It’s no wonder that Donald Trump seems to have a greater fondness for Vladimir Putin than do most Western leaders.
The Russian president may have helped Trump pull off his unlikely upset in the U.S. presidential election.
A CIA analysis, leaked last week, came to the conclusion that Russian hackers, encouraged or directed by the Kremlin, were busy and biased beavers during the election contest. Although they reportedly hacked into both Democratic and Republican campaign emails, they only released those that were detrimental to the cause of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
How much those disclosures cost Clinton the election is up for debate. She had other significant problems besides the alleged Russian meddling. But it certainly didn’t help her cause.
Trump has said he doesn’t accept the conclusions of the CIA, and there are reports surfacing that others in the intelligence community have expressed reservations about the CIA’s findings.
That’s all the more reason a full congressional inquiry — already supported by both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate — is essential. If a foreign power, particularly one that has historically been antagonistic to the U.S., can use cyber stealth to try to manipulate the democratic process in this country, we need to know it and take steps to deter such meddling in the future.
If the CIA analysis is accurate, it can’t help but waft an air of illegitimacy toward the next president. That’s unfortunate, but Trump himself could mitigate the damage by distancing himself from the Russian autocrat.
So far, he’s not shown a willingness to do that. His selection for secretary of state, Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, has a long, friendly business relationship with Putin. Tillerson’s rise within the oil giant was spurred in large part by his ability to get major exploration projects going in petroleum-rich Russia.
What’s still uncertain is how invested Trump or his company is in Russia, or how invested Russians are in Trump’s company, and what kinds of conflicts of interest those relationships could create for him in the White House.
There is a lot more digging to be done, and it begins with a congressional inquiry into the email hacking.
