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Trump Narrative Redux? Biden Admin Claims Anyone Questioning Ukraine Strategy is Spreading Russian Disinfo

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


For all of his four years in office, former President Donald Trump faced false allegations that he was a pawn of Russian President Vladimir Putin and that his 2016 campaign ‘colluded’ with Moscow to ‘steal the election’ from then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Those allegations were ultimately proven to be unfounded following a number of congressional investigations and one by former special counsel Robert Mueller. But Democrats continued the accusations anyway and to this day, some of them still insist that they are true, sans evidence.

Now, it appears as though the Biden administration is reviving the ‘Russia’ narrative as a means of pushing back on critics of his policies regarding Ukraine, which is essentially under siege by around 100,000 Russian troops, most of which have been positioned along the country’s periphery for weeks.

According to Fox News, criticism of Biden’s strategy is being labeled “Russian talking points” and “misinformation” by  White House and administration officials:

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White House press secretary Jen Psaki and State Department spokesperson Ned Price have squashed inquiries into government sources and alternative narratives surrounding the conflict in Ukraine. The White House has repeatedly warned that a Russian invasion of the country is imminent, citing troops stationed on the Russian-Ukrainian border and alleged plans to launch a false flag operation to justify an annex.

Price was pressed by a reporter Thursday on the evidence behind U.S. officials’ belief that Russia intended to release an elaborate propaganda video on Ukraine in order to justify beginning a war. 

The Pentagon said it had intelligence that Russia was planning to “stage a fake attack” in order to embolden support for a war with Ukraine. Associated Press reporter Matt Lee, who covers the State Department, pressed Price for evidence to back up the allegation and said it could be “Alex Jones territory.”

“If you want to find solace in information that the Russian government is putting out, that is for you to do,” Price replied.

Earlier in the week, Psaki took a shot at Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), essentially accusing him of consuming “Russian disinformation” and “parroting” Kremlin talking points.

Her remarks came after the state’s junior senator called on President Biden to suspend support for Ukraine to eventually become a member of NATO and instead shift his focus to confronting China as Beijing continues to push into the Indo-Pacific region.

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“Well, if you are just digesting Russian misinformation and parroting Russian talking points, you are not aligned with a long-standing bipartisan American values, which is to stand up for the sovereignty of countries like Ukraine,” Psaki responded to a reporter who asked her to make a statement regarding Hawley’s remarks.

“But others have their right to choose their own alliances and also to stand against very clearly the efforts or attempts or potential attempts by any country to invade and take territory of another country,” Psaki added. “That applies to Sen. Hawley, but it also applies to others who may be parroting the talking points of Russian propaganda leaders.”

On Thursday, Psaki was asked by a reporter if the administration had plans to release evidence of the U.S. military’s role in the death of civilians in Syria as a result of a counterterrorism airstrike, claiming that the correspondent was relying on disinformation put out by ISIS.

“Skeptical of the U.S. military’s assessment when they went and took out the leader of ISIS, that they are not providing accurate information, and ISIS is providing accurate information?” Psaki asked.

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Robert Gates, a former defense secretary under the Obama-Biden administration who spent 30 years with the CIA, has criticized the current president as someone who has “been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”

He essentially doubled down on that claim, made in a 2014 memoir, during an interview last year with “60 Minutes” following Biden’s disastrous pullout from Afghanistan.

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