Giving Donald Trump Access To Classified Information Is Like Giving Putin Keys To The NSA

Last Thursday, during a press briefing, Donald Trump was targeted more than a few times by President Obama over recent statements the Republican presidential candidate made, which appeared to express some concern from the president over giving him access to classified information in upcoming security briefings.

Reuters reported on the president’s warning to Donald Trump to not share information he would be given in regular security briefings he’s required to have between now and the November election.

Over the last several weeks, the Republican has drawn more fire than at anytime in his campaign when, during a speech at a rally, he publicly said that Russia should go ahead and hack the Democratic National Committee’s network to look for the 30,000 missing emails.

These are emails Republicans often refer to with regard to Hillary Clinton’s email scandal, which she reportedly deleted when it was revealed that she was running her own email server from her home, while she was the Secretary of State.

Donald Trump’s statement was in response to reports that Wikileaks had released internal DNC emails that proved certain people on the committee were trying to sabotage the Bernie Sanders campaign during the primary.

But the reporting became even more dramatic when a investigation into the leaks discovered a direct connection to Russian hackers. If that wasn’t enough, another connection soon developed between Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and Russia, as he was an adviser to the Ukraine’s former president Viktor Yanukovich for about 10 years, before the uprising in 2014.

This connection, along with Donald Trump’s own real estate dealings in the region, make his connection to Russia even more suspicious because Yanukovich fled due to corruption and over his relationship with Putin, as he was apparently placed their by the Russian president.

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was one of the people who spoke at the DNC about Donald Trump’s nod to Russia, saying that it was inconceivable before leaders on both sides of the isle began to condemn him as well.

Since then, it’s been reported from various media sources that Rhode Island Representative David Cicilline sent a letter to the White House, asking the administration to not allow Donald Trump access to sensitive information, which is available to view as a PDF.

A deeper analysis of Washington’s concerns is aided by the reports of changes Donald Trump’s campaign has apparently made to the Republican platform, where it’s possible that through Manafort’s influence, he has made the glaringly obvious effort to offer more leverage to Putin and supporting Russia’s role in the Ukraine.

Paul Manafort swore Team Trump had nothing to do with a radical change in the GOP position on Ukraine. He was lying: https://t.co/CkVNKhiGwn

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) August 3, 2016

For instance, Politico reported on the same speech Donald Trump called on Russian hackers, where he showed interest in helping Crimea be further recognized as a part of Russia, and his support to lift internationally recognized sanctions off of Russia, which is said to be crippling their economy.

After the controversy about his statements reached a fevered pitch, Donald Trump appeared to backtrack his statement by saying that he was being sarcastic when he said Russia should hack the DNC.

“Of course I’m being sarcastic. And they don’t even know frankly if it’s Russia.”

Evidence that the hacking came from Russia is detailed in an article by the Inquisitr, where the investigation makes a strong case for it, which is pretty far from not knowing if it’s Russia.

The DNC says Russian hackers penetrated its files, enabling them to read opposition research against Donald Trump https://t.co/Zfvw9dVUdY

— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 14, 2016

But the Washington Post published an op-ed about why Donald Trump appeared to be lying when he was trying to save face, saying that he was actually “doubling down” on his statements when he was first attacked by critics, before he claimed that he was being sarcastic.

It also appears that the went even further to deny that he even had anything to do with Russia before the Washington Post — among other reports — slapped him with four Pinocchios, revealing that Trump’s real estate efforts in trying to negotiate for building there, showing that Donald Trump Jr. had even traveled to Russia about six times in 18 months.

Recently, however, the president has made clear that Donald Trump will be given access to security briefings, but Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid went even further to suggest that if Donald Trump must be briefed at all, he should be given “fake” security briefings, according to the Huffington Post.

But in a presidential race with endless tit-for-tat responses, Trump’s supporters have suggested that if Donald Trump is blocked from getting classified information, then Hillary Clinton shouldn’t have access to it either.

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