Make no mistake. At the 7/16/18 Helsinki summit between the US president and the Russian leader, President Trump looked like a weakling on the world’s stage. His bluffing and posturing to where he likes to exhibit the appearance of strength, was missing. He threw the US Intelligence agencies, all of his foreign policy experts and the American peoples under the bus as he equivocated on the question of whether the USA was attacked by Russia as it interfered with the 2016 US elections infrastructure.
Russians don’t respect a doormat.
I have always admired the FOX TV News division with journalists like Chris Wallace, Brit Hume and Shepard Smith. During the 2016 presidential debate season, it is my opinion that Chris Wallace asked the toughest questions of republican candidates.
On the 16th of July 2016, the FOX TV News journalist Chris Wallace did not disappoint me. He managed to bag an interview with the Russian leader Vladimir Putin after the Helsinki summit between him and the US republican President Donald Trump. During this interview, Chris Wallace tried to hand President Putin the indictment of 12 Russian GRU officials. But President Putin freezes, and then tells him to set it on the table between them.
Here is the rest of the story…
On July 17, 2018, Margaret Hartmann of the New York Magazine penned the following report, “5 Tense Moments From Putin’s Fox News Grilling”
Excerpts:
“Monday (7/16/18) was a weird day for Fox News. The network’s daytime team could not bring itself to praise President Trump’s performance at his press conference with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. Several analysts said he handed the Russian president a victory, and called his failure to stand up for the U.S. “disgraceful.” But by the evening, the Trump propaganda machine was rolling again. Sean Hannity aired a post-summit chat with Trump in which the president suggested Putin’s denials are proof that there was never any Trump-Russia collusion.”
“In between, Fox News aired Putin’s interview with Chris Wallace, in which the Fox News Sunday host deftly attempted to hold the leader to account on everything from U.S. election hacking to hinting at his ability to nuke Florida to killing his opponents within Russia. After watching Trump perform like Putin’s puppet at their press conference, it was particularly satisfying to see an American interviewer make Putin squirm — even if Putin mostly filibustered and offered absurd justifications for Russia’s actions. Here are the most interesting moments.”
Wallace Tries to Make Putin Hold the Mueller Indictments
“Just a few minutes into the interview, Wallace brought up allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. election, then produced a copy of the indictment Special Counsel Robert Mueller issued on Friday, accusing 12 Russian intelligence operatives of hacking Democratic targets.”
“Putin started laughing as Wallace described the allegations. “You smile. Let me finish,” Wallace said. “You say that these units were … involved in hacking into Democratic party computers, stealing information, and spreading it to the world to try to disrupt an election. May I give this to you to look at, sir?” Putin paused, then motioned for Wallace to put the document on the table between them.”
“Putin tried to dodge Wallace’s questions on the indictment with a lengthy multi-part answer. While he insisted Russia “has never interfered with the internal affairs of the United States, let alone its elections,” eventually he offered what sounded like a justification for the hacking.”
“The idea was about hacking an email account of a Democratic candidate. Was it some rigging of facts? Was it some forgery of facts? That’s the important thing that I am trying to — point that I’m trying to make. Was this — any false information planted? No. It wasn’t,” Putin said.”
“He added that the hackers entered “a certain email account and there was information about manipulations conducted within the Democratic Party to incline the process in favor of one candidate,” referring to emails indicating that top party officials preferred Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders.”
“Wallace interrupted Putin several times to try to get him to answer the question, leading to them arguing through interpreters at one point.”
“You’re indicating that they stole real money, not counterfeit money,” Wallace said. “Are you saying it’s okay because facts that they took from the DNC, from John Podesta, it was their real emails so it’s okay to hack and spread this information out and interfere with the election?”
“Putin just reiterated his point, imploring Wallace to be patient. “If you don’t like my answer, you can give it to me straightway, and I’ll just keep silent,” Putin said. “And if you want Americans to listen to my opinion, could you please wait for a little bit?”
Putin Says Trump the Businessman Wasn’t Important Enough to Spy On
“Noting that at their press conference, Trump “spent more time criticizing the Democrats and asking about the Democratic server than he did criticizing Russia and asking about the GRU,” Wallace segued into theories on why Trump is so reluctant to annoy Putin. Does the Russian leader have “kompromat” on him, or is it that “as a skilled politician and former KGB officer, you know how to play him. You use phrases like ‘fake news’ and ‘deep state.’”
“Putin brushed off Trump’s bizarrely deferential behavior, saying two leaders don’t travel to a bilateral summit just to insult each other. Then he claimed that Trump the real estate mogul and TV host wasn’t important enough to warrant videotaping his activities with prostitutes.”
“PUTIN: I don’t want to insult President Trump when I say this — and I may come as rude — but before he announced that he will run for presidency, he was of no interest for us … He was a rich person, but, well, there’s plenty of rich persons in the United States. He was in the construction business. He organized the beauty pageants. But no, it would never occur to anyone that he would think of running for president.”
“Funnily enough, this was one of the few points where Trump slightly contradicted Putin in his Hannity interview. Even when parroting a Russian talking point meant to disprove the existence of the pee tape, Trump had to point out he was a particularly successful businessman at the time of the alleged taping.”
“TRUMP: You know many years ago when I was there, what was it 13, 14, a long time ago, he said there were many, many businesspeople there. In all fairness, I was a very successful businessman, but I was one of a lot of people. And one thing you know, if they had it, it would have been out.”
Link to entire report: Vladimir Putin’s Chris Wallace Interview: 5 Tense Moments – NYMag
Gronda Morin 
I admire Wallace for being a beacon at this web of lies. I can’t pay Fox on the back, they are up to their necks in lies and deceit to bs k the agenda of the deplorable. Shame on them.
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Dear Holly,
The news section of FOX TV (Day TV) is very different from the Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson reality TV shows. Among those in the media, Chris Wallace has a very solid reputation. It is said that most republicans fear him the most with his hard hitting inquiries.
I am appreciative of how he handled the interview with President Putin. If President Putin was under the illusion that this would be an easy interview because it was on FOX TV, he was in for a major shock.
Hugs, Gronda
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TRUMP-PUTIN SUMMIT: RUSSIAN MEDIA DECLARES SUCCESS FOR ‘MASTER’ PUTIN
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-putin-summit-russian-media-declares-success-master-putin-1027795
Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, announced that the meeting was “fabulous” and Nikonov agreed, adding that the outrage it has caused in the U.S. is but “another indicator” of its success. “Did the world today become better today,” Nikonov said, smiling to loud applause from the studio audience. “It did. Did it become safer? It did. Will today’s meeting go in history books? It will.”
Trump’s decision not to spend much time discussing Crimea or the security of NATO allies that border Russia, such as Poland, delighted Moscow as well.
“Trump did not say a word about this,” Rossiya 1 anchor Yevgeny Popov announced with a smile, as the 60 Minutes panel discussed U.S. commitments to European partners.
Petr Tolstoy, another lawmaker from Putin’s United Russia said on state-run Kanal 1 and its news review show Time Will Tell, “We do not care about them and Trump does not care,” to roaring applause. “Did you look into his eyes? He absolutely does not have Ukraine or Poland in his eyes. It is just not on his agenda.
“Donald Trump was elected to spit on the U.S. establishment. The people of America, in this way, spat in the face of the Washington establishment.”
The same paper expressed shock, asking what happened to the man who unloaded at U.S. allies during visits to NATO and the U.K. just the week prior. “Where was the brash and boorish Trump who ruthlessly attacked [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel several days ago, undercut [British Prime Minister] Theresa May’s political position and violated the court protocol at a reception with Queen Elizabeth II?
“Why, at the press conference after the meeting of the leaders of the Russian Federation and the U.S.A. did we see a quiet, unassuming Trump… next to VVP (Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin)?” the paper asked.
“Putin Arrived at the Meeting with Trump In The Form of a Spy,” another piece by the newspaper declared, referring to Putin’s easy dismissal of allegations of Russian meddling in the U.S. election.
“On this matter Trump is on our side and not the American side,” Andranik Migranyan, a professor at Moscow’s top diplomatic university, told Kanal 1, as he said the meeting went “better than expected. This is already a super success.”
Notably, Putin received much less vitriol than U.S. ally Germany for a pipeline deal with Russia which Trump publicly denounced in front of allies last week. “Here Putin looked like a bigger businessman and diplomat than even Trump,” Migranyan said, allowing Trump to call him a “competitor,” rather than denounce him.
The clearest indication of Putin’s resolve was the handshake between the two leaders, according to pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda, during which Trump attempted no “clever maneuvers” like he has with leaders of U.S. allies, psychologist Alexander Neveev said.
“It is a testament of Putin’s mastery of judo, where almost every approach with an opponent begins with an attempt to put you out of balance.” At the end of the day, Putin sat comfortably in his chair. “It is impossible to put him in a vulnerable position,” Neveev concluded.
Like fellow blogger Lada Ray stated: President Trump is the US equivalent of Gorbachev/ Yeltsin. Their role in history is to tear down the old rotten establishment to make way for the new. We saw that clearly last night.
Russia is looking resplendent in every way on the world stage. Will the US reinvent itself for the better and follow Russia’s lead?
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Dear 1EarthUnited,
I get Russia’s ebullient attitude after the Helsinki summit.
The problem is that President Trump does not live in Russia where he can control the press or shoot his critics. Free speech is alive and well. The US peoples in large numbers watched the summit and the backlash by most Americans, both democrats and republicans, was swift and brutal.
President Putin managed to unite us at least in condemnation of President Trump’s demeanor in Helsinki. There have to be analysts who have warned President Putin that he may win some battles with events since 2016 but he could lose the war big time.
This will not turn out well in the end. President Putin does not get the American culture. I will be blogging on this, later.
Hugs, Gronda
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Gronda, Trump admitted he misspoke about Russian meddling in Putin press conference:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-meets-with-members-of-congress-today-after-helsinki-putin-meeting-live-updates-2018-07-17/
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Gronda, I need to catch up on your posts, so my comments may appear out of order somewhat. Quite simply, yesterday was a disaster for the United States and even Trump. It was worse than I expected. When Putin buoyantly took the stage and talked for twenty minutes with Trump as the prop this time, I had strange sense that this was not good.
Wallace should get credit for doing what Trump did not, but to be frank, Putin has already read the indictment to see what recon he could get and to know where Mueller and the CIA got their information. You would think that a man who lies as often as Trump does could detect when someone is lying to him, especially someone who lies like he does.
So, the only logical conclusion that can be drawn is Trump is a compromised asset. Putin lied to the reporter who asked this question. Of course, he has information on Trump dating back to the 1990s when he borrowed so much Russian funded monies.
What little doubt I had about Trump is gone. He is guilty of far more than obstruction of justice. And, this certainly “ain’t no witch hunt.”
Keith
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Dear Keith,
Believe it or not, I actually feel sorry for President Trump. He really messed up.
What ever is going on between Presidents Trump and Putin needs to end as it is the US national security interests that’s on the line. We need to know what was said during that 2 hour plus meet between the 2 leaders. It turns out that the US/ Russian interpreter in the room is a US State Dept. employee who had to have taken some notes.
I’m hoping that the US Congress takes its oversight duties seriously.
I admired the way Chris Wallace handled the interview with President Putin. It’s a good think Mr. Wallace lives here in the USA.
Hugs, Gronda
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The thing I simply am unable to get past is this … does ANYONE (besides tRumpsky & his puppets) actually believe Putin is going to ADMIT Russia hacked into the emails in question?
The fiasco that just took place shows — ONCE MORE — what a nincompoop president we have serving as POTUS!
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Dear Nan,
Of course. President Putin won’t admit to interfering with US elections. He didn’t admit to the shooting down the that Malaysian airline 4 years ago, or the attempted murder of two peoples living in the UK or anything else. It looks like President Putin and President Trump went to the same school where they don’t apologize or accept responsibility for their misdeeds.
But our US president has allowed himself to be snowed by President Putin instead of having faith in our intelligence agents. He is somehow compromised by President Putin to where he cannot be allowed to have any future contacts with him without finding out first, what occurred in that 2 hour Helsinki summit.
Hugs, Gronda
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Dear Mz. Gronda,
Here is the latest news from the Mueller investigation. This should be interesting…
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/mueller-asks-manafort-judge-to-give-immunity-to-five-witnesses/ar-AAAdzAK?ocid=ob-fb-enus-280
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Dear Crustyolemothman,
Thanks for the reference. This is good news. Paul Manafort was not able to get his venue changed or to delay the start of his trial on July 25th. That’s only about a week away.
Hugs, Gronda
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Dear Mz. Gronda,
One more link for people to watch. While many people have questioned how the tRump supporters can continue to support him, this video will give you a little glimpse into the reasoning that his supporters use to justify his actions and his occupation of the office. It might just shock you as you listen to this ladies words as her reasoning sounds so non patriotic that it would be disgusting if found in a movie, however this is a real person with real words!! Caution, do not hold anything liquid in your hand or near you computer monitor as you listen to this video…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/07/16/this-c-span-caller-thinks-russia-meddled-and-shes-glad-about-it/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.efbf8742a96f
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Dear Crustyolemothman,
That C-Span caller sounds like the typical hard core supporter of President Trump who had a vitriol hatred of Hillary Clinton to where logic, facts are immaterial. It is upsetting that any American citizen would actually be grateful that Russia interfered in US elections to help President Trump win.
Hugs, Gronda
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LOL, granted Hillary is as corrupt as the day is long, but what politician isn’t? The caller has bought into the alt-right propaganda that Trump is the savior of the US, MAGA blah blah blah. I’m sure she didn’t even bother to researched Mr. Trump’s background or qualifications before she voted. Just another Trumpet parroting the alt-right narrative. President Putin does whatever it takes to put his country first, as he should, that’s his responsibility. Mr. Trump should know that, and start upholding the interests of the US as well, otherwise what the hell is he good for?
I’ve been monitoring the political forums and it seems rabid supporters of Trump are not unusual. There are plenty who still approve of what he said at the forum and praise Putin for interfering! I would even dare say this country is still divided 50/50 and Trump’s approval is stronger than ever! I know, shocking right?
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Dear 1EarthUnited,
As per the 7/17, 18 Rasmussen Daily Tracking polls, “The latest figures include 33% who Strongly Approve of the way the president is performing and 44% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -11.”
On July 14, before the summit, 38% were optimistic about the outcome of the 2018 Trump- Putin Helsinki summit.
As per a 7/18/18 Hill report on recent polls by Jacqueline Thomsen, Sixty-eight percent of Americans also said that they think Russia is unfriendly or an enemy of the U.S. That’s an increase from a July 2017 poll, when 59 percent of respondents labeled the country as unfriendly or an enemy.
This poll was conducted before President Trump’s recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump initially sided with Putin’s denials of Russian election meddling at a press conference following their private meeting, a statement that drew massive backlash.
Hugs, Gronda
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Thanks for the latest poll numbers, I’m sure they’re more indicative of the general population. I was referring to online impressions on forums, there seems to be equal number of supporters and detractors arguing back and forth with no absolute consensus one way or the other. In other words, “proof” provided by our IC doesn’t seem to be believed by many…. and Trump is one of them!
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