Yesterday, Donald Trump revoked John Brennan's security clearance. In this morning's New York Times, Brennan fires back:
Before, during and after its now infamous meddling in our last presidential election, Russia practiced the art of shaping political events abroad through its well-honed active measures program, which employs an array of technical capabilities, information operations and old-fashioned human intelligence spycraft. Electoral politics in Western democracies presents an especially inviting target, as a variety of politicians, political parties, media outlets, think tanks and influencers are readily manipulated, wittingly and unwittingly, or even bought outright by Russian intelligence operatives. The very freedoms and liberties that liberal Western democracies cherish and that autocracies fear have been exploited by Russian intelligence services not only to collect sensitive information but also to distribute propaganda and disinformation, increasingly via the growing number of social media platforms.
This kind of activity has been going on for a long time. But Trump threw gasoline on the fire:
The already challenging work of the American intelligence and law enforcement communities was made more difficult in late July 2016, however, when Mr. Trump, then a presidential candidate, publicly called upon Russia to find the missing emails of Mrs. Clinton. By issuing such a statement, Mr. Trump was not only encouraging a foreign nation to collect intelligence against a United States citizen, but also openly authorizing his followers to work with our primary global adversary against his political opponent.
If Trump did that kind of thing in public, Brennan wonders what he did in private:
Such a public clarion call certainly makes one wonder what Mr. Trump privately encouraged his advisers to do — and what they actually did — to win the election. While I had deep insight into Russian activities during the 2016 election, I now am aware — thanks to the reporting of an open and free press — of many more of the highly suspicious dalliances of some American citizens with people affiliated with the Russian intelligence services.
Mr. Trump’s claims of no collusion are, in a word, hogwash.
We await the Mueller Report -- and the verdict in the first of Paul Manafort's trials.
Image: Bloomberg
8 comments:
We live in interesting times, Owen. Interesting and also volatile and unpredictable. The most powerful man on Earth is coming unglued. No one knows how Trump's afflictions will cause him to respond to the pressures that will befall him over the next four months.
The intense focus on Manafort is a default reaction. It is the only visible evidence of the Mueller investigation, a fraction of the tip of a very dense iceberg. I suspect Mueller still wants Manafort to grass on Trump but a conviction and lengthy sentence will also serve as a powerful warning to others who might be wavering on cooperating with investigators.
If Manafort racks up a number of felony convictions, Trump would have a huge political problem even considering a pardon. In American criminal jurisprudence that could be taken as evidence of criminal conscience.
"We’ve talked before about why the retired leaders of the assorted security apparatus keep their clearances, so you already know why this is a stupid move. Current CIA Director Mike Pompeo cannot talk to Brennan now for advice, it would be a security breach. So whatever intelligence and experience Brennan has just became inaccessible to the CIA and the rest of the various agencies.
It really is a win for Putin for the US to lose that kind of institutional knowledge."
www.mockpapersissors.com
As a number of commentators have noted, Mound, the walls are closing in on Trump. It's been clear for sometime that he's most dangerous when he's cornered.
Knowledge -- insitutional or otherwise -- has never been Trump's goal, Jay. His motto has always been, "Show me the money!"
Is this your blog?
MPS is a snarky, lefty, old community blog in the US, not mine.
The Brennan Clearance revocation was signed and dated July 26th.
It wasn't written by the Insane Clown POSus, it was written by someone else, because we know now that The Insane Clown POTus isn't "incharge" of anything.
Omarosa's reveals, make us aware that it had to have crossed Shitbord Kelly's desk, before reaching the Insane Clown POSus,
So now we know that a One Star Marine General is more than willing to betray his country to Russian interests, if his program of Ethnic Cleansing can continue.
The rot is deep in the US, and there are no adults in the room.
Agreed, Jay. The adults have left the building.
Trump is unlikely to suffer at the hands of the Justice system.
The USA and the rest of the west for that matter, have too many people in high places screwing the system for their own use and profit.
To take down Trump would mean many others would be exposed to a similar fate and that is just not going to happen.
I can see now just why revolutionaries take the controlling classes to the guillotine.
TB
It's possible that Trump and his minnions -- and there are a lot of them -- could eventually be led to the modern version of the guillotine, TB.
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