section_path: History/First Trump administration (2017–2021)/Influence on the Trump administrations
section_name: Influence on the Trump administrations
paragraph_text: Influence on the Trump administrations
  
  Shortly before the inauguration of President Trump, the Steele dossier was leaked to the public. Written by a private intelligence firm claiming to unearth a relationship between his presidential campaign and the Russian government, the report alleged that the Russians possessed kompromat on Trump which could be used to blackmail him. It suggested the Kremlin had promised the campaign that compromising information would not be released if the Administration cooperated. Though the report was met with skepticism, the relationship between Russian leadership and the incoming first Trump Administration became highly salient. Days later, Ynet, an Israeli online news site, reported that U.S. intelligence had advised Israeli intelligence officers to be cautious about sharing information with the incoming first Trump administration until the possibility of Russian influence over Trump had been fully investigated. Allegations of collusion between Trump associations and the Russian government continued to emerge well into his presidency.
  
  Various links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies have been documented and heavily scrutinized, most notably former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn's contacts with the Russian ambassador. Throughout his presidential tenure, Trump expressed both support and criticism of Russia's actions in Crimea, Syria, Ukraine, North Korea, Venezuela, election meddling, Skripal poisoning, and oil drilling in Russia.
  
  Despite extensive investigation into the dossier's claims, they remain unverified, and many consider the allegations to be a conspiracy theory. Trump's actions at the Helsinki summit in 2018 led some to conclude that Steele's report was more accurate than not. Politico reported, "Trump sided with the Russians over the U.S. intelligence community's assessment that Moscow had waged an all-out attack on the 2016 election...The joint news conference cemented fears among some that Trump was in Putin's pocket and prompted bipartisan backlash." At the joint news conference, when asked directly about the subject, Putin denied that he had any kompromat on Trump. Trump was reportedly given a gift from Putin the weekend of the pageant, though Putin argued "that he did not even know Trump was in Russia for the Miss Universe pageant in 2013 when, according to the Steele dossier, video of Trump was secretly recorded to blackmail him."
  
  In reaction to Trump's actions at the summit, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) spoke in the Senate:
  
  Millions of Americans will continue to wonder if the only possible explanation for this dangerous and inexplicable behavior is the possibility — the very real possibility — that President Putin holds damaging information over President Trump.
  
  Several operatives and lawyers in the U.S. intelligence community reacted strongly to Trump's performance at the summit, describing it as "subservien to Putin" and "a fervent defense of Russia's military and cyber aggression around the world, and its violation of international law in Ukraine". Some framed Trump's conduct as harmful to U.S. interests and an asset to Russian interests, suggesting that he was a "useful idiot" to Putin, and that he looked like "Putin's puppet". Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper wondered "if Russians have something on Trump", and former CIA director John O. Brennan accused Trump of treason, tweeting: "He is wholly in the pocket of Putin." In January 2019, former acting CIA director Michael Morell called Trump "an unwitting agent of the Russian federation", echoing the sentiments of former CIA director Michael V. Hayden. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested then-president Trump's behavior was part of a pattern: "All roads lead to Putin."