I’m betting Michael McFaul is breathing a sigh of relief over this news that Trump isn’t going to allow Putin to interrogate him.
BREAKING: White House rebuffs Russia bid to question US officials, amid new DC firestorm https://t.co/w9XO85j1Vz
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 19, 2018
Here’s more:
WDEL – President Donald Trump now disagrees with a proposal raised by his Russian counterpart to interrogate Americans in exchange for assistance in the FBI’s Russia probe, the White House said on Thursday, another reversal in a week of cleanup following a maligned summit with Vladimir Putin.
“It is a proposal that was made in sincerity by President Putin, but President Trump disagrees with it,” press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
A day earlier, Sanders said the White House was entertaining the proposal raised by Putin in his summit talks with Trump on Monday. The Russian President suggested special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators could come to Russia to question the two dozen Russians that have been charged with interfering in the 2016 presidential election. But in return, Putin said he would expect the US to allow Russian investigators to question people he called fugitives on American soil.
The Americans wanted for questioning by Moscow include Michael McFaul, the former US ambassador to Russia, and American-born financier Bill Browder, who successfully lobbied the US government to impose new sanctions on Moscow.
Standing alongside Putin on Monday, Trump deemed the suggestion an “incredible offer,” but did not say he’d agreed to it.
In her statement on Thursday, Sanders maintained hope Moscow would produce the Russians under indictment in the US.
“Hopefully President Putin will have the 12 identified Russians come to the United States to prove their innocence or guilt,” she wrote.
Not to toot my own horn, but I did say this morning that I expected Sanders to rectify this soon, and sure enough that’s what happened. Which is also why I said I’d save my outrage in case it went the other way.
Thankfully, Trump has made the right decision. I will say, however, that calling it an ‘incredible offer’ at the presser on Monday probably wasn’t the best idea. Trump really has a knack for making things sound really good and then turning around and saying he disagrees with them. Remember when he suggested how ‘strong’ the Chinese government was for putting down Tiananmen’s square like it did, but then saying in a debate that ‘strong’ didn’t mean he agreed with it?
Trump said over and over he has the best words, but that’s clearly not true in some cases.
In related news and despite Trump’s rebuff of Putin’s idea, the Senate voted against allowing Putin to question Americans. You know, just in case:
The Senate has adopted a non-binding resolution that the US “should refuse” to allow US diplomats and other officials face “questioning by the government of Vladimir Putin.” The vote was 98-0. Sens. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and John McCain (R-AZ) were absent.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 19, 2018