How Would It Work?

Terry H. Schwadron

Eventually, of course, all the kerfuffle over Jared Kushner and Michael T. Flynn seeking to set up back channels during the transition between Team Trump and Moscow will be explained. At this point, there are just too many people in Congress and the FBI clawing and crawling after memos and poor excuses for things not to come out.

Apart for enduring the wait for the answers to emerge, whatever the explanation, I’m stuck wondering how it all was supposed to work.

According to all accounts, leaked and other, Kushner and Flynn each and together met with the Russian Ambassador, Sergei Kislyak, in December to set up a back-channel communications set-up based inside the Russian embassy for secure conversations with Moscow about whatever might be shared privately between American and Russian top leaders. The idea was that these would be communications shielded from U.S. and foreign surveillance.

So, again, skip the fact that discussing this set-up during the transition may have violated lots of rules and even laws (private citizens who do this could face espionage charges). Exactly how would they use this arrangement?

Would Donald Trump, not president, just hop in his caravan car and drive over unnoticed to the Russian embassy, climb up to the special radio set-up in the attic and lean back behind a faux Resolute desk? Would the Russians line the walls with American flags, and give the room an oval shape? Would this be something just for Kushner and Flynn to use? Were there other trusted advisers who would be authorized to drop by? How about if Vladimir Putin called in? Would someone run over to the White House and fetch a transitional or real presidential adviser? Maybe they would set up a conversation for every Tuesday night, under the ruse of a fun poker night over at Sergei’s place?

The semi-official word on all this was said to be about conversations concerning coordination over Syria policy. But aren’t a whole lot of U.S. military types having conversations already with Russian counterparts so that we don’t accidently shoot at one another in the constantly shifting fronts in Syria?

No, logic suggests we needed private lines of communication for something else, something we wouldn’t want “allies” to be electronically picking out of the air. It probably would not be about food stamps policy or approaches to health care, asking advice about getting rid of environmental regulations, or even about sharing Hillary jokes (Are there any funny ones?)

Then the next morning, President or even President-elect Trump could listen to the top U.S. intelligence officials giving him a summary of the world’s health — minus, of course, the information that Mr. Trump or Kushner or Flynn would have already shared with the Ruskies. It’s no wonder that Mr. Trump doesn’t trust U.S. intelligence officers — he must have known that they wouldn’t even know what he and Putin had talked about in their most recent back-channel tete-a-tete.

Also, what happened to the Red Phone. There used to be much made of the Red Phone for emergency contacts from the White House with the Russian leader. Do we still have it? Does anyone even answer it, knowing that special back-room conversations from inside the Russian embassy might be much more comfortable.

Lastly, the big question is why we should believe that Mr. Trump would want to listen to Putin any more than he is open to advise from any other quarters. After all, Putin is staying in the Paris Climate Accords, he actually has committed troops to Syria, and offers health care to Russian residents. All on his own, Mr. Trump wants to stomp out journalist “enemies,” hates Muslims and rejects any facts that don’t fit his pre-conceived notions; what does he need with advice from Putin?

Hey, The Washington Post reported just last night that he Trump administration is moving toward giving back to Russia two diplomatic compounds near New York City and on Maryland’s Eastern Shore from which 35 Russians were ejected in late December as punishment for Moscow’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. No one knew this, but then again, it didn’t need to be secret from U.S. intelligence.

Of course, there is just that teeny possibility that Putin is holding something important about Mr. Trump that the President just doesn’t want to see light of day. But that’s far too serious a thought for today.

I just want to know how it was all supposed to work.

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