Almost since the election of Donald Trump as President, the Mainstream Media (MSM) has subjected this country to an almost non-stop deluge of claims that the Trump campaign, if not Trump himself, somehow colluded with Vladimir Putin to influence the election on his behalf. In the past week we have learned just what a total fraud this was and who was responsible for it. However, it seems to the author that in defending Donald Trump from what we now know were false, made up claims, that a certain question should have been raised right from the start. If Mr. Putin had wanted to influence the 2016 American presidential election, which of the two candidates would it have been to his best interest to attempt to help?

It is an uncontested fact that the Clinton’s fortunes have improved at an incredible rate since leaving the White House “dead broke” in 2009. Of course it is assumed that Hillary’s claim of being “dead broke” did not include the estimated $200,000 in White House china, furniture and artwork that they took with them upon leaving which they only returned after the story of the theft went public. However, since that time the Clintons have certainly prospered. In July of 2015, the LA Times estimated their combined net worth at around $140 million. Just where did that money come from? A lot of it came from foreign sources, including Russia.

It is open knowledge that the Clintons and the “Clinton Foundation” benefitted quite significantly from the Uranium One deal that transferred some 20+ percent of American Uranium holdings to Russian control. Bill Clinton was paid $500,000.00 for a speech in Russia and the foundation received four payments of $2.35 Million each. At the time that negotiations were ongoing, Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State and as such did, indeed, sign off approving that deal. Does the author’s suspicion that “Quid Pro Quo” might have been involved sound farfetched?

What, though, does any of the above have to do with Mr. Putin attempting to influence our election of 2016 and what might have been in it for him? Since taking power from Boris Yeltzin in 2000, Putin has tightened his grip on the Russian people while transforming the country into a corrupt oligarchy. In doing this he has amassed a personal fortune of an estimated $70 billion. This fortune was amassed while drawing an annual salary of around $167,000.00 so, clearly, Mr. Putin understands corruption. As the head of a nation that was a onetime enemy of our country, having some sort of “inside track” to an American president would certainly have great appeal to a man like Vladimir Putin.