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deminks

(11,014 posts) Fri Mar 3, 2017, 06:24 PM Mar 2017

The March Meeting

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-march-meeting

In the previous post I explained that the Trump national security advisor, J.D. Gordon, who monitored platform deliberations for President Trump at the 2016 convention now admits he did push to soften language on arming Ukraine and he says he did so at the direction of President Trump.

(snip)

A review of contemporaneous press accounts shows that Trump made two visits to Washington, DC in March, once on the 21st and again on the 31st. It was almost certainly during the latter visit where the meeting took place. Let's first look at the visit on the 21st.

(snip)

The meeting seems to have occurred on the 31st when Trump returned for a unity meeting with RNC chief Reince Priebus after a week in which he reneged on his commitment to support the eventual nominee. The meeting with the national security advisors happened the same day and according to this report in the Post the following day was something of an anti-NATO fest ...

(snip)

Page and another of the five foreign policy advisors announced on the 21st said they had not yet met with Trump. It seems a good bet some or all did in this follow-up meeting on the 31st.

This is the first time we've heard any Trump advisor or operative tie him specifically to the platform language change and more generally to specific actions on Russia and Ukraine. This happened on a day that was filled with consequential foreign policy actions, including the initial announcement of Carter Page as his advisor on Europe and Russia. How do these event fit together and what more can we learn about this meeting?

(end snip)

pieces fitting together.

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The March Meeting (Original Post) deminks Mar 2017 OP

What was going on at this time? deminks Mar 2017 #1

deminks

(11,014 posts)

1. What was going on at this time?

Reply to deminks (Original post)

Fri Mar 3, 2017, 07:30 PM

Mar 2017

Trump was under pressure to name a foreign policy advisor

http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/trump-foreign-policy-adviser-220853

Trump: I consult myself on foreign policy

March 16, 2016

Trump releases a list of advisors:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/donald-trump-foreign-policy-advisers-221058

Trump's foreign policy team baffles GOP experts

March 21, 2016

(snip)

Another private-sector Trump adviser is Carter Page, a former investment banker and global energy consultant who graduated from the Naval Academy, according to his online biography. In discursive online blog postings about foreign policy that invoke the likes of Kanye West, Oprah Winfrey and Rhonda Byrne's self-help bestseller "The Secret," Page has blamed the U.S. for "misguided and provocative actions" toward Russia — notable in light of Trump's friendly words for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Page, who has worked for Merrill Lynch in Moscow, has accused the State Department's top official for Ukraine and Russia, Victoria Nuland, of "fomenting" the 2014 revolution that overthrew Ukraine's government. That charge is often lodged by pro-Kremlin media outlets but is strongly disputed by the Obama administration.

Page has also compared the Obama administration's official 2015 national security strategy document to an 1850 document on how to manage slaves.

(snip)

Trump has said that his national security advisory committee would be chaired by Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee — though Sessions is not generally regarded as one of his party's leading national security voices.

(end snip)

Carter Page was in Moscow just days before the GrOPer convention:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/carter-page-trump-russia_us_57a0f329e4b0693164c2fb41?section=&

Trump Foreign Policy Adviser Traveled To Russia Prior To Changes In GOP Platform

July 2016

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