Here is why I see it this way, an old world assessment, brilliant as it might be, is applying it to the new circumstances.
February 4, 2016
By Henry A Kissinger
From 2007 into 2009, (click here) Evgeny Primakov (click here) and I chaired a group composed of retired senior ministers, high officials and military leaders from Russia and the United States, including some of you present here today. Its purpose was to ease the adversarial aspects of the U.S.-Russian relationship and to consider opportunities for cooperative approaches. In America, it was described as a Track II group, which meant it was bipartisan and encouraged by the White House to explore but not negotiate on its behalf. We alternated meetings in each other’s country. President Putin received the group in Moscow in 2007, and President Medvedev in 2009. In 2008, President George W. Bush assembled most of his National Security team in the Cabinet Room for a dialogue with our guests....
...In this way, paradoxically, we find ourselves confronting anew an essentially philosophical problem. How does the United States work together with Russia, a country which does not share all its values but is an indispensable component of the international order? How does Russia exercise its security interests without raising alarms around its periphery and accumulating adversaries? Can Russia gain a respected place in global affairs with which the United States is comfortable? Can the United States pursue its values without being perceived as threatening to impose them? I will not attempt to propose answers to all these questions. My purpose is to encourage an effort to explore them....
Kissinger goes on to discuss military confrontation and other aspects of the world order, It is my understanding that this is one of Trump's many secrets. He has taken the information and clout that can be discerned from CNI and believes he is as much an expert as Kissinger or better than Kissinger.
...Ukraine needs to be embedded in the structure of European and international security architecture in such a way that it serves as a bridge between Russia and the West, rather than as an outpost of either side....
Kissinger is not recognizing Minsk I and Minsk II of which both Putin has abandoned in any kind of working trust between the two countries. There have been calls for Russia to return to Minsk, but, Putin has not made that attempt. There is every reason to believe he won't.
I think it is unfortunate Trump in his campaign went this route and maintains it in his presidency. In the year 2019, it is full of pitfalls. Who sent the Trump campaign to this organization? That is what I want to know.
b. National Interest Hosts a Foreign Policy Speech at the Mayflower Hotel
During both their March 24 phone call and their March 31 in-person meeting, Simes and Kushner discussed the possibility of CNI hosting a foreign policy speech by candidate Trump.611 Following those conversations, Simes agreed that he and others associated with CNI would provide behind-the-scenes input on the substance of the foreign-policy speech and that CNI officials would coordinate the logistics of the speech with Sessions and his staff, including Sessions' chief of staff, Rick Dearborn.612
For the past thirty years (click here) Rick Dearborn has served two U.S. Presidents, six U.S. Senators, a premier think tank and a major trade association on Capitol Hill.
From January of 2017 until mid-March of 2018, Mr. Dearborn served The President of the United States as his Deputy Chief of Staff. Mr. Dearborn was responsible for the day-to-day operations of ~100 staff in five separate Executive Office of the President (EOP) departments
Three days after the 2016 election, President-Elect Trump tapped Vice President-elect Mike Pence to serve as Chairman of the Presidential Transition Team and asked Mr. Dearborn to serve as the Executive Director. Daily responsibility included the direction and management of the core components of the Transition Team’s 600+ members....
November 16, 2018
Washington, D.C.— Rick A. Dearborn, (click here) former White House deputy chief of staff to President Donald Trump, is joining The Heritage Foundation as a distinguished visiting fellow whose scholarship will focus on the issue of federalism.
Dearborn’s research will involve developing solutions for the return of power back to the state and local level consistent with the 10th Amendment. He’ll also serve as a counselor to Heritage on educating Executive Branch officials on public policy matters....
February 13, 2019
By Alex Gangitano
Rick Dearborn, (click here) President Trump’s former deputy chief of staff, is launching the Pass USMCA Coalition to advocate for Trump’s trade agreement with Mexico and Canada.
The group includes former Gov. Gary Locke (D-Wash.) as an honorary co-chair. It plans to create a membership of trade associations, businesses and advocacy groups to promote a swift passage of the deal....
Paul J. Saunders is Chairman and President of Energy Innovation Reform Project and a Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy at the Center for the National Interest. His current work focuses on U.S.-Russia relations,..
Russia, again.
and board member Richard Burt.614
October 23, 2018
By Jacob Heilbrunn
On Tuesday, (click here) National Interest Editor Jacob Heilbrunn interviewed Richard Burt to discuss the impact of the Trump administration’s declaration that it intends to withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Burt, who is a partner at McLarty Associates and chairman of the National Interest’s Advisory Council, has enjoyed a distinguished diplomatic career. During the Reagan administration he served as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs before becoming U.S. Ambassador to Germany in 1985. He has been intimately involved with arms-control issues throughout his career; in 1989, President George H.W. Bush appointed him chief negotiator for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the U.S. and Soviet Union. The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the INF Treaty, which national security adviser John Bolton reiterated today during a visit to Moscow, is evoking fears of a recrudescence of the nuclear arms-race that characterized the cold war, when each superpower vied for nuclear superiority over the other and created fears of the annihilation of mankind. So what are the actual implications of Trump’s audacious move? Burt offers a sweeping assessment below....
Jacob Heilbrunn: What is the best way to analyze President Trump’s move?
Richard Burt: I think that the way to think about this is at two different levels. One is political and the other diplomatic. The way the administration has approached this decision is simply atrocious. For a start, you don't make a significant decision like this in the aftermath of a political rally in Denver and not provide any kind of context to the public....
Trump has betrayed the very people that trusted him to make the best and right decisions.
...Simes received subsequent draft outlines from Miller, and he and Saunders spoke to Miller by phone about substantive changes to the speech.615 It is not clear, however, whether CNI officials received an actual draft of the speech for comment; while Saunders recalled having received an actual draft, Simes did not, and the emails that CNI produced to this Office do not contain such a draft.616...
Steven Miller wrote the speech. He probably drained the brains of these men and then took what he wanted, but, he wrote the speech, CNI didn't.
...After board members expressed concern to Simes that CNl's hosting the speech could be perceived as an endorsement of a particular candidate, CNI decided to have its publication, the National Interest, serve as the host and to have the event at the National Press Club.617 Kushner later requested that the event be moved to the Mayflower Hotel, which was another venue that Simes had mentioned during initial discussions with the Campaign, in order to address concerns about security and capacity.618
On April 25, 2016, Saunders booked event rooms at the Mayflower to host both the speech and a VIP reception that was to be held beforehand. 619 Saunders understood that the reception at which invitees would have the chance to meet· candidate Trump--would be a small event.620 Saunders decided who would attend by looking at the list of CNI' s invitees to the speech itself and then choosing a subset for the reception.621 CNI's invitees to the reception included Sessions and Kislyak.622 The week before the speech Simes had informed Kislyak that he would be invited to the speech, and that he would have the opportunity to meet Trump.623
When the pre-speech reception began on April 27, a receiving line was quickly organized so that attendees could meet Trump.624 Sessions first stood next to Trump to introduce him to the members of Congress who were in attendance.625 After those members had been introduced, Simes stood next to Trump and introduced him to the CNI invitees in attendance, including Kislyak.626 Simes perceived the introduction to be positive and friendly, but thought it clear that Kislyak and Trump had just met for the first time.627 Kislyak also met Kushner during the prespeech reception. The two shook hands and chatted for a minute or two, during which Kushner recalled Kislyak saying, "we like what your candidate is saying ... it's refreshing." 628
Several public reports state that, in addition to speaking to Kushner at the pre-speech reception, Kislyak also met or conversed with Sessions at that time.629 Sessions stated to investigators, however, that he did not remember any such conversation.630 Nor did anyone else affiliated with CNI or the National Interest specifically recall a conversation or meeting between Sessions and Kislyak at the pre-speech reception.631 It appears that, if a conversation occurred at the pre-speech reception, it was a brief one conducted in public view, similar to the exchange between Kushner and Kislyak.
Footnote 611 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 7.
Footnote 612 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 8-11; C00008923 (4/6/16 Email, Simes to Burt (2:22:28 p.m.)); Burt 2/9/18 302, at 7.
Footnote 613 C00008551 (4/17/16 Email, Kushner to Simes (2:44:25 p.m.)); C00006759 (4/14/16 Email Kushner to Simes & S. Miller (12:30 p.m.)).
Footnote 614 Burt 2/9/18 302, at 7; Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 7-8.
Footnote 615 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 13; Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 7-8.
Footnote 616 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 13; Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 7-8.
Footnote 617 Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 8; Simes 3/8/18 302, at 12; C00003834-43 (4/22/16 Email, Simes to Boyd et al. (8:47 a.m.)).
Footnote 618 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 12, 18; Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 11.
Footnote 619 Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 11-12; C00006651-57 (Mayflower Group Sales Agreement).
Footnote 620 Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 12-13.
Footnote 621 Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 12.
Footnote 622 C00002575 (Attendee List); C00008536 (4/25/16 Email, Simes to Kushner (4:53:45 p.m.)).
Footnote 623 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 19-20.
Footnote 624 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 21.
Footnote 625 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 21.
Footnote 626 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 21.
Footnote 627 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 21.
Footnote 628 Kushner 4/11/18 302, at 4.I
Footnote 629 See, e.g., Ken Dilanian, Did Trump, Kushner, Sessions Have an Undisclosed Meeting With Russian?, NBC News (June 1, 2016); Julia Ioffe, Why Did Jeff Sessions Really Meet With Sergey Kislyak, The Atlantic (June 13, 2017).
I
Footnote 630 Sessions 1/17/18 302, at 22.
Footnote 631 Simes 3/8/18 302, at 21; Saunders 2/15/18 302, at 14, 21; Boyd 1/24/18 302, at 3-4; Heilbrunn 2/1/18 302, at 6; Statement Regarding President Trump's April 27, 2016 Foreign Policy Speech at the Center for the National Interest, CNI (Mar. 8, 2017).
I am going to end here for today and will resume tomorrow. I find it unfortunate Trump became the RNC nominee. Evidently, everyone ever vested in the party felt a strong sense of need to avail themselves to Trump and his entourage to increase expertise and provide support for at the very least international policy. I think the CNI organization was used for whatever purpose the Trump Campaign saw fit and then discarded any loyalty to those involved.
continued in later entry - thank you
