File: FBI Director James B. Comey and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. agreed with a CIA assessment in 2018 that Putin’s Russia intervened in the 2016 election in part to help Donald Trump (L) win the White House. In addition to the goal of helping elect Trump, Vladimir Putin (R) aimed to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, intelligence officials have told lawmakers. Putin has something he is holding over Donald Trump’s head. And it is bad, ” Joe Scarborough of MSNBC claimed on Jan 19, 2020
A majority of Americans think President Trump is too closely aligned with Russia, including more than a quarter of Republicans, a poll released Thursday found.
The Reuters/Ipsos survey found 56 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that the president is too close to Moscow, which included 27 percent of Republicans and 89 percent of Democrats.
Forty-four percent of Americans surveyed said they support Trump’s plan to condition military aid to Ukraine and the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal, the poll found. That support included two-thirds of Republicans and 1 in 5 Democrats.
The poll was conducted over two days this week and completed on Wednesday, amid negotiations over a U.S.-proposed ceasefire deal aimed to end the war in Ukraine.
The administration announced on Tuesday that it would restore military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine following the talks among Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia. The meeting helped repair relations after the heated Feb. 28 meeting of Trump, Vice President Vance and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.
Trump has come under criticism in recent weeks for calling Zelensky a dictator and suggesting that Russia’s invasion was his fault.
Ukraine agreed to support a ceasefire earlier this week, which put the ball in Russia’s court. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he is open to a 30-day ceasefire but suggested vague terms for his support.
In his announcement, Putin also thanked Trump “for paying so much attention to the settlement in Ukraine,” according to The Associated Press. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff landed in Moscow to meet with Putin earlier that day.
Trump told reporters at the White House, sitting alongside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, that he was cautiously optimistic about Putin’s response.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll included 1,422 adults and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Yahoo, the Hill