The position of Secretary of State has always been one of the singular most important appointments a President can make. As the point person leading America’s diplomacy around the world, the Secretary of State is a crucial figure in our government, and this is why the job has been historically seen as a potential stepping stone to the Presidency.
The list of men and women to hold the position are among the most iconic in Americal political history. Names like Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall. James Madison and James Monroe. John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay. Daniel Webster. John Calhoun. William Seward. John W. Foster. William Jennings Bryant. John Foster Dulles. Dean Rusk. Henry Kissinger. Alexander Haig. James Baker. Madeline Albright. Colin Powell. And of course, Hillary Clinton.
And today we are learning, in a shocking blockbuster New Yorker report by Jane Meyer, that Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin and not our President Donald Trump, actually chose our current Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. And that, if not for the intervention of the Kremlin, Trump was prepared to appoint Mitt Romney to the job.
But, in communication through “unspecified channels”, Russia told Trump that Romney, who once called Russia the greatest threat to America, was not an acceptable choice for them. And asked instead that Trump appoint someone who “would be prepared to lift Ukraine-related sanctions, and who would cooperate on security issues of interest to Russia, such as the conflict in Syria.”
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Meyer’s bombshell is part of a deeper long-form profile of British spy/private investigator Christopher Steele (yes, THAT Christopher Steele). Steele has been at or near the center of the House Intelligence Committee investigation into the role Russia played in the 2016 election from nearly the beginning. More recently, his investigative work was used as a political tool by House Intel chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) in an attempt to discredit Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s criminal investigation into the same event. Despite outrage from conservative circles about the origin of Steele’s dossier, nothing within it has yet to be discredited.
Which makes this second memo, from November 2016, that Meyer refers to all the more interesting. Meyer says that the hands of Russia were behind not only nixing Romney, but also the appointment of Rex Tillerson:
In any case, on December 13, 2016, Trump gave Rex Tillerson, the C.E.O. of ExxonMobil, the job. The choice was a surprise to most, and a happy one in Moscow, because Tillerson’s business ties with the Kremlin were long-standing and warm. (In 2011, he brokered a historic partnership between ExxonMobil and Rosneft.) After the election, Congress imposed additional sanctions on Russia, in retaliation for its interference, but Trump and Tillerson have resisted enacting them.
Rex Tillerson, the former Exxon CEO who is a close friend of Putin, so close that Putin awarded Tillerson Russia’s highest award for foreign “friends” of Russia, the Order of Friendship, in a ceremony held at Putin’s own home. Rex Tillerson, who is exactly who Trump appointed. Rex Tillerson, who now sits in the office of the Secretary of state, doing absolutely noting to stop Russian interference in our next election, barely more than half a year away.
Indeed, not only have Tillerson and Trump refused to enact the sanctions against Russia which Congress passed with veto-proof majorites, through both the House of Representatives; but the former energy executive appears to be letting Russia “keep on keepin’ on”. The New York Times reported Sunday that:
As Russia’s virtual war against the United States continues unabated with the midterm elections approaching, the State Department has yet to spend any of the $120 million it has been allocated since late 2016 to counter foreign efforts to meddle in elections or sow distrust in democracy.
As a result, not one of the 23 analysts working in the department’s Global Engagement Center — which has been tasked with countering Moscow’s disinformation campaign — speaks Russian, and a department hiring freeze has hindered efforts to recruit the computer experts needed to track the Russian efforts.
If what Steele alleges in this second memo are true, this just became the most egregious act of treason in the history of the United States of America. A hostile government not only attacked our democracy with the intent of electing a specific candidate but handpicked the person to serve in the most important and prestigious cabinet post in an administration. Benedict Arnold, eat your heart out.
Thankfully, for America’s sake, Meyer reports that Steele is believed to have discussed (this report) with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators.
Sources: The New Yorker, The New York Times, Utah Policy, Esquire, The Daily Beast, Salon,
The New Republic, The Washington Examiner (1, 2).
Featured image by Drew Anger, Getty Images News
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