When the Russians used a military-grade nerve agent to attack former intelligence agent Sergei V. Skripal on British soil, it took a significant amount of effort to talk Trump into doing anything about it according to a new report on CIA Director Gina Haspel's time in the Trump regime.
According to the New York Times, Trump was close to letting the attack slide because he was sympathetic to Russia's handling of the situation.
London was pushing for the White House to expel dozens of suspected Russian operatives, but Mr. Trump was skeptical. He had initially written off the poisoning as part of legitimate spy games, distasteful but within the bounds of espionage. Some officials said they thought that Mr. Trump, who has frequently criticized “rats” and other turncoats, had some sympathy for the Russian government’s going after someone viewed as a traitor.
Haspel reported reportedly convinced him to take action by showing him photos of anything except Sergei Skripal and his daughter who were both poisoned.
Ms. Haspel showed pictures the British government had supplied her of young children hospitalized after being sickened by the Novichok nerve agent that poisoned the Skripals. She then showed a photograph of ducks that British officials said were inadvertently killed by the sloppy work of the Russian operatives.
If not for the dead ducks, it's possible he wouldn't have signed off on a response.
I don't know where our relationship with Britain and most of Europe would be now if Trump had let a chemical weapon attack in their territory slide.