It was to get him to expell 60 Russian diplomats — this is how uninformed and easy to manipulate Trump is, and how dishonest his deep state advisors are
President Trump makes plenty of hostile moves toward Russia of his own accord. This is compounded, however, when members of his cabinet, like CIA Director Gina Haspel start conniving to mislead Trump into taking even more hostile moves.
When the alleged Novichok poisoning happened in Salisbury in March of 2018, President Trump was not inclined to go along with recommendations within his cabinet to take a “strong option” to move against Russia.
Haspel was somehow “tasked” with convincing Trump to accept this move, and in doing so she showed Trump fake photographs of dead ducks, claiming that the ducks were poisoned in the “sloppy” Russian action.
This narrative centered on the fact that the poisoned Sergei Skripal was feeding ducks ahead of showing symptoms. He also interacted with some children at the time, and Haspel even had photos of “sick children.” There is no record that any children were sickened in the Novichok incident, and likewise there was never a single report of even one duck dying.:
During the discussion, Ms. Haspel, then deputy C.I.A. director, turned toward Mr. Trump. She outlined possible responses in a quiet but firm voice, then leaned forward and told the president that the “strong option” was to expel 60 diplomats.
To persuade Mr. Trump, according to people briefed on the conversation, officials including Ms. Haspel also tried to show him that Mr. Skripal and his daughter were not the only victims of Russia’s attack.
Ms. Haspel showed pictures the British government had supplied hOFFICIALS SAID WERE INADVERTENTLY KILLED BY THE SLOPPY WORK OF THE RUSSIAN OPERATIVES.
MS HASPEL WAS NOT THE FIRST TO USE EMOTIONAL IMAGES TO APPEAL TO THE PRESIDENT, BUT PAIRING IT WITH HER HARD-NOSED REALISM PROVED EFFECTIVE: MR. TRUMP FIXATED ON THE PICTURES OF THE SICKENED CHILDREN AND THE DEAD DUCKS. AT THE END OF THE BRIEFING, HE EMBRACED THE STRONG OPTION.er of young children hospitalized after being sickened by the Novichok nerve agent that poisoned the Skripals. She then showed a photograph of ducks that British
But fake photos work better than facts, ultimately, and Trump was quickly sold on taking the “strong option,” expelling a large number of Russian diplomats and closing a Russian consulate. This made 2018 a continuation of worsening US-Russia ties, which apparently was the goal of Haspel and others, but which they were only able to sell Trump on by lying about what actually happened.
