No need to spend much time on the appointment of Rick Grennell as Acting DNI. Trump has made a move that appears to be aimed at the heart of the Intel Community (IC).
Grennell will not only have access to top leve intel, he'll also have access to material that was used against Trump and can be declassified. Yes, Trump gave full power to declassify to AG Barr, and we haven't seen much. While I'm willing to wait, I do believe that more can be done in terms of transparency. We the People do deserve to get a look at more of the coup plotting than has been revealed, Trump wants it, and I see no reason to believe that there aren't large amounts that could be revealed without harm to either national security or future prosecutions. Yes, the intel services of "allies" would be unhappy, but Americans deserve to know who our "allies" really are. Beyond that, putting names to documents that will be revealed in court at a later date prejudices no one.
Perhaps more importantly, however, Grennell will have access to pretty much everything to do with Impeachment Theater, and he can declassify that, too. Everything internal to the IC that went through the IC IG office--Michael Atkinson--could be declassified. Could this be a backdoor way to reveal Atkinson's House testimony. Yes. And much else. We may be about to learn much more about everyone who had anything to do with the Impeachment Theater and the Ukraine Hoax. And that will inevitably involve upon the Russia Hoax.
I won't say that Grennell and Barr will be in competition, exactly, but I can see no reason whatsoever for Grennell to try to ingratiate himself with anyone in DC except Trump. DNI is a cabinet level post, which places Grennell on a level with Barr. Grennell is in a position to be a powerful ally to the Barr/Durham investigation in terms of breaking through bureaucratic logjams and delaying tactics. Barr should go for it.
I sure hope more corruption against President (and candidate) Trump gets exposed.
ReplyDeleteI have more faith in Grennell than I do in Barr. The Just-us department continues to be the just-us department under Barr. The "Just wait until the next report" is the department motto. Sorry, color me unimpressed with Barr. We want results, not rhetoric.
ReplyDeleteI've said it before--the AG job is more than just the Russia Hoax, even though IMO it's the most important part at this juncture in our history. Which Trump has said. Barr is doing a lot of good things, but he may need to refresh and refocus.
DeleteGood move, finally someone who doesn't have a dagger in their free hand while smiling for the camera.
ReplyDeleteWith the Senate select committee on intelligence, Trump has some leverage. If the drag their feet, you just might see information about a certain James Wolfe show up.
ReplyDeleteRob S
That would be great. Not sure if DNI has access to that info--FBI.
DeleteMark--I don't recall if this has been covered previously, so correct me if I'm wrong.
ReplyDeleteI made the assumption when Trump gave Barr de-classification authority it was so CIA, et al., couldn't handcuff Durham's (or other) investigation by blocking access due to classification--not that the authority was to make such documents publicly available, though that would likely follow as a consequence.
Am I missing something? No doubt, as you surmise above, we'd all like to see more evidence of the shenanigans, but...
I believe you've stated it as it is. Although, judging from Trump's tweets, I suspect he--like us--thought that there'd be more transparency. Judging from the letter that Grassley and Johnson wrote to Barr about the now famous "four footnotes," they thought so and continue to believe that more could be done.
DeleteCoup plotters are going full mass hysteria tonight trying to tie Grennell's appointment to a larger nefarious plot by Trump to aid and abet Russian assistance in the upcoming election. NYT is flailing away in support with a breathtaking fake news story about Russia trying to support Trump's re-election, that has no actual evidence to support that central claim.
ReplyDeleteBut what has most caught my attnetion is this tweet by brenanan tonight:
>>John O. Brennan
@JohnBrennan
We are now in a full-blown national security crisis. By trying to prevent the flow of intelligence to Congress, Trump is abetting a Russian covert operation to keep him in office for Moscow’s interests, not America’s.<
Got that? A "national security crisis," no less, says the main suspect in the conspiracy to commit coup on a duly elected POTUS.
This is the most persuasive evidence I have seen to date that suggests the coup plotters think indictments of them and/or their minions must be imminent.
Such nauseating and full-blown hysteria exhibited by Brennan, with coordinated MSM support, is thus a welcome omen that good things are about to happen.
Yes, I saw that stuff. I really think they're pushing on a string at this point. I don't believe they're gonna be able to get any traction with the American public.
DeleteThe Brennan tweet is interesting. Did they have hopes that they'd be able to delay the showdown until past 2020? Trump obviously doesn't intend to allow that, come hell or high water.
I assume Brennan, et al, are just setting up the narrative that will enable them to claim that any indictments of them are nothing more than politically-motivated retribution -- and distractions from his ongoing collusion, engineered by Trump's nefarious henchman at DOJ, AG Barr.
DeleteThe MSM will amplify and repeat as necessary, to poison all jury pools with this fake news.
In a sense, if Barr's appoint of various outside US attorneys to look into various issues turns into indictments brought by those US Attorneys, it tends to inoculate Barr from this particular line of attack -- which is precisely why I suspect that's why Barr did it. The timing of those appointments also suggests imminent action on the indictment front, as do Brennan's hysterical panic mode fulminations on twitter tonight.
The pace and level of panic are accelerating rapidly.
Brennan: It almost worked in 2016, so if we just try a little harder in 2020, all our dreams will come true...
DeleteIt's appropriate that "When you wish upon a star" is from Disney's "Pinocchio"...
It's frightening that somebody who was DCIA is, despite everything that is known, still spouting the "Trump is a Russian asset!" idiocy. What might we infer from this not just about Brennan and his tenure, but CIA itself? What about the rest of the Intelligence Community? What errant actions have been undertaken as a result of the false certainty that invariably arises from such dishonesty or incompetence or ignorance, or combination thereof?
DeleteFLASH TRAFFIC:
ReplyDelete>>Catherine Herridge
@CBS_Herridge
· 1h
#BREAKING Source close to matter tells @CBSNews NSC staffer Kash Patel tapped to serve as senior adviser to Amb. Rick Grenell, acting Intel chief (DNI.) Source said mandate is to “#cleanhouse including “top to bottom” review DNI operations that expanded dramatically since 2005.<<
That helps explain the hysterical panic we are witnessing in response to the Grinnell appointment as acting DNI.
Patel was Nunes' staffer who was instrumental in uncovering much of the wrongdoing of the Obama administration that they hoped Trump's administration would never learn about.
If he's a senior aide to Grinnell as DNI, and has a mandate to "CLEAN HOUSE" inside the IC, I suspect there are people quaking in their boots... not the least of whom should be IG Atkinson.
This ties into a theme I have mentioned previously: someone from another forum on the web, whom I respect enormously, and who has had professional contact with various entities in the IC, said shortly after Trump took office, and it became clear there were many holdovers who had worked to undermine the Trump campaign and new administration, that firing them all at that point would be a bad idea. He opined the best thing to do is leave the conspirators in place, so they can be monitored, and their network of co-conspirators with whom they were working against the administration could be identified. Only after mapping out the full extent of the conspiracy would it then make sense to remove them, once they were no long useful to the investigation.
The fact that NSC and now IC are BOTH going to get a fumigation and house cleaning to remove the bugs and vermin suggests the investigators have collected everything they need from these people; their metadata has been analyzed, the networks mapped, and the co-conspirators identified.
The House-cleaning could thus be indicative of imminent indictments, IMHO.... and that helps explain why people like Brennan are foaming at he mouth like "mad dogs in the midday sun."
Yes, Patel of all people should have a very clear idea of who the conspirators are.
DeleteComedy Gold:
ReplyDelete>>Laurence Tribe
@tribelaw
This truly looks like TREASON in all but the narrowest possible sense. If confirmed, it’s utterly devastating. It points to an enemy of the nation sitting in the White House. This cannot stand if we are to survive as a sovereign constitutional republic.<<
A once respected (by the Left) academic joins the ranks of public buffoons, with Paul Krugman.
DeleteWhat seems to be lost on these hysterical people is the fact that, once the American Public has been spun up by the First fabricated Russia Hoax -- courtesy of Hillary's campaign, the DNC, and the Obama Administration, and aided and abetted by the TDS MSM and sore loser Dems after Trump took office -- all Putin has to do is toss a few bread crumbs on the ground to create the impression he's doing such things, and the same goons will spin it up again and swallow it like mother's milk, hanging over Trump's second term like cloud of poison gas, hamstringing him during his second term much like the Hillary/DNC inspired Dossier hamstrung him for his first term.
ReplyDeleteIn this sense, Tribe and his ilk is either unwittingly aiding and abetting the Russians in hobbling Trump with false allegations, or, if he knows better, and he should, is wittingly aiding a second soft coup attempt.
Perhaps he should think about reviewing the statutes on Sedition.
Do you have any idea how "temporary" Grennell's temporary appointment is? I'm seeing reports Trump is considering Doug Collins for a permanent position.
ReplyDeleteFirst re Collins, apparently Collins has already said 'Thanks but no thanks.'
DeleteRe How long?
210 days, per the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998.
And, so I understand, another 210, if Senate rejects him for the job.
DeleteYes, that's possible.
DeleteThank you. That's enough time to do the job, assuming they all have done their homework and know who the bad apples are. I love the idea of Patel. We are already deeply in Patel's debt.
Delete"That's enough time to do the job"
DeleteI doubt that, although it may be enough time to go after some of the main players.
You've seen my previous postings re the near impossibility of firing career employees. Read the new post re K. T. McFarland and her own remarks on that topic.