A furious behind-the-scenes battle to counter Trump's threat to national security

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Josh Kraushaar
@HotlineJosh
"Trump’s ceaseless attempts to argue that the Russia investigation was a “hoax” — and to force the intelligence community to declassify information he believes would support this view — may animate some of his otherwise inexplicable moves."

Opinion | A furious behind-the-scenes battle to counter Trump’s threat to national security
He still wants intelligence officials to deliver political wins for him.
washingtonpost.com
9:54 PM · Nov 10, 2020

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-will-leave-the-question-is-how-much-damage-hell-do-to-national-security-before-then/2020/11/10/551d31a4-239d-11eb-a688-5298ad5d580a_story.html

President Trump’s senior military and intelligence officials have been warning him strongly against declassifying information about Russia that his advisers say would compromise sensitive collection methods and anger key allies.

An intense battle over this issue has raged within the administration in the days before and after the Nov. 3 presidential election. Trump and his allies want the information public because they believe it would rebut claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin supported Trump in 2016. That may sound like ancient history, but for Trump it remains ground zero — the moment when his political problems began.

CIA Director Gina Haspel last month argued strongly at a White House meeting against disclosing the information, because she believed that doing so would violate her pledge to protect sources and methods, a senior congressional source said. This official said a bipartisan group of Republican and Democratic senators has been trying to protect Haspel, though some fear that Trump may yet oust her.

Rumors have been flying this week about Haspel’s tenure, but a source familiar with her standing as CIA director said Tuesday that national security adviser Robert C. O’Brien and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows had both “assured her that she’s good,” meaning she wouldn’t be removed. Haspel also met personally with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Tuesday. She sees him regularly as a member of the “Gang of Eight” senior congressional leaders. But Tuesday’s visit was another sign of GOP support.

Haspel’s most unlikely defender has been Attorney General William P. Barr, who opposed a pre-election push to declassify the sensitive material, according to three current and former officials. At a showdown meeting at the White House, Barr pushed back against revealing the secret information.

*snip*

[marybourg]

1. This has the ring of truth to it.

The world revolves around the malignant narcissist.

[mr_lebowski]

5. In an twist (not), it also has the patina of bullshit to it at the same time ...

In the sense that I doubt there actually IS any such exculpatory 'intelligence' ... though Trump probably thinks there's something that could be 'spun' to help with his narrative. At the possible cost of lives and compromising intel gathering methods.

Another bit of bullshit is the fact that Trump can de-classify anything he wants.

Clearly whatever it IS, he wants someone ELSE to be on the hook for putting it out there.

[marybourg]

6. Re the bullshit part: yes!

[underpants]

2. Jan. 20th...tantrum you say?

Link to tweet

?s=21

[marybourg]

7. The 2020 trifecta: gets covid,

gets fired, gets evicted.

[catbyte]

3. Maybe they should feed him some bogus intel and see if it crops up anywhere the way we did

to the Japanese before the Battle of Midway.

[SheltieLover]

8. Excellent idea!

Maybe they have been & have been seeing results we are not privy to.

[BlueLucy]

4. GOP sees the evidence Trump wants to declassify different than he does.

They likely see themselves or other GOP exposure here that Trump does not see or does not care about. GOP is not trying to protect the nation or sources and methods. They're pushing back because it likely would include damning information.

[SheltieLover]

9. Likely so!

Good thought here. He doesn't care about them. Only himself.