I didn't read anything damning in that Politico piece. Vindman (who hates Trump) says Trump warned Putin against invading Ukraine on a regular basis.
"...conversations about Russia’s aggression were “on the agenda consistently” during bilateral meetings. “It was in every set of talking points I drafted for him, all the background documents I prepped.”
Vindman wouldn’t disclose if Trump and Putin spoke about a renewed Ukrainian invasion, saying that was privileged information. But he did assert that warning Russia against escalating the war “was a regular topic.”
Trump canceled a meeting with Putin at the G20 in 2018 over Russia shooting at and capturing Ukrainian sailors in the Kerch Strait.
A former Trump administration official, granted anonymity to detail direct presidential-level discussions, said Trump in at least one call told Putin that Russia couldn’t wade deeper into Ukraine because he had
approved the transfer of anti-tank missiles to Kyiv. “It was in the context of ‘you can’t do what you did with Obama,’” the official said, noting that the annexation of Crimea and the “little green men” in the Donbas happened on that administration’s watch."
Sounds more like Trump telling Putin "Don't try pulling that shit on me."
I also think Vindman's spin rings hollow:
"...Vindman has a different view of what happened. Putin’s positioning for the second military wave came soon after the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, he said. “Putin took advantage of the domestic divisions Trump created — he thought we were weak.”
I agree that Putin thought we were weak, but it was because Biden
is weak. If J6 was the motivation for Putin, why wait more than a year? The J6 hubbub had blown over for everyone except TDS-afflicted democrats.
