Jim Clapper Just Nuked the Trump Presidency

[MelissaB]

Jim Clapper Just Nuked the Trump Presidency

Spy bosses are by nature the most tight-lipped of people. Those who head our intelligence agencies got there in no small part by knowing precisely what to say to whom, when. In recent decades, as the heads of Western intelligence have emerged from the shadows and are expected to make occasional public statements, their utterances are customarily vague, requiring extensive tea-leaf analysis to derive their actual meanings.

Even in retirement, spymasters remain habitually enigmatic, and none has been more so than James Clapper, who is our nation’s most experienced spy boss. He retired as the Director of National Intelligence at the beginning of 2017, after over six years in that job—a record. That capped off a career in our Intelligence Community that lasted more than a half-century and included the directorships of two of our nation’s spy agencies. Nobody knows the IC better than Clapper.

While his career had its ups and downs—you don’t work in any trade for over 50 years without missteps—the former far outweighed the latter. Clapper, a retired Air Force three-star general, is widely respected in national security circles, across partisan lines, as a guy who knows his stuff and focuses on the job. Naturally, he’s exceptionally discreet as well.

... snip

Clapper went considerably further yesterday in his appearance on CNN’s The Lead, in which he finally let his top secret mask drop to say what he really thinks about our 45th president:

I think this past weekend is illustrative of what a great case officer Vladimir Putin is. He knows how to handle an asset, and that’s what he’s doing with the president … You have to remember Putin’s background. He’s a KGB officer. That’s what they do. They recruit assets. And I think some of that experience and instincts of Putin has come into play here in his managing of a pretty important account for him, if I could use that term, with our president.

More: http://observer.com/2017/12/james-clapper-tells-cnn-donald-trump-is-vladimir-putins-kremlin-asset/

[BannonsLiver]

1. Hold on let me check

Nah, he’s still there. Not nuked. A year in and the hyperbole is almost as exhausting as his administration is.

[tandem5]

22. I "watched" an "article" about how the host was "left speechless"...

It was satellite delay.

[BannonsLiver]

29. "How (Fill in the blank) just destroyed the GOP".

That's another one.

[tandem5]

35. All we need now is a, "Don Lemon utterly obliterates ridiculously over-the-top article headlines!"

[fallout87]

37. +10000

Everyday there are several headlines about the impending demise of tRump.... And yet here he is.

[lostnfound]

2. It must be depressing to KNOW.

It’s depressing to read about, wonder about, from the outside. But after a life on the inside? Ugh.

[peggysue2]

3. Think there's little doubt . . .

that Clapper went for the jugular with these comments. The Trump deflection will claim (as he has from the start) that we--the American people--can no longer trust our intelligence/security agencies or law enforcement people (FBI). It's why the Trumpster has taken every opportunity to rip into the agencies, throw shade on their effectiveness and loyalties, question their motives and criticize past mistakes.

Hummmm. Wonder where The Donald got this line of thinking from, eh? Once upon a time, Putin would have been the major outside critic of US security agencies.

But now we have Donald Trump, piping the same tune from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

How times change!

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

25. And don't forget Admiral Woolsey this past week...

... "Ambassador James Woolsey, a former CIA director under President Bill Clinton, has put Fox and their host Lou Dobbs “on notice” amid the network’s continued attempts to discredit special counsel Robert Mueller and undermine his Russia investigation."

[link:https://img.alternet.org/media/ex-cia-director-puts-fox-news-notice-their-conspiratorial-hit-job-robert-mueller-and-fbi|

[peggysue2]

26. Ooooo. No, I missed that dustup

Thanks for the link.

[hedda_foil]

32. Please read this part too.

Although I’ve been out of the IC for more than a decade, even then it was known in counterintelligence circles that some of Trump’s Kremlin connections were questionable. Although Trump is too psychologically unstable to be a bona fide spy for anybody, that he possessed strange linkages to Moscow was hardly a big secret.

In particular, Trump’s flashy 1987 trip to the Soviet Union – an obvious KGB operation to anyone versed in Chekist matters – led to his becoming an apparent agent of influence for Moscow. That is, a conduit for political favors and information, often in exchange for commercial deals of the sort Trump has always prized. Knowing this, the history of the Trump

[BSdetect]

4. I ask yet again, why did our entire IC fail to prevent this mess?

Surely if they knew what was happening they could have taken steps to stop drumph ....

And if they did not know what was going on? WTF?

[ChicagoRonin]

5. IC doesn't do everything

One problem is that although the IC does a lot of the work to gather information and build cases, they still have to answer to others at the top for authorization to take action. Which is generally a good thing (I don't like to think what could have happened in the country if the IC was completely unchecked during the reign of J. Edgar Hoover or the anti-communist witchhunts of the 50s. And they still managed to ruin some innocent lives).

However, in this case, also take this into consideration - Many of the people at the top of civilian leadership may very well be in cahoots with Russia. Not just Trump, but members of Congress, etc. and all of the committees overseeing the necessary action that would be required. In which case, they may have been forced to quietly continue collecting and wait until they could do something.

[Irish_Dem]

8. We know members of Congress have taken Russian money. And some speaking out on Russia's behalf.

Putin cannot be so stupid as to have only one asset in the US government.
He has been patient and playing the long game.

[Irish_Dem]

7. Certainly Putin has more than one asset in the US government. nt

[PdxSean]

10. Truly a fair and reasonable question.

Personally, I think it’s it’s because we Democrats fail, repeatedly, to hold republicans accountable for the illegal, treasonous, evil shit they do.

Reagan wasn’t held accountable for thwarting the release of American hostages in Iran and he got a pass for Iran/Contra. Then Bush/Cheney Gang got a pass for the fraud leading up to the Iraq war and similarly egregious conduct.

Soon after Obama took office, at a minimum, Democrats should have held hearings re the Iraq war and the root causes for the collapse of the US economy. We folded.

Democrats should have been screaming bloody murder about mounting evidence of Russia/Republican collusion re US elections. We folded.

What’s that old saying about bringing peanut butter sandwiches to a gun fight? Yea, that.

It isn’t that Democrats don’t know how to unite and scream bloody murder, cause we sure showed some grit in getting Al Franken to resign.

Some democrat somewhere recently said something like “If you aren’t here to fight, get the f*ck out of the way!” My thoughts exactly.

[BBG]

19. This, totally this

Accountability is lacking and we should be loud and clear demanding accountability from our government for what has been done and reasons behind it. Our representative government is not working as it should especially the accountability for the actions taken. The republicans are dancing with the truth that they must deliver to their constituents which are the moneyed interests and lobbies and not the voting people. We need to turn out and turn up the volume.

[stopwastingmymoney]

33. Absolutely. I like that last line especially, nt

[leftstreet]

38. +1

[pangaia]

40. Very good post. And especially using the Franken thing as an example.

[FakeNoose]

14. They brought this to Obama before the election last year

Obama knew about the Russian interference, and so did the Senate Intelligence committee.
Clapper & Brennan can only advise the President, they can't make presidential decisions.

[Hekate]

16. Pres Obama & his admin did everything they could & were stymied by politicians up & down the line

At the state level, secretaries of state were warned by AG Holder that they should make their voting systems a critical national infrastructure (someone please correct me on the right phrase) and he was roundly rejected because "states' rights."

After Trump was elected but well before he took office, President Obama and VP Biden told us they had piles of evidence and had made a point of distributing it widely among federal agencies "so that nobody could just go into one room and stuff it all in a sack to be shredded."

I have no special access. I saw this on reputable national television.

I will not have Obama, Biden, their administration, or Hillary Clinton blamed for this.

As for the people on DU who periodically pop up to demand that "the generals," the CIA, FBI, and so forth "do something," all I can say is that would play 100% into the hands of a growing authoritarian state.

[lastlib]

36. Bitch McConnell is the f*ckstick who gave Putin a pass to hack us.

He told Obama point-blank that if he went public with Putin's interference, he (mcTurdle) would accuse Obama of trying to tip the election scales toward Hillary Clinton. That sonofabitch needs to be HANGED for TREASON!

[bdamomma]

51. a few of them need

to be hung for treason, or a nice orange suit.

[sir pball]

39. Because Gerald Ford signed EO 11905

"No employee of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, political assassination."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_11905

[Hekate]

46. Because we do not aspire to be like all those countries where assassination overrules elections...

...routinely.

[think4yourself]

6. Not good enough.

These are just words.

[alfredo]

17. Not just words,they're damning words to counter trump's assault on the rule of law.

[SunSeeker]

9. Malcolm Nance has basically been saying this since 2016. nt

[oasis]

11. Trump is Putin's "asset" and the planet's "asshole". nt

[Pachamama]

15. +1000

Exactly

[ffr]

12. This is the kind of sh*t the RW has gotten us into.

[dlk]

13. As Long As They Pass Massive Tax Cuts for Their Corporate Overlords, Republicans Don't Care

Of course, the massive tax cuts come with a few goodies for members of Congress, too. Nothing says patriotism like legislating a few extra million for your own pocket. It's nothing short of the irony of ironies that the Republicans are in bed with the Russians to get the job done.

[bucolic_frolic]

18. It really is a label that fits the facts as the public has seen them, and it will stick

No recovery from this. It's permanent.

[dchill]

20. Must have been one of those small backpack nukes.

Not much fallout yet.

[Orrex]

21. Let me correct that headline

Instead of "Jim Clapper Just Nuked the Trump Presidency," how about "Clapper Makes The Same Observation As A Million Other People Have Already Done, With Equally Little Result."

[Ligyron]

24. BOOM!!

biggest explosion in this thread.

[Nitram]

43. Clapper is in a far better position than the rest of the country to say that with authority.

We're guessing. He knows. He woulddn't say it if he didn't have knowledge that goes far deeper than ours does. I'm sure he still has numerous top-level contacts in all the intelligence services.

[Orrex]

44. In other words, he has simply corroborated what others have observed for months

[Nitram]

47. You personally had access to raw intelligence about Trump Campaign collusion with Russia?

You must have some very good connections.

[Orrex]

49. You're clearly addressing someone else

since your reply has nothing to do with what I posted.

[Nitram]

52. Perhaps I misunderstood you. Who are the "others [who] have observed [the same thing] for months."

I assumed you were referring to ordinary people like you and me who have been connecting dots without really having direct confirmation of our suspicions.

[Farmer-Rick]

23. But assets are usually abandoned once they are identified and prosecuted

But Vlad keeps pumping Trump for more and more. You know Trump's probably turning over identities of agents and assets right now. Our intelligence is going to be crap for a very long time after Trump is out.

Trump and the GOP are traitors.

And they are still running things.

[Nitram]

42. Trump hasn't been officially identified and prosecuted yet. Mueller's working on it.

Putin will laugh all the way to the safe house when Trump goes to jail. I wouldn't be surprised if Putin isn't leaking info to help get Trump prosecuted. His goal was to put major stress on American society and the American political system. How could that better be accomplished than a sitting president being investigated, impeached, and sent to prison? 30% if Americans will think it was a setup (and they're right), and the other 70% will have to deal with the mess Trump leaves behind.

[japple]

27. I am curious as to why Observer publishes stuff like this? Joseph Meyer is Jared Kushner's

BIL and is CEO of Observer Media Group. Haven't seen the CNN appearance on The Lead yet, but will watch it if I can find it.

[Farmer-Rick]

48. You know I've wondered about that too

Like when the Wall Street Journal does some really good reporting on Trump and Russia. I think in the back of my mind why? It's owned by Murdoch. Why does he rat on his own GOP puppet then praise him on Fox?

I think some of the uber rich are afraid Putin is going to grab it all. That Vlad and Donny are going to carve up the US for profit and they wont get a share of the spoils. So, they want to seem like an enemy that has to be negotiated with. Like Corker pretending he was against the Tax Scam, all the while holding out for some freebies.

[red dog 1]

28. K&R

[RandomAccess]

30. Great quote by Clapper

[cp]

31. I believe it's spelled

ASSet

[icymist]

34. Clap on, Clap off, The Clapper!

[Nitram]

41. That hurts! I imagine that caught the attention of conservatives who still have respect for our

intelligence services.

[CrispyQ]

45. Trump's base doesn't care. They like Russia, cuz they hate gays & brown people, too.

And the GOP can't win without Trump's base, so Trump isn't going anywhere. Unless the dems can gain some influence. My bad! The dems haven't put up a fight in so many decades, I'm not sure they know how anymore. Besides, they're too busy going after their own.

[Blue_Roses]

50. Yep.

I'm so glad Clapper is speaking out about this. I'm sure he knows a lot more than he's letting on, but at least its seeping out about the fraud-in-chief and his long-standing ties to his buddy, Putin.