5 Things You Should Know About the Trump-Russia Allegations

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Saturday, February 18, 2017

2. Campaign Season Allegations

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (L) and his wife Mary Pat (R) listen as Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during Trump's five state primary night event in New York City, U.S., April 26, 2016. | (Photo: REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)

Before the election, Trump weathered accusations that he was a "Siberian Candidate" due to his vocal admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"In 2007, he praised Putin for 'rebuilding Russia.' A year later he added, 'He does his work well. Much better than our Bush,'" noted a column published by Slate last July.

"When Putin ripped American exceptionalism in a New York Times op-ed in 2013, Trump called it 'a masterpiece.' Despite ample evidence, Trump denies that Putin has assassinated his opponents: 'In all fairness to Putin, you're saying he killed people. I haven't seen that.'"

When Wikileaks released about 20,000 leaked emails from the Democratic Party, many claimed that Russia was behind the hacking of the DNC and did so specifically to help Trump win against Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"First, we have known since before the election that there was a Russian effort to embarrass Democrats and undermine confidence in the election. The Russians allegedly acted primarily through (a rather simple) hacking of Democratic National Committee e-mails and a slow, steady release of those e-mails through WikiLeaks," observed David French in a National Review column published earlier this week.

"Second, we have known since before the election that at least one former member of Trump's senior campaign team was under FBI investigation for his ties to Russia."