Trump ‘compromised by the Russians’, says former member of Mueller’s team

Donald Trump is “compromised by the Russians”, a former member of Robert Mueller’s investigation insisted on Sunday, contending that the president is “incapable of placing the national interest ahead of his own”.

Peter Strzok was removed from the Russia investigation and fired by the FBI over text messages which were critical of Trump. He has now written a memoir, Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J Trump.

Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press, Strzok echoed many reporters and observers who have pondered the president’s behaviour towards Russia and Vladimir Putin, saying he thought Russia’s hold on Trump was based on financial interests and liabilities arising from the president’s pre-politics life in real estate.

“I think when you take a look at the Trump financial enterprise, particularly its relationship with Russian monies and potentially those related to organised crime and other elements, that those interactions have placed him in a position where the Russians have leverage over him and are able to influence his actions.”

Strzok also said “it is not without exaggeration that there is no president in modern history who has the same broad and deep connections to any foreign intel service, let alone a hostile government like Russia”.