Former Ambassador Michael McFaul said Thursday it's a "low probability" that he could be turned over to Russia for questioning but added that it was "shocking and just lamentable" that the White House did not categorically reject the attempt at moral equivalency when dealing with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"This is classic 'what about-ism' by the Russians," McFaul, a former ambassador to Russia, told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "You have this indictment? Well we have this indictment of these people. Tit for tat."
The former ambassador's name tops a list of American citizens who the Russian government say they want to question in connection with accusations of money laundering against financier Bill Browder, who lobbied for sanctions in 2012 after the death of his Russian attorney, Sergei Magnitsky, in prison.
During Monday's closed-door meeting with President Donald Trump, Putin suggested special counsel Robert Mueller's team could come to Russia to question the several suspects indicted on charges of interfering in the 2016 election, if Russian investigators could question Browder, McFaul and others that Moscow considers to be "fugitives."
McFaul said he has attorneys and has to take precautions, but at the same time, he finds it "highly unlikely" that the United States would entertain such a request.
Trump, during his press conference alongside Putin on Monday, called the idea "interesting," and on Wednesday, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump "didn’t commit to anything. He wants to work with his team and determine if there’s any validity that would be helpful to the process."
"Most shocking and just lamentable, I think is my real reaction when the White House was given the opportunity to categorically reject this moral equivalency between a legitimate indictment with lots of data and evidence to support it from Mr. Mueller, with a crazy, cockamamey scheme with no relation to facts whatsoever," said McFaul. "I hope somebody asks him another question today and get the right today. We see that lately. Take two, take three to get the message right."
State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert on Wednesday said she couldn't answer on behalf of the White House, but called the concept "absolutely absurd," and said the State Department does not stand by the assertions being made by the Russian government.
McFaul said he wanted to thank the State Department for its statement, but still found it unusual that Nauert would say she couldn't speak for the White House, as both sides would have been outraged by that when he was working at the White House.
"Yet again, the Trump administration has two policies towards Russia, not one," said McFaul.
He said Putin likely told Trump "'you know you got your problems, we got our problems, you have your charges, we have our charges against your American government officials,'" said McFaul.
"Because President Trump probably is not as conversant in these issues as he should be or most certainly not as conversant as Putin is, he probably nodded 'okay, that sounds like a good idea,'" said McFaul, adding that Putin does not like him.
"This is an active intimidation against me," said McFaul. 'My government, I hope, will step up and categorically and swap this back. When I say my government, my president of the United States, when he just said last night America is no longer under attack.I'm sorry. I'm an American. I'm under attack by Vladimir Putin right now. I hope he'll stand up."
Diplomats, he added, are to have diplomatic immunity, and he worries that the request makes America look weak.
"We look like we won't push back on outrageous crazy ideas," he said. "That is not even good for President Trump. I hope if you guys are listening, you look weak in the eyes of Vladimir Putin."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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