Mike Pompeo’s opposite number in Russia, Sergei Lavrov, said that charges that Maria Butina is a Russian agent were fabricated and Butina should be released at once. Reuters:
Sergei Lavrov made the comments about Maria Butina in a phone call to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that was aimed at improving bilateral relations, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement in the wake of the recent summit in Helsinki.
Lavrov said the actions of the American authorities, who arrested Butina “on the basis of fabricated charges”, were unacceptable and called for her release as soon as possible.
Who knows what Pompeo will do with this request but bear in mind who he is. He’s a Trump loyalist, which in this administration means Trump enabler. He’s part of the Christian wingnut faction in the government. He was on the House Select Benghazi Committee. He also earned his racist stripes early on when he labelled his Indian-American Democratic opponent for Congress a “turban topper.” Pompeo apologized for that, then his campaign took out billboards which admonished everyone to “vote American.”
But that’s not the real problem. The real problem is that Pompeo, along with John Bolton, allowed a secret conference between Trump and Putin to take place, where in a sane world they would have both been present, which means that either they are useless in performing their duties, or they place Trump’s personal interests and Russia’s interests above America’s. Plus, Pompeo is all in favor of a second summit with Putin in Washington. Trump tweeted, “I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed.” And just what might those things be? Don’t ask our Secretary of State, he wasn’t there. Apparently everyone is expected to just accept whatever confabulated version of what transpired that Trump decides to share. Trump biographer Tony Schwartz previously said, “I find his increasingly extreme behaviour entirely consistent and predictable,” and this is just one more example. Mike Pompeo humors Trump more than he advises him. He used to drive three hours daily to the White House just to make Trump feel good and give him the “killer graphics” that Trump enjoys along with pictures in his intelligence briefings.
It will be interesting to see how he handles this issue with Lavrov and Butina.
