The research behind our “Secret” ad
Political ads — and politicians — make outrageous claims all the time. Stand Up Republic’s motto is “Liberty. Equality. Truth.” and we take each of those three words very seriously. President Trump’s troubling relationship with Russia deserves much greater scrutiny. With that in mind, we wanted to share with you some of the background research supporting the statements in our first television ad, which you can view below:
Here are the statements included in the ad and a sampling of sources that support them:
President Trump admires Vladimir Putin.
· “Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow — if so, will he become my new best friend?” (@realdonaldtrump on Twitter, June 18, 2013).
· When asked about Putin’s murder of Russian journalists, President Trump responded by saying, “He’s running his country and at least he’s a leader, unlike what we have in this country…I think our country does plenty of killing also.” (Politico, December 18, 2015).
· “Great move on delay (by V. Putin) — I always knew he was very smart!” (@realdonaldtrump on Twitter, December 30, 2016).
Donald Trump insults and abandons our allies, but basks in Putin’s praise.
· Members of the Trump campaign successfully weakened support for Ukraine in the Republican platform. (Washington Post, August 5, 2016).
· The President has called NATO “obsolete,” and has stated that he would only defend NATO allies if they had “fulfilled their obligations to us.” (New York Times, January 15, 2017) and (New York Times, July 20, 2016).
· After Putin described him as “bright and talented,” President Trump responded by saying “It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond.” (Time, December 17, 2015).
President Trump compares American intelligence officers who protect us to Nazis while he covers for Putin’s attacks on our democracy.
· “Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to ‘leak’ into the public. One last shot at me. Are we living in Nazi Germany?” (@realdonaldtrump on Twitter, January 11, 2017).
· While he recently acknowledged that Russia was indeed likely behind the hacks of the Democratic National Committee and prominent Democrats, Donald Trump spent most of the past six months deflecting blame from Vladimir Putin, saying in July, “It’s probably not Russia.” Other suspects, according to Trump, have included “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds,” and “a 14 year old.” (ABC News, July 27, 2016), (USA Today, September 27, 2016) and (@realdonaldtrump on Twitter, January 4, 2017).
· The President actively encouraged Russia to hack emails from Hillary Clinton’s private server, saying “I will tell you this, Russia: If you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing…I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.” (Politico, July 27, 2016).
Donald Trump hides connections to Russians while troubling stories keep coming.
· “Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA — NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!” (@realdonaldtrump on Twitter, January 11, 2017).
· In 2008, Donald Trump, Jr. spoke at a conference where he made clear the extent of Russian involvement with Trump businesses: “And in terms of high-end product influx into the US, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets…We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.” (CNN, January 11, 2017).
· Multiple reports have revealed that law enforcement agencies are investigating ties between Trump confidants and Russia. Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Richard Burr recently expanded the Committee’s probe on Russian hacking to include potential links between the Trump campaign and Russia. (McClatchy, January 18, 2017), (New York Times, January 19, 2017) and (Bloomberg, January 13, 2017).
