Thread by @RepDonBeyer

This week the Washington Post published a must-read look behind the scenes at the Trump Administration’s reaction to Russian interference with our democracy.

They had 50+ sources, many of them senior national security officials for Trump. washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/…

Trump was briefed in January by the 4 heads of major US intelligence services: the CIA, FBI, NSA, and DNI.

They told him that they had “captured Putin’s specific instructions on the operation” to interfere in our democratic elections to help Trump win. 2/

Officials say that they believe Putin “got a staggering return” on that operation. The Russian efforts to interfere and create chaos in our election were highly successful. 3/

But despite repeated urging from his top advisors, “Trump has waged his own campaign to discredit the case that Russia poses any threat.”

He attacks US intelligence, and seems to trust Putin, a major adversary, more than the US national security community. 4/

Trump railed against sanctions which Congress imposed on Russia over election meddling.

He also estranged key allies, and threatened to weaken our ties to NATO.

At one point, a US official was asked to call German PM Angela Merkel to ask her to press Trump for NATO support. 5/

Taken together, it’s frightening: Trump has “impaired the government’s response to a national security threat.”

Is it ego, or does he have hidden motives? What can we do?

We MUST protect the Mueller investigation and get answers. That is paramount. We must have the truth. 6/6