Donald Trump, Republican allies launch wide attack on Russian inquiry foundation

In a bid to frame former US President Barack Obama’s administration under scrutiny for its 'routine' actions, US President Donald Trump and Republicans have launched a comprehensive attack on the Russian inquiry foundation that would include the declassification of intelligence information. According to international media reports, the effort has been supported by the decision of the Justice Department to dismiss the prosecution of former security adviser in Trump administration, Michael Flynn. 

This move has enabled the rewriting of the narrative of the case in a manner that according to former federal law enforcement officials makes security concerns less significant. The critics of Trump administration also think that the dismissal of prosecution is an outcome of the mistruths Flynn pleaded guilty to tell. As both Trump and his allies further push to reframe the Russian investigation as a “deep state” plot against his administration, they have now even unleashed fresh attacks on both past and present Democrats along with the leaders in law enforcement. 

“His goal is that by the end of this, you’re just not really sure what happened and at some gut level enough Americans say, ‘It’s kind of messy,’” said Princeton University historian Julian Zelizer.

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Meanwhile, two Republican critics of the Russian probe foundation Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin revealed the names of officials in the Obama administration who according to them had received information regarding former Trump administration’s security adviser from the intelligence reports of 2016 and 2017. Among these names, the former US Vice President and only Democratic Presidential candidate of 2020, Joe Biden is also included.

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The names of US citizens are reportedly hidden or minimized as a routine in intelligence reports for legal surveillance of foreign targets. US officials have the authority to ‘unmask’ the identity of Americans, only on request. Since Biden among other officials had the permission to seek the name of an unidentified American in the reports, they found that those were indicating towards Flynn. Even though the authorised channels through Trump administration pointed towards Flynn, the documents by US President’s allies created doubts around Biden and other Democrats while the November Presidential elections approach. 

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'Massive thing' 

Trump even underlined Biden’s name in the list as ‘massive thing’. However, Joe Biden’s campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates has rejected the findings of Trump’s aides and said that it showcases “the breadth and depth of concern across the American government” at that time related to the conversations Flynn had with representatives of foreign countries. Bates also reportedly stressed that none of the US officials knew about the identity of the American in the reports before the probe took place. 

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(With AP inputs)

(Image Source: AP)