Trump-Russia – Deep Left Field

To the surprise of many, failed one-term president Donald Trump was able to secure the financial assistance of a large multinational insurance company to underwrite the $91.6 million bond for his appeal of defamation verdicts awarded to writer E. Jean Carroll in January.

According to the Washington Post, the Federal Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Chubb Group LLC, provided the massive bond guaranty.

The bond document establishes a deal Trump made with Federal Insurance Company, a direct subsidiary of the international insurance behemoth Chubb, with global headquarters in Switzerland. The company, one of the largest insurance firms in the world and worth about $100 billion, offers a wide variety of insurance and bonds.

The company’s filings do not break down in detail its business that backs court appeals, but the larger unit — called a “surety” business — consists of several entities and is a longtime provider of bonds in the United States, according to bonding experts.

Chubb, it turns out, has extensive ties to Russia and the Kremlin, with environmental nonprofit group Rainforest Action Network (RAN) reporting on its website, “Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg talks a big game on climate change, but those words ring hollow when examining his company’s business practices. Chubb insures fossil fuel infrastructure in Russia that is bankrolling Putin’s war on Ukraine, oil and gas extraction off the coast of Brazil, exploratory drilling in the Arctic, and other fossil fuel projects globally.”

Former New York Times investigative reporter Seth Abramson also notes that Chubb has significant Russian connections.

“This is the biggest news in the United States right now. Anyone who reads this article will understand that I’m not exaggerating when I say as a journalist that America is now in the midst of a national security crisis. We are now right back where we were in 2016. It’s bad,” Abramson warned on Twitter/X.”

(PS) This is the biggest news in the United States right now. Anyone who reads this article will understand that I’m not exaggerating when I say as a journalist that America is now in the midst of a national security crisis. We are now right back where we were in 2016.

It’s bad.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) March 8, 2024

It has long been suspected that Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, have connections to Russian entities. The disgraced ex-president has repeatedly praised Russian president/war criminal Vladimir Putin, recently saying that if he manages to defeat President Joe Biden in November, he will allow Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to NATO nations who don’t pay enough for their security.

The national security implications of Trump taking money from a company that invests heavily in Russia are massive and terrifying, especially since the ex-president is scheduled to start receiving weekly national security briefings now that he’s been declared the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee by the GOP.

Can we as a country allow this to transpire right in front of our eyes and not demand accountability from both Chubb and Trump? At the very least, the Department of Justice needs to take a long hard look at the bond agreement and see if it violates federal law in any way whatsoever.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that failed, one-term former President Donald Trump repeatedly kowtowed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, it turns out that Russian hackers also managed to steal what is being called the “crown jewels” from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The Associated Press (AP) reports that hackers from Russia managed to steal emails from top officials in the DHS, which could have serious implications for U.S. national security:

“Suspected Russian hackers gained access to email accounts belonging to the Trump administration’s head of the Department of Homeland Security and members of the department’s cybersecurity staff whose jobs included hunting threats from foreign countries, The Associated Press has learned.
“The intelligence value of the hacking of then-acting Secretary Chad Wolf and his staff is not publicly known, but the symbolism is stark. Their accounts were accessed as part of what’s known as the SolarWinds intrusion, and it throws into question how the U.S. government can protect individuals, companies and institutions across the country if it can’t protect itself.”

The Biden administration is trying to decide exactly what sanctions to impose on Russia for the DHS hack, but based on the AP’s reporting, it seems fair to surmise the punishment will be severe.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) says targeting the DHS allowed Russia to have access to some of the most carefully guarded secrets in the world:

“The SolarWinds hack was a victory for our foreign adversaries, and a failure for DHS. We are talking about DHS’s crown jewels.”

Since Homeland Security is tasked with overseeing several important agencies — including the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Customs Service, the Russian hack means Russian intelligence may have obtained information that could directly impact the security of the United States.

Though it remains unclear exactly how harsh the White House will choose to be with sanctions, it has already become clear to Russia that relations between the two nations will continue to be strained. When Biden was recently asked if he thought Putin was a “killer,” he quickly replied that he did.

Trump, on the other hand, tried to suggest there were many killers in the United States, trying to excuse Putin’s murderous actions.

One thing is certain: Russia and Putin will no longer be coddled by the American head of state. And based on their actions, they damn well shouldn’t be.