MSNBC personality Rachel Maddow issued a warning that the United States’ long-standing intelligence-sharing partnerships may be in jeopardy as former President Donald Trump seemed certain to win reelection early on Wednesday.
Maddow foresaw possible repercussions for America’s partnerships just before Fox News predicted that Trump would receive the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency. He asserted that countries might stop exchanging intelligence if the United States changed its position on the Ukraine-Russia issue.
Maddow feared that a new Trump administration would adopt a neutral or pro-Russian posture on the conflict in Ukraine, which she claimed might essentially amount to “supporting Russia.”
She continued by implying that such a change would put established intelligence partnerships at risk, such as the “Five Eyes” network, which is an intelligence-sharing partnership between the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
“It’s likely that America and our traditional allies will no longer share intelligence,” Maddow stated. “If America changes its stance in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to support Russia or to become neutral, which in this case would mean supporting Russia, the entire Five Eyes situation is probably going to end.”
Maddow also cited allegations of interactions between Russian contacts and Trump campaign associates. “If the Republican nominee and the individual who provided campaign funding and oversaw his ground game had continuous, confidential conversations even outside of government, right? “They are both communicating with the Russian government without informing the U.S. government of that information,” Maddow claimed.
She also cited a recent New York Times article that said a prospective Trump administration may think about changing security clearance procedures and possibly doing away with background checks for certain employees. Maddow expressed alarm about the security concerns of “giving classified information to anyone” by saying, “On top of that, you’ve got reporting… that they’re considering… to stop performing background checks before giving people security clearance.”
Maddow’s remarks are in line with long-standing misgivings in some media circles about Trump’s purported ties to Russia.
Similar claims were regularly aired on MSNBC during Trump’s first term, frequently with Democratic Representative Adam Schiff of California.
Following thorough investigations, the contentious Steele Dossier—which was involved in these conversations—was finally rejected.
Additionally, Maddow conjectured that a particular Trump campaign official with a contentious past would be involved in a second administration. Maddow claimed that a Trump campaign official who was born in Moscow, failed to obtain a security clearance during the first Trump administration, had numerous arrests, and was allegedly on the short list to be White House counsel was responsible for the incident. The official also allegedly suggested doing away with background checks for security clearances.
Maddow’s comments are made in the midst of Trump’s continuing legal proceedings, which include several indictments against him and accusations of handling confidential documents made by special counsel Jack Smith.
Along with previous allegations against Trump and his assistant Walter Nauta, Smith’s office unveiled a superseding indictment in July 2023 that also contained charges against Carlos De Oliveira, a maintenance worker at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
The ramifications of these moves are still being examined as the election results are being announced, with both analysts and allies keeping an eye on what a new Trump administration would imply for intelligence-sharing alliances and U.S. foreign policy.