Author: John Hanno

Insider

Trump had such a distinct ripping style that aides instantly knew when he was the one who had ravaged a document: report

Yelena Dzhanova – February 13, 2022

• Trump aides instantly knew when the former president tore up documents, the Washington Post reported.
• His ripping style — clean tears horizontally and vertically — became so recognizable to aides.
• The former president is facing renewed scrutiny into the preservation of historical and important documents.

Former Trump administration aides instantly knew when a document had been torn by the former president, according to a report from The Washington Post.

Donald Trump had such a distinct style of ripping that became familiar to his aides, the Post reported. He would tear each document twice — once down the middle horizontally and once vertically — leaving the paper in four quarters. When the aides saw these documents torn up in this manner, according to the Post, they immediately knew Trump had done it.

The former president would then leave the documents scattered across desks and in trash cans all over the White House, the Post reported. Documents were also strewn across floors, and aides found them in the Oval Office and aboard Air Force One, the report said.

Scrutiny into the preservation of documents under the Trump administration started partly after New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman revealed in a forthcoming book that the president had clogged a toilet by flushing torn pieces of paper down it.

Trump, denied the report, slamming it as a “fake story.” It’s “categorically untrue and simply made up by a reporter in order to get publicity for a mostly fictitious book,” Trump said.

Recently, the National Archives and Records Administration, a US agency responsible for the preservation and documentation of government and historical records, said Trump had taken several boxes of official White House records to his Mar-a-Lago resort upon vacating office. Under the Presidential Records Act, he should have turned the records over to the agency upon leaving office.

In a statement from earlier this week, the agency said it has “arranged” transport for 15 boxes of documents from Mar-a-Lago.

The items that Trump improperly took to Florida with him include correspondence from North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, with whom Trump said he exchanged “beautiful” love letters while in office, and a letter that former President Barack Obama left Trump in 2017, according to the Post.

The National Archives has subsequently asked the Justice Department to investigate if Trump broke the law by doing so, the Post reported.

Insider’s Grace Panetta contributed to this report.

Tallahassee Democrat

Republicans suffering from auto-immune syndrome | Opinion

Chuck McMurry – February 13, 2022

Republican politician’s solutions to problems like COVID are similar to an auto-immune reaction in your body. Instead of fighting against a known intruder, the body fights against itself, somehow triggered by false information that there is a problem.

This is what we have seen in Florida, as demonstrated by our Governor’s response to the pandemic. Instead of enacting measures to help fight and reduce the threat, he takes the opposite approach and proposes laws and regulations that perpetuate and exacerbate the problem. No masks required in schools and the hiring of an anti-establishment doctor to lead the state over the cliff with more infections and deaths.

All in the name of getting re-elected.

Florida law requires that children wishing to enter schools must receive vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, and rubella, to name a few. Who in their right mind would not want to protect their children from disease? Why would you fight to stop your child from getting the vaccine or wearing a mask?

Well, DeSantis, and like-minded Republicans, have discovered that the basket of deplorables spoken of by Hillary Clinton, represents a sizable number of truly ignorant voters, who if excited enough will support politicians who pander to anti-establishment, anti-authoritarian ideas that spit in the face of conformity.

These folks reject government in most forms and cheer on the likes of Trump, thumbing his nose law and order, and encouraging the total disruption of the established norms of our society.

Imagine if, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Republicans had pushed back on the idea of declaring war on Japan. People don’t like war, so let’s just try to disrupt this whole response and make a wedge issue out of it.

We could attract anyone who did not want to get drafted into the army to vote pro Republican. Or in the present scenario we have our ex-El Presidente, claiming he would pardon all the rioters who attacked the capital because they are true pat-riots, fighting against the fraud of the last election.

Do we really want anti common-sense leaders? Do we want politicians who can turn issues like gun control into a choice between upholding a Second Amendment right crafted several centuries ago, or the safety of our children to be free from being shot at school?

Mass internet media and 24-hour news cycles has become an Orwellian dream come true, because like every sporting contest you must have competing teams to sell tickets. Our politics today makes no attempt to stand for what is right or wrong, only to support what can get you re-elected.

If it is important to have open and free elections, then the other side will somehow say the system needs to be restricted to prevent fraud- whether there is any proof of such problems.

What we are seeing with this modern wave of Republicans is an attempt to destroy our country by creating issues to attract that minority of knuckle draggers who worship “professional” wrestling, and NASCAR pileups.

The true Republicans are dragged along for fear of losing, whether their candidate has a whit of integrity or leadership. Mainstream Republicans need to distance themselves from the party and reject this auto-immune syndrome by charting a different course.

Our country needs you.

Business Insider

GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger says the Republicans who support Putin have an ‘affection for authoritarianism’

Matthew Loh – February 13, 2022

• Rep. Adam Kinzinger again blasted Republican political figures who support Russia’s goals for Ukraine.
• He said said an “affection for authoritarianism” has led some Republicans to advocate for Vladimir Putin.
• Kinzinger said Putin is seen as a person defending the “culture of the past.”

GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois said on Sunday that a growing number of Republican political figures are showing an “affection for authoritarianism” by voicing support for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s campaign to stop Ukraine from joining NATO.

In an interview with CBS’ “Face The Nation,” Kinzinger was asked about the segment of the Republican Party who asked President Joe Biden not to interfere with Putin’s goal. The congressman said this group isn’t “a huge portion” of his party, but that “it’s way too big and it’s growing.”

In the interview, Kinzinger cited “having an affection for authoritarianism” as one of the possible reasons why some party members have taken Putin’s side. He also put the blame on people being naive about foreign policy and Putin’s public image.

“And I think Vladimir Putin has done a decent job of engaging in culture battles and culture war, and he is seen as the person defending, in essence, the culture of the past. And so it’s very frightening,” he told CBS’ Margaret Brennan.

Kinzinger added that “any Republican that has affection for Vladimir Putin has no understanding of what our party stands for or what our country stands for.”

During the interview, he also singled out Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has repeatedly sided with Putin over Ukraine-Russia tensions and thrown doubts at Washington’s backing of Ukraine.

Carlson in January shrugged off claims that he was a “pawn of Putin,” calling the idea “stupid.” At the time, he had just commented that Russia’s amassing of more than 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border was due to Putin wanting to “keep his western borders secure” — rhetoric that’s also been used by the Kremlin.

Kinzinger’s comments also come as Carlson continues to build a working relationship with Hungarian far-right leader Viktor Orbán, who has regularly been called an authoritarian by political commentators and NGOs.

A vocal critic of former President Donald Trump, Kinzinger has previously slammed US political figures for supporting Putin. On February 3, he tweeted that Senator John Hawley was “one of the worst human beings” and a “con artist” for calling on Biden to block Ukraine from joining NATO.

When Hawley called Kinzinger’s outburst “weird,” the Illinois representative accused Hawley of being “more interested in pleasing Tucker and playing to worst instincts than leading.”

This month, the Republican National Committee voted to censure Kinzinger and GOP Rep. Liz Cheney for their participation in the January 6 House Committee. Kinzinger had announced earlier that he wouldn’t seek re-election this year, and has hinted — but not confirmed — that he may run for governor instead.

The New York Times

Puzzle in Ukraine Crisis: Where’s the U.S. Ambassador?

Michael Crowley – February 12, 2022

WASHINGTON — It is a puzzle at the heart of the crisis over Russia’s threat to invade Ukraine: Why has President Joe Biden, more than one year into his presidency, failed to name an ambassador to Kyiv?

Neither the Biden administration nor Ukraine’s government is providing a clear explanation for a delay that career diplomats say would be baffling and inexcusable even in ordinary times, never mind at a moment when the U.S. relationship with Ukraine is as consequential as it has ever been.

Experts say that the presence of a full-time ambassador could help to smooth awkward relations that have emerged between the Biden administration and the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy despite Ukraine’s heavy reliance on Washington for its defense against Russia. But it is also unclear how eager the Ukrainians are to receive an envoy from Biden, who submitted a candidate to Kyiv for approval weeks ago.

The position comes with an extra dose of intrigue, given that it has remained empty since 2019, when former President Donald Trump removed its last full-time occupant, Marie Yovanovitch. That action, which is the subject of a federal investigation, contributed to Trump’s first impeachment by Congress on charges that he abused his foreign policy leverage over Ukraine for political purposes.

U.S. officials do not dispute reports, which emerged two months ago, that Biden intends to nominate a career diplomat, Bridget Brink, the current U.S. ambassador to Slovakia. The United States sent Brink’s name to Ukraine’s government last month for customary review and approval by the host government, in a diplomatic custom known by the French term agrément, and Biden officials are eager for Kyiv’s clearance so they can submit her to the Senate for confirmation. During a visit to Kyiv on Jan. 19, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he “would anticipate that a nomination will be forthcoming very shortly.”

It is unclear why Ukraine’s government has not signed off on Brink. While it is not unusual for a host government to spend a few weeks vetting a potential ambassador, the timeline is frequently shorter, and diplomats say they would expect Ukraine to welcome more high-level American attention.

Representatives of Ukraine’s foreign ministry and its embassy in Washington, D.C., did not respond to requests for comment. Last week, the 112 Ukraine television channel reported that the country’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, had confirmed that his government was considering her candidacy.

If Russia begins a full-scale invasion of Ukraine that threatens Kyiv, of course, it is possible that U.S. Embassy personnel would be evacuated from the country, leaving any new ambassador without a safe destination — and potentially fueling regrets that one had not been installed months earlier.

In place of a senior diplomat in Kyiv with Biden’s seal of approval, the U.S. Embassy is run by its chargé d’affaires, Kristina Kvien. Diplomatic veterans said Kvien is highly regarded within the Foreign Service and in Ukraine. But she by definition lacks the stature of a White House-appointed and Senate-confirmed emissary.

“It’s a perception problem,” said Steven Pifer, a U.S. ambassador to Kyiv during the Clinton administration who praised Kvien’s performance. “The Ukrainians are wondering, ‘Why is there no American ambassador here?’”

Having an ambassador in place would help the two capitals coordinate their views and public messages, said Eric Rubin, the president of the American Foreign Service Association, the union and professional group that represents U.S. diplomats.

In recent weeks, Ukrainian officials have repeatedly diverged from or contradicted key U.S. talking points. Mindful of the need to avoid panic, for instance, they have disputed Washington’s dire warnings that a full-scale invasion could be “imminent,” leading Biden officials to temporarily agree to stop using that word before escalating their warnings again Friday.

“The absence of not just a U.S. ambassador to Ukraine but even a nominee to be ambassador to Ukraine at a time of crisis is worrisome and regrettable,” said Rubin, who worked at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv in the 1990s.

In general, Rubin said, “not sending an ambassador to a country can be taken as a signal that we don’t care.”

Biden has yet to nominate ambassadors to more than two dozen countries, but few if any are as significant as Ukraine, and diplomats and experts say they are mystified as to why he took so long to decide on a putative nominee. Administration officials have declined to discuss the source of the delay.

Some diplomats and experts speculated that the White House had little appetite for a Senate confirmation hearing that could devolve into a debate about Nord Stream 2, a natural gas pipeline between Russia and Germany that members of both parties have criticized Biden for not opposing more vigorously. Republicans might also use a confirmation hearing to dredge up the past business activities in Ukraine of Biden’s son, Hunter, although one Senate Republican official said he was aware of no plans to do so.

Also unclear is why Ukraine might not have immediately signed off on Brink, a Foreign Service officer for more than two decades who has been posted in two other former Soviet republics, Uzbekistan and Georgia.

Zelenskyy’s office has consolidated much of its foreign policy activity with his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, who speaks regularly to Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, in what has become the center of gravity of the U.S.-Ukrainian relationship. It is possible the Ukrainians prefer to keep it that way.

Ukrainian officials in recent years have also seen American ambassadors as patronizing scolds who continually issue statements and call meetings to reprimand Ukrainian elites over insider dealing and good governance failures.

And then there is the memory of the Trump years, and the dismissal of Yovanovitch. In the events leading to his impeachment, Trump, hoping to damage Biden before the 2020 election, leveraged U.S. military aid to pressure Zelenskyy to investigate Hunter Biden’s work for a Ukrainian energy company, according to testimony during the impeachment hearings.

In April 2019, Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani persuaded the president to remove Yovanovitch from the position after she opposed Giuliani’s efforts there to dig up dirt on Hunter Biden. (No evidence of wrongdoing was found on the part of Hunter Biden or his father. Trump denied doing anything improper and was acquitted in his Senate trial.)

In a reminder that the position can get tangled in Ukraine’s contentious domestic politics, some Ukrainian officials encouraged Giuliani’s opposition to Yovanovitch because her focus on anti-corruption initiatives threatened their interests. The country’s top prosecutor at the time, Yuriy Lutsenko, referred to Yovanovitch in a text message to an associate as an “idiot,” according to evidence released during the impeachment proceedings.

It was Yermak, then in a different government role, who tried to smooth the situation and create a Ukrainian strategy for responding, including a plan to work directly with the White House, when possible.

Rubin, of the Foreign Service officers’ association, noted that Ukraine is just one of dozens of U.S. ambassadorial posts that remain unfilled. While Senate Republicans, led by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, have stalled many of Biden’s nominees for months, the White House has yet to submit candidates to lead nearly 30 U.S. embassies.

Biden only just last month nominated Jane Hartley, a Democratic Party donor and Carter administration aide, as his pick for ambassador to Britain. Her nomination is pending. His selection in July of an ambassador to Germany, the former president of the University of Pennsylvania, Amy Gutmann, was confirmed by the Senate on Feb. 8.

And as the United States conducts tense diplomacy with Russia to prevent an assault on Ukraine, Biden has yet to name an ambassador to Moscow. The role is still held by John Sullivan, who was appointed by Trump.

The Wrap

‘MAGA Olympics’? Jim Acosta Floats Idea of the Ted Cruz ‘Tequila Luge,’ a Tonya Harding-Like Marjorie Taylor Greene (Video)

Rosemary Rossi – February 12, 2022

CNN’s Jim Acosta finds sport in poking fun at the Republican party but Saturday, he did it literally, tossing out the idea of a “MAGA Olympics,” with some of the GOP’s “major players” competing in games with a unique twist.

“Trump and his buddies should consider hosting their own Winter Games,” Acosta said, even suggesting a few of the GOP’s finest for specific events. “There are some major players to watch.”

Cut to a clip of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy literally sprinting down a Capitol corridor attempting to dodge ABC congressional correspondent Rachel Scott’s questions on the run.

“Like Kevin McCarthy speed-skating about the RNC labeling January 6th as ‘legitimate political discourse,’” Acosta said. “And then there’s the Tonya Harding of the House GOP, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who discovered a fly in her canned talking points,” referring to the Georgia representative erroneously calling the brutal Nazi police force known as the Gestapo, “gazpacho,” which is a classic Spanish soup.

“As some observers noted, first Gazpacho Police. What’s next? Sangria Law?” Acosta joked.

“Perhaps Ted Cruz could compete,” Acosta went on. “Yes, it’s true, Cancun is probably too warm for the Winter Games — unless there’s a Tequila Luge.”

“But the far-right Olympic Games would fit right in with its autocratic tendencies,” Acosta continued. “The MAGA Olympics could follow the lead set by China with its freestyle skiing competition at a dystopian-looking Beijing industrial park, not to mention its appalling human rights record.”

Although Russia received a two-year ban from the World Anti-Doping Agency, banning Russia at the Olympics, Paralympics or World Championships between Dec. 17, 2020 and Dec. 17, 2022, with no athlete representing Russia. Instead, Russian athletes who passed drug tests can compete under the “Olympic Athletes from Russia” banner.

“No wonder Russia thinks it can get away with bullying Ukraine. It’s not even punished for cheating in sports,” Acosta said. “As for our own cheater-in-chief back here in the U.S., Trump does not seem very worried as if his punishment is being decided by the Olympic committee rather than the Justice Department.”

He went on: “Perhaps in 2024, Trump could run under the TIC — the Trump Insurrection Committee. He could bring home yet another gold toilet.”

Insider

Anti-vaxxers head to a new life in a remote colony in Paraguay founded by ‘conservative free thinkers’ who want to escape the ‘matrix,’ say reports

Bethany Dawson – February 13, 2022

• A colony in Paraguay has seen an influx of arrivals due to COVID-19 skepticism. 
• The community claims it is free from “5G, chemtrails, fluoridated water, mandatory vaccinations, and healthcare mandates.”
• They have said that the pandemic which has killed 5.6 million people is “non-existent.”

Immigrants have settled in Paraguay’s poorest region of Caazapá, creating a colony designed as a refuge from “socialist trends of current economic and political situations worldwide” – as well as “5G, chemtrails, fluoridated water, mandatory vaccinations, and healthcare mandates,” according to its website. 

The colony, named El Paraíso Verde, or Green Paradise, was founded in 2016 by  Sylvia and Erwin Annau, a composer and tax advisor born in Vienna, Austria, in 1954.

El Paraiso Verde was started in 2016 with the dream of a better life and future outside of the “matrix”  and is “a refuge for “‘conservative free thinkers,'” states its website.

It is mainly populated German, Austrian and Swiss natives, many of whom are escaping COVID-19 restrictions, The Guardian reported. On the El Paraíso Verde website, Annau says he is eager to attract more settlers from the US.

In a video on the colony’s YouTube channel, German-speaking residents explaining their move was driven by skepticism about the COVID-19 virus and vaccines.

Another video shows a teenage resident of the colony describing the COVID-19 restrictions in her native Germany as “madness.”

The community is set on 4,000 acres of fenced land with security guards. Videos show well-spaced homes, residents enjoying yoga classes, a school, a lake, and a patch of jungle. According to its publicity, El Paraíso Verde is planned as a settlement for 6,000 people with several “villages” and a city, possibly expanding to more than 20,000 people.

The El Paraíso Verde project currently has some 150 mostly Austrian, German, and German-speaking Swiss residents, say reports. Caazapá saw a jump from four German residents in 2019 to over 100 in 2020 as the pandemic unfolded, according to official figures cited by The Guardian.

A German who knows the settlement well told the Guardian its residents want to flee the “deep state and one world order.” The community was attracting older residents who believe  many people are dying in care homes [after vaccination],”  and “others, in their 40s, are trying to bring their children over here to escape.” 

The pandemic has hit the Latin American country hard, with Paraguay having the world’s highest daily proportion of Covid deaths in June 2021, according to The Guardian.

The community of COVID skeptics has concerned local health authorities with Dr. Nadia Riveros, Caazapá’s head of public health, telling The Guardian how painful the pandemic was for the area, which has no ICU beds and a single ambulance.  

“We don’t want to go through that again. I think foreigners, wherever they’re from, should have to get vaccinated before entering the country,” she told The Guardian. 

Annau, the colony’s leader, has also been accused of making Islamophobic comments in a 2017 speech to members of the Paraguayan government. He said: “Islam is not part of Germany. We are enlightened Christians, and we are concerned about our daughters. We see the Qur’an as [containing] an ideology of political domination, which is not compatible with democratic and Christian values,” per The Guardian.

  El Paraíso Verde did not reply when contacted by Insider on Friday.

In a February 5 statement on the El Paraíso Verde website, Annau wrote: “We are not anti-vaccination, but advocates of the right of choice over the substances someone gets into their body. Everyone must do their own research to determine if they want to accept the vaccinations currently being offered into their body.”

AlterNet

Watch: GOP rep. says Americans must own enough weapons to overthrow the government if 30-40% agree on ‘tyranny’

Gage Skidmore, David Badash and The New Civil Rights Movement

February 13, 2022

A U.S. Congressman is calling on Americans to own “sufficient” weaponry to overthrow the government, suggesting they should do so “if 30 to 40 percent agree” the nation is living under “tyranny.”

“If 30 to 40 percent could agree that this was legitimate tyranny and it needed to be thrown off they need to have sufficient power without asking for extra permission – it should be right there and completely available to them in their living room in order to effect the change,” U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said in a video (below) posted by Right Wing Watch.

Congressman Massie, who recently came under fire for tweeting a quote by a pedophile-pornography possessing neo-Nazi and falsely attributing it to French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire, appeared on far-right Youtuber Tim Pool’s show.

Pool’s videos get “millions” of views each day, according to The Daily Beast, which adds he “has racked up more than a billion views and millions in earnings while dangerously whitewashing the far right.”

Massie, known for his assault-weapons brandishing Christmas family photo this week was widely mocked for arguing against Medicare for All, because “Over 70% of Americans who died with COVID, died on Medicare.”

During Pool’s show, according to Right Wing Watch, the YouTuber added that he believes the Second Amendment entitles Americans to own nuclear and biological weapons.

USA Today

The spark for a wider war? Why Americans should care about Russia’s aggression against Ukraine

Michael Collins, USA TODAY – February 12, 2022

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden warned his Russian counterpart Saturday that an invasion of Ukraine would cause “widespread human suffering,” as the U.S. and its allies scrambled to stave off a possible war in Europe.

Biden’s remarks, made in a phone call with Vladimir Putin amid fears that a Russian attack on its neighbor is imminent, offered a grim assessment of what U.S. officials believe could be the most consequential military conflict since World War II.

And it highlights, in stark terms, why Americans should care about the fate of an eastern European nation that’s roughly the size of Texas and is known for golden sunflowers, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and being the spark for President Donald Trump’s first impeachment saga.

The current conflict is rooted in Putin’s desire to reestablish the influence that Russia wielded under the Soviet empire, foreign policy experts say. The U.S., in turn, wants to keep Russian aggression in check while working to strengthen a struggling democracy that has become more closely aligned with the West.

The U.S. has already spent billions of dollars to help Ukraine build up its military defenses, an investment that’s likely to escalate dramatically if Russia invades. The U.S. had about 160 National Guard troops in Ukraine advising the country’s military, but Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered their withdrawal on Saturday amid signs of an imminent Russian invasion.

Though Biden has said the U.S. would not send troops to help defend Ukraine against Russian forces, his administration has already sent American forces to other eastern European countries. On Friday, the Pentagon ordered 3,000 U.S. soldiers from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Poland, to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank. And the National Guard troops withdrawing from Ukraine will be sent elsewhere in Europe.

‘Wakeup call for Americans’: Russia, Ukraine in behind-the-scenes lobbying war over Nord Stream 2

The spark for a wider war?

Since Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, it has served as a buffer between Russia and the West, one whose security and stability could have ramifications for Europe and beyond.

“In many ways, Ukraine tells us about the future of the international system,” said Heather Conley, president of the German Marshall Fund, which promotes cooperation and understanding between North America and Europe.

If Russia is allowed to invade, occupy and annex its neighbor, “that’s an inherently very unstable international system, which will affect America’s security and its prosperity,” Conley said.

A Ukrainian government minister warned Britain’s Sky News in December that a full invasion of Ukraine would spread conflict around Europe and could even trigger World War III.

“It is unpredictable as to what will happen,” said William Taylor, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. He noted that throughout history, conflicts often start small with an assassination or a strike on one country that then spreads to other parts of the world.

Russia ‘won’t stop’ with Ukraine

A Russian invasion of Ukraine would spread fear across the region and has already led to a further buildup of NATO forces in other eastern European countries.

“If the Russians succeed in reestablishing a sphere of influence or of dominating Ukraine, they won’t stop there. They will continue,” Taylor said. “The Poles and the Romanians, the Czechs will be very concerned as they see Russian tanks coming west from Russia into Ukraine toward them, and they will ask for reinforcements from the United States.”

A successful invasion of Ukraine, Taylor said, could embolden Russia to be more aggressive in other arenas – such as cyberattacks, election meddling and influence campaigns designed to undermine Western democracies.

Other U.S. adversaries also will be watching to see whether the Biden administration and its NATO allies will follow through on their warnings to answer a Russian invasion with devastating economic sanctions and additional shipments of weapons to Ukraine and other eastern European countries.

“NATO and the U.S. credibility are on the line,” said Will Pomeranz, acting director of the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute, a think tank dedicated to Russian and Eurasia research. “And if they fail, that will be taken by China and other adversaries as an unwillingness by the West to defend its interests.”

More: ‘There are no minor incursions’: Ukrainian president rebukes Biden over remarks on Russian invasion

Putin’s power and legitimacy

Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have erupted frequently in the three decades since Ukraine declared its independence.

Ukraine, which has a population of 44 million, has deep historical and cultural ties to Russia. The two countries share a 1,200-mile border. Many Ukrainians work in Russia. By some estimates, one-third or more of Ukrainians speak Russian as well as the country’s official language, Ukrainian. Russian companies are among the largest investors in Ukraine.

But Ukraine has forged closer ties to the West since the fall of the Soviet Union. In 2008, it sought – and was promised – membership in the NATO alliance. Though that membership has never been granted, the prospect of a bigger, stronger NATO has rattled Putin, who still sees Ukraine as a part of Russia.

Ukraine, Putin insists, must never be granted NATO membership.

In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, a swath of Ukraine territory between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Russian operatives and separatist fighters have since launched attacks on eastern Ukraine, and the Kremlin continually works to undermine the country’s sovereignty militarily and in other ways.

The U.S. and its allies view the annexation as illegal and imposed sanctions in response. Last year, the U.S. sent more than $400 million in military aid to Ukraine; since 2014, the U.S. has provided about $2.5 billion in assistance to the country.

The stage for the latest clash was set late last year when Russia deployed more than 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s eastern border. Russian forces are now preparing to conduct major drills in the Black and Azov seas in the coming days and have engaged in other military exercises, raising alarms that another invasion could come within days.

Putin has repeatedly denied he is plotting to invade the country again. On Saturday, the Kremlin accused the West of engaging in “provocative speculations” about Russia’s intentions. The U.S. and its NATO allies do not believe those denials, citing Putin’s long history of refusing to accept Ukraine’s sovereignty.

Analysts say Ukraine poses no defensive threat to Russia, so Putin’s designs on the country have more to do with his long-held ambitions of expanding Russia’s influence and returning to what he views as the greatness of the Soviet empire.

As Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was President Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser, once said: “Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be an empire. But with Ukraine suborned and then subordinated, Russia automatically becomes an empire.”

“This is all about Mr. Putin’s power, his legitimacy and maintaining it,” Conley said.

Putin’s legacy would be much more secure if he created a modern, thriving economy that benefited all Russians, Conley said. Instead, he has presided over a decade of steady economic decline in his country.

“While he has hypersonic cruise missiles, the Russian people are not getting the services and the standard of living that they deserve,” Conley said.

What Putin fears most, she said, is that Russians will see the Ukrainian people living in a free, democratic society where the results of elections aren’t predetermined and citizens are allowed to speak their minds.

“The greatest threat to Russia is a free and thriving Ukraine,” Conley said. “Because if Ukrainian people can experience it, why can’t the Russian people experience it?”

More: Biden warns Putin of harsh consequences if Russia invades Ukraine

After Russia invaded Georgia, another former Soviet republic, in 2008, the U.S. sought to reset its relations with Moscow.

“We got back to normal, and the message that sent was we get over it,” Conley said. “Now we’re into much more serious territory.”

Michael Collins covers the White House. Tom Vanden Brook and Deirdre Shesgreen contributed to this story.

Contributing: Courtney Subramanian and Deirdre Shesgreen

The New York Times

Selling Trump: A Profitable Post-Presidency Like No Other

Shane Goldmacher and Eric Lipton – February 12, 2022

In early December, Donald Trump put on a tuxedo and boarded the private jet of a scrap-metal magnate and crypto-miner for a short flight across Florida, touching down at an airport in Naples. There, a long red carpet marked the pathway into a Christmas-decorated hangar filled with supporters of Trump who had paid $10,000 to $30,000 for the privilege of attending a party and taking a photo with him.

The event had all the trappings of a typical high-end fundraiser: a giant American flag, a lectern, chandeliers and an open bar. Frank Stallone’s band provided the music; an anti-Biden “Let’s Go Brandon” banner hung from the rafters.

But the money raised did not go to Trump’s political operation. Instead, Trump’s share of the evening’s proceeds went straight into his pocket, according to a person familiar with the arrangement.

Multiple attendees said they bought their tickets from a private company, Whip Fundraising, whose founder, Brad Keltner, has asserted that “the lion’s share” went to charity. But the website advertising the event listed no charitable cause. And Keltner, reached by phone, declined to discuss how money was distributed.

In the year since Trump has left the White House, he has undertaken a wide-ranging set of moneymaking ventures, trading repeatedly on his political fame and fan base in pursuit of profit. Much as he did while in the White House, Trump has thoroughly blurred the lines between his political ambitions and his business interests.

He has gone on an arena tour with former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, where a backstage “VIP package” sold for more than $7,500. He has published a $75 coffee-table book, after being paid a multimillion-dollar advance by a new publishing company co-founded by his eldest son. He has turned an online Trump store into a MAGA merchandiser, with his company sending marketing missives to people on his 2020 campaign’s email list.

That store is now selling red “Make America Great Again” hats for $50 each — a $20 markup from the price currently offered by his political action committee — with all proceeds going to a Trump-owned company.

His wife, Melania, has gotten into the act, too, auctioning off online collectibles and scheduling her own big-ticket event in Naples this April, a “tulips and topiaries high tea,” with VIP packages reaching $50,000 and an undisclosed portion going to charity.

For Trump, the monetization of his post-presidency represents a return to his roots. He expertly leveraged his celebrity as the host of “The Apprentice” and his image as a decisive businessman to build credibility when he first entered politics. Now, he is executing the same playbook, only in reverse: converting a political following that provided hundreds of millions of dollars in small campaign contributions into a base of consumers for all things branded Trump.

There are grandiose enterprises, such as a fledgling social-media company, whose billion-dollar market capitalization is largely predicated on Trump’s direct personal involvement. And there are smaller ones, like remodeling the lobby bar of Trump Tower in Manhattan and renaming it the 45 Wine and Whiskey Bar — where specialty cocktails range in price up to, yes, $45 (that one comes with two “American beef sliders”) and can be sipped in dark velvet chairs surrounded by Trump’s black-and-white presidential portraits and paraphernalia.

“You come here, you drink Trump,” said Daniel Popescu, a 79-year-old architect and a bar regular, whose typical order is a $20 glass of Trump Blanc de Blanc sparkling wine. He hailed Trump on a recent evening as “the best president this country has ever had.”

“For a billionaire to give up his life to do good for the country,” Popescu said, with a shake of his head and a sip, “it’s unbelievable.”

Other past presidents have cashed in financially after leaving the White House. Barack and Michelle Obama reportedly sold a joint book deal for $65 million. Bill and Hillary Clinton’s speechmaking after leaving the White House was estimated to have netted them $153 million by the spring of 2015, when Hillary Clinton announced her own run for president. George W. Bush has been a mainstay on the speaking circuit, too.

But no former president has been more determined to meld his business interests — from chocolate bars to real estate to a tech startup — with a continuing political operation and capitalize on that for personal gain.

Taylor Budowich, a spokesperson for Trump, noted that Trump had been wealthy before seeking public office. “After sacrificing considerably to lead our nation, there continues to be unprecedented demand for President Trump, his thoughts and his products, unlike anything politics has ever seen,” Budowich said.

Eric Trump, the executive vice president of the Trump Organization, added that direct consumer sales and Trump’s public appearances were worth a modest amount of money compared with the organization’s real estate deals and other major ventures.

“We have had an exceptional year as a company,” he said.

Blurred lines between profit and politics

Any division between Trump’s business and his political operation can be hard to discern.

At his first campaign-style rallies of 2022, in Arizona and Texas, giant television screens paid for by Trump’s PAC advertised his $75 picture book. His political operation has also promoted the book in emails to his supporters, as has his official post-presidential office, which also issued a recent statement (“Check it out!”) promoting a Trump property in Miami.

Lawrence Noble, former general counsel at the Federal Election Commission, said that the combination of ways that Trump had monetized his life after the White House, while remaining intimately involved in Republican politics and a possible future candidate himself, had created ethical questions unlike any post-presidency in modern times.

“The thing that is different about Trump is the making-money part seems to have permeated everything,” Noble said. “There is this appearance, at least, that he is always thinking: How can I make a profit off of this?”

Trump faced similar questions while president, as he frequently promoted, patronized and profited from his private properties, including internationally. Watchdogs who worried then about his selling access remain concerned.

“It is wrong for influence and power in this country to be sold for personal profit,” Noble said.

Out of office, Trump faces few formal limits on his business dealings, though if he were to run again in 2024, some of his financial activity would be revealed on future disclosures. His political action committees have even fewer constraints than his reelection campaign account did.

In 2021, Trump’s political committees spent more than $600,000 on Trump properties for rent, meals, meeting expenses and hotel stays, records show. His PAC continued to make monthly $37,541.67 rent payments to Trump Tower Commercial LLC.

The roughly $375,000 the PAC paid in Trump Tower rent was more than the total of $350,000 that Trump’s group donated to the scores of federal and state-level political candidates he endorsed in 2021.

Many of those candidates, in turn, redirected funds back to Trump, holding lavish events at his properties. Herschel Walker, the former football player whom Trump recruited to run for Senate in Georgia, spent more than $135,000 at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private Florida club. The Republican National Committee forked over $175,000 for a fundraiser there in the spring.

Trump’s PAC made two $1 million donations to conservative nonprofits in 2021: the America First Policy Institute and the Conservative Partnership Institute. Both also hosted big events at Mar-a-Lago.

Marketing MAGA to the masses

After years of slapping his name, for a price, on everything from steaks to water bottles to golf courses, Trump has found a big new market for lower-priced goods like hats, T-shirts and books.

The new push to capitalize on Trump’s name and brand echoes what he has done for decades with his real estate company, whose holdings now include six hotels in the United States and more than a dozen golf clubs.

The real estate business has, for the most part, been shrinking, with the Trump family selling off, terminating or being pushed out of hotel contracts in Washington, Toronto, New York City, Vancouver and Panama in recent years.

As Trump left office, his company was going through a challenging time, with a bad year at its remaining hotels because of the coronavirus pandemic and the decision by several blue-chip vendors — including its law firm, real estate broker and two banks — to stop doing business with the family after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

But the golf business has benefited from a surge in play during the pandemic, with revenues even at the Trump golf course near Los Angeles, a Democratic stronghold, jumping by 50% since 2019, according to tax records.

Trump’s business practices are the subject of investigations in New York by the Manhattan district attorney and the state attorney general’s office, inquiries that Eric Trump says are politically motivated.

In an interview, the younger Trump accused Democratic politicians like Attorney General Letitia James of New York of seeking political power by promising to go after his father.

“​Letitia James campaigned on the promise of harassing and suing Donald Trump,” he said. “It’s prosecutorial misconduct and it’s something you would find in a third world country.”

In Miami, the Trump family has announced plans to expand the Trump National Doral, long one of its biggest sources of revenue, by adding high-rise luxury condos.

On a far bigger scale, the Trump Media & Technology Group, which is behind the new social media company, has raised more than $1 billion. Bankers for the company dangled an unusual perk: Invest at least $100 million, get a phone call from the former president. Later, the price of such a call came down to $50 million.

But for the most part, since Trump left office, his business has focused on appealing to Middle America, not buyers of luxury condos or multimillionaire investors.

His four-stop tour with O’Reilly sought to fill arenas at $100 a ticket. O’Reilly pushed back on reports of empty seats by disclosing that “gross receipts” on the first show alone were $2 million. A tour organizer did not respond to requests for comment.

On sale at the events was Trump’s coffee-table book, which the former president has said is nearing 250,000 copies sold. His multimillion-dollar advance from the publishing company, first reported by The Washington Post, was confirmed by a person familiar with the arrangement; The Post also reported that Trump has delivered paid speeches since leaving office.

The book’s sales are scarcely spectacular: The tell-all from his niece, Mary Trump, had sold 950,000 copies by the day it went on sale. But Trump’s picture book is priced far higher. Signed copies went for $229.99 and quickly sold out.

Sergio Gor, a co-founder of Winning Team Publishing with Donald Trump Jr., called the book a success and said he was “in discussions” to acquire the rights to the former president’s next one.

Winning Team Publishing announced its second author this week: Charlie Kirk, the leader of Turning Point USA, a conservative youth group that holds its winter gala at Mar-a-Lago. Tax records for the most recent year available show the group spent nearly $280,000 there on food and beverages.

Trump’s for-profit store, meanwhile, has added a “MAGA collection,” and sells items like a $95 Mar-a-Lago Christmas ornament, that it is marketing to supporters of Trump’s 2020 campaign through email lists rented from the Trump political operation and maintained by Brad Parscale, Trump’s former campaign manager.

Donald Trump Jr., for his part, operates another online store, selling proudly provocative clothes, like shirts that say, “Guns Don’t Kill People / Alec Baldwin Kills People” — a reference to the actor’s movie-set shooting last year. After the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen who shot and killed two people during the unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the store briefly promoted a new sweatshirt: “In a World Full of Alecs, Be a Kyle.”

Collectibles and ‘high tea’

Melania Trump, too, has found ways to monetize her ties to her husband, including through a series of online sales. In January, she put up for auction a digital portrait of her by a French artist, a print of the portrait and a white hat she once wore at the White House while meeting the president of France.

Her plan to maximize the sales price by accepting payments only in cryptocurrency appears to have backfired, however: The crash in cryptocurrency prices in January reduced the planned opening-bid price of $250,000 to about $170,000 on the final day of the auction.

The auction drew just seven bids, according to electronic records, which also suggest that the winning bid was made by the auction’s sponsors.

Shortly before the auction, Melania Trump joined the conservative social-media site Parler. Her first posts were about Pearl Harbor Day and deadly tornadoes in Kentucky, but she began frequently posting about the online auction.

On Wednesday, Parler announced a deal with Melania Trump whose financial terms were not disclosed. In a statement, she said she would provide the site exclusive content “to inspire others” and promote a series of future online auctions of “collectibles” like the hat she wore at the White House.

She is now selling tickets to the April “high tea,” with organizers saying that some of the profits will benefit an initiative of her “Be Best” endeavor called “Fostering the Future,” meant to provide computer-science scholarships to young people who have been in foster care.

There was no indication of how much of the proceeds Melania Trump herself intended to pocket. Florida requires any organization that raises charitable contributions in the state to register. No charity with the name “Fostering the Future” or “Be Best” is registered in Florida.

Asked about the solicitation, officials at the Florida agency that oversees charitable fundraising said they also could not find evidence of the required state registration and had opened an inquiry as a result.

“Consumer Services Division is currently investigating whether this event involves an entity operating in violation of Chapter 496, Florida Statutes,” Erin Moffet, an agency spokesperson, said in a statement, referring to the state law requiring charities to register before soliciting money.

Melania Trump did not respond to questions about the state requirements.

The company behind the “high tea” event, Whip Fundraising, also organized Donald Trump’s holiday party in Naples, Florida, in December, where several attendees said that guests were asked to put their phones in small magnetic pouches while Trump spoke to limit the shooting of unauthorized videos or photos.

Beyond the ticket price, the event generated revenue from an auction of items including a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon with a portrait of Trump painted on the label, and a signed photograph of Trump holding a Bible across the street from the White House after the police cleared protesters from the area in June 2020.

Keltner said that events like the one in Naples raised large sums for charity but declined to discuss the specifics of any events with Trump.

It was Keltner who arranged the flight for Trump to Naples, on the plane of Adam Weitsman, a crypto-mining investor who also owns a scrap-metal company in New York. Weitsman said he flew Trump and the former first lady as a “favor” to Keltner.

He said he did not have to pay for the privilege.

“I just gave them a ride,” Weitsman said, adding that the Trumps were very nice and respectful.

CBS News

Russian false-flag plan prompts U.S. to plan for worst in Ukraine

Margaret Brennan – February 12, 2022

New granular detail about the planning of a false flag attack in Ukraine by Russia was among the intelligence items discussed in the Situation Room on Thursday night in an emergency meeting, U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News.

That detail was just part of what two U.S. officials described as a broad mosaic of information that has been building since the fall and which has led to the Biden administration’s planning for the worst-case scenario of a multi-axis, simultaneous attack on Ukraine by the Russian military.

The Washington Post was the first to report, on Friday, that a false flag operation was among the data points in the new intelligence.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Friday that the U.S. is firmly convinced that Russia is looking hard at the creation of a false-flag operation to justify an invasion, “something that they generate and try to blame on the Ukrainians as a trigger for military action.” Sullivan said that any subsequent attack would likely begin with “aerial bombing and missile attacks” ahead of “the onslaught of a massive force.”

Russian forces are already positioned to send troops pouring across Ukraine’s northern border with Belarus and launch a maritime assault from the Black Sea. Moscow is also capable of sending troops over Ukraine’s eastern border.

U.S. officials have said Russia already has intelligence operatives on the ground that could create a pretext for an invasion by assisting in creating a false flag. Last month, U.S. officials said this could involve Russian operatives “trained in urban warfare and in using explosives to carry out acts of sabotage against Russia’s own proxy forces.”

Weather conditions that freeze the ground would allow heavy Russian military equipment including tanks to advance more easily. But ground troops are not the only option that Russian President Vladimir Putin could use.

U.S. officials do not have evidence that Putin has decided to deploy these assets to launch an invasion but emphasize that he is now capable of making the decision to execute with very little warning. On Friday, Politico was the first to report that the U.S. had intelligence indicating that Russian military leaders had been told to be ready by February 16.

The cumulative picture of Moscow’s planning triggered the U.S. on Saturday to pull out U.S. military advisers, withdraw some embassy staff from Kyiv and move staff to a makeshift consular post in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine. Sullivan said Friday that “prudence demands” planning — even though the U.S. does not know exactly what is going to happen.

Privately, U.S. and Western officials say it is entirely possible that this could be an incredibly dangerous and expensive bluff on Putin’s part, but they argue that it is the responsibility of their leaders to weigh the risk.

Three Western officials from allied governments expressed skepticism that Putin would take action as extreme as putting 100,000 soldiers on the march and risk a state-on-state conflict, or be willing to take on the occupation of a country that has resisted Russian aggression for the past eight years. Yet all three acknowledged that intelligence indicates the Russian military is definitely planning for that option.

Camilla Schick contributed reporting.