NewsTracker Answers for week of Dec. 12, 2016

Q: Donald Trump mocked U.S. intelligence agencies over a reported CIA finding that the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to undermine the presidential election and help Trump win. Where is Russia?

Circle the area on this map


Q: During the campaign Trump said he was “not going to tell Putin what to do” about staying out of the U.S. election. After the disclosure of the CIA findings, Trump mocked U.S. intelligence agencies by saying “these are the same people” who said there were “weapons of mass destruction” hidden in which country?

A. Afghanistan

B. Iran

C. Iraq

D. Syria


C. U.S. intelligence reports that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction were cited by the administration of President George W. Bush as the chief reason to invade Iraq in 2003. After occupying the country, U.S. forces vigorously searched but never found any of the alleged weapons.


Q: During the campaign, Trump cast doubt on the U.S. commitment to defend Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia from Russia if they were invaded. These small neighbors of Russia are known as the . . .

A. Antipodes

B. Baltic States

C. Caucasus

D. Dardanelles


B. The three countries that lie between the Baltic Sea and Russia became members of the NATO military alliance in 2004 despite objections from Moscow which once ruled them. Complaining about the cost of NATO, Trump said he would only defend the Baltic States if he decided they had “fulfilled their obligations to us.”


Q: Last summer, Trump said in an interview that Putin is “not going into Ukraine, OK.” That was two years after Russia had already seized and annexed what Ukrainian territory?

A. Crimea

B. Georgia

C. Kiev

D. Uzbekistan


A. Days after Ukrainians ousted a pro-Russian president in 2014, unmarked Russian forces seized Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea. The day after his interview, Trump said he meant Putin wouldn’t go into Ukraine “if I am President,” and blamed the Crimea situation on President Obama. Trump has said of Putin that he "would probably get along with him very well.”


Q: A week after the election Trump and Putin spoke on the phone and discussed improving relations, fighting terrorism and achieving peace in which Mideast nation torn by civil war?

A. Iran

B. Israel

C. Saudi Arabia

D. Syria


D. Just a few hours after that phone conversation, Russia launched a major air offensive against Syrian rebels, some of whom receive U.S. aid. Trump has proposed the U.S. join Russia to fight Islamic State forces in Syria. But, U.S. intelligence and military officials say Russian forces have been used primarily to prop up Syria’s repressive regime and not fight ISIS.