Monday, May 15, 2017

Was Trump Set Up or Is He Just an Idiot?

A new story just released by the Washington Post could be very big,

HOWEVER, there is really not enough information in the story to determine what went down or even if there really was a serious breach by President Trump, as claimed by those quoted in the story,  but those out to get Trump are going to really run with this.

From the Washington Post:
President Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week, according to current and former U.S. officials, who said that Trump’s disclosures jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State.
The information Trump relayed had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the U.S. government, officials said.
The partner had not given the United States permission to share the material with Russia, and officials said that Trump’s decision to do so risks cooperation from an ally that has access to the inner workings of the Islamic State. After Trump’s meeting, senior White House officials took steps to contain the damage, placing calls to the CIA and National Security Agency... 
“This is code-word information,” said a U.S. official familiar with the matter, using terminology that refers to one of the highest classification levels used by American spy agencies. Trump “revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies.”...
For most anyone in government discussing such matters with an adversary would be illegal. As president, Trump has broad authority to declassify government secrets, making it unlikely that his disclosures broke the law....
But officials expressed concern with Trump’s handling of sensitive information as well as his grasp of the potential consequences. Exposure of an intelligence stream that has provided critical insight into the Islamic State, they said, could hinder the United States’ and its allies’ ability to detect future threats. “It is all kind of shocking,” said a former senior U.S. official close to current administration officials. “Trump seems to be very reckless, and doesn’t grasp the gravity of the things he’s dealing with, especially when it comes to intelligence and national security. And it’s all clouded because of this problem he has with Russia.”
So who are all these senior officials and "former senior officials" that know about this super highly classified information and how do they know what Trump discussed with the Russians?

 Methinks the intelligence community is working overtime trying to nail Trump.  

-RW 

UPDATE

National security advisor H. R. McMaster
denies that Trump gave away any super-classified information:

"The president and the foreign minister reviewed common threats from terrorist organizations to include threats to aviation," said H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser, who participated in the meeting. "At no time were any intelligence sources or methods discussed and no military operations were disclosed that were not already known publicly."

UPDATE 2

Here's a statement from top House Oversight and Judiciary Democrats  (Cummings and Conyers).

 As expected they are going to run with this as far as they can:


UPDATE 3

FULL STATEMENT: National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster: "The story that came out tonight as reported is false."

UPDATE 4

The establishment pressure is getting to them

5 comments:

  1. I find the 'former senior officials' narrative to be pretty boring. This seems like a coordinated attack from the deep state to further disrupt the Trump administration.

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  2. Russia's intelligence with respect to that region exceeds everything gathered by the West. Participation with Russia is sensible policy.

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  3. A pox on Wenzel for persuading me to read this breathless story. What a bunch of fucking twats at the WashPo. Look at their idiot reporters Twitter feeds. A lot of grab-assing and hi-fives over this giant nothing-burger of a story.

    Long story short: Trump told Russians that terrorists might use laptops to take down airplanes.

    ReplyDelete