Helsinki

On Monday, President Trump and Russian President Putin met for discussions and then held a news conference in Helsinki. Comments made by President Trump and the answers to questions posed to President Trump were less than satisfactory.

Trump was asked if he could find fault with the Russian actions such as those that resulted in the grand jury indictments against Russian military intelligence agents. He then said that both the U.S. and Russia were guilty of mistakes. He then launched criticism about the U.S. and never said anything about Russian actions. Apparently, Trump sees nothing wrong with the Russian invasion of Crimea and Ukraine. He failed to mention the Russian use of nerve agents to kill people in Great Britain. He questioned U.S. intelligence agencies' statements about Russian attacks on our electoral system simply because Putin denied Russia had done anything wrong. In fact, Putin offered to send his intelligence people to the U.S. to investigate the supposed election meddling. While the entire U.S. intelligence community believes the Russians were involved in trying to affect the U.S. election results, President Trump still has doubts, and he stated that he could not "see any reason" the Russians would conduct such activities. Seriously?!?

Within hours after the news conference the U.S. Justice Department announced that a woman had just been arrested and charged as a Russian agent who had infiltrated U.S. politically active organizations. It would seem that the Russians are not bashful about continuing espionage activities against the U.S. despite what President Trump believes.

Former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, John Brennan said, "Donald Trump's press conference performance in Helsinki rises to and exceeds the threshold of 'high crimes and misdemeanors'. It was nothing short of treasonous."

Someone should explain to Trump that he should stop defending his election as President, and he should act like he is President and be more concerned with the security and defense of the country.

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He lives in Chaffee, Missouri.