February 11, 2018: Of Course - Russia Interfered in the Last Election

 

2/11/18: In Congressional testimony, the heads of six U.S. intelligence agencies assure lawmakers that the Russians meddled in the last election. 

____________________ 

“Frankly, the United States is under attack.” 

Dan Coats, Director of National Intelligence

____________________ 

 

Dan Coats, head of National Intelligence, is emphatic. Of course, the Russian interfered! He warns they’ll try again. “There should be no doubt that Russia perceives that its past efforts have been successful and views the 2018 midterm U.S. elections as a potential target for Russian influence operations. Frankly, the United States is under attack.” 

Committee members ask F.B.I. Director Wray, one of the witnesses, about recent White House explanations for the delay in firing Rob Porter (see: 2/9/18). Trump officials have been claiming they could not act because Porter’s background check was incomplete. Wray says the Agency completed a preliminary check last March. They submitted a full report last July. Someone working for the president asked for follow-up info in November 2017. This was supplied. 

Porter kept working at the White House. 

Porter continued to handle highly-classified material despite lacking the requisite security clearance. 

When the story broke (the free press doing what the free press does best) everyone working in the White House appeared baffled. 

Press Secretary Pinocchio Sanders insisted top officials did the best they could, knowing what they knew. “The process for the background was ongoing,” she told reporters, “and the White House had not received any specific papers regarding the completion of that background check.”  The whole truth, Pinocchio said, only came out a few hours before Porter was fired.

Rob Porter's ex-wife.

 

* 

WHITE HOUSE speech writer David Sorensen also gets canned after his ex-wife accuses him of domestic abuse. On this bleak day for Trump & Co., she appears on TV to make clear she had no wish to speak publicly. But she had to make her case. Her husband had thrown her into walls. He put a lighted cigarette out on the back of her hand. He drove over her foot with a car. 

Drain that swamp!

July 20, 2018: FBI Director Wray and DNI Dan Coats Undercut Trump

 

7/20/18: F.B.I. Director Christopher Wray has already undercut Trump at the Aspen Security Forum (see: 7/18/18). Now Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats takes a shot. 

 

Coats is laughing at Trump. 

At this point, four days after Trump sat down privately to chat with his pal Vladimir, the White House still hasn’t briefed top administration officials or military leaders on any agreements the two men might have made. Mr. Coats is answering questions from Andrea Mitchell, a reporter for MSNBC, in front of a large audience, when news breaks. Press Secretary Pinocchio announces, via Twitter, that Putin will be invited to the White House this fall. Coats’s reaction is telling, and we learn later that White House aides feel Coats is laughing at Trump. 

That’s because he is – and like Wray, on Wednesday – almost daring the president to fire him.

 

 

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary James Mattis makes it clear in a statement what our country’s biggest problem is in Europe. 

It isn’t NATO. 

Russia should suffer consequences for its aggressive, destabilizing behavior and its illegal occupation of Ukraine. The fundamental question we must ask ourselves is do we wish to strengthen our partners in key regions or leave them with no other option than to turn to Russia, thereby undermining a once in a generation opportunity to more closely align nations with the U.S. vision [emphasis added] for global security and stability.

 

No one knows yet what Putin and Trump talked about during their private meeting in Helsinki. We do know this. They both agree the free press is a giant pain in the ass for dictators. 

BLOGGER’S NOTE: In January 2019 we learn that our president has been confiscating translator’s notes from his meetings with Putin. Other top administration officials still don’t know what has been said.

 

* 

WE LEARN IN PASSING that Mueller has issued a subpoena for Kristin Davis, 41, formerly known as the “Manhattan Madam.” Ms. Davis operated a high-priced prostitution ring and ran an abortive campaign for governor of New York in 2010. Since then she has worked for Roger Stone. 

That is, not counting the twenty-four months she spent behind bars, starting in 2013, for illegally peddling prescription pills. 

These are the kinds of people who orbit the Trump sun.