Fear: Trump in the White House

“Of course,” Trump said, “it’ll be however you want it to run. We’re going to do such great things.”

Priebus, who was in the meeting, worried about the on-the-spot hires. He later said to Trump, “We’re going to hire the guy, a Democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton, to run our economic council? Why? Shouldn’t we talk about this? I’m sure he’s really smart. Shouldn’t we have a conversation before we offer a job like this?”

“Oh,” Trump said, “we don’t need to talk about it.” Besides, the job had been offered and accepted. “He’s going to be great.”

The day after Christmas 2016 I reached Michael Flynn, Trump’s newly designated national security adviser, by telephone. He was on vacation in Florida visiting his grandchildren. Flynn, a controversial retired three-star general and intelligence specialist, had been by Trump’s side during the campaign as foreign policy adviser. At the Republican National Convention, he enthusiastically led the crowds in “Lock Her Up” chants about Hillary Clinton. He later apologized.

Obama had removed Flynn from head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014 for management failures. And after the campaign Trump had ignored advice from Obama not to take Flynn as his national security adviser.

I called Flynn to get his take on Russia. Several intelligence and Pentagon officials had told me that Russia had moved in recent years to modernize and improve their nuclear capability with a new Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile and two new ICBMs.

“Yes, exactly,” Flynn said on the record. Under Putin’s direction in the last seven or eight years, he said, Russia had not “outmatched the United States but had outsmarted us.”

He said he had begun talking to Trump about the Russian buildup 18 months before in 2015 when they had first met. He said that they agreed that the United States had given up too much of its capability, training, readiness and modernization.

Putin, he said, had “in a systematic way” upgraded not only his nuclear forces but his tactical, conventional and Special Forces. “If Russia became an adversary and we went toe-to-toe with them, we’d face the reality of Putin using innovation, technology and sheer effort.”

Flynn then spoke openly about the possibility the United States might have to begin testing nuclear weapons. The last U.S. test had been in 1992. “We are going to have to decide if we test again,” he said. The computer tests might not be sufficient and it was important to see if the weapons worked.

“My counsel to the boss, I said we are going to have to devote time, energy and resources to this.” He said Trump’s plan was to talk and act tough—send “a shot across the bow” of Putin. He added, “We will be leaning on the Reagan playbook.” Be aggressive and then negotiate. “We have to make it clear at the same time that we’ll deal with Russia. You can’t just have one view of Russia.”

Flynn was being widely criticized for going to Russia to speak for $33,750 from the Russian state–owned television network in 2015. He said it was an opportunity and he got to meet Putin. “Anyone would go,” he said.

Flynn did a question-and-answer session in Moscow. He made a standard plea for better U.S. relations to defeat ISIS, the importance of defining the enemy, and not trying just to contain ISIS as Obama had done. Overall on foreign policy Flynn told me, “The president-elect is taking on this plate of shit throughout the world. The world is a mess. There’s lots of cleaning up to do.”

CHAPTER

8

After the election, President Obama directed his intelligence chiefs to produce a definitive, highly classified report on Russian election interference, with all the sources and details. It would be briefed to the Gang of Eight in Congress and to President-elect Trump.

An unclassified, scaled-back version with the same conclusions, but without identifying the sources, would be made public before Obama left office on January 20.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers met to work on talking points for the briefing to Trump. They knew he would see the report as challenging his win, casting doubt on the legitimacy of his election. They agreed they would have to speak with one voice.

“This is our story and we’re sticking to it,” Clapper said, encouraging solidarity. Clapper would be the main briefer. It was essential they speak with confidence. Clearly the briefing was going to stir the beast.

Earlier, in December, Brennan had called Clapper. He had received a copy of a 35-page dossier, a series of reports from former British MI6 senior officer Christopher Steele that detailed alleged efforts by Russia to interfere with and influence the presidential election—to cause chaos, damage Hillary Clinton and help Trump. The dossier also contained salacious claims about Trump, Russian prostitutes and “golden showers.”