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“RUSSIA AND TRUMP, SUBTLE ENTRAPMENT” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H2332 on March 22, 2017.
The State Department is responsibly for international relations with a budget of more than $50 billion. Tenure at the State Dept. is increasingly tenuous and it's seen as an extension of the President's will, ambitions and flaws.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
RUSSIA AND TRUMP, SUBTLE ENTRAPMENT
(Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, years from now, history books could well describe entrapment of a United States President by a foreign adversary. Allow me to update my colleagues on the Trump administration's foreign policy.
Recently, the State Department avoided committing Secretary Rex Tillerson to a NATO meeting next month with our tried and true allies in Europe. Yet, the administration has no problem flying Secretary Tillerson to Moscow to meet with Putin in April. This is no April Fools' joke. Since when is the Kremlin more important than our NATO partners? Never.
Several reports now say Trump's former campaign chair, Paul Manafort, secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance Putin's interests and undermine anti-Russian opposition across Europe. This contradicts assertions by the Trump administration and Manafort that he never worked for Russian interests. Congress needs to get to the bottom of these shady connections, and Paul Manafort should testify to the House Intelligence Committee, under oath.
Russia has consistently and unabashedly attempted to disrupt Democratic elections and promote propaganda in order to strengthen its own strategic interests.
The Trump administration is pushing our Nation to the verge of a national security crisis. How much leverage does Putin have over Trump and his associates? Our great Nation can't be their collateral damage.
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