Showing posts with label security clearance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label security clearance. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 03, 2018

Donald Trump patches Fox News host Lou Dobbs in on "senior level calls" White House.

Courtesy of The Daily Beast:  

It’s not just that President Donald Trump loves Dobbs’ show and his on-air style. It’s not just that the president asks West Wing aides and confidants if they’ve seen specific, recent segments of Dobbs’ program, or that Trump calls the cable-news personality semi-regularly to gossip or solicit counsel, or that he’s boosted Dobbs on his Twitter account. It’s not just that the president has sat for a friendly interview with Dobbs or that he is on a first name basis with “Lou.” 

Indeed, much of this can describe Trump’s relationships with various other television personalities. What sets Dobbs apart is the degree to which the president views him as a political and populism godfather, the #MAGA Socrates to Trump’s Plato. 

As such, Dobbs doesn’t get to just interview and socialize with the president, he is involved in some of the administration’s more sensitive discussions. During the first year of the Trump era, the president has patched Dobbs in via speakerphone to multiple meetings in the Oval Office so that he could offer his two cents, according to three sources familiar with these conversations. Trump will ask Dobbs for his opinion before and after his senior aides or Cabinet members have spoken. Occasionally, he will cut off an official so the Fox Business host can jump in. 

Dobbs, these sources all independently recounted, has been patched in to senior-level meetings on issues such as trade and tax policy—meetings that featured officials such as senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, former top economic adviser Gary Cohn, former chief strategist Steve Bannon, trade adviser Peter Navarro, and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

I'm sorry, when did Lou Dobbs receive his security clearance again?

You would think that a reality show guy would know that just because somebody acts like a know it all on TV, that does NOT mean that they know it all.

Lou Dobbs is at least as dangerous as John Bolton, and now both of them, as well as those idiots on the Fox and Friends couch, are guiding this lunatic's decision making.

Friday, March 02, 2018

The FBI is looking closely at one of Ivanka Trump's business deals.

Uh oh.
Courtesy of CNN: 

US counterintelligence officials are scrutinizing one of Ivanka Trump's international business deals, according to two sources familiar with the matter. 

The FBI has been looking into the negotiations and financing surrounding Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver, according to a US official and a former US official. The scrutiny could be a hurdle for the first daughter as she tries to obtain a full security clearance in her role as adviser to President Donald Trump. 

It's standard procedure to probe foreign contacts and international business deals as part of a background check investigation. But the complexity of the Trump Organization's business deals, which often rely on international financing and buyers, presents a challenge. 

The FBI has been looking closely at the international business entanglements of both Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, to determine whether any of those deals could leave them vulnerable to pressure from foreign agents, including China, according to a US official.

Well now considering the fact that Trump has declared that his family's business deals should be off limits from investigators, his over protectiveness when it comes to his daughter, and the fact that he has now lost Hope, this could be the thing that causes Trump to snap and start throwing around accusations and firing people.

Or has that already happened?

Of course if the FBI is investigating these business ties then it is a given that Robert Mueller will have access to anything of concern, and THAT could mean that Ivanka will soon have her turn in the barrel.

Let's see what that does to Donald Trump's barely contained rage monster.

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Jared Kushner's security clearance downgraded as foreign countries discuss how easily he can be manipulated.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, has been stripped of his top-secret security clearance after months of delays in completing his background check, and will now be limited in his ability to view highly classified information, a White House official and another person familiar with Mr. Kushner’s situation said on Tuesday. 

Mr. Kushner’s clearance was reduced to the level of secret and his official portfolio inside the West Wing, especially with regard to his globe-trotting foreign affairs work on behalf of President Trump, is expected to be sharply reduced, as well, the people said. 

Since the beginning of the Trump administration, both Mr. Kushner, 37, and his wife, Ivanka Trump, the president’s eldest daughter, 36, have enjoyed a special status within the White House as both family members and assistants to the president. But the complicated finances surrounding Mr. Kushner’s family’s vast real estate empire and his qualifications for the foreign policy responsibilities given to him by his father-in-law invited scrutiny from the start.

Apparently one of the things that continued to complicate Kushner's security clearance was that he kept adding contacts with foreign nationals that were not on his initial application for clearance.

In fact those contacts had recently become a focus of the Mueller investigation: 

Special counsel Robert Mueller's interest in Jared Kushner has expanded beyond his contacts with Russia and now includes his efforts to secure financing for his company from foreign investors during the presidential transition, according to people familiar with the inquiry. 

This is the first indication that Mueller is exploring Kushner's discussions with potential non-Russian foreign investors, including in China.

Speaking of foreign contacts, apparently some of these countries saw Kushner as a soft touch.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

Officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways they can manipulate Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports on the matter. 

Among those nations discussing ways to influence Kushner to their advantage were the United Arab Emirates, China, Israel and Mexico, the current and former officials said. 

It is unclear if any of those countries acted on the discussions, but Kushner’s contacts with certain foreign government officials have raised concerns inside the White House and are a reason he has been unable to obtain a permanent security clearance, the officials said.

Man this is going to really make it hard for Jared to solve that Middle East crisis.

And he was so close.

You know to thinking about maybe starting to do something about that.

What was it that Donald Trump said about only hiring the "best people" again?

Friday, February 16, 2018

So pretty much everybody.


Okay are we actually sure that Donald Trump himself has been cleared for access to top secret information?

Because to tell you the truth, I don't think he should be. 

Monday, July 24, 2017

Jared Kushner releases statement hoping to put an end to questions about Russian contacts. Fat chance.

The entire statement can be read here at CNN.

In it Kushner calls into question news reports of contacts he had with the Russian ambassador, which he claims he cannot remember and has no records of ever making.

Kushner also claims that of course he had multiple contacts with representatives of foreign governments during the campaign since that was the job assigned to him by his father-in-law: 

My father-in-law asked me to be a point of contact with these foreign countries. These were not contacts that I initiated, but, over the course of the campaign, I had incoming contacts with people from approximately 15 countries. To put these requests in context, I must have received thousands of calls, letters and emails from people looking to talk or meet on a variety of issues and topics, including hundreds from outside the United States. While I could not be responsive to everyone, I tried to be respectful of any foreign government contacts with whom it would be important to maintain an ongoing, productive working relationship were the candidate to prevail. To that end, I called on a variety of people with deep experience, such as Dr. Henry Kissinger, for advice on policy for the candidate, which countries/representatives with which the campaign should engage, and what messaging would resonate. In addition, it was typical for me to receive 200 or more emails a day during the campaign. I did not have the time to read every one, especially long emails from unknown senders or email chains to which I was added at some later point in the exchange.

Kushner also claims that when he submitted his initial paperwork for his security clearance that it was submitted prematurely by his assistant and did not include his contacts with ANYBODY from a foreign government, not just the Russians.

He further denies working to establish a back channel to communicate with the Russians, and claims that was a misrepresentation of a meeting he had with Russian Ambassador Kislyak. (At least this is one contact he admits to.)

As for that infamous meeting with Junior and the Russian attorney, this is how Kushner characterized it:

In June 2016, my brother-in-law, Donald Trump Jr. asked if I was free to stop by a meeting on June 9 at 3:00 p.m. The campaign was headquartered in the same building as his office in Trump Tower, and it was common for each of us to swing by the other's meetings when requested. He eventually sent me his own email changing the time of the meeting to 4:00 p.m. That email was on top of a long back and forth that I did not read at the time. As I did with most emails when I was working remotely, I quickly reviewed on my iPhone the relevant message that the meeting would occur at 4:00 PM at his office. Documents confirm my memory that this was calendared as "Meeting: Don Jr.| Jared Kushner." No one else was mentioned.

So essentially Kushner's claim is that he and Junior invited each other to meetings all of the time, and that he did not know what this was about, and did not read the top of the email with said  "Russia-Clinton-private and confidential."

Uh huh.

Kushner then claims that the Russian attorney started talking about "adoptions," which we now know is code for "sanctions," and that he was uninterested and secretly emailed his secretary to call his cell phone in order to give him an excuse to leave the meeting early.

He then forgot all about this meeting until he was reminded about it by his attorneys.

One interesting side note is that Kushner claims that he received an email from someone referring to themselves as "Guccifer400" who claimed to have Trump's tax returns and tried to blackmail him into paying 52 bitcoins.

Kushner characterized this as a hoax. 

At the end of the statement Kushner writes:

I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government. I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector. I have tried to be fully transparent with regard to the filing of my SF-86 form, above and beyond what is required. Hopefully, this puts these matters to rest. 

Actually I seriously doubt this puts anything to rest. And I would suggest that once the various investigative bodies get a look at some of this Kushner paperwork they will have even more questions for him to answer.

Also keep in mind that Mr. Transparent is refusing to testify to any of this under oath.

Even though doing so is typically how people with nothing to hide, prove they have nothing to hide.

Friday, April 28, 2017

New investigation launched into Michael Flynn's ties to Russia. White House spokesperson now blaming Obama.

Courtesy of CBS News: 

The ranking member of the House Oversight Committee said he doesn't understand why the White House is "covering up for Michael Flynn" after President Trump fired him. 

At a Thursday morning press conference with members of the House and Senate, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, said that the office of the Defense Department inspector general will be launching its own investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's dealings with the Russian government, specifically his apparent failure to disclose payments by a foreign source. 

"General Flynn's attorney says he discussed his trip to Moscow with the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency), but we have no evidence, not a shred, that he disclosed his payments which is what he emoluments clause is all about, from RT, the Kremlin-backed propaganda outlet. And we have no evidence -- zilch -- that he obtained permission from the secretary of the Army and secretary of State to accept any foreign government payments as required by law," said Cummings. 

"[The White House] should be bending over backwards to help us. It does not make any sense, and it makes the American people think the White House has something to hide," he said. "Here is a paper trail that the White House does not want our committee to follow, but let it be known we will follow it and we will follow it with everything we got." 

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has called the Oversight Committee's request for documents from the transition period "ridiculous," and he also said that everything under discussion occurred before he was employed by the Trump administration. 

That's right the newest White House strategy is to blame the Obama Administration for not vetting Michael Flynn better.

This was Sean Spicer yesterday.

In short the Trump Administration is blaming Obama for not doing the job that THEY should have done before appointing Flynn National Security Adviser.

However they are forgetting one important detail.
Yes, yes he was.

So knowing this WHY would the Trump Administration not investigate why that happened and then conduct their own security clearance? 

Hmmm?

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Representatives Cheffetz and Cummings give press conference shaming the White House for refusing to provide documents, and suggesting that Michael Flynn may have committed a felony.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Elijah Cummings (D-MD) held a press conference on Tuesday to knock the Trump administration for denying their requests for documents related to former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. 

“We received a response from the White House refusing to provide any of the documents we requested,” Cummings said at the press conference. “The White House has refused to offer a single piece of paper in response to this committee’s bipartisan request.” 

Cummings also said Flynn might have committed a felony by not disclosing payments he received from foreign governments before he assumed the role of national security adviser. 

“This is a major problem,” Cummings said.

I have to say I am a little surprised to see Chaffetz in front of the cameras talking about this.

I wonder if that means he wants to actually do his job before his quits it altogether?

Wow, when Jason Chaffetz complains that a Republican White House is obstructing an investigation, you KNOW the writing is on the wall.

While we are on the topic of Trump advisers and Russia let me share this tweet with you from the other day.
And once again the noose gets a little tighter.  

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Ivanka Trump has an office of her own in the White House?

Courtesy of AP: 

Cementing her role as a powerful White House influence, Ivanka Trump is working out of a West Wing office and will get access to classified information, though she is not technically serving as a government employee, according to an attorney for the first daughter. 

Since President Donald Trump took office, his eldest daughter has been a visible presence in the White House, where her husband, Jared Kushner, already serves as a senior adviser. On Friday, she participated in a meeting on vocational training with the president and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. 

Jamie Gorelick, an attorney and ethics adviser for Ivanka Trump, said Monday that the first daughter will not have an official title, but will get a West Wing office, government-issued communications devices and security clearance to access classified information. Gorelick said Ivanka Trump would follow the ethics rules that apply to government employees.

Is this a good time to say WTF?

Yeah I am pretty sure this is where you say WTF?

So exactly what qualifies Trump's daughter to have an office in the West Wing of the White House?

I mean really, what has she done to deserve it?
Oh yeah, that's right.