'Trump lit the match': Ex-insider says president set stage for 'brutal' attack

Donald Trump just precipitated a "brutal" and deadly attack abroad, according to the president's former "trusted operative" Friday.

Lev Parnas, a former insider of the Trump administration who said he "saw how he thinks" and "how he operates," published an article on Independence Day called, "BREAKING: Putin Bombs Kyiv After Trump Call."

Parnas began with an explanation of the devastating attack Russia just launched on Ukraine, saying, "Yesterday morning, just hours after Donald Trump’s phone call with Vladimir Putin, Russia unleashed one of the most brutal, coordinated assaults on Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began."

Parnas went on to level an allegation against Trump himself.

"This was the largest aerial assault on Kyiv since the war began — and it didn’t happen in a vacuum. It was greenlit. It was enabled. It was part of a chain reaction — triggered from the Oval Office," he said.

According to Parnas, it all began when "Trump lifted key sanctions on Russian military-financing banks just days ago," which freed "up the cash Putin needed to escalate his war."

"Next," according to the ex-operative, "Trump ordered the rollback of U.S. missile systems on the Polish border meant for Ukraine."

"That decision, according to my sources, came after direct pressure from the Kremlin," he wrote.

Then Trump had his private call with Putin, after which "Putin launched the deadliest wave of attacks on Ukraine in over a year," according to Parnas.

He then added, "And now — my sources tell me Trump is preparing to call Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to pressure him to accept a 'deal,' which really means a surrender."

Parnas then adds, "You’re watching this unfold in real time. Trump lit the match, Putin launched the missiles, and now the plan is to close the deal. Hand Ukraine over in pieces — a slow suffocation of a sovereign nation."

Read the full post here.