Post # 17, Bob McKnight's Subscription Commentary

Protecting our country against foreign enemies is a big deal for a President. They swear allegiance to our country against all foes. Treason is an impeachable offense. Foes are foreign enemies who spy on us, attack our democracy, kill innocent people, attack other free countries, and violate our laws, and those of our allies. So it seems pretty clear, right?

Then how could our President go to Helsinki on July 16, 2018, and meet with Vladimir Putin of Russia with the following results?

1. Only Republican Senators went in advance of the Helsinki meeting to conduct due diligence on the meeting. No records or evidence of the Senator's meeting were shared with the American public.

2. This President's son said his father gets all the financing he needs from the Russians, and the rumors of his womanizing while in Russia seems to be somewhat enhanced with his 20 or so lawsuits of women he abused in America. The Russian connection is more than a little suspicous for Mr. Trump.

2. The White House released no agenda for the meeting with Putin, and said no Americans, other than a translator would be allowed into the meeting. So, the normal attendees of the United States Secretary of State, Security, and Defense would be neither briefed in advance of the meeting, present during the meeting, nor briefed after the meeting. I am not making this up. There are no records for America.

3. This is not the first time this President has excluded the U. S. press from a meeting with the Russians. Early in his presidency, in the White House have you, Trump denied access to the American press, but insisted the Russian press be present in our house to cover the meeting. At that meeting, only the Russians could tell the United States what our President did, and that may or may not have been accurate. Really.

4. Now, weeks since the clandestine Helsinki meeting, the White House has provided not one detail from the meeting, while Russia said they have proof that Trump made a number of agreements that Russia favored.

Did this really happen America?