Enraged diplomat at 'a loss' over White House even considering letting Russia question former ambassador

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last updated 19 July 2018

A livid diplomat told The Daily Beast's Spencer Ackerman that he's at "a f—king loss" over the White House refusing to rule out letting Russian officials question a former U.S. ambassador.

Russian prosecutors said on Wednesday that they wanted to interview Michael McFaul about a case against Russian President Vladimir Putin's foe, Bill Browder; McFaul said he was not in Russia during the pertinent time frame. When asked about Russia's request, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders would only say there had been "some conversation" about it between President Trump and Putin Monday in Helsinki; State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert later called the idea "absolutely absurd."

Ackerman spoke to several current and former State Department officials, who can't believe the White House isn't squashing the request. "It's beyond disgraceful," a current diplomat said. "It's fundamentally ignorant with regard to how we conduct diplomacy or what that means. It really puts in jeopardy the professional independence of diplomats anywhere in the world, if the consequence of their actions is going to be potentially being turned over to a foreign government."

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Trump, the diplomat declared, has been "[defecating] on our NATO allies and kissing Putin's ass," because he "cares more about himself than the nation and any of us who serve it." In a callback to Trump's Access Hollywood tape, the diplomat added, "Either he's compromised by Putin or he's a pu--y, in which case he should grab himself."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.