On CNN’s Newsroom Monday, political analyst Robert Baer went on a hyperbolic rant about Trump, claiming the President’s behavior towards Russia is akin to “working with the Japanese after Pearl Harbor.” Baer fumed:
It is truly like, you know, working with the Japanese after Pearl Harbor to defend Hawaii. Their defense, it's just nutty. And he had to pull it. I mean, Trump listens to the last person he talks to. It was Putin in this case. You know, he said, all right, fine, you didn't hack our elections. But let's get over this and move on to intelligence cooperation… It does look like collusion.
Still waiting for the outcry about Senator Ted Kennedy colluding with the Soviet Union in an attempt to defeat Reagan in ‘84 and Bill Clinton colluding with the Chinese in ‘96.
Below is the transcript:
10:13 AM ET
POPPY HARLOW: Bob, let me get you on this before you guys go. The president reversing course on whether or not Russia is a good, trustworthy partner to team up with on cyber-security, knowing that they have meddled in the U.S. elections and have done to another election as well. Is there any, any scenario where that would make sense to team up with Russia? I'm trying to understand what would motivate the president or talk about that in the meeting with Putin and tweet about it, but then reverse course after he was just slammed by his fellow Republicans.
ROBERT BAER: Well, Poppy, this is just bizarre. I mean, the Russians have never cooperated intelligence with the United States. I have worked with them. They sort of, you know, they play around with it and promise things, but never come up with anything. And clearly, the country that attacked us in the 2016 elections, you can't go into business with them. It is truly like, you know, working with the Japanese after Pearl Harbor to defend Hawaii. Their defense, it's just nutty. And he had to pull it. Imean, Trump listens to the last person he talks to. It was Putin in this case. You know, he said, all right, fine, you didn't hack our elections. But let's get over this and move on to intelligence cooperation. The man has no experience. He is impulsive. This is just looking very bad for him. It does look like collusion. It does look like he is listening to Putin more than his American intelligence. And frankly, I have never seen that before, where a president sides with an adversary over his own intelligence agency. It's amazing.
HARLOW: Michael Zeldin, Jackie Kucinich, Bob Baer, thank you all very much. Several congressional investigations into Russia's election interference and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. What is the reaction on Capitol Hill to all of it?
