Christopher Steele

Trump’s new National Security Strategy lays bare the US we must now engage with- a nationalist state, uninterested in promoting democracy, human rights or the RoL. Quite the breach with the country we’ve known/worked with for decades. But do the American people really support this? We must hope not.

The Western world’s geosecurity system, founded on NATO, Five Eyes and other institutions proven effective over decades, is likely now doomed under Trump. The conduct of an amoral and mercantilist US foreign/security policy by his unelected cronies Witkoff and Kushner is incompatible with democracy.

It’s disgraceful but also revealing to see how the hard Right in Britain, especially conservative newspapers and TV stations, are using the BBC Panorama debacle to normalise Trump. Trump is a convicted criminal and if not president, would now be facing gaol time for his role in the January 6th riot.

The idea that China is only a ‘challenge’ rather than an adversary of the UK is ridiculous. Not only has the MI5 DG said there is evidence of increasing Chinese espionage ops in Britain, but Beijing has bounties in place for the capture of various Hong Kong dissidents granted political asylum here.

We are living through truly strange times. Whilst our government fawns around an ignorant and narcissistic US president, normalising his misconduct and pretending he’s a reliable ally, Trump is trying to sell out Ukraine to Putin and limit the rule of law and suppress freedom of speech in America.

Putin was clearly better prepared than Trump and so could deploy his case against an immediate ceasefire and on the allegedly malign (pro-war) intent of Zelensky and the Europeans without much pushback. Whether (dubious) new US business opportunities in Russia or kompromat also featured is unclear.

Whilst we wish European leaders well in travelling to DC today to support Ukraine, we mustn’t allow what happened in Alaska to be normalised. Trump deferred to Putin there, an indicted war criminal directly responsible for several hundred thousand deaths in Ukraine. As a result we are all less safe.

The Russians are apparently untroubled by Trump’s newfound willingness to say rude things about them and are confident he shares their objectives of freezing the Ukraine conflict and resetting bilateral relations. They also think that he too sees the Europeans as the main obstacle to this agenda.

Concerning any possible Trump-Putin ‘deal’ in Alaska to end the Ukraine war, it is vital to remember Putin has abrogated every agreement Moscow signed with Kyiv since independence in 1992-the Budapest Memo(1994) and the Friendship(1997) and Border(2003) Treaties. Leopards don’t change their spots.

Ukrainians should be worried about the latest Trump-Russia shenanigans. Most likely for multiple reasons, all bad, a battlefield- and economically-weakened Putin is being allowed to negotiate as if from a position of strength. This US diplomatic aberration needs to be countered by European leaders.

Trump’s fear of the Epstein files and the utter nonsense he is talking about the Russia investigation to divert attention from them, are quite something. Wray and Comey as ‘Democrat conspirators’, our 2016 Russia ‘Dossier’ as fake, despite his repeated failure in court to sue us over it. What next?!

Gabbard, Patel and Hegseth - “the unholy trinity of utterly unqualified nominees, people put up for their jobs primarily because Trump and his advisers knew that they would be completely pliant and obsequious…and that Senate Republicans would have to bend their collective knee by confirming them.”

Team Trump’s undermining of the integrity of the US intelligence community continues apace. Their attempt to cast doubt on the ICA’s 2016 judgement, that Russia interfered in the election to support Trump, is both wrong and dangerous. And it will cause lasting damage to the reputation of the USG.

Trump’s public prevarication over the US’s commitment to mutual defence of NATO allies under Article V is very troubling, and doubtless has been noted by Putin and Xi. It seriously weakens Western deterrence and however unpalatable, HMG must now build it into our forward planning with other allies.

Trump’s latest pronouncements on military action against Iran are as reckless as they are incoherent. The musings of a 10 year old in the school playground who doesn’t want to be shown up by the smaller kid who’s much tougher than him. It’s incredible just how low the governance of the US has sunk.

It’s instructive to see just how much of a fish out of water Trump was at the G7 with Western allies. In a minority of one on key issues like Ukraine and the ME, Trump refused to sign joint statements and left early. He’s clearly far more comfortable in the company of corrupt despots and autocrats.

Trump’s subservience to Putin and role as apologist-in-chief for Russian atrocities in Ukraine seem to have no limits. This isn’t normal behaviour and can’t be explained by any rational reading of US national interests. It’s high time the western media and other world leaders started calling it out.

It’s frankly incredible anyone believes Putin is interested in ‘peace’ in Ukraine at this point. Actually the only people who do, or pretend to, are Trump and his acolytes. The fact that the government of the world’s sole democratic superpower is living in this fantasy land is deeply disturbing.

Presumably Reform UK’s declared intention to ban non-Union Flags on public buildings they control is at least partly aimed at suppressing overt British support for Ukraine. Farage and his party’s declared admiration for Putin probably underlies this. You have to wonder who’s calling the shots here?

The idiocy, and likely corruption involved in team Trump’s approach to and appeasement of Putin/Russia is something to behold. Worse in many ways, especially intent, than Chamberlain at Munich, if unchecked by European leaders, the sell-out of Ukraine will haunt Europe’s security for a generation.

Trump shouldn’t have been invited here on a State visit and certainly not to address Parliament. One important reason why not is that he remains in breach of multiple High Court orders arising from his failed attempt to sue my firm, Orbis. Trump thus clearly disrespects the UK and HM’s legal system.

It’s galling to watch Russia’s odious ambassador to the UK Kelin, who chuckles nervously when excusing Putin’s atrocities in Ukraine, interviewed on British TV. He’s a liar and an enemy and shouldn’t be given a media platform. Our ambassador to Moscow would never be granted the same air time there.

For decades Putin’s Kremlin has fantasised about two things - destroying NATO and ending the primacy of the US dollar. After only 10 weeks back in office Trump is well on the way to delivering both these things. And congressional Republicans, who used to guarantee them, are too cowardly to stop him.

America’s rapid descent into autocracy under Trump continues apace. Aside from the crazy tariffs and daily assault on the Rule of Law, his firing of NSA director, Gen Haugh, is especially worrying. Trump now appears to be demanding US intel chiefs swear loyalty to him rather than the constitution.

Trump’s campaign of ‘lawfare’ against me and my company, Orbis isn’t ending well for him. Today in the English High Court, Justice Rowley more than doubled the interim costs award in our favour (to £625k) arising from Trump’s ludicrous, failed UK data protection case against us. We stand vindicated.

In any normal world Hegseth, Waltz, Radcliffe and Witkoff would all resign and be criminally referred to the DoJ.Under Trump that won’t happen but whatever they say publicly, other Western leaders must understand that this USG isn’t a reliable ally and sharing sensitive intel with them is perilous.

The ‘Atlantic’ security breach story in the US is wild. In nearly 40 years working in intel, I’ve never known anything like it. Almost all Trump’s national security principals behaving like amateurs. But more seriously, putting US servicemen’s lives at risk and likely committing criminal offences.

I clashed with two pro-Trump crazies on Piers Morgan’s show last week.Though I strived to mount a robust defence of my work, it was very unpleasant but also a reminder of how serious a problem we now face with the US. Facts, evidence and rational argument are simply irrelevant to these MAGA zealots.

So with Trump’s re-election the strong men of world politics are unshackled, dismantling democracy and deploying hard power. Erdogan’s arrest of Imamoglu; Netanyahu’s murderous assault on Gaza and removal of Shin Bet chief Bar, who was investigating his corruption. This is only going to get worse.

It’s hard to imagine what it must feel like to be Ukrainian today. An ignorant and malign US president is planning to carve up your country with a brutal Russian autocrat who invaded unprovoked 3 years ago and has killed civilians and kidnapped your children with impunity ever since. It’s horrific.