joseph maguire
Hillary Clinton Slams Trump After News That He Fired Intelligence Chief for Telling Congress Putin Is Trying to Re-Elect Him in 2020
The New York Times reported on Thursday that Donald Trump was enraged at the news that Russia was working to elect him once again in 2020.
But Russia once again seeking to interfere in our elections wasn't what enraged him. It's that officials sounded the alarm about it.
Trump was so enraged, in fact, that he fired his acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, who briefed Congress on Putin's plans in a February 13th classified briefing.
Just to be clear: the president is firing intelligence officials for trying to protect America. https://t.co/fgZWhMaYhG— Molly McKew (@Molly McKew) 1582237407.0
As a result, #TrumpIsARussianAsset began trending on Twitter, and Hillary Clinton weighed in, going after Trump as "Putin's Puppet."
Putin’s Puppet is at it again, taking Russian help for himself. He knows he can’t win without it. And we can’t le… https://t.co/YkOeqBXXMZ— Hillary Clinton (@Hillary Clinton) 1582305510.0
The "puppet" term was a throwback to one of the most notable moments of Clinton's and Trump's three presidential debates in 2016, in which Clinton said of Putin's desire to see a Trump victory:
"That's because he'd rather have a puppet as president."
Trump then interrupted:
"No puppet. No puppet. You're the puppet. No, you're the puppet."
People shared Clinton's concerns.
Reporters should be all over Capitol Hill asking members of Congress if they think it’s OK that Russia is interveni… https://t.co/QGLVXdBTti— Jon Cooper 🇺🇸 (@Jon Cooper 🇺🇸) 1582302055.0
Trump's reaction to the bombshell news that Russia is interfering in the 2020 campaign to get Trump re-elected? H… https://t.co/5aOX9a1qXy— Robert Reich (@Robert Reich) 1582305766.0
Russian operative defined: Trump operates in every way possible to help Russia interfere in the election to help… https://t.co/6HPST4cWhd— Lawrence O'Donnell (@Lawrence O'Donnell) 1582303042.0
There’s been no one in the world more helpful to Russia’s interests than Donald Trump. He’s the weakest president e… https://t.co/phgdYTygO0— Scott Dworkin (@Scott Dworkin) 1582312725.0
I asked a senior White House official if Trump really removed Maguire over the Russia briefing. Official didn’t min… https://t.co/D29JEAAZwf— Alex Ward (@Alex Ward) 1582309395.0
Trump has one non-nefarious option set which is to acknowledge Russia's actions publicly, disavow them, and take of… https://t.co/MbqqIaVC6U— subscribe to my newsletter (@subscribe to my newsletter) 1582305963.0
Trump is literally running interference to help Russia intervene in our election on his behalf, using the enormous… https://t.co/UAR2hpOlVd— Ben Rhodes (@Ben Rhodes) 1582308104.0
For more information about Russian interference, check out The Road to Unfreedom, available here.