The Bromance Between Putin and Trump Explained – Part 1

Here is *some* of what we know:

• Several Trump officials have questionable ties to Russian officials and had repeated contacts with Russians during the presidential campaign, including Jeff Sessions, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and Rex Tillerson.

• At the GOP convention in July, a convention delegate reported being "steam rolled" by Trump campaign officials into changing the Party platform to de-emphasize Russia's invasion of Ukraine and criticize NATO countries.

• Also in July, the FBI launched an unprecedented investigation into links between President Trump's campaign officials and the Kremlin – including whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia's efforts to weaken our democracy.

• Yesterday, FBI Director Comey confirmed the agency's investigation and testified that Russia is our "adversary and so they wanna resist us, oppose us, undermine us, in lots of different ways."  He went on to say that Putin had a preference for Donald Trump, and "hated Secretary Clinton so much, that the flipside of that coin was he had a clear preference for the person running against the person he hated so much."

• Less than 24 hours after Comey testified over concerns about potential coordination between Russia and Trump officials, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced that he was skipping the first NATO meeting in April and instead is prioritizing a trip to Putin's Russia.  This questionable move has been seen as a "snub" and "feeds the perception" that Trump is putting Russia over our Eastern European allies such as Ukraine and smaller nations – Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – that rely on America for security.

Coincidence or is the Trump Administration doing Russia's bidding, again?  Whichever it is, the Trump Administration's cozy relationship with Russia – and the unanswered questions about its financial, personal and political ties to Putin and the Kremlin – represents a grave threat to our longstanding relationships around the world, our national security and the integrity of our democracy.