would not accept Syrian Kurdish fighters in the region but stopped short of directly criticizing a U.S. decision to arm them. The US alliance with Turkey has already proved pivotal in the battle against the Islamic State in Syria. Despite the US’ decision to arm the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia the tone of the meeting was extremely positive.