EDITOR’S NOTE: Because of the length and subject matter, I have chosen to publish this comment, in response to Army Bob’s latest column, as a letter to the editor.

To the editor:

Way back when the Trump for President campaign was getting started U.S. intelligence began to see there were various people in the Trump campaign were meeting with Russians. That was of interest because Christopher Steele (yes, that Christopher Steele) , the retired British spy, had been hired by a group of wealthy individuals and corporations to assist England getting the 2018 World Cup bid to be played throughout the England and finals in London.

Steele was hired because he had been a Russian specialist with Britain’s MI5. The English bid initially had been seen as the most qualified, but those backing the English bid had started to see Putin and Russian oligarchs start making inroads, making deals with countries for their votes and bribing other officials, including the FIFA president, though Russia had no stadiums or hotels to meet FIFA requirements at the time.

Russia won the bid and investigations went nowhere because the Russian bid was destroyed in a “computer error.”

Steele knew people in U.S. intelligence from his MI5 days. When he saw people connected to the Trump campaign associating with some of the same Russians who had helped Putin secure the 2018 World Cup bid years before, he knew who to contact.

Since it’s against the law for foreign governments to interfere with U.S. elections, the FBI investigated people connected with the Trump campaign who had come into contact with Russians with connections to the Russian oligarchs. Its what U.S. law enforcement does when investigating foreign interference in U.S. elections.

Maybe commanding officers in the U.S. Army accuse the Army Criminal Investigative Command of “spying” on U.S. Army personnel when investigating soldiers reported to have had contact with foreign nationals of countries deemed unfriendly. I doubt that.

This is why I have real problems with President Trump’s claim his campaign was “spied” on. The FBI was investigating persons in the campaign who had met or had contact with Russians nationals. The FBI needed to investigate and warn Trump if anyone in his campaign were found to be foreign agents or influenced by those agents. That’s where Trump’s habit of lying becomes a problem for our country.

Trump denied for 24 months spending a night in Russia until flight records and testimony to a Senate committee from his former head of security forced him to admit he actually did spend one night in Moscow

Trump initially had surrogates say he did nothing more than advise his son Donald Jr. on a letter Donald Jr. submitted to the Senate about a meeting with Russian nationals at Trump Tower. Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders denied he had any direct input. Then the President’s attorneys filed a brief in federal court stating President Trump dictated the letter Don Jr. had submitted.

President Trump denied any knowledge of the payoff of $130K as part of a non-disclosure agreement to Stephanie Clifford (aka Stormy Daniels) in April 2018. Three weeks later, President Trump acknowledged he did know about the payoff as he explained Michael Cohen was a lawyer who did some work for him.

In May 2017, in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, President Trump said, “This Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story.” Then in a Febr. 18, 2018, tweet President Trump stated, “I never said Russia did not meddle in the election.”

On Aug. 15, 2017, in a question and answer with reporters about the protests, fights and one death in Charlottesville, VA, President Trump said, “White nationalist protesters in Charlottesville had a permit. The other group didn’t have a permit.” In fact, as proven by city permit records showed the other group had been issued a permit.

On Nov. 29, 2017, while campaigning to get support for the GOP tax legislation President Trump said about the GOP legislators, “”You know, for years, they have not been able to get tax cuts — many, many years, since Reagan.” But that wasn’t true.

President Clinton signed a GOP supported tax cut in 1997. President Bush signed tax cuts in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2008. President Obama signed tax cuts in 2009 and 2012. President Trump either chose to ignore those nine tax cuts or he chose to lie about this county’s recent legislative history.

President Trump recently tweeted that “Crime in Germany is way up” and blamed the rise on immigration. Germany law enforcement said their data their country showed a 5% drop in crime in 2017 compared to 2016 and German crime levels are the lowest in 30 years. Crimes committed by non-Germans were down 23% from the prior year.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions earlier this spring announced a zero tolerance immigration policy to apprehend illegal immigrants and separate children from their parents and adults if they illegally crossed the border. It was done with no congressional action because it was a policy change.

As recently as June 19, President Trump was telling anyone who would listen he was powerless to stop child separations at the border and needed Congress, specifically Democrats in Congress to change immigration laws to stop the practice.

On June 20, President Trump ordered the practice to stop immediately and he did it without participation of Congress or Congressional Democrats.

I concur with the assertion that there is a malady called “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” It’s named for our current President. It occurs anytime our President sees a need to tell something other than the truth and isn’t limited to any specific event or subject. It manifests itself anytime the President wants to deflect facts from his past, seeks to blame political opponents or wants to appear he is more effective than any of his predecessors.

And so it goes.

Couchman