Trump’s Russia ambassador urged to resign by columnist in newspaper his family owns
U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman is being urged to step down from his post with the Trump administration by an editorial columnist at The Salt Lake Tribune, which is owned by his own family.
“Ambassador Huntsman, you work for a pawn, not a president. It’s time to come home,” writer Robert Gehrke said in a column published on Tuesday by The Salt Lake Tribune, at which Paul Huntsman, the ambassador’s brother, is the owner and publisher.
“There is no other reasonable course of action to take after Monday’s disgraceful joint news conference with President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin,” the column goes on to say.
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The Utah newspaper columnist’s call for Huntsman to resign comes after the ambassador’s former aide, John Weaver, similarly called on the U.S. envoy to step down on Monday following the president’s controversial news conference with Putin.
Former CIA Director John Brennan has also called on members of Trump’s Cabinet to resign in protest, asking how Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, national security adviser John Bolton and chief of staff John Kelly “can continue in their jobs.”
Trump drew strong backlash from his press conference with Putin after the U.S. president refuted his own intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and said he doesn’t “see any reason” why Russia would have been behind the hacking.
Salt Lake Tribune columnist Gehrke said Huntsman’s duty to the country involved not “being the emissary of a president who doesn’t share your values, or American values, for that matter.”
“It’s by resigning immediately and speaking out against a president who attacks our allies, gives comfort to our adversaries and undermines our moral standing, our commitment to democratic ideals and our interest in human rights every time he opens his gaping mouth,” the column reads.
“This has to be the last straw,” Gehrke said in conclusion. “To remain silent and continue to serve this president would be complicity in the undoing of our nation and its status as a world leader. Come home, Mr. Huntsman. Your country needs you.”
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