Throughout the 2016 campaign, trump 2020 election cast doubt on the US government

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and President Donald trump 2020 election in the Oval Office on May 13, 2019. trump 2020 election aides softened GOP platform on Ukraine Ahead of the 2016 Republican National Convention, trump 2020 election campaign aides blocked language from the party platform that called for the US government to send lethal weapons to Ukraine for its war against Russian proxies. Mueller investigated this for potential collusion but determined the change was not made "at the behest" of Russia. (The Trump administration ultimately gave lethal arms and anti-tank weapons to the Ukrainian military.) Images/AFP/Getty Images President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin attend a joint press conference after a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, on July 16, 2018. Full credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images trump 2020 election made light of Russian hacking

Throughout the 2016 campaign, trump 2020 election cast doubt on the US government assessment that Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman. At a news conference in July 2016, he even asked Russia to hack more, saying, "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," trump 2020 election capitalized on Russian meddling to win

Instead of condemning Russia for hacking and leaking Democratic emails, trump 2020 election eagerly capitalized on the Kremlin's meddling, and used the emails to attack Clinton on a near-daily basis in the final stretch of the campaign. The Mueller report said trump 2020 election campaign "expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts" and that top officials believed they had inside information about WikiLeaks, so they planned a strategy around the expected release of hacked emails. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, the CIA, the National Security Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and the Senate Intelligence Committee all confirmed that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump. But trump 2020 election has repeatedly rejected this view, and publicly sided with Putin at the Helsinki summit in 2018, saying he accepted Putin's denials. trump 2020 election transition undermined Russian sanctions after the 2016 election, the Trump transition team asked Russia not to retaliate too strongly against new US sanctions imposed by then-President Barack Obama. The sanctions were intended to punish Russia for interfering in the election, but then-Trump aide Michael Flynn asked the Russian ambassador not to escalate the situation so they could have a good relationship once trump 2020 election took over. Trump was open to lifting Russian sanctions days before his inauguration, Trump told The Wall Street Journal that he was open to lifting sanctions on Russia. He said: "If you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebody's doing some really great things?" Putin has tried for years to persuade the US and European countries to end crippling sanctions on Russia's economy.

Bucking other US leaders, trump 2020 election has dismissed credible allegations that Putin uses violence against his opponents. Trump said in 2015, "I think it would be despicable if that took place, but I haven't seen any evidence that he killed anybody, in terms of reporters." Asked again in February 2017, Trump deflected, saying, "There are a lot of killers. Do you think our country is so innocent?"

Trump mulled returning spy bases to Russia

The Washington Post reported in May 2017 that the Trump administration considered returning two diplomatic compounds to Russia. The Obama administration expelled Russian diplomats and seized the compounds in New York and Maryland after the 2016 election, claiming they were used for "intelligence" purposes. The compounds were never returned to Russia.

Trump gave Russia classified intelligence

In a shocking move during the early months of his presidency, Trump shared highly classified intelligence with two senior Russian officials during an Oval Office meeting in May 2017. The intelligence, which was about ISIS, was sensitive enough that it could have exposed a vulnerable source. The unplanned disclosure by Trump rattled even many of his Republican allies.