Before the Electoral College votes next week for president, Donald Trump must release his tax returns and the CIA must make public its report on Russian intervention in the U.S. presidential elections in order to clear the increasing "dark cloud of illegitimacy" hanging over the president-elect, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich insists in his blog.
Reich said that Trump's close business ties with Russian oligarch friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin, combined with his appointment of several pro-Moscow people to key positions, and the CIA conclusion that Russian operatives overtly interfered in an attempt to get Trump elected raise serious questions.
Reich emphasizes that without the release of Trump's tax returns, the American public has no idea how indebted he may be to the Russian oligarchs or exactly how massive his business interests are there.
He also points out that during the campaign, Trump expressed admiration for Putin and said the Russian leader was justified in moving into Crimea.
Trump's naming of Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, who has longstanding and extensive ties with Putin, as secretary of state is only the latest such Trump appointees who hold a pro-Moscow outlook, Reich warns.
Trump's foreign policy adviser Michael Flynn, for example, was seated at the head table near Putin last year when he flew to Moscow to attend a gala celebration of the Kremlin's propaganda channel Russia Today.
Adding to Trump's illegitimacy, in Reich's view, is the increasing margin of victory in the popular vote for Hillary Clinton, with the former labor secretary pointing out that Trump's 2 percent margin of defeat in the popular vote is the largest for someone who won the presidency in modern history.
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