But you don't need James Bond to recognize the fact that more than any other modern American president, Trump has delivered some of what the Kremlin values most. Different intelligence briefers have offered alternative assessments of whether Russia favors Trump for the presidency, as it did in his 2016 battle against Hillary Clinton. "We've been very tough on Russia," national security adviser Robert O'Brien told a television interviewer last month. After winning in 2016, Trump disdained the conclusion of US intelligence agencies that Russia intervened on his behalf. Another concerned whether Ukraine rather than Russia actually intervened in the 2016 election -- a notion Trump's former National Security Council official Fiona Hill calls a Russian propaganda fiction.

Source: CNN March 15, 2020 11:48 UTC