Obama accuses Trump of 'lucrative' ties to Russia, makes it clear the Establishment is terrified of Trump changing foreign policy

RT
Mon, 12 Dec 2016 22:10 UTC

© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

President Barack Obama's spokesman has accused President-elect Donald Trump and top members of his team of "lucrative" ties with Russia, pointing out that his national security adviser was a "paid contributor" on RT.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest made the case against Trump at the daily briefing on Monday, connecting the dots from "malicious Russian cyber activity" to top campaign officials and their past.

"It was the president-elect who refused to disclose his financial connections to Russia," said Earnest. "It was the president-elect who hired a campaign chairman with extensive, lucrative, personal financial ties to Russia. It was the president-elect who had national security advisor on the campaign that had been a paid contributor to RT, the Russian propaganda outlet."

Earnest implied that as the Republican presidential nominee Trump "benefitted" from cyberattacks on his main rival while "his campaign did not make any effort to obscure this."

While the White House spokesman did not name any names, it was clear which officials close to the president-elect he was referring to. The "campaign chairman" with ties to Russia meant Paul Manafort, once linked to Ukraine's former government.

Manafort made headlines that past August, when Ukraine's current government accused him of having pocketed more than $12 million as a lobbyist and consultant for the "pro-Russian regime." He worked for a company founded by Tony Podesta - brother of John Podesta, Bill Clinton's former chief of staff and campaign chairman for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

The second person Earnest brought up is retired Lieutenant-General Michael Flynn, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency and currently Trump's pick for the post of national security adviser.

Comment: More nonsense from Earnest:

"You didn't need a security clearance to figure out who benefited from malicious Russian cyberactivity," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest during a briefing with reporters Monday. "The President-elect didn't call it into question, he called on Russia to hack his opponent. He called on Russia to hack Secretary Clinton. So he certainly had a pretty good sense of whose side this cyberactivity was coming down on."

"The last several week so the election were focused on a discussion of emails that had been hacked and leaked by the Russians. These were emails from the (Democratic National Committee) and John Podesta, not from the (Republican National Committee) and Stephen Bannon," Earnest said, naming the campaign chairmen of the Trump and Hillary Clinton campaigns.

Earnest said his assessment was bolstered by perceived tied between Russia and Trump, which he said would lead to a conclusion that Russia was motivated to help him win the election.

"It was the President-elect who over the course of the campaign indicated that he thought that President Putin was a strong leader," Earnest went on, listing other examples of areas Trump and his campaign appeared closely linked to Russian interests. "The President-elect's team, his campaign, did not make any effort to obscure this."
...
"The President-elect has said one thing on Twitter. The 17 intelligence agencies have come forward with unanimous assessment about Russia's malicious cyberactivity. I'll let you and the American people judge who's in a better position to defend their argument," he said.

LOL. This is just sad. The "17 intel agencies" are unanimously inconclusive.