Summit takeaways: Trump doubts intel, plays trusting partner President Donald Trump's first summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin left a wake of confusion and outrage in the U.S.After a remarkable 45-minute joint press conference, the White House struggled to explain why Trump aligned so closely with the Russian leader, a chief geopolitical foe. Several prominent Republicans expressed disappointment with the president's performance. Intelligence officials publicly broke from the president's comments about Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign.The aftermath was a reminder of Trump's singular, political positioning. Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the issue when he met Trump in Finland this week, days after the Justice Department indicted 12 Russian military officers The act has brought sanctions against many officials who are part of Putin ’ s clique, and the Russian government stopped U . S . adoptions Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the issue when he met Trump in Finland this week, days after the Justice Department indicted 12 Russian military officers The act has brought sanctions against many officials who are part of Putin ' s clique, and the Russian government stopped U . S . adoptions

© Thomson Reuters Russia's President Vladimir Putin arrives for a meeting with Russian ambassadors and representatives to international organisations in Moscow, Russia, July 19, 2018. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin Almost from the day he arrived in Moscow as the U.S. ambassador in 2012, Michael McFaul and his family were subjected to a campaign of surveillance and harassment.

According to McFaul’s book, “From Cold War to Hot Peace,” Russian authorities followed him to his son’s soccer game and outings to McDonald’s. They trailed his children’s bus to school and sat behind the family at church. They slashed the tires of an embassy staffer’s car and broke into the homes of other employees.

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Congressional Republicans have responded to Russia’s attacks with conflicting impulses, pressing to sanction Moscow even as some undercut the investigations.WASHINGTON — In the nearly two years since Russia attacked the American democratic process, congressional Republicans have played conflicting roles in the drama: Some have pressed to impose sanctions on Russia and quietly pursue investigations, but they have been outshouted by Republicans who have obfuscated and undercut efforts to uncover the Kremlin’s plot.

Russia carried out a comprehensive cyber campaign to sabotage the U . S . presidential election, an operation that was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin and ultimately sought to help elect Donald Trump, U . S . intelligence agencies concluded in a remarkably blunt assessment released Friday. Putin appears to be targeting U . S . officials who worked to sanction Russia . At the Aspen Forum on Thursday Hackers can target election systems, trying to get into voter registration databases and voting machines. Foreign operatives can pursue political organizations, campaigns and public officials .

Embassy security officials advised McFaul there was only one secure room at the embassy he and his wife should use if they ever quarreled, because everywhere else was monitored by the Russian government.

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Now, McFaul is one of 11 U.S. citizens a Russian prosecutor wants to question in connection with an investigation many U.S. officials say is bogus. The list is believed to include at least two other former diplomats, a congressional staffer, a CIA agent, a staffer for the National Security Council and two special agents at the Department of Homeland Security.

One common denominator among the people on the list is many were involved in some way with the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 U.S. law that has imposed stiff sanctions against Russia for human rights abuses, or been harsh critics of human rights abuses in Russia under President Vladi­mir Putin.

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Russian government officials have denied involvement in any of the hacks or leaks. The officials believe Putin became personally involved after Russia accessed the DNC her.[17] Michael McFaul, who was U . S . ambassador to Russia , said the operation could be a retaliation by Putin against Putin has said Russia does not want a new arms race, but has also dialled up his military rhetoric. The Pentagon said that Putin ’ s threats only helped unite Kiselyov, who is close to the Kremlin, said the “Tsirkon” (‘Zircon’) hypersonic missile that Russia is developing could hit the targets in less than five

The State Department has called the request for the Americans “absolutely absurd,” and the White House said Thursday Trump “disagreed” with the idea after initially declining to rule it out. It is unclear under what authority the U.S. government could compel private citizens to submit to questioning by Russian authorities, since there is no extradition treaty.

But the request, which was raised to some unknown degree when Putin met with President Trump in Finland this week, has provoked outrage among current and former diplomats.

“It’s flabbergasting why the White House did not shut this down immediately,” said Nicholas Burns, a former under secretary of state for political affairs. “The president should have said at the news conference that he would not go along with this.”

The Magnitsky Act has brought sanctions against many officials who are part of Putin’s clique, and the Russian government stopped U.S. adoptions of Russian children after it was signed into law.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin called his first summit with President Donald Trump a success — but warned Thursday that Trump's opponents in the U.S. are hampering any progress on what they discussed.People depicting U.S. president Donald Trump attend a protest at Senate Square to support women's reproductive rights, during the summit in Helsinki, Finland on July 16.

Officials also expect Russia to continue trying to hack organizations, release embarrassing information and carry out malign social media operations. “Biden is to 2020 what Clinton was to 2016,” said Clint Watts, a former FBI agent who has been tracking Russia ’ s foreign influence operations. Intelligence officials also briefed both Mr. Obama and his successor on a mysterious dossier compiled by political foes of Mr. Trump that included Mr. Trump’ s phone call with Mr. Putin came after news reports in Moscow that two Russian intelligence officers who had worked on cyberoperations, as well

For years, the Russian government has criticized and harassed Bill Browder, a wealthy U.S.-born financier who lives overseas. In 2009, his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died in prison after alleging a massive fraud involving senior Russian officials. Browder lobbied Congress for the Magnitsky Act, which brought sanctions against many officials close to Putin.

The Russian government has accused Browder of being a criminal and repeatedly placed his name on an Interpol wanted list, putting countries on notice to arrest him when he passes their border control.

McFaul and others on the list have raised concerns that Russia will add their names to the Interpol wanted list as well. But they remain defiant.

“I am very proud to have played a supporting role with Bill Browder in advocating for the Magnitsky legislation, and would do it again, particularly given the appalling human rights situation in Putin’s Russia,” said David Kramer, who as president of Freedom House advocated for the law’s passage. A former assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, Kramer is among the Americans who have been named on a list compiled by Russia’s state-run media.

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The president blamed the news media for negative coverage of his performance alongside the Russian leader.In a morning tweet, the president blamed the media for negative coverage of his joint news conference Monday with Putin in Helsinki — a performance by Trump that was widely panned by members of both poltical parties.

Speaking over Skype to the Atlantic Council, Browder said he was “aghast” by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s remark that the president was considering the Russian request.

“Most of the people on the list of Americans are people … trying to protect the United States against Russian malfeasance,” he said, adding, “effectively Trump is considering handing them over to an enemy state.”

The Russians also want to question Jonathan Winer, a former adviser to Secretary of State John F. Kerry who was active in developing the Magnitsky sanctions. Kramer and Winer also played a role in the drama around the dossier compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British spy. The dossier alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election and contacts between Russian agents and the Trump campaign.

Kramer traveled to London in late 2016, met Steele, received a copy of the dossier and provided it to his former boss, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz), who later personally handed it to then-FBI Director James B. Comey.

In the fall of 2016, Winer prepared a two-page summary of information compiled by Steele on Russian interference with the U.S. election and shared it with Kerry.

Winer said in an interview with The Washington Post that the White House review of the Kremlin interrogation request could undermine basic elements of the American system.

“It raises the question of whether Trump is willing to break with our rule of law system,” he said, adding: “It is a challenge to the fundamental way our system is supposed to work. I have no reason to believe this country will tolerate it.”

The unlikelihood the U.S. government would grant the Russians access to the Americans leaves unclear what Putin was trying to achieve by raising the issue with Trump.

“It strikes me as a stunt,” said Matt Rojansky, director of the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center. “Knowing full well that Americans will consider these proposals absurd but they’ll cause a big publisher stir, the Russians are trying to draw equivalency between them and the Mueller investigation.”

“ It goes back to Putin’s comment in the Helsinki news conference, that in effect, you just shouldn’t trust anyone. He knows Americans don’t trust him and his cronies, but he’d also like to erode trust in Mueller and U.S. law enforcement,” Rojansky said.

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