Putin’s Saturday Night Massacre: He got Trump and the GOP to sell out America Putin’s KGB-inspired maneuvering has all the earmarks of a carefully planned, professionally executed war game. But it's not a game.

Cheri Jacobus | Opinion columnist

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Whiplash. It happened so swiftly, but with such surgical precision, the full impact of the series of events took a few breathless moments for the nation to grasp what had just occurred.

Andrew McCabe, deputy director of the FBI, resigns under pressure.

Then Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee vote to release a staff memo alleging FBI surveillance abuses relating to the Trump-Russia investigation, despite FBI Director Christopher Wray’s warning that some of the information is classified and there are “material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”

Literally minutes after the committee vote, the Trump administration announces it will NOT impose sanctions on Russia even though both the House and the Senate voted nearly unanimously for the sanctions that would punish Russia specifically for meddling in the 2016 presidential election, for annexing Crimea in 2014 and for its incursions in Ukraine.

And that was just Monday.

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Russian TV was elated, with a jubilant anchor gushing “Trump is ours again!” according to translator Julia Davis.

But Democrats on Capitol Hill were notably and understandably alarmed. Sen. Claire McCaskill tweeted bluntly: “Folks that is a constitutional crisis. There should be outrage in every corner of this country.”

Rep. David Cicilline tweeted: “BREAKING: President Trump WILL NOT impose sanctions on Russia that were passed by Congress. What does Vladimir Putin have on him?”

On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had to assure angry lawmakers that there would be sanctions. By Wednesday, the FBI was expressing "grave concerns" about the release of the memo. And California Rep. Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the committee, was saying the memo under review at the White House was different from the one the committee had considered.

McCabe was reportedly forced out after months of Trump attacks for his alleged mishandling of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server. But the timing initially suggested Trump was trying to remove an obstacle to firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

In true Nixonian “Saturday Night Massacre” form where Tricky Dick attempted to shut down the Watergate investigation by firing Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, there are reports Trump plans next to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who would be replaced by a Trump stooge who would, in turn, fire Mueller. This would end the white-hot investigation into possible criminal conspiracy by the Trump team working with Russia President Vladmir Putin to undermine the integrity of the 2016 presidential election.The investigation centers on:

► a possible quid pro quo in which Trump agreed to ward off U.S. sanctions against Russia

► adopt a Russia-friendly stance on Ukraine in exchange for

► Putin getting WikiLeaks to publish the contents of the Hillary and Democratic National Committee emails that were hacked.

Trump, some Republicans in Congress and their right-wing media allies who call the investigation a “witch hunt” want us to forget that:

► Trump did quash the sanctions against Russia the Congress voted to impose, at least for now.

► Team Trump did win a fight over Republican platform language that reflected widespread U.S. support for sending weapons to Ukraine to fight Russian and rebel forces. It wasn't included.

► Wikileaks did publish the hacked emails of Hillary Clinton and the DNC.

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While the U.S. intelligence community has confirmed Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, Trump stands alone in his denial of the breach and in his defense of Putin. CIA Director Mike Pompeo unequivocally asserts Russia will interfere in the congressional midterm elections later this year. The Trump White House and congressional Republicans seem unconcerned, or perhaps even copacetic with the intervention that will yield results in their favor.

The ease with which Putin is undertaking his bloodless coup rivals his invasion into Ukraine after a series of strategic maneuvers to disable any resistance, including a cyber attack on Ukraine’s government, and installing his own loyalists on the inside long before that. Hindsight being 20/20, the signs have been there for months.

Both Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate of the United States Congress in uncharacteristic bipartisan unity, voted nearly unanimously to impose sanctions on specific companies and foreign countries doing business with blacklisted Russian defense and intelligence entities by a vote of 98-2 Senate and 419-3 in the House — a solid veto-proof bill sent to the president to sign.

But that was last July.

With scant exceptions, congressional Republicans remain silent in tacit approval as Trump defies the Congress on Russian sanctions (after he got what he wanted from Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee).

Seemingly emboldened by the lack of any meaningful pushback, Trump has now reportedly been discussing having Mueller prosecuted as a means to end the investigation that has already ensnared several individuals who worked for Trump and likely many more to come — possibly including the president himself.

Putin’s KGB-inspired maneuvering of the United States via Donald Trump and the Republican Congress has all the earmarks of a carefully planned, professionally executed war game in which Trump, congressional Republicans and some in right wing media are his comrades. But it’s not a game. The United States is in trouble.

Cheri Jacobus, a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors, is a Republican consultant and commentator and president of Capitol Strategies PR. Follow her on Twitter: @CheriJacobus.