Earlier tonight I wrote a post about a Washington Post story that claimed Donald Trump shared classified information at a White House meeting with Russian officials last week. The White House is now pushing back against this claim, basically calling it fake news. Here is more:
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster briefly spoke to reporters gathered at the White House and issued a terse denial without taking any questions. “The story that came out tonight as reported is false,” McMaster said.
“At no time, at no time were intelligence sources or methods discussed and the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known.”
He concluded with, “I was in the room. It didn’t happen.”
The White House also issued statements from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy Dina Powell and McMaster that attempted to pour cold water on the report.
“This story is false. The president only discussed the common threats that both countries faced,” Powell said in the statement.
This story is probably going to blow up tomorrow and the problem I see with this denial is that it denies an accusation that was not explicitly made in the original Washington Post story: The story did not claim intelligence sources or methods were discussed and it did not claim the President disclosed military operations, it did claim that Donald Trump named the city the source was operating in.
Is there a clear distinction between discussing a source and discussing his or her location? I do not think there is. If the President did not discuss sources, as the administration is claiming, it is reasonable to believe that would include the location of said source.
Quid est veritas? I have no idea what the truth is at this point. But no matter what is truth this is going to get very ugly very quickly.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
The Washington Post claims Donald Trump revealed classified information to Russian officials last week
The Washington Post is reporting that one day after firing James Comey, in a White House meeting with Russian officials, Donald Trump shared highly classified information with the Russians.
Here is more:
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 Trump’s disclosures jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State.
The information the president 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 Trump’s decision to do so endangers 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 the National Security Agency.
I think that it is safe to say the left will not accept the Hillary Clinton/Huma Abedin defense that this was not gross negligence but rather extreme carelessness without intending to mishandle the information. But that does not really matter because, as the article linked to above eventually states, the President has the authority to declassify information.
The headline of this post is put in question form because I am not sure how legitimate this source is but I get the feeling this is something the President is considering. According to this story Donald Trump is considering a major shake up of his staff. Here is more:
“The advice he’s getting is to go big — that he has nothing to lose,” the confidant said. “The question now is how big and how bold. I’m not sure he knows the answer to that yet.”
If Trump follows through, his innermost White House circle would shrink from a loop to a straight line of mid-30s family members with scant governing experience: Jared and Ivanka. So while the fighting and leaking might ease, the problems may not because it’s the president, not the staff, calling the shots.
Here is the open thread for Sunday, May 14th. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
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Happy Mother’s Day to all of you mothers out there who read America’s Watchtower, here is Johnny Cash performing “There’s a Mother Always Waiting at home.”
frui diem
Donald Trump promised us the United States would back out of the Paris climate agreement, however that was before he appointed Ivanka Trump to head a review of the agreement. Since then he has decided to postpone a decision on whether or not the United States would honor the agreement.
With the election of Donald Trump it seemed as if the global warming hysteria and propaganda would die down however Ivanka Trump is a global warming alarmist who apparently has quite a bit of sway with her father so this news raised red flags with me.
Now we are learning that Rex Tillerson has signed two agreements with the Arctic Council to remain in the council and these agreements also affirm global warming as a man-made problem.
Here is more:
I really do not want to start thinking about the 2020 Presidential election yet, I am not even ready to start thinking about the mid-term, however I need to take a break from all the Russia and FBI hoopla and so here we go.
It is no secret that the new darling of the left is Elizabeth Warren: some people tried to lure her into running in 2016 as an alternative to Hillary Clinton but she refused and now she is refusing to run for President in 2020. Here is more:
“It’s a very thoughtful question, but I actually have to put this in a temporal place. I’m not running for president. I’m running for my election for Senate in 2018, and I announced very early because I want people to know I am all in.”
This is the second time in recent weeks she has declared her non-candidacy, claiming she is putting her full effort into running for reelection in Massachusetts. This is the proper thing to say while running for reelection, she wants the voters of Massachusetts to understand she is not going to hit and run and leave them with a vacant seat. The last time there was an open seat in Massachusetts Scott Brown pulled off an upset and if voters think she might leave after two years they might decide to go in a different direction. It will be interesting to see what happens after she wins her reelection.
I do not believe her, I believe she is going to run for President, but she cannot say it during her Senate campaign, and that is why she is trying to become the face of the national party. However even if we take her at her word I believe after her reelection she will be “persuaded” to run.
And it does not even matter what her intentions are right now, once she does declare she is running for President the spin will be something along these lines: I really had no intention to run but after listening to the voices of the American people I did some soul searching and decided I could not ignore the will of the people.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Senator Ed Markey spreads fake news on CNN
I have been accused by the left on a couple of occasions for using links to websites both here and on Facebook from less than credible sources. I am just a small time microblogger and I understand that I do not really influence anybody, I am just sharing my opinion. I always try to use legitimate stories but I have made a couple of mistakes.
Ed Markey, on the other hand, is a United States Senator from Massachusetts who really does not influence anybody (sorry, could not help making that dig!) and as such he has a responsibility to make sure his sources are legitimate. He has a full staff and there is no excuse for him in not doing his homework.
However this did not stop Ed Markey from appearing on CNN to spread fake news about Donald Trump and the Russian investigation. Here is what he said:
It has been quite entertaining to say the least to listen to Democrats, such as Chuck Schumer and the like, slamming Donald Trump’s decision to fire James Comey after months of calling for him to either be fired or resign because he had lost their trust. Earlier in the day Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, hammered James Comey via Twitter but after the news broke he quickly changed his tune.
This sudden turn-around by Democratic leaders apparently left some of their voters unaware that they suddenly liked James Comey after months of blaming the former FBI Director for costing Hillary Clinton the election. Stephen Colbert began his show by announcing the news to his audience. His audience cheered the news so the host then began to explain why this was not a good thing all of a sudden. He eventually turned them around when he mentioned Jeff Sessions and like lemmings to the cliff they started booing.
Here is the video, enjoy:
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
During a panel discussion on the House voting to replace Obamacare MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle joked that she had a preexisting condition because she is a woman. Here is the clip:
I happen to agree with the panel that it was kind of silly for the President to hold a Rose Garden ceremony celebrating the House passage of this legislation when it is still not even close be being signed into law but let that go.
Her comment was probably an allusion to Donald Trump’s alleged misogyny or the possibility Planned Parenthood could lose Federal funding, but most likely she is referring to the claim that the new bill would make rape a preexisting condition. Of course the latter has been debunked, but why let the facts get in the way?
Either way she probably thought she was being funny but this is pretty insulting to those people who do have actual preexisting conditions and are worried about the possibility of losing healthcare coverage. I would be willing to bet they did not find this all too funny…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Donald Trump fires FBI Director James Comey
In a stunning revelation today Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, here is more:
President Donald Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey Tuesday, ousting the nation’s top law enforcement official in the midst of an investigation into whether Trump’s campaign had ties to Russia’s election meddling.
In a letter to Comey, Trump said the firing was necessary to restore “public trust and confidence” in the FBI. Comey has come under intense scrutiny in recent months for his role in an investigation into Democrat Hillary Clinton’s email practices, including a pair of letters he sent to Congress on the matter in the closing days of last year’s election.
I believe James Comey had to be let go because of his decision that charges should not be brought against Huma Abedin, and Hillary Clinton for that matter, for mishandling sensitive information with the excuse they did not intend to violate the law. You try using that defense and see how far it gets you, I was always taught ignorance of the law is no excuse.
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