President Trump loves to make a dramatic appearance on Fox News. The latest one was truly a fireworks show.
Because President Trump exposed Hillary Clinton in an eyebrow-raising Fox News interview.
The Controversy Behind Hillary Clinton’s Role in Russian Hypersonic Weapons Development
During his first television interview as the newly inaugurated President of the United States, Donald Trump made a claim that would quickly capture widespread attention. Speaking with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump stated that the Russian Federation had been “stealing” hypersonic weapons research and development from the U.S. during the Obama administration. The remark sparked a viral conversation, but the story behind the claim is far more complex than what the soundbite suggests.
While it’s true that Russia did acquire critical technology related to hypersonic weapons during the Obama years, the way in which they obtained this technology wasn’t through espionage or theft. Rather, it was purchased. And the person who authorized this sale was none other than then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
To fully understand the situation, it’s essential to dive into the events of the late 2000s and early 2010s. In 2009, President Barack Obama attempted to reset U.S.-Russia relations following years of tension. At the time, the global economy was reeling from the Great Recession, and there was a growing desire among Americans to reduce foreign entanglements. Meanwhile, Europe was concerned about the future of Eastern Europe after Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008. President Obama’s response was a diplomatic initiative designed to stabilize relations with Russia and focus on mutual economic interests.
As part of this “reset,” the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission was established, with Clinton leading the American side of the effort. Around the same time, Russia unveiled plans to create Skolkovo, a so-called “innovation city” meant to foster technological development outside Moscow, akin to Silicon Valley in the United States. The Russian government envisioned the city housing over 30,000 high-tech workers, and Clinton believed that American expertise could help bring this vision to life.
The Skolkovo Project: A Double-Edged Sword
Clinton and her team at the State Department worked closely with Russian officials, including the Russian State Investment Fund (Rusnano), to facilitate American tech companies’ involvement in Skolkovo’s development. Major companies like Google, Intel, and Cisco were encouraged to invest in the project. According to investigative journalist Peter Schweizer, Clinton’s personal connections with these firms and their ties to the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) — the charitable organization run by former President Bill Clinton — played a significant role in the facilitation of this cooperation.
However, in hindsight, Skolkovo wasn’t just about fostering civilian technological progress. By 2012, U.S. intelligence agencies began to reassess the project’s true purpose. Intelligence reports revealed that the initiative was being leveraged as a vehicle for technology transfer, including sensitive areas such as information technology, biomedicine, energy, and even nuclear technology. Perhaps most notably, U.S. military intelligence determined in 2011 that the Skolkovo project was assisting Russia’s development of a hypersonic cruise missile engine — a key component in Russia’s hypersonic weapons program.
In 2014, the situation became even more alarming. The then-FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Boston Field Office wrote an op-ed publicly warning that the sale of American hypersonic technology to Russia, facilitated through the Skolkovo project, had given Russia a significant advantage in hypersonic weapons development — an advantage that the U.S. military had yet to achieve. Despite these warnings, the Obama administration, including Secretary Clinton, failed to take corrective action.
🚨”What did Hillary know about all that stuff?"🚨
@dbongino called out the Clintons for being tied to a Russian technology project that helped fund hypersonic missile engine research.
TUNE IN NOW👇 pic.twitter.com/3mLBlKzwpG
— Unfiltered with Dan Bongino (@UnfilteredOnFox) October 24, 2021
Trump’s Claims: Is It Theft or a Dangerous Sale?
When President Trump claimed that Russia’s hypersonic weapons development was made possible by the “theft” of American technology during the Obama administration, many critics, including Russian social media bots and propagandists, immediately dismissed the claim. Yet, upon closer examination, Trump’s assertion might not be far from the truth — but not in the way many assumed.
It wasn’t a case of Russia stealing hypersonic weapons technology. Rather, the U.S. essentially sold it to them. The technology wasn’t taken through espionage, but rather transferred under the guise of “dual-use” civilian applications, which could also be adapted for military purposes. Despite numerous warnings from the FBI and U.S. military intelligence about the potential national security risks, Secretary Clinton authorized the sale of this technology to Russia.
In the broader narrative, the U.S. military and intelligence communities viewed the sale of this technology as a catastrophic mistake. It wasn’t just a case of insufficient security measures or oversight; it was an active, politically motivated decision to engage in cooperation with Russia despite clear risks. As a result, Russia gained access to critical technologies that bolstered its hypersonic weapons program — an advantage that would have taken years to develop on their own.
So, when critics of President Trump claim that Skolkovo was a “failed” attempt at creating a Russian version of Silicon Valley, they miss a key point. The Skolkovo project, while not the success it claimed to be in terms of civilian innovation, was an unqualified success in its true, albeit darker, goal: enabling Russia to leapfrog the U.S. in hypersonic weaponry. The technology transfer facilitated by Secretary Clinton’s actions played a pivotal role in Russia’s rapid advancement in this area.
You can watch the whole interview between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton using the video player below:
🚨 Breaking:
In case you're like me and don't have cable, here is the Full Interview with President Donald Trump and Sean Hannity that aired on Fox News! 💪🏻 🇺🇲 ❤️pic.twitter.com/gWI0B30VX4— SyeClops (@SyeClops) January 23, 2025
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