Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Who To Believe? Top U.S. Administrations Officials Or One Anonymous Intel Source On President Trump Giving Classified Intel To Russia



WNU Editor: According to the officials who were present in the Oval Office when President Trump met the Russian ambassador .... national Security Adviser McMaster, Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell and US Secretary of State Tillerson .... no sources, methods, or ongoing military operations were revealed to the Russians. But according to Washington Post reporter Greg Miller who uses an anonymous source for his story .... and the media/political response that has occurred in the past 12 hours .... the narrative is that highly classified intelligence was revealed to the Russians. So who to believe? For those who want more than one anonymous source when doing a report .... this story does not even pass the smell test. But for those who are fiercely opposed to President Trump .... this is one of the most serious breaches in U.S. intelligence history, proof that President Trump has been compromised by the Russians, and that he should be removed from office. In short .... like the firing of FBI Director Comey (a story that has now disappeared from the news headlines) .... I am seeing the meltdown of the media/Democrats/never Trumpers all-over again. As to what is my take .... I was not in the Oval Office nor do I trust one anonymous leaker .... but I do know that private discussions between world leaders and/or their representatives are .... by their nature .... always highly classified, and any leak on what was discussed is highly illegal. This intelligence leak .... which is one of many over the past few months .... and even if it is not true .... just adds more fuel to the fire on rumours that the Trump administration is at war with certain elements within the U.S. intelligence community. And talk about timing .... if you want to put a cloud on an important upcoming trip (President Trump is flying to the Middle East this Friday) .... what better way to do it than now.

9 comments:

fred said...

Live Updates: Trump Said It's His “Absolute Right” To Share "Facts" With Russia

The president defended himself on Twitter Tuesday after officials said he disclosed classified intelligence to the Russian ambassador and foreign minister at the White House last week.

fred said...

Trump tweet

As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism."

War News Updates Editor said...

Yes .... President Trump did say that it is his right to share information with the Russians (or anyone else). But the White House is also saying that no sources, methods, or ongoing military operations were revealed to the Russians. The current media narrative is saying the exact opposite.

fred said...

Worse than you believe

War News Updates Editor said...

Fred. The Intercept story just proves my point. They were not in the Oval Office just as much as I was not in the Oval Office .... so how do they know that President Trump was pontificating? Especially since the only people who were in the Oval Office during this meeting are saying that this was not the case. The Intercept is also saying that President Trump's morning tweet undermines Director of National Intelligence McMaster's denial yesterday .... actually it does not. No sources, methods, or operations were revealed .... that is what McMaster was saying, and President Trump is certainly not claiming that, and neither is anyone else who was in the meeting. So again .... I go back to the beginning .... who to believe?

fred said...

Despite an initial insistence by the White House that Trump’s abrupt dismissal of Comey was unrelated to the Russia inquiry, the president himself acknowledged in an interview last week that “this Russia thing” was a factor.

Controversy over the timing of the meeting was heightened by the fact that US reporters were barred access to the Oval Office at the same time as Russian state media was admitted. The Kremlin-backed Itar-Tass subsequently shared a number of photographs of Trump entertaining Lavrov and Kislyak.
What are the risks of Trump’s actions to intelligence-sharing?

The story plays to existing fears among some allies about the president’s close relationship with Moscow. They could react by reducing intelligence-sharing, with a potentially devastating impact on security. The biggest impact is likely to be felt in counter-terrorism, where attacks can be planned on one side of the globe and executed on another.

Richard Nephew, a former National Security Council and state department official now at Columbia University, said: “People may die, including American citizens, if fear over Trump leaking leads to refusal to share sensitive information in the future.” He added: “I think it may be impossible to overstate how bad and dangerous this might turn out to be.”

War News Updates Editor said...

The debate on President Trump sharing intel with the Russians (or with anyone else) is a valid one. But for the moment .... that debate has been relegated onto the sidelines for a media narrative that says anything but.

fred said...

Russia sides with Assad and with Iran...the general says Trump gave appropriate information. But when asked if any of it was classified, the General did not answer. The narrative is central to a visit to Trump's visit and our allies and our enemies...and of course, the Russian Trump FBI investiation, still ongoing, and seemingly the cause of Comey firing..Russia Is NOT OUR ALLY

Anonymous said...

87 year old veteran (hard to believe to say the least).