March 20, 2018

Trump’s national security advisers warned him not to congratulate Putin. He did it anyway.

Featuring Julianne Smith

Source: Washington Post

Journalists David Nakamura, Josh Dawsey, Carol D. Leonnig

President Trump did not follow specific warnings from his national security advisers Tuesday when he congratulated Russian President Vladi­mir Putin on his reelection — including a section in his briefing materials in all-capital letters stating “DO NOT CONGRATULATE,” according to officials familiar with the call.

Trump also chose not to heed talking points from aides instructing him to condemn the recent poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain with a powerful nerve agent, a case that both the British and U.S. governments have blamed on Moscow.

The president’s conversation with Putin, which Trump described as a “very good call,” prompted fresh criticism of his muted tone toward one of the United States’ biggest geopolitical rivals amid the special counsel investigation into Russia’s election interference and the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russian officials.

Read the full article on the Washington Post.

Authors

  • Julianne Smith

    Adjunct Senior Fellow, Transatlantic Security Program

    Julianne (“Julie”) Smith is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and is currently serving as a Weizsäcker Fellow at the Bosch Academy in Berlin....