At war with current and former intelligence officials since before he was elected, Donald Trump on Wednesday moved to strip Barack Obama’s CIA chief of his security clearance, though worse may be in store for John Brennan, says Ray McGovern.
By Ray McGovern
Special to Consortium News
There’s more than meets the eye to President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke the security clearances that ex-CIA Director John Brennan enjoyed as a courtesy customarily afforded former directors. The President’s move is the second major sign that Brennan is about to be hoisted on his own petard. It is one embroidered with rhetoric charging Trump with treason and, far more important, with documents now in the hands of congressional investigators showing Brennan’s ringleader role in the so-far unsuccessful attempts to derail Trump both before and after the 2016 election.
Brennan will fight hard to avoid being put on trial but will need united support from from his Deep State co-conspirators–a dubious proposition. One of Brennan’s major concerns at this point has to be whether the “honor-among-thieves” ethos will prevail, or whether some or all of his former partners in crime will latch onto the opportunity to “confess” to investigators: “Brennan made me do it.”
Brennan: Called Trump a ‘traitor.’ Now Trump’s taken away his security clearances.
Well before Monday night, when Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani let a small bomb drop on Brennan, there was strong evidence that Brennan had been quarterbacking illegal operations against Trump. Giuliani added fuel to the fire when he told Sean Hannity of Fox news:
“I’m going to tell you who orchestrated, who was the quarterback for all this. … The guy running it is Brennan, and he should be in front of a grand jury. Brennan took … a dossier that, unless he’s the biggest idiot intelligence agent that ever lived … it’s false; you can look at it and laugh at it. And he peddled it to [then Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid, and that led to the request for the investigation. So you take a false dossier, get senators involved, and you get a couple of Republican senators, and they demand an investigation—a totally phony investigation.”
The Fix Brennan Finds Himself In
After eight years of enjoying President Barack Obama’s solid support and defense to do pretty much anything he chose—including hacking into the computers of the Senate Intelligence Committee—Brennan now lacks what, here in Washington, we refer to as a “Rabbi” with strong incentive to advance and protect you. He expected Hillary Clinton to play that role (were it ever to be needed), and that seemed to be solidly in the cards. But, oops, she lost.
What needs to be borne in mind in all this is, as former FBI Director James Comey himself has admitted: “I was making decisions in an environment where Hillary Clinton was sure to be the next president.” Comey, Brennan, and co-conspirators, who decided—in that “environment”—to play fast and loose with the Constitution and the law, were supremely confident they would not only keep their jobs, but also receive plaudits, not indictments.
Unless one understands and remembers this, it is understandably difficult to believe that the very top U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials did what documentary evidence has now demonstrated they did.
So, unlike his predecessors, most of whom also left under a dark cloud, Brennan is bereft of anyone to protect him. He lacks even a PR person to help him avoid holding himself up to ridicule—and now retaliation—for unprecedentedly hostile tweets and other gaffes. Brennan’s mentor, ex-CIA Director George Tenet, for example, had powerful Rabbis in President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, as well as a bizarrely empathetic establishment media, when Tenet quit in disgrace 2004.
The main question now is whether the chairs of the House oversight committees will chose to face down the Deep State. They almost never do, and the smart money says that, if they do, they will lose—largely because of the virtually total support of the establishment media for the Deep State. This often takes bizarre forms. The title of a recent column by Washington Post “liberal” commentator Eugene Robinson speaks volumes: “God Bless the Deep State.”
Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. During his 27-year career as a CIA analyst, he served under nine CIA directors and seven Presidents. He is a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).
Looks like Brennan is competing w/the now late McCain for coverage, hype, etc.
Doesn’t this seem almost surreal? McGovern gets arrested and beaten by Capitol Hill cops for wanting to ask a question. Corporate media then shows a short clip of him being dragged out of the hearing room. The presenter says “a protestor” was dragged out by police. Why? What was his name? Absolutely no actual reporting was done. It’s like Comcast NBC Universal’s (which owns MSNBC) CEO said let him speak on our air? Over my dead body he will.
Part of the problem with Brennan is the media giving him so much power. Then it’s do what i say or I’ll call your boss and try to get you fired. That and the fact that there’s so much money in the system for literally everybody from Trump on down.
Keep hearing about Brennan suing and other assorted drama. It appears to be hype.
There’s an executive order governing security clearances, which you can find here and Bill Clinton issued in 1995
If a clearance is revoked, It requires an explanation in writing, specifying why. This is why Trump’s attorney wrote an explanation and made it public. You can find it here in this post.
You can’t revoke security clearance “because political views.” The surest reason is if someone (Brennan) advocates the violent overthrow of the US government (Trump).
Brennan didn’t violate any terms of this Executive Order. Despite that, Trump cancelled his clearance. One legal argument: being President, Trump has access to all secret information. He also can decide when and how to change information classifications.
Since Brennan didn’t violate this order, what reason other than politics or vindictiveness could Trump have for suing? It’s the same general idea as unlawful termination. This means suing and going to discovery and depositions, unless they can reach an out of court settlement.
O Society – this is what I posted further down the page:
“This is what I found from Executive Order 12968 (Access to Classified Information): eligibility is granted on the basis of standards, including ‘strength of character, trustworthiness, honesty, reliability, discretion, and sound judgment’. John Brennan has made some wild accusations against President Trump recently, going so far as accusing him of treason, etc.
Under Sec. 3.4. Reinvestigation Requirements, it says:
“(b) Employees who are eligible for access to classified information shall be the subject of periodic reinvestigations and may also be reinvestigated if, at any time, there is reason to believe that they may no longer meet the standards for access established in this order.”
https://fas.org/sgp/clinton/eo12968.html
John Brennan no longer meets the “standards” laid out in Executive Order 12968. He has NOT shown discretion, honesty, trustworthiness, reliability. He is even suspected of leaking classified information to the media. And accusing President Trump of treason for talking to Putin (and other things he has said about Trump) went too far.
The Russiagate lies are trickling out now and the players are slowly being revealed (Comey, Clinton, Lynch, Yates, Strzok, Page, Rosenstein, McCabe, Ohr, Crowdstrike, Fusion GPS, Christopher Steele, the DNC, etc.) Watergate pales in comparison.
Oops! Sorry to be redundant.
Sounds like as head of the executive branch, Trump can revoke anyone’s security clearance.
Suggest you ask some intelligence agency folks about the subject. Trump isn’t the only one who manufactures drama. The intelligence agency talking heads are non-stop with nonsense to keep the Russiagate train on the tracks.
This access was and is at the sufferance of the president as the creator and maintainer of the system of clearances and classification.
Once you hold clearances you surrender and curtail normal first Amendment rights.
This just in. Brennan will sue Trump to regain his security clearance. Does this mean that classified information will come out during discovery and depositions?
I predict that Brennan will file no lawsuit at all. Security clearances aren’t something that any person is entitled to hold. They are not property, nor are they a form of employment. Brennan would have to show damages, and the only damages that would count would be financial damages. To show that the loss of a security clearance caused him to lose income would simply prove that he was using the clearance for personal gain. That in itself is reason enough to pull his clearance.
Trump gave the wrong reasons for pulling his security clearance in his statement, but those don’t have to be the only reasons.
Two Questions for John Brennan
[Formal Disclaimer: Never voted for, nor liked, Donald Trump — never voted for any republiCON for that matter.]
Mikey Morrell, lame loser, CBS analyst and former CIA guy during the time of that fabricated intelligence on those weapons-of-mass-destruction in Iraq, claims John Brennan is a national security resource!?
Riiiiiiiiiggggghhhhtttt . . . .
OK, so let’s pose two questions to examine how valid Morrell’s claim is.
(1) Brennan was the CIA station chief in Saudi Arabia at the time when the State Department examiner rejected American visa applications by twelve of the thirteen future 9/11 hijackers — that refusal was countermanded or overridden by the CIA.
So, Mr. Brennan, what was your responsibility in this matter and why wasn’t your security clearance immediately pulled after 9/11 and why weren’t you investigated on this situation?
(2) During the time Brennan was CIA director the American intelligence and defense establishment was severely penetrated by Chinese military hackers (the Pentagon, CIA, NSA, private defense contractors and various government agencies, most notably the OPM which had over 25 million personnel records compromised).
So, Mr. Brennan, were you paid above minimum wage for your job performance during that period, and if so, how can you justify it?
John Brennan as a national security resource?!
More like a national security disaster ! ! !
National security resource my barbarously hard butt!
I would have been much easier for HRC to actually run a political campaign, e.g.:
1) repeatedly and vociferously insist on a $15/hr minimum wage
2) ceremoniously (what, else, for a virtual queen!) give the equivalent of all her Goldman Sachs earnings to a charity, the choice of which to appeal to whatever voting block needed most convincing
3) transfer her sometimes crazed rants against foreign figures towards the producers of, and the amelioration of, the poisoned waters of the US, starting in Flint, MI
you are correct. mueller had just been appointed fbi director immediately prior to 9/11. he was in place for the rest of the bush administration and into the obama administration, even getting special legislation to extend his tenure past the statutory ten years. another excellent source on the topic and its larger implications are the books and videos of chris bollyn, a very brave man and true patriot.
on a somewhat separate topic, and yet with the mueller connection and government malfeasance, not, i note on conservative treehouse (most, but not all {the nation, here, truthdig, jimmy dore, others?} of the outlets really investigating this are “right wing” — i hope when it’s the bush adm’s turn the left will try as hard; as yet little) that “?In 2009 the FBI, then headed by Robert Mueller, requested the assistance of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska in an operation to retrieve former FBI officer and CIA resource Robert Levinson who was captured in Iran two years earlier. The agent assigned to engage Deripaska was Andrew McCabe; the primary FBI need was financing and operational support. Deripaska spent around $25 million and would have succeeded except the U.S. State Department, then headed by Hillary Clinton, backed out.” the part that amazes me is that the fbi asking a russian oligarch to fund and do an operation to retrieve an fbi officer and cia resource from iran is not itself a huge story. the u.s. government cannot fund and do this? how much can russia be our “enemy” if an intimate of putin’s (and he is) is asked to do us such a huge favor (and with what reimbusrsement?). there is sooo much news that is not “fit to print.”
Suggestion for Brennan. If he really wants to be taken seriously, start by toning down the arrogance. I mean, it’s bad enough to have to deal with Trump’s racism, arrogance and more. Now we have Brennan with his do-you-know-who-the-****-I-am attitude every time he’s on camera. Two out of control mega egos inside the Beltway. Who cares.
How come former high level govt. officials have lifetime security clearances? Is it just a “courtesy”? So now that Brennan lost his, what will he do (or what can he do)? Sue Trump? Does this mean possibly disclosing classified information in the lawsuit/discovery/depositions?
What about somebody like John Kiriakou who lost his clearance because he disclosed CIA torture? Where’s the corporate media outrage over that?
Re Brennan as ringleader, was he coordinating with the British and/or other governments concerned about Brexit and populism?
Re Brennan as ringleader, is the speculation that Rosenstein’s wife works for the CIA credible?
Ray, thank you SO MUCH for giving us something we can use to explain to others about this recent Brennan scandal. People over here in the Netherlands are getting “news” that Trump is a dictator who won’t let honest people tell their story. Brennan is being played over here as the victim. Nobody knows the story of the betrayal that made me lose faith in President Obama: when he appointed this beast to chief of the CIA. THEN I finally woke up and realized Obama was just as bad as Bush ever was. We need more articles like this to explain to people you do NOT have to be a Trump supporter to expose these war criminals. Please, the “father of waterboarding” is NOW the “victim”? When will people wake up. And then President Obama gets on television and with all his folksy charm, tells the world, “We tortured some folks” as if saying it like that made it just a tiny little misstep.
“THEN I finally woke up and realized Obama was just as bad as Bush ever was.” Now that’s just silly. Maybe you could say something like: Obama did a lot of the same things Bush did or continued many of his policies , however he was clearly not as bad as Bush,, if for no other reasons than Obama had much more competent people who stole a whole lot less and didn’t invade Iraq…opening the gates of hell in the middle east while his vice president and his dad made billions via Halliburton stock options and the Carlisle group. he also insured quite a few poor people in a country where 300,000+ black people die per year simply due to lack of consistent basic health care. Also, Trump isn’t a dictator yet…and may never be one, but it’s far from a settled issue. he’s certainly trying to be one. Brennan may be a shit heel along with Clapper and others, but they aren’t literally trying to dispel as many people of color from the country as possible.
“THEN I finally woke up and realized Obama was just as bad as Bush ever was. ”
Now that is silly. Perhaps you were not alive in 2000-2008? Had a head injury causing some sort of amnesia? What? if nothing else, Obama and his people stole a whole lot less and did not actually invade Iraq and Afghanistan as Bush did.
among quite a few other bad things Obama didn’t do, was appoint a whole lot of openly fascist federal judges. Also, the fact is trump is clearly a would be dictator, and may yet become one…of perhaps it will be pence who becomes our own Hitler. No one should take pleasure at a falling out of thieves (Brennan,Clapper,Comey,Mueller ect Vs. the Trumper Republicans) but I’d personally rather not see trump prevail in this turf war because they will shift their anti immigrant attacks into a pogrom against those of a browner hue. in fact, it’s already starting with the deportation of thousands of actual citizens of color along with the
100s of thousands of other non citizens.
Trump Strikes Back at ‘Ringleader’ Brennan . Brennan, along with General Petraeus and Dick Cheney, in 2003-2005 working in the Occupational Temporary Administration in Baghdad, stole $5.7 billion from the Pentagon Budget! Brennan is a collar! https://consortiumnews.com/2018/08/15/trump-strikes-back-at-ringleader-brennan/ https://vimeo.com/71881109
Arayik Sargsyan, academician, President of Academy of Geopolitics, ex-Honorary Consul of Macedonia in Armenia.
e-mail:[email protected]..
https://twitter.com/Araik_Sargsyan
I don’t understand all these “clever” games. Neither will I see why they hate Russia so much. We hoped we’d be friends and partners at least when Trump became your president. Alas…
> Ludmila
> … Neither will I see why they hate Russia so much. …
But Oceania — oops, I meant to write “Russia”, of course — has always been our enemy (except when it hasn’t).
I don’ think the partnership trump envisions with Russia will be particularly good for anyone, which is not to say that the neocon containment and encroachment on the Russian sphere of influence is a good idea either.
I read (Google) Brennan visited Kiev, in the end of June 2014., about 3 weeks before the MH17 was taken down.
Oliver Stone knew CIA had a false flag incident in mind when their invasion in the Bay of Pigs did not work out to end the rule of Fidel Castro in Cuba: taking down an aircraft and blaming Castro for it. John F. Kennedy did not permit this.
Assuming Brennan’s visit was not just to be polite, could there be a connection between his visit and the taking sown of MH17. Russian rebels shot 6 descending planes with granates from their shoulder. Poroshenko called them “terrrists” and this fase flag (?) could be helpful.
I was hoping for justice.
Thank you so much for your succinct comments and your courage in bring the kind of news person that has put you in danger at times. You give hope to the rest of us so that we will keep trying to make a difference. You are not alone, you speak truth to power and you inspire others.
You can’t be a high ranking government official and call the President a traitor(without evidence)and not expect to be held accountable!
and that may be why the statement “The main question now is whether the chairs of the House oversight committees will chose to face down the Deep State. They almost never do, and the smart money says that, if they do, they will lose—largely because of the virtually total support of the establishment media for the Deep State. ” may not be true this time. the confluence of a yinon wars and internet weakened msm, combined with alienated political bases on the left and right, may offer this imperfectly vetted, bully under lethal attack of a president the chance at a herculean cleansing of the deep state stables.
Notwithstanding the justifiable political decision by Trump’s White House, to cancel Brennan’s security clearance, I see no reason for ex public officials and functionaries, to keep security clearances at any level.
Not even at Presidential level. Public office is a temporary assignment, government institutions have not time of expiry. In Brennan’s case, considering that he is a criminal felon still at large, to posses security clearance is unimaginable.
you are right and may that be a result of the current tumult. re: “The main question now is whether the chairs of the House oversight committees will chose to face down the Deep State. They almost never do, and the smart money says that, if they do, they will lose—largely because of the virtually total support of the establishment media for the Deep State. “, the establishment (mockingbird) media has been weakened by the nearing two decades of the combination of its support for the wars of the “seven countries in five years” aka the yinon plan, and the inroads of the internet based media. in addition, the deep state media and its investigatory, prosecutorial and clandestine allies in government have so abused the choice of the republican party base, and that base itself, that the former “conservative” allies of the cia, etc. now call for its blood. add to this mix the enormous disenchantment of the left wing democratic base with, first, barack obama (rather than the anti bush, bush 2) and then hillary clinton especially following her elaborately detailed by wikileaks fraud against bernie sanders (i voted for sanders and trump). then with an apparently less than perfectly vetted bully with some street sense and showbiz timing as commander in chief, etc. defending himself against impeachment and possible assassination, we may have the perfect storm for a herculean stable cleaning.
“Well before Monday night, when Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani let a small bomb drop on Brennan, there was strong evidence that Brennan had been quarterbacking illegal operations against Trump. ”
So you don’t believe Mueller has anything on Trump, but you accept this statement from Giuliani at face value. I’m no fan of Brennan, but your selective credulity is breathtaking.
Don’t you think that if Mueller had anything, he would not by now have used it? The best he could do so far was to accuse some Russian spies of spying, just in time for the Helsinki summit. One does not have to be a Trump fan in order to see through this charade.
Have you not kept up with all of what went on in the FBI Counter-Intelligence operation involving the Steele Dossier, the Clinton campaign, instigated by Brennan and morphed into the Mueller investigation, all done with fabricated intelligence.
It’s about time the American People are heard. They are fed up with all of the under handed activities that politicians are so used to. If the president decides to pull someone’s security clearance, it is his decision unless specifically denied in the constitution. The hell with what has been the precedent. The president has never been treated like this in the past. It is the politicians who have destroyed precedence. When our founding fathers formed this country, it was thought that a politician would occupy and office for at most 4 years. There was NO incentive to make being a politician a career. NOW the politicians think they are above the law, don’t have the same health insurance that the average American has to contend with. and have perks beyond imagination. The American people have had it. Enough is enough. I say run all the politicians who have served over 8 years out of office, NO EXCEPTIONS! And their salaries should be tied to the inverse of the change in the deficet. I’m tired of the NEW DEMOCRATIC MATH.
And I’m sick and tired of the Orange headed would be dictator in the Oval Office who would overturn the Constitution in a heart beat if he could figure out how. Jesus folks, wake up.
What constitution?…….that’s long gone and happened under Bush with help from Obama.Brennen and Mueller are Bush criminal toadies who helped lie the world into Iraq and illegally spied on us and tortured “some folks” and lied to the congress under oath about all of it. ……why aren’t they in prison ?Thats the question.
This is what you defend now?
CIA director John Brennan lied to you and to the Senate. Fire him …
Video for brennan lied to congress about torture
? 1:34
https://www.theguardian.com/…/cia-director-john-brennan-lied-sen…
Jul 31, 2014
Brennan’s one-time torture endorsement made a newly elected … allowed to lie brazenly to Congress, the …
CIA admits to spying on Senate staffers
| World news | The Guardian
Video for brennan lied to congress about torture
? 1:34
https://www.theguardian.com/…/cia-admits-spying-senate-staffers
Jul 31, 2014
John Brennan issues apology after acknowledging that agency spied on … to review agency documents for …
Obama admits CIA ‘tortured some folks’ but stands by Brennan over …
Video for brennan lied to congress about torture
? 1:34
https://www.theguardian.com/…/obama-cia-torture-some-folks-bre…
Aug 1, 2014
CIA admits spying on Senate staffers · Trevor Timm: Brennan lied, so fire him … Obama banned the use of …
Your ideas here certainly “click.” I’m with you. (But we’re probably a huge minority.)
I think term limits are a superficial solution to a much deeper problem. The main thing we need to focus on is getting money out of politics. As a matter of fact, in states where term limits have been implemented, studies show that they only strengthen the hand of the executive bureaucracy and lobbyists vis-a-vis legislators who don’t have enough time to master the legislative learning curve or to develop the specific subject expertise necessary for efficient oversight of the executive branch. And the legislators in those states spend the same amount of time campaigning and fundraising as their non-term-limited counterparts and actually less time on constituent activities. It also seems to exacerbate the “revolving-door” problem of legislators seeking employment in industry as paid consultants or lobbyists once they’ve left office. And it’s not uncommon that they spend a lot of time campaigning for higher office in anticipation of being termed-out, causing an attitude of neglect towards their current position and viewing it as a mere stepping stone for something better — and often being groomed for that position by corporate sponsors. As a matter of fact, it could be argued that term limits not only do not address the problem of unresponsive government — it exacerbates it.
Taking measures to counter the influence of money over the process is what is required. To that end, we should work towards public and small donation financed elections. Work to eliminate super-PACs and other corrupt practices and insist on complete transparency over campaign funding. Also increase participation by expanding voter rights and making voting easier and more accessible to more people. And work on campaign districting reform, i.e., eliminating gerrymandering. There are other things, but the main idea is to reduce the influence of money and increase the influence of “people power” over our system.
HOORAY! Someone is FINALLY saying it like it is for us, “the people” in all of this utter stupidity and disregard for The Constitution!
Like President Trump or don’t, he was voted POTUS! Get Over it!
Jackson and Lincoln came close.
Isn’t it also a precedent that incoming presidents meet with foreign leaders before they are sworn in? We know that Reagan met with the Iranian government before he even won the election and nothing happened to him. I’m sure that other presidents have done that same thing Trump did.
Flynn didn’t just talk to Russia about the sanctions he also asked them not to censure Israel for building more settlements. No one had a problem with that.
Brennan has been a raving lunatic when he kept saying things about Trump and especially when he said that he had committed treason just for meeting with Putin. He had every right to do that. But not according to Brennan. Sheesh!
“We have been lied to and cheated for years.”
Since the day that the US of Amnesia became independent, 95% of the time it has been involved directly or indirectly in foreign meddling (WARS).
Only 5% of the time the US has known peace …..
Not only is it not hard for me to believe, it was entirely predictable and possibly even mandatory.
I mean, look at the little devils we’re dealing with here.
Starting with the Wicked Witch of Chappaqua..
Agreed, no one of significance is going to jail: that’s for the little people.
This article is right out of the Alex Jones playbook. Ironically, the libtard wing of the Dems is fuming about 1st amendment violations, suing the government, and other total nonsense regarding this issue. Removing Brennan’s clearance though legal and justifiable is political theater. It is a nothing burger.
First. Brennan has broken no laws because he has not blabbed anything classified to the public that we know of. His yapping on the media against the administration is justification alone for pulling his clearance because of a loss of trust. What secrets does Brennan have access to? None, actually – just the ones in his head (which is a lot). If he blabs those secrets, security clearance or not, he will be facing jail time.
Second, what does Brennan need a security clearance for anyway? He’s retired. I doubt he wants to enlist in the military – too old for that. Maybe he wants to work for a defense contractor. Does he need a clearance to be an executive – in most cases nope. Georgetown or George Mason would hire him in an eyeblink security clearance or not.
Third, Brennan has no access to any new classified material whatsoever. Like anybody reading this without an active clearance and need to know, we cannot even enter the CIA, NSA, Pentagon or any other intel agency building unless escorted. Even people who work at these agencies may not view secrets unless a) they have a high enough clearance based upon a background investigation, b) that they have been granted authorization by a top official in that agency, and c) that they have a “mission-related need to know.”
This last bit is why trump’s action is a nothing burger. Brennan has no mission-related need to know anything. He is out of favor with Trump, so he is highly unlikely to be called in to advise this administration on any classified matter whatsoever.
Finally, linking a presidential security clearance revokation, unusual as it is, to some future legal jeopardy is nonsense. If DOJ thinks Brennan has divulged a secret, they will arrest him – clearance or not. Once one is arrested, that ends anybody’s security clearance instantly. There is no need for presidential intervention. It is a nothing burger. It is just theater.
Tomonthebeach – I have no way of knowing whether what you say is correct, but let’s assume Brennan couldn’t get access to classified material himself. But if he still had a security clearance, could someone else, who does have access to classified material, legally give it to Brennan? There’s been a ton of leaking from Trump’s government.
If a current employee wanted to give Brennan classified material now, now that Brennan has been stripped of his clearance, they’d be very reluctant to do so because that would be breaking the law.
And the actual law is:
“In the case of former CIA directors, the agency ‘holds’ their security clearance and renews it every five years for the rest of their lives. However, that requires former CIA directors to behave like current CIA employees.”
In other words, current CIA employees aren’t going around accusing the President of treason, not if they want to keep their jobs. Brennan still has his free speech. He can drone on to his heart’s content. He just doesn’t have access to classified material anymore.
Can you provide a source for your quote on the actual law? “In the case of former CIA directors, the agency ‘holds’ their security clearance and renews it every five years for the rest of their lives. However, that requires former CIA directors to behave like current CIA employees.”
Thanks!
Chris – that was a quote I took from Sean Hannity’s show. In revoking the clearance, President Trump said:
“I have a unique constitutional responsibility to protect the nation’s classified information, including by controlling access to it. Today, in fulfilling that responsibility, I have decided to revoke the security clearance of John Brennan, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency,” Trump said in a statement dictated in the White House briefing room by his press secretary Sarah Sanders. “Mr. Brennan’s lying and recent conduct characterized by increasingly frenzied commentary is wholly inconsistent with access to the nation’s most closely held secrets.”
This is what I found from Executive Order 12968 (Access to Classified Information): eligibility is granted on the basis of standards, including “strength of character, trustworthiness, honesty, reliability, discretion, and sound judgment”. John Brennan has made some wild accusations against President Trump recently, going so far as accusing him of treason, etc.
Under Sec. 3.4. Reinvestigation Requirements, it says:
“(b) Employees who are eligible for access to classified information shall be the subject of periodic reinvestigations and may also be reinvestigated if, at any time, there is reason to believe that they may no longer meet the standards for access established in this order.”
https://fas.org/sgp/clinton/eo12968.html
I hope this helps, Chris.
Hi B.E.-
I agree that Brennan should have his clearance revoked, and frankly so should anyone after they leave government. The thing is, I just got done reading “The Devil’s Chessboard”, and it is quite clear that Allen Dulles still ran things after he was fired by JFK, and was most likely the coordinator of the assassination. I doubt that Trump has any more control of the CIA than JFK had. Until people like Brennan are capable of being prosecuted in a court of law, our so-called “Intelligence” agencies don’t give a rat’s ass what the president orders. In fact, they probably give “suggestions” that are in fact orders. Right now I think they are trying to figure out a way to get him out of office without having to actually kill him.
Hi, Skip. The Devil’s Chessboard sounds like a good book; I’ll have to read it. Yes, I think whoever gets to the top of the CIA is probably one mean, bad monster of a human being.
I too think they’d love to assassinate Trump, but I don’t think they dare. There are too many people who just don’t believe the government anymore, and Trump’s supporters would blow the roof off if anything happened to him. They’ve got to be worried about that because they’re the ones with all the guns. Ha!
I think they’re desperately racing against time, trying to nail Trump before he nails them. The evidence is slowly trickling out (because the FBI and DOJ are stalling) re the Steele dossier/Russiagate/spying, etc.
From the evidence gathered so far, it’s pretty evident that the upper layer of the DOJ, FBI and CIA are rotten to the core and should be dismantled ASAP. If all Trump does while being in office is bring these guys down, then he will have done a great service.
Take care.
Thanks!
I too highly recommend The Devil’s Chessboard.
WELL SAID!
Brennan was caught spying on the Senate Intelligence Commitee in violation of the Constitution and subsequently lied about it and allegedly directed personnel under his command to lie about to the Senate and the IG
He could easily be brought up on rather serious charges.
He also leaked classified information to the press as did others and they could have been prosecuted under the espionage act. They will be losing their security clearances soon too. The information that they leaked was the NSA information on Flynn to the Washington post. But of course the Obama justice department only prosecuted people who exposed Washington’s dirty secrets.
EXACTLY!
Nicely, clearly told, Raymo. The walls move toward the center of the room, funhouse style. You’re the chronicler. Keep at it. — P..L., and Jonathan Strong.
Your analysis is unidimensional. I submit that you were wrong stating that Congress does not take on the deep state. I refer of course to the church committee of 1975. This committee was established for many of the same reasons Trump is attacking the deep state today. There were great abuses of our taxpayer funded intelligence agencies and other covert operations. I will refer to the book Blind Man’s Bluff. The key to the demise of the deep state in that situation was the Glomar Explorer debacle. Billions of dollars wasted for a negligible amount of intelligence. We face the same situation today. The intelligence agencies have a run amok. They are wasteful ilwith tax payer miney, and I would submit downright criminal in their activities done merely to aggrandize the wealth if their members. Very little is done to protect the nation, because there’s no need. The world fears Americans at war. Capitalizing on our great expenditures in the military-industrial complex and these fears the intelligence operatives spy on people to determine to invest, manipulate markets and downright steal intellectual property from American citizens. I would even go so far that many of the hackers who are stealing money from the credit card and other financial institutions are actually state actors, and I submit those state actors include our own intelligence communities. They operate as an organized crime syndicate stealing at will and justifying it under the most specious of justifications. Were the Democrats to control Congress this would result in the most egregious threat to the deep state. Just like under Nixon, with the Democrats control in the house, under Trump we would have a weak executive. However, unlike in 1975 with the church committee, we would discover that there is a third-party that would cooperate with the Democrats in pursuing policies of Trump-those are the Trump Republicans- Trumper’s. The one policy that Trump has failed to deliver is to reduce the wars and expenditures over seas. The Democrats could redirect that amount of money being wasted overseas and use it to fund their pet projects should they take control of the house. These pet projects are the same projects that Trump seeks to advance: building infrastructure, increasing domestic economic activity, putting Americans to work etc. etc. There are a great number of Trumoers who hold those desires dear. The Democrats would be hard pressed to ignore those. I submit that the Republican establishment, which I do not consider Republicans at all, I consider them Bushites, do not desire any of those policies to be realized. Thus, the establishment Republicans would having very little influence over the house were Democrats to gain control. The Trumpers could work with the Democrats to bring about great prosperity in the United States. We you be reoeating 1994, where a very left-leaning Democratic president went to the center once the house changed hands. Here you would have Trump being free to stop funding the war is overseas and the military-industrial complex, because the Trumper‘s in the house could work with the Democrats to bring that about. In this fashion Trump would run to the center as well. I seriously doubt that you will have any impeachment process, because the Democrats will realize once they have control of the House many of their policies are aligned with the policies of the Trumper‘s and it would be far better to get the funding into their districts rather than create discord like they back with Obamacare. Identity politics destroyed the Democratic Party. Only the most left-wing wack jobs will continue with that should the Democrats take control of the house. In short, it matters not which party controls the house,the deep state is going to lose power after the 2018 elections.
You have far too much faith in Democrats. If anyone is cheering on the thugs running the FBI, CIA et al these days it’s Democrats. Good luck with that.
Kenneth, “Democratic control” of Congress is an election-year propaganda myth. Once the new Congress is seated and you look around you see that nearly everyone elected is a member of the War Party. And a nice tight coalition of Blue Dog and Otherwise Corporatist democrats unite to block any progressive agenda. In the 2018 election, we have the influx of CIA Democrats on top of that. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/03/07/dems-m07.html
So much for Congress cracking down on the deep state.
Yes, what Kenneth might like to see happen may be admirable but not going to happen in 2018 or 19, which is practically a different universe from 1975 and for exactly the reasons you specify. This country and its self-appointed minders have changed massively in 45 years. Besides, 1975 was a year after Watergate was finally resolved with Nixon and Agnew’s resignations and Congress may have been feeling its oats, going so far as to defund the Vietnam war! Imagine defunding ANY of the multiple wars ongoing!
Congress fears the intelligence agencies and takes orders from them, not the other way around as envisaged in the constitution or spelled out in legislation. Schumer let that feline out of the sack when he warned the president not to mess with them. Let Trump try to control the agencies by firing all of their top officers, slashing their budgets, freezing their funds or shutting down their operations, even specific projects, and watch congress come to their rescue in a New York minute.
We saw how the CIA worked around congressionally-imposed budgetary restraints in Iran-Contra: by secretly running drugs from Columbia to LA, selling arms to Iran and using the proceeds to fund death squads in Central America. Congress didn’t have the guts to take that investigation to it logical conclusion of impeachments and/or indictments. Why? Congress will save any significant component of intel or the pentagon before they’d rescue Social Security or any other social program. If pressed for an answer as to which of the “usual suspects” really whacked Kennedy, I suspect most folks would put their money on the CIA, the FBI or some combination of the major intel agencies.
The neoliberal globalists, I fear, have taken that phrase “drowning government in the bathtub” all too literally. Rosa Brooks’ book How War Became Everything and Everything Became the Military exposes the vast expansion and added responsibilities of the MIC, as governmental departments continue to be dismantled and privatized. She even said in a book circuit lecture that she thought the idea of Congress “declaring war” was antiquated and cute. Well, how long will it be when the very hollowed out structures of Capitol Hill and the White House are considered antiquated and cute? What if the plan all along has been to fold up this whole democratic experiment and move HQ into some new multi-billion dollar Pentagon digs?
Remember the words of Strobe Talbott:
“Within the next hundred years…nationhood as we know it will be obsolete; all states will recognize a single, global authority… National sovereignty wasn’t such a great idea after all.”
This nation had better wake up fast if it wants to salvage the currency authorizing power of government and restore its role in the economy, before it’s no longer an option and the private bankers, today’s money lenders in the temple, govern for good.
“The bank strategy continues: “If we can privatize the economy, we can turn the whole public sector into a monopoly. We can treat what used to be the government sector as a financial monopoly. Instead of providing free or subsidized schooling, we can make people pay $50,000 to get a college education, or $50,000 just to get a grade school education if families choose to go to New York private schools. We can turn the roads into toll roads. We can charge people for water, and we can charge for what used to be given for free under the old style of Roosevelt capitalism and social democracy.”
This idea that governments should not create money implies that they shouldn’t act like governments. Instead, the de facto government should be Wall Street. Instead of governments allocating resources to help the economy grow, Wall Street should be the allocator of resources – and should starve the government to “save taxpayers” (or at least the wealthy). Tea Party promoters want to starve the government to a point where it can be “drowned in the bathtub.”
But if you don’t have a government that can fund itself, then who is going to govern, and on whose terms? The obvious answer is, the class with the money: Wall Street and the corporate sector. They clamor for a balanced budget, saying, “We don’t want the government to fund public infrastructure. We want it to be privatized in a way that will generate profits for the new owners, along with interest for the bondholders and the banks that fund it; and also, management fees. Most of all, the privatized enterprises should generate capital gains for the stockholders as they jack up prices for hitherto public services.
You can see how to demoralize a country if you can stop the government from spending money into the economy. That will cause austerity, lower living standards and really put the class war in business. So what Trump is suggesting is to put the class war in business, financially, with an exclamation point.”
http://michael-hudson.com/2017/03/why-deficits-hurt-banking-profits/
KC Brooms – EXCELLENT POINTS and well taken!
That you have to reach back to 1975 puts the lie to your assertion. You might as well be referencing someone only drinking formula as a baby to argue that the present day person dead of cirrohsis of the liver wasn’t an alcoholic.
(1) An intellectual Rubicon is crossed when Giuliani is deemed a reliable source … for anything. (2) Brennan is hardly a model of credibility. But in that he is simply characteristic of the national security apparatus’s leaders over the decades. The starting point with these guys has always been an obvious contempt for the legislative branch and the public it represents. It’s not a quality unique to Brennan. In fact, it’s probably a qualification for the job. (3) Am happy to hear that Brennan wants “all Americans [to] get the answers they so rightly deserve” [NYT] from the Mueller investigation. But he’d be more persuasive if that desire extended equally to the Senate’s investigation into torture. (4) Not so obvious is the reference to “documentary evidence” that allegedly demonstrates how national security officials “play[ed] fast and loose with the Constitution and the law”. A number of them made it clear during the campaign that they believed only one of the candidates was even remotely suitable for the presidency. Where does the law come in? If the claim — hinted at but not made explicit — is that Brennan was part of a conspiracy to produce the Steele dossier, allegations of fact, not to mention citation to laws violated, would be helpful. Based on information known to date, we can reasonably surmise that some, but not all, of the material in the dossier was the product of Russian disinformation channelled to Steele. If there’s something more, it would be good to get details. (5) Why people opposed to Clinton are still on about Comey is a mystery. His Prince-of-Denmark obsession with his own virtue materially contributed to her losing the election. And, more broadly, if there really was a conspiracy by the national security apparatus, it was an endeavor that failed. One would think that the 63 million would be pleased on both counts. (6) If law breaking there was, what explains the silence from the DOJ under Sessions, whose stellar career is littered with contrived prosecutions of political opponents? It doesn’t take much to draft an indictment. Yet, here we are, nearly two years into the new dawn, and Brennan continues to walk free … and even spout off publicly. What explains that?
What explains that? It’s probably on the agenda pending winning a second term, at which time the President declares a political mandate and the knives come out.
..I surmise
Did anyone else notice the dog that did not bark, in NYT and WaPo coverage of the Brennan clearance story yesterday and today? I forced myself to read both papers this morning. Unless I missed it, there was no mention of what Giuliani told Hannity less than two days before Brennan lost his clearance. Here’s how I put it yesterday:
++++++++++++
Well before Monday night, when Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani let a small bomb drop on Brennan, there was strong evidence that Brennan had been quarterbacking illegal operations against Trump. Giuliani added fuel to the fire when he told Sean Hannity of Fox news: “I’m going to tell you who orchestrated, who was the quarterback for all this … The guy running it is Brennan, and he should be in front of a grand jury. Brennan took … a dossier that, unless he’s the biggest idiot intelligence agent that ever lived … it’s false; you can look at it and laugh at it. And he peddled it to [then Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid, and that led to the request for the investigation. So you take a false dossier, get Senators involved, and you get a couple of Republican Senators, and they demand an investigation — a totally phony investigation.”
+++++++++++++
I am no fan of Fox or Hannity, much less Giuiliani, but … but … well, isn’t the President’s lawyer worth mentioning when he says something this closley connected?
As I wrote earlier, Brennan is “running scared.” The people who are supposed to be in charge have the goods on him. It will be of great interest to watch what happens over the next few weeks and months.
Will Mueller let his best-friends-forever — the country’s highest former “justice” and intelligence officials — be held accountable? I don’t think so; there is too much already available on paper, and their foul odor envelops him as well. I believe Mueller will be tempted to manufacture damaging, WMD-style “evidence” of a Trump-Russia conspiracy. (Some of you will recall that DOJ pulled that one, almost successfully, on Thomas Drake.)
The big question at that point would be whether DOJ and FBI have been so totally corrupted that not one lawyer/”officer of the court” and not one other employee will recognize her/his duty, by his/her solemn oath “to support and defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies foreign and domestic,” TO BLOW THE WHISTLE.
The stakes are so high, and Mueller’s own behavior — both in the past and now — is so demonstrably smelly that, when push comes to shove, I think there is a better-than-even chance that he might take the “manufacture” risk, confident there is probably no one left with the conscience and courage of a Thomas Tamm (the DOJ lawyer who blew the whistle on gross violations of the 4th Amendment).
If Mueller does choose to go that route, it is to be hoped that he will be proven wrong in assuming that he and Comey were successful in weeding out any and all FBI/DOJ “malcontents” who might place their oath to the Constitution ahead of career and misguidedly blind loyalty to bosses.
What do you all think?
Ray
Some have wondered what charges might be brought to bear against Mr. Brennan. The article also hints that underlings may succumb to fear for their own careers and finally resort to the “just following orders” defense. That would amount to, “Brennan made me do it”. Of course, Mr. Brennan could resort to that ruse as well, and implicate Clapper, Hayden, Biden…or Mr. Obama himself. But lets get back to the “charges”. Steele had been out of the Russia loop for ten years, and his buddy Pablo Miller was apparently retired as well. Neither one of them had any viable connections to anyone actively involved with the Putin administration. Skripal had been sentenced to eight years in prison then exchanged – if I’m not mistaken – in the Anna Chapman swap. That exchange was conducted with unusual haste and lack of fanfare, which caused some to suspect something sinister was afoot. I believe Hillary was still Secretary of State when that happened. So, Steele had no valid Russian sources that anyone can identify, but Hillary had been hooked up with Tyler Drumheller (now deceased) and Sydney Blumenthal, both of whom have been identified as participants in a private intelligence activity and various “creative writing” endeavors. Some guy named Cody Shearer popped up in the mix as well, but I don’t have any idea how he fits in. My guess is, between the four of them, they “pencil whipped” the dossier – made it up out of whole cloth – and THERE WERE NO KREMLIN OR RUSSIAN SOURCES. So, the “charge” would be “falsifying an official document” under Title 18, U.S. Code. Chapter 47 of that code contains about forty particulars, but the one most applicable would probably be “18 U.S. Code § 1039 – Fraud and related activity in connection with obtaining confidential phone records information of a covered entity”.
I’m pretty sure I’ve got this dead on, but proving it may be difficult. Keep in mind, we’re dealing with people who are adept at “slithering”. Prosecution would expose too many insiders to tangential jeopardy. I’m still betting nobody will see any jail time. Just sayin’.
FG, it’s been opined for a little while now that Sergei Skripal may have been the “Kremlin source” for the dossier (some have suggested Skripal may have even been the author as well).
Skripal was turned by Steele, and his handler was Miller, who (until a “D Notice” was issued to the press by the British government) apparently was also Skripal’s neighbor in Salisbury.
All of that is apparently true according to the “official” facts. But the timeline between Skripal’s discovery, interrogation, trial, imprisonment and subsequent exchange would have rendered any information he had stale or irrelevant, if he had any at all. A Russian name was required to convince a FISA court judge that there was a “source”, but that judge would not have been in a position to determine source validity or reliability. And, just as conveniently as Seth Rich is no longer available to testify, Skripal has been fortuitously “disappeared”. Figure the odds!
A footnote here: The FISA court judges are appointed by the chief justice of the supreme court.
Agreed, FG; while Skripal was obviously no longer (within the timeline of the 2016 bruhaha) a mainline into the “inner workings of the Kremlin,” he would still provide adequate “local color” to the dossier’s narrative.
I wonder if the way too convenient “coincidences” as we’ve been seeing for the past 2 years now have ever been as thick as they are these days.
Peace.
Skripal may well have contributed, but it’s increasingly apparent that the dirty dossier was produced by a team of authors
FG, the DoJ usually eschews statutes that pinpoint a crime involving fraud in favor of the old durable mail and wire fraud statutes. The problem with the more specific statutes is that they rarely have much of a judicial gloss while the precedents under the mail and wire fraud statutes are beyond numerous.
Nothing is going to come out of it. They are all in it together to defend the Imperial agenda of world wide domination at any price. Trump is the only outsider opposed to it in some ways, and a few others like Rand Paul. It does not matter which ever way Trump chooses; cave in as he is doing or hit back as he does sometimes, they are determined to remove him. The rot in the institutions, both government and private has gone too far deep to the core. No hope of regeneration in the near future.
William Binney was on Jimmy Dore show yesterday. He said that the Country in looking like Germany in 1933. Below is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS3WR9Qlgvg
Ray, what I think is that the president’s statement about why Brennan was stripped of his clearance was all about Brennan’s attacks on the president. That should never have been mentioned because it plays right into the hands of the democrats who claim that Trump is stifling Brennan’s right to free speech.
Trump’s statement need never have mentioned any of Brennan’s criticisms, and should have been limited to his suspected criminal acts. Brennan has almost certainly committed numerous crimes while in government service. He is also most likely guilty of giving classified material to his media contacts. That’s what Trump’s statement should have addressed.
Now Trump looks like an idiot again, thanks to his inability to control his own emotions.
Ed – Trump hasn’t taken away Brennan’s right to free speech at all. All he’s taken away is his security clearance. Brennan is still free to speak. As I said above, the law is:
“In the case of former CIA directors, the agency ‘holds’ their security clearance and renews it every five years for the rest of their lives. However, that requires former CIA directors to behave like current CIA employees.”
Trump is damned no matter what. Leave Brennan with a security clearance and suffer leaks to the media. Take it away and be accused of limiting Brennan’s speech (which of course it doesn’t do). The media will spin it no matter what.
Trump can’t go around accusing Brennan of breaking the law when he doesn’t have solid evidence – YET – but it’s coming.
I said that the democrats are claiming that Brennan’s right to free speech is being stifled. I didn’t say that I thought that was the case. IMO, a top secret clearance is actually a gag order on the holder of the clearance. As soon as Brennan opens his mouth about anything he is privy to, he loses his qualification for the clearance.
The democrats don’t understand the right of free speech at all if they think that removing Brennan’s clearance in any way stifles his right to speak. Trump foolishly admitted that Brennan’s clearance was being pulled because of his attacks on Trump. That was stupid, but I have come to expect nothing less from Trump
In my view…
Brennan having Mueller as his best-friends-forever (BFF) certainly seems sufficient protection for the near and/or long term future. I tend to agree that after the upcoming Labor Day, Mueller will drop some manufactured evidence that might have been made in advance as an “insurance policy” for Brennan. The evidence will be hard to refute and will make Brennan look like the greatest patriot…
The CIA/DOJ/FBI/NSA had lost interest in the Constitution long time ego; even GW Bush said, “The Constitution is just a god damn paper…” In another word, it means nothing…
With Mueller for a friend, he won’t need enemies. Mueller’s influential sponsors are all out of office now. Mueller himself is open to some serious charges along with Clinton and others for the uranium deal. All of these former Obama admin officials are ready to drop like ripe fruit from a tree. None of them have any power anymore and all of them could go to prison.
Brennan is done for. He doesn’t have any more moves left except trying to twist the arms of some shaky democrats in Congress who he has damaging info on. Even if Mueller, Brennan, Clapper and Comey don’t go to jail, they are finished. They’re just flopping on the deck now.
Dear Ray, I always love your work but I’m confused by your assertions of Muellers smelly behavior. For us less informed, could you explain what behavior that is?
You’ll get far with a web search for “robert mueller’s sordid history”. E.g., https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-03/exposed-naked-truth-about-robert-mueller
Mueller is a Bush criminal bag-man for the FBI.From the BCCI criminal banking scandel {CIA drug money} to 9/11 and lying to congress about WMDs and illegal spying and torture…..his grubby paws are all over it…..
More than anything, I’m puzzled. What makes Mueller’s behavior “smelly”, and even “demonstrably” so? What principle under the Constitution is under threat from Mueller? What whistle is supposed to be blown?
I guess he is refferring to this among other things.
Alan Dershowitz:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/alan-dershowitz-maybe-robert-mueller-should-be-investigated
However today Brennan said Trump is 100% Guilty of COLLUSION and OBSTRUCTION… he was the CIA, director, they no everything, so we will just have to wait and see.
And yet there is no such legal term as collusion.
Brennan is a jack a s s and continues to prove that daily.
How did someone who open admits he voted for the communist party candidate for pres ever get a security clearance in the first place?
Much less get confirmed as CIA director?
The “communist party candidate”? You mean the candidate who was vilified for allegedly being in Wall Street’s pocket and for not caring about the working man? And, for what it’s worth, 63 senators, including 13 Republicans, voted to confirm Brennan.
As for “collusion”: First, it’s the president who most uses the term (“NO COLLUSION!”). Second, while there is no specific crime of “collusion” — it’s essentially a convenient, if not necessarily helpful, shorthand used by the press — the specific charges being investigated include aiding and abetting (18 USC 2), conspiracy (18 USC 371), computer fraud (18 USC 1030), wire fraud (18 USC 1343), and unlawful contributions by non-US nationals to an election campaign (52 USC 30121). These charges are in connection with the contacts that the president’s campaign had with Russian officials.
That, at this stage, nothing has been proved beyond reasonable doubt is true enough, but that’s what investigations are for. Further, we do have a number of guilty pleas, including those of Flynn, Papadopoulos, and Gates. You may deem these to be meaningless, but that’s likely because (and you’re not alone in this) you have prejudged the outcome — i.e., your guy’s the subject of a “witch hunt” — and now are simply trying to shoe-horn reality into that preferred outcome.
@GkJames.
MMMM mmmm, tasty kool-aid you’re drinking bruh.
From the book shattered:
“Within 24 hours of her concession speech, [campaign chair John Podesta and manager Robby Mook] assembled her communications team at the Brooklyn headquarters to engineer the case that the election wasn’t entirely on the up-and-up. For a couple of hours, with Shake Shack containers littering the room, they went over the script they would pitch to the press and the public. Already, Russian hacking was the centerpiece of the argument.”
The plan, according to the book, was to push journalists to cover how “Russian hacking was the major unreported story of the campaign,” and it succeeded to a fare-thee-well. After the election, coverage of the Russian “collusion” story was relentless, and it helped pressure investigations and hearings on Capitol Hill and even the naming of a special counsel, which in turn has triggered virtually nonstop coverage.
https://nypost.com/2017/10/26/how-team-hillary-played-the-press-for-fools-on-russia/
And now you want to talk about trying to shoe horn reality into your fantasy outcome.
Anyone with with 2 brain cells to rub together is laughing at you and your ilk pushing this complete horse chit.
The investigation is based on a lie. Therefore it is unconstitutional and nothing more than an attempt to cover up MASSIVE crimes committed by the pplayers now losing their security clearance and their puppet masters.
Do yourself a favor and turn off that freak Rachel Madcow!
I have had my suspicions of the divisions inside the FBI ever since late summer of 2016 when it was reported that the NYC FBI was pushing to reveal the Hillary emails found inside Anthony Weiner’s home computer. If you recall rumor had it, that the NYC insistence to go public forced Comey to reopen the Hillary case…uh-oh, darn. I also see Rudy as representative of the opposing faction against the Comey/Brennan/Claper cabal. The only thing after Trump bumps these guys off, is how he should shuttle CNN & MSNBC… to be continued.
actually it was Loretta Lynch’s secret meeting with Clinton on the Tarmac that forced Comeys hand……the same Loretta Lynch that ordered Comey to call the Clinton server investigation a “matter”.
Comey: Lynch Ordered Me To Call Clinton Email Scandal A “Matter” …
Video for james comey loretta lynch
?
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/…/lynch_told_me_to_call_clinton_…
Comey: Loretta Lynch’s Tarmac Meeting With Bill Clinton Forced Me To Go Public About Clinton Investigation
“But her meeting with President Clinton on that airplane was the capper for me. [After that], I then said, you know what, the [Justice Department] cannot by itself credibly end this.”
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/05/03/comey_loretta_lynchs_tarmac_meeting_with_bill_clinton_forced_me_to_go_public_about_clinton_investigation.html
Jun 8, 2017
During a Senate Intel hearing Thursday, former FBI director James Comey … James Comey: Loretta Lynch ..
I do know that the Wall Street Journal mentioned Brennan’s alleged role in the creation of the Steele Dossier and the FBI texting scheme in both the news and editorial pages, but I still don’t think that he personally is the “ringleader” of all of this. The entire trans-Atlantic Establishment is behind the anti-Russia campaign and it started long before the election (for any doubters, Robert Parry’s articles on Ukraine and MH17 should give one an idea of this).
I have long suspected that he is indeed the ringleader, in collaboration with Clapper, his co-ringleader.
Interesting to note that both were caught lying to Congress and to the public, both with respect to matters pertaining to illegal surveillance in contravention of the Constitution.
Brennen and the anti Russia neo-cons in the deep state wanted Hillary.She was their queen and has the body count to prove it.They were going to make sure noone else was elected and they were going to blackmail and threaten anyone who got in the way…Trump was a shock.Even Trump didnt think he was going to win and didnt want to thats why Melanie cried when he won..He was only there as a pied piper for Hillary who hand picked Trump and had Bill give Trump tips on how to run as a republican {Trump hasnt been a republican since 1999 and was a big Hillary supporter}.
Donald Trump talked politics with Bill Clinton weeks before launching 2016 bid
Four Trump allies and one Clinton associate familiar with the exchange said that Clinton encouraged Trump’s efforts to play a larger role in the Republican Party and offered his own views of the political landscape.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bill-clinton-called-donald-trump-ahead-of-republicans-2016-launch/2015/08/05/e2b30bb8-3ae3-11e5-b3ac-8a79bc44e5e2_story.html?utm_term=.229feb8d9ece
get that?
“Clinton encouraged Trump’s efforts to play a larger role in the Republican Party and offered his own views of the political landscape.”
Now WHY would Bill do that?wanna hint?
Clinton and Brenner and the FBI thought they had it in the bag………..Trump leaked out all over the floor and now they are desperate to clean up the mess so they can get back to mass murder and war.
What do I think?
“I forced myself to read both papers this morning.”
I think you’re a saint for taking one for the team and putting yourself through that.
Lord knows I couldn’t stomach that garbage.
Giuliani’s comment is obviously false. “a dossier that, unless he’s the biggest idiot intelligence agent that ever lived … it’s false; you can look at it and laugh at it. And he peddled it to [then Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid,”. ” the Steele dossier,[1] is a private intelligence report comprising 17 memos that were written between June and December 2016(wikipedia). Harry Reid ceased to be “Senate Majority Leader” in 2015 following the election of a Republican majority in 2014. An obvious mistake/lie not being covered by the major newspapers seems appropriate.
“What do you all think?”
What does Mueller himself stand to lose if he can’t find any dirt on Trump/collusion?
From what I have read about Mueller’s career as a kind of designated hitter, I doubt that there are any scruples lying within him to hold him back from any step that would “prove his case.”
Seems to me (no expert!!!) that the main forces questioning the RussiaGate story and suggesting the actual plot behind it are Devin Nunes, a number of foreign-based journalists who publish on alternative media such as Finian Cunningham, Ray McGovern and VIPS, Dan Bongino, and. . . . Alan Dershowitz!!!
I’ve seen no evidence that Mueller is any different than any of the other Inside the Beltway power players. If anyone else dares to stand up to him, I’d be shocked if Mueller instantly doesn’t fall back on the do-you-know-who-the-hell-I-am response. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
My sense is that you are greatly underestimating the existential threats to what’s left of Democracy in America and to our collective prospects of addressing global warming that are presented by the Trump presidency. I get why you are totally disgusted with the extant establishments represented by Clinton/Brennan/Bush/Cheney et al etc…………but in my view TrumPutin would take us from the frying pan into the fire. I have a friend who is an avid Trump supporter and I am hearing the same “theories of the case” from him and from you…….it seems that the hard left and the hard right are both hell bent on seeing some kind of absolute collapse of any semblance of established order in this country…..and of course Putin wants that same outcome. It’s as if you are willing to see the US descend into becoming a dictatorship under Trump just so you can have the pleasure of seeing “the deep state” eviscerated.
Ray, do you really believe everyone in the FBI or the CIA etc are all evil lying torturers? Are any of them decent human beings trying to protect the Constitution? That Hillary Clinton, as dirty as she is, is the moral equivalent of people like Putin or Assad et al? Is it possible that there are gradations of good and evil? Is it possible that we can evolve in the directions that Bernie Sanders espouses vis a vis Democratic Socialism or do you believe that America needs to totally collapse and become an absolutely authoritarian hellhole under then control of a malignant narcissist in order to satisfy your sense of karmic “justice”?
Well, he’s obviously a mean spirited dude and a hater but isn’t that in the job description. I don’t think he will be prosecuted or even exposed , at least not to the point of George Slamdunk Tenet, by Corporate Media I do think he’s in for a comeuppance of some kind but how does it help Republicans in the midterm to do this now? . Gone are those heady days when he and Obama decided who to murder with drones over coffee and scones first thing every morning. I wonder what he does to stay busy now? He must be stewing in his own juices…., steaming hot. He is a hard man to admire and he’s tough to look at as well but hey he’s not as ugly as Clapper and nothing is ever going to touch him.
It seems to me that this is something that had to be done whether it affected the midterms or not. Brennan has been behaving as if he is still the DCI. Pulling his clearance made people aware of the fact that former officials like Brennan still have top secret security clearances after leaving office. Also, what Brennan does in reaction to the loss of his security clearance over the next few months could very well change the way people look at the intelligence agencies that rule over elected officials.
“After eight years of enjoying President Barack Obama’s solid support and defense to do pretty much anything he chose — including hacking into the computers of the Senate Intelligence Committee”
And lying to Congress about that, then admitting his lies without apology when caught.
Now his “credibility” is relied upon by opposition to Trump. Whatever Trump’s many faults, reliance on this joker is a serious mistake. They may be about to pay the price.
If Brennan is indeed the ringleader or major player in all this, then it could be very effective.
However, if he is in fact, just another expendable foot soldier, it will be one more show in the circus.
The CIA was allowed Gina Haspel (in spite of her history) as a way of buying off opposition to what Trump has planned for Brennan.
Unclear. Please restate more clearly. Words missing?
What are ou saying about Gina Haspel? How does it relate to Brennan?
He hates Russia because he is a communist, and Russia betrayed his beloved ideology back in the 1990s.
This well-written article explains time and time again that the real enemy of America is not China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela and many other countries. The real enemy of America is inside America,
Brennan does not seem to be worried. This morning he has had an op-ed published with the headline: Trump’s claims of no collusion is hogwash. The article is a rallying call. Simultaneously, hundreds of US news outlets have published editorials ostensibly in defence of freedom of the press, in reality as a coordinated attack on Trump. The political media elite are determined to continue their campaign to negate the result of the 2016 election.
The Deep State Actors have a deep faith in their own invulnerability. Let’s hope they are wrong. Their lies are so obvious, that it is clear their effectiveness depends on being accepted by a deeply brainwashed public, incapable of doing the most minimal thinking for themselves.
Your blind support of the traitor Trump is disgusting! Ya, Hillary was disgusting too!
Who is your remark aimed at? Are you just firing your verbal pistol in the air?
Somebody get that iPhone away from Dave before he pokes his eye out with it.
Thank you Ed. I actually lol-ed!
“God bless the Deep State”? No, as Jeremiah Wright famously said – “God damn the Deep State!” And the MSM will again condemn and demonize anyone who dares to question them, and speak the truth as Reverend Wright did.
Those who gather here at CN are mostly enemies of the Deep State, and those highly placed liars know it, and they are doing every thing they can to silence this and other voices of truth.
Schumer warns Trump: Intel officials ‘have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you’
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/schumer-warns-trump-intel-officials-have-six-ways-from-sunday-at-getting-back-at-you
This is a direct threat to a sitting president of the USA
I don’t like Trump but when proved criminals they are threatening an elected president out in the open?
And threatened the Democratic process ?
As flawed as it is
It’s time to worry
That WaPo op-ed “God Bless the Deep State” was an undisguised call for a military coup.
“Let me tell you: You take on the intelligence community — they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “He’s being really dumb to do this.” -Senator Schumer on Trump taunting US intelligence agencies
— MSNBC, hosted by Rachel Maddow
The amazing part of that exchange for any thinking person was that Rachel took that statement in stride and had no follow-up. Here is a Senator saying that the “Intelligence Community” controls politics through blackmail, implying that the rule of law is dead, and a supposed journalist has nothing to say about it. “Move along folks, nothing to see here…”
Not so amazing. Maddow has devolved into a loyal tool of the Deep State. We are truly spiraling further and further down the rabbit hole.
I think that’s why she’s always so hysterical, urging her viewers to be afraid of this or that. yikes.
Yup.
A person that is afraid does not think.
I used up all my fear years ago, see screen name for a hint.
Until someone figures out how to teleport divisions across the Pacific and Atlantic.
There is nothing to fear accept the neocons/neolibs and their pet project nuclear war.
The both are admitting that unelected spy’s and criminals who think nothing of mass murderer or drug dealing or overthrowing democratically elected governments can blackmail Presidents and congress.
They are literally conceding that the deep state is in control of a democracy and then framed it as if Trump,the elected President of the country should bow to them,
A truly frightening exercise in sedition and anti democratic propaganda.
I think that’s the last time I ever watched corporate media.
That said it all to me.
It sure was
And exhibit A for the CIA capture of our media
It sure was
Democrats are now the biggest danger
Trump ran against the bush republicans and Gop policies and won
Trump: Bush Worst president ever
https://youtu.be/j6N8l8DMu3M
When was the last time that happened?
For any party?
EVER
“Everything in Washington has been a lie … It’s all big lie.” — Donald Trump at his height of lucidity. Unfortunately, that YouTube clip was from 2007.
They are all liars
Ya that clip was from when Trump was a Clinton democrat
Trump hasn’t been a republican since 1999
Trump was a huge Hillary supporter
Bill Clinton talked Trump into running as a republican
Trump was Hillary’s pied piper strategy
Trump was never supposed to win and why Melania cried when he did
Boy did that plan backfire
From the WaPo op-ed “God Bless the Deep State,” by Eugene Robinson:
Is Robinson really suggesting a military coup? That would take a lot of planning and organization and would be almost impossible to keep secret. Some honest military officer might find out and put the kibosh on it, like Kirk Douglas did in Frankenheimers’s classic political thriller, Seven Days in May.
Robinson talks like he has given up on impeachment by what he calls a powerless and spineless Congress. Maybe he’s thinking of something quicker and cleaner than a coup, something that could be carried out by a small group of conspirators within an agency trained in removing uncooperative heads of state?
Since deep state conspirators routinely smear all those who demand evidence as “Russian agents,” maybe non-conspirators should use the same tactic on them, e.g.: Is Robinson on the CIA payroll? Because anyone who agrees with anything the CIA says is obviously working for the CIA, right?
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
I’m still looking for an English copy of Journalists for Hire by Udo Ufkotte.
There is only one article that is translated into English: “The world upside down” 2006,
http://www.ulfkotte.de/18.html
Journalists for Hire is available in German only. (I was able to buy a copy last year.)
http://it-book.org/pdf/journalists-for-hire
You can download the ebook in English
Thanks for the links!
This is the first time I have commented here. I have subscribed to Consortium News for several years, and have appreciated the generally thoughtful, well-sourced articles of contributors here, as a counterpoint to “conventional” media sources. I have referred this site to many people as a reliable, alternative news source. I routinely read over 30 sources for my news information, from far left, far right, “mainstream” to “fringe”, “no-partisan”, etc. However, in spite of this site’s best efforts to produce articles that offer intelligent, well-sourced counterpoints to conventional wisdom, they have deteriorated to the level of conspiracy theorists. It’s so sad. The more I read, including the well-written and passionate, regular commenters here, the more I must walk away. There is a pre-determined bubble-conclusion here, just like every other news site. Now it seems that the point of a news site is reduced to proving their point, no matter what. When the majority ethos of a news agency is to find an “enemy”, rather than simply reporting the news, then a “boy who cried wolf” environment causes me to question the entire news agency. I am very sadly unsubscribing.
Brennan is the enemy
He belongs in prison next to Bush and Cheney.
Unless you support war criminals and torture enthusiasts and illegally spying on citizens
He also lied to Congress more than once and yet zero repercussions
I don’t care what you think about Trump he is just a symptom of a corrupted government that Brennan helped to create.He is now conspiring to overthrow an elected president with zero evidence only propaganda and destroying every institution with it , including the corporate media that has lost all credibility since pushing the Bush lies to take us into Iraq.
VirginiaLK-
Are you aware that the CIA coined the term “Conspiracy Theorist”? You use it as a pejorative, just as they intended. If you were a thinking person, you would realize that Brennan’s “Russia-Gate” is itself a “Conspiracy Theory”, and moreover, one shot through with logical flaws. It matters not a whit if you read a thousand articles a day from across the political spectrum if you lack the ability to distinguish between logical arguments based on evidence and propaganda. It is a shame that you choose to walk away from a format where people from all over the world, and all walks of life, engage in intelligent debate and discussion. The “bubble conclusion” you refer to more accurately describes the world of the MSM where only “Deep State” approved narratives are heard from from pre-vetted shills. It seems that the Hypnotist has succeeded in your case.
Great reply to Virginia, Scott. Couldn’t have said it better.
Sorry to hear you don’t trust this site. I trust this source of information largely because these guys were correct about Iraq not having WMD while the media and everyone else insisted they did… The UN chief weapons inspector (Scott Ritter) said Iraq did not have WMD. Also, I have followed this issue (Russiagate) from the beginning….there was no hack, it was a leak. There is plenty of evidence for this..like no FBI inspections of the server.
Apparently, you can’t see the forest for the trees. Don’t let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya.
Virginia, please do some more research before you make this decision. I am civil right forensic accountant and researcher. I have spent many hours compiling the evidence and facts regarding this claim. This, I guarantee you, is not a conspiracy theory. Let me ask you a couple questions to consider before you make this decision. 1. Why would the special counsel led by Mueller not interview a central figure, Julian Assange, re Russia interference when he has offered to give them evidence it was not Russia who gave him the DNC emails? 2. Why would Rod Rosenstein choose someone like Mueller to led the investigation when a. He interviewed to replace Comey, b. He has conflicts of interest due to his personal relationships with both Comey and others within the IC, c. He lied in front of Congress for the Bush admin. re the claim that Iraq had WMD? I was immediately alarmed by this choice because I investigated the Iraq War lies under Bush. 3. Why has the intelligence community not been able to explain the forensic evidence that the download speeds on their claimed “hack” are completely impossible to achieve but line up perfectly with a download to a stick drive or local hardware device? 4. Why would the media and the Mueller investigation refuse to use the very thorough report by NSA veteran and creator of their surveillance system Wm. Binney. After all, he was known to be one of the most brilliant men to ever work at the NSA. He is also the man who exposed the Iraq WMD lie. He’s very credible? Sorry this is so long but the media has been non stop working for their masters to discredit anyone who tries to expose their lied and illegal activity. I have been watching and researching the deep state for 30 plus years and been disgusted by the propaganda and lies that Americans refuse to face. It’s time to face the truth or JFK and MLK and so many others that have gave their lives to expose the them will never be avenged.
I understand what you’re saying. It was a fear of mine when I read of Mr Parry’s passing.
@VirginiaLK…
I agree with you, a lot changed at this site during the last year or so. The quality of articles dropped substantially and in addition, posting comments is iffy at best. Especially, if one does not happen to agree with “pre-determined bubble-conclusion here”. It’s quiete evident, when the number of comments is substantially decreasing at times, instead of increasing.
I am just as sad to see that happening to CN as you are…
I have read CN and sometimes commented for many years, and am impressed by the variety and thoughtfulness of the comments and the courtesy of nearly everyone to others.
As for conspiracy theory, I always enjoy the 5 minutes of James Corbett’s “9/11- A Conspiracy Theory”!!!
You are free to come up with a valid argument, if you can stay on topic that is, for or against the issue at hand and then see what the replies are.
BTW: Ray is one of the most respected writers here. And the numbers of responses to this article is over 150!
I am so glad that your level of sadness corresponds with Virginia’s. Two peas in a pod?
Don’t you just love it when someone claims to have lurked for years and is now breaking silence to say that she’s unsubscribing because the site has deteriorated, etc.? Posts like those are most likely from shills who have posted trolling comments for years under various names and are now trying to make it look as though long time readers are disgusted with the site.
You don’t attract any flak until you’re over the target. Keep it up, Ray and the rest of the writers here.
Seconded, Ed; good comment.
Thanks for the explication.
Yes, something doesn’t smell right about Virginia’s comment.
Granted, Robert Parry is irreplaceable.
But so is Ray McGovern!
And he is still going strong.
Other very good analysts, such as Finian Cunningham, are writing about the RussiaGate story and what it says about the state of our governance.
Actually, the RussiaGate narrative is deeply self-destructive of the American state.
Why do the trolls always say “l read everything, both left and right.” When I used to listen to Air Anerica, that was always the hallmark of the disengenous.
Disingenuous indeed. If that sort always reads everything, why do they always come down on just the one side, regardless? Good observation, Jean 2.
I agree. There are so many sites I avoid like the plague!!
Re “Thank god for the Deep State.”
Amazing, absolutely amazing, statement.
This is, obviously, an admission of the existence of the Deep State —otherwise generally written off as a “conspiracy theory.”
Simultaneously it is a statement that the Deep State “knows better than voters” and also “knows what to do.”
This is, actually, a treasonous statement. Why doesn’t anyone notice this???
Perhaps you miscalculate President Trump, when you assume the establishment media supporting the Deep State will protect Brennan from prosecution. You might have noticed the President is not afraid of the Establishment media the Deep State, or any other people who want him destroyed. As the Leader of those who have made the President’s first 18 months a living hell, Brennan has only BEGUN to see he poked the wrong bear. Brennan can’t stop himself now, from shooting is own self-righteous feet because he is scared, and well he should be. The hard-evidence has been in the President’s hands for many months and will not be merely dumped in the dustbins of history. Brennan is in for BIG trouble and he knows it.
Trump is part of the Deep State. Look at his appointments to his administration.
Most definitely not. No more than you are me.
Gen Flynn wanted to work with Russia
He had to go
Trump is being threatened and cornered by the same neoconservatives who tried to steal the election for Hillary
The reason Trump is potus rests on (the deep state´s influence via) the electoral college.
Another ds tool, Brennan, appears now, to be elected to be tossed under the bus.
Whatever they might be looking to achieve from this unlikely scenario is great fuel for speculation. In the meantime, any celebration would likely be precipitous.
As has been said even a broken clock is right twice a day
I’ve always avoided Eugene Robinson’s columns because he seemed like the quintessential, no-think, Borg-assimilated, groupie to me. His column of July 19 entitled “God Bless the Deep State” proves it.
I started highlighting the patent falsehoods in Robinson’s column. It didn’t take me long to realize that it would be much quicker to highlight the truthful comments. Much, much quicker. I’ve read the column twice and my copy remains unmarked.
It’s a tough call, but probably the most bizarre of Gene’s assertions was the following:
Seriously? The deep state stands between us and the abyss? In the real world, where the rest of us live, the deep state is the abyss!
Seems like Washington has been overrun by pod people from an alternate universe, where everything is an inverted, mirror image of reality. Up is down, left is right, etc. Their moral compasses aren’t exactly broken, they just point south instead of north.
As for Brennan, he and the president are both zealous advocates of torture. That tells us much about the condition of their moral compasses. A plague on both their houses, with the following reservation: as a certified neocon and Clinton dead-ender, Brennan is even more dangerous to us real-worlders than Trump. He called Trump a traitor for trying to do the right thing. In Brennan’s alternate-universe Washington, to do evil is the summum bonum of patriotism.
Good comment!
Nothin’s gonna happen to Brennan. There’s two standards of law in this country. One standard for the powerful, the elite, the high up in the chain of command which lets them off for anything but the most egregious violations. And the other standard for us unwashed masses. Until the US becomes a nation of laws again and ceases to be a nation of men, we will continue in our descent into the abyss.
“There’s more than meets the eye to President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke the security clearances that ex-CIA Director John Brennan enjoyed as a *courtesy customarily afforded former directors*.” The idea that political appointees should retain security clearances is both galling and dangerous to US national security, and should be revoked for anyone leaving government, particularly political appointees. It is bad enough that these clowns go through the revolving door between government and DC think tanks (most funded by Mid East money, to insure favorable foreign policies from the neolibs and neocons who inhabit think tanks (and there are strong links between, for example, anti-Putin Dennis Alperovitch, a Russian/ Ukraine/ American on the Atlantic Council affecting our political process, with his company CrowdStrike rather than the FBI “investigating” the DNC’s servers and computers). Essentially these neolibs and neocons share classified information (the courtesy customarily afforded former directors) to “inform” their agendas (our foreign policies), which are not allowed to be revised significantly by changing administrations. And to hand Brennan a bully pulpit on MSM, using his “courtesy customarily afforded former directors”, allows him to pretend to be more intelligent than he really is.
In the early days of America, and in the black McCarthy period, Sedition was a fairly common charge. Although seldom proven, it was useful to keep other powerful forces in check (which early on seemed the purpose). As any historian with a law background can tell us, today’s examples of Sedition are more egregious than those acted upon in the past.
But as Jeff Harrison notes, there is no Law used to contain powerful ex-government and Establishment officials. Instead the Law is selectively enforced for political purposes. Contrast Hillary with Reality Winner transmitting classified information, Brennan, Clapper, and Mueller lying under oath vs Michael Flynn, or even sleazy Manafort vs the Podesta Group and Greg Craig, working with oligarchs in Ukraine.
Brennan, Reid, McCain, comey, McCabe, strzok, all of them. Every last one of them belongs in prison for treaon.
This dossier is what upholds the Russian sanctions & belligerence toward Russia.
The truth must come out.
Just a random nebulous thought – Is “Hacking” a worse offence than “Leaking” ? Of course I understand that the REAL offence is the “SELECTIVENESS” of what is made public. Possibly the biggest offence of all is “Classifying”!
Hacking is criminal.
Leaking is protected under whistle blower laws.
Well, if laws actually applied in Washington DC.
This article has the Official Statement on Why John Brennan’s CIA Security Clearance was Revoked.
Beautifully done O Society, in every respect, many thanks…
Thank you to Ray McGovern for not losing his soul and keeping us in the loop.
For the person who left earlier, we are all free to come and go as we please. Please clean up the wreckage of your presence by taking any tinfoil scraps lying about with you when you go.
For anyone looking for references regarding Brennan after reading McGovern’s take, pack a lunch and read the link above. It sources everything.
We got Ray’s back. He’s one of the good guys.
Why does Brennan hate Russia so much? Could it be because the Russians got in his way in his attempt to overthrow the Syrian government?
A nice new Cold War with Russia is so much more profitable.
And would kill more people.
That’s my guess.
Everybody in DC loves to hate Russia, its done wonders for their careers.
“Brennan will fight hard to avoid being put on trial …”
Ray McGovern neglects to say what crime(s) he thinks Brennan should be tried for.
Based on what is alleged here, I’ll pitch in and suggest “conspiracy to defraud the United States” under 18 U.S.C. § 371 – one of those overbroad Federal criminal statutes that probably shouldn’t even exist, but as long as it does, might as well be used against ex-CIA directors.
That said, I’d like to see Ray buckle down and be more specific about what he thinks Brennan did, and how it violated the law – keeping in mind that there are a lot of us who aren’t going to give a lot credibility to unsupported statements from the likes of Rudy Giuliani and Devin Nunes.
Helping Bush lie the world into war in Iraq
Illegally and unconstitutionally spying on USA citizens
Illegally and unconstitutionally using torture
Destroying evidence of illegal torture
Lying to Congress about illegal spying and torture
Illegally spying on congress
Working with Fusion GPS to illegally spy on a candidate and sitting President
Threatening and blackmailing a candidate sitting president with a bogus dossier compiled from top Russian government officials
Pushing propaganda on national television and threatening a sitting president
Need more?
I’d be delighted to see Brennan in the dock, along with Bush and Obama, for a lot of those things. Are you saying it’s likely?
In this piece, Ray McGovern is suggesting a likelihood of Brennan being charged for actions to undermine Trump as candidate and as president. I think it would be good journalism if he were more concrete about the actions and laws he believes are implicated.
(Your count of “Working with Fusion GPS to illegally spy on a candidate and sitting President” is on-topic, but since my request was for more specifics on how the law was broken, just saying “illegally” is a circular argument.)
The fact that these criminals are immune to illegality says it all no?
The permanent state is in control and conspiring to overthrow an elected president what ever you might think about Trump
This is a military coup and one that wants WW3 with Russia a nuclear power
The fact that they are not even hiding it anymore should frighten everyone
“Unless one understands and remembers this [‘making decisions in an environment where Hillary Clinton was sure to be the next president, supremely confident they would not only keep their jobs, but also receive plaudits, not indictments’], it is understandably difficult to believe that the very top U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials did what documentary evidence has now demonstrated they did.”
And the above are Ray’s words that explicitly say it all. These people (Brennen, Comey, Mueller, Strzock and players not yet outed) are thugs who will do whatever is expedient–right or wrong, legal or illegal, constitutional or not–as long as they can get away with it, including mass murder. They take the same approach as the mafia: the killing of innocents is just part of the business. So Brennen had no compunctions about providing Obama with his weekly list of drone targets. Brennen, or one of his flunkies, determined their fates and Obomber officiously signed off on them as instructed on day one.
Unfortunately, I wouldn’t give good odds that the congress, even in the possession of copious damning evidence, will try to take this guy down in a court trial, impeachment or whatever legal process he may be subject to as per his current status. He was, after all, one of the most important working parts in this “deep state” that has so much clout and which everyone seems to fear more than war with Russia. He was head of the CIA, perhaps the real “decider” on most foreign policy. He was exposed as a liar under oath before congress once before and suffered no consequences. The people holding elected office under the constitution are supposed to wield the power (in the people’s name) in this country, but they seem to all be nothing more than tools of the deep state which is comprised of both governmental agencies (most notably intelligence and the military) and private bastions of power (MIC, Wall Street, the megabanks, transnational corporations, and select plutocrats both foreign and domestic). If the SOB now has a job as a network pundit, he’s got the lying mass media on his side and the congress probably still fears him as much as Schumer professed.
Bill Binney tells Jimmy Dore that the CIA has the media totally co-opted. They live in fear of the agency, which is why they toe the line on the approved narrative.
Binney relates what has happened to CEO’s who have refused to cave to CIA demands. They are framed, tried, convicted and incarcerated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS3WR9Qlgvg
More Dore and Binney.
As Mulder’s poster used to say, “the truth is out there,” but none dare speak it in this country. We prefer self-serving bullshit slathered on by high-placed conspirators.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFQYWBZjNfc
“So Brennan had no compunctions about providing Obama with his weekly list of drone targets.”
The extrajudicial drone murders are bad enough, with the CIA and the President playing judge, jury, and executioner. Certainly plenty of innocents in harm’s way, euphemistically referred to as “collateral damage” (what a weasel term that is!)–but to add to it, there are reported instances of “double-tap”, whereby the drone operator waits for a rescue response and strikes again. I don’t know where that idea originated from, but man it takes some kind of heinous s.o.b. to make that call.
Ray McGovern may not KNOW which laws were broken and how they were broken. He certainly wouldn’t get that information from any Press Briefings or legitimate sources. You probably have heard Jeff Sessions is known as “The Silent Executioner”, and since the Presidents’ playbook is The Art of War (Sun TZu), it isn’t likely anyone but those two (and perhaps Guiliani) have the “goods” on the charges against Brennan. I’ve seen a couple of lengthy lists that look plausible but, as POTUS would say, “We’ll see.”
MelH – President Trump can, with the stroke of a pen, order that all documents be immediately released from the Department of Justice, FBI, CIA, NSA or any other department. He could do this tomorrow. Perhaps he is just biding his time.
Bruce Orr of the Department of Justice, who worked closely with Christopher Steele (even after he was fired by the FBI) is set to give testimony on August 28th. That should be interesting.
There needs to be a second Special Counsel appointed to investigate all of this: the spying, the phony dossier, the DNC servers, the exoneration of Hillary Clinton, Uranium One, the Clinton Foundation, etc.
This is Deep State-gate. This is collusion between top government officials to overthrow the President of the United States.
This is the Rule of Law. Without it, there is no country.
backwardsevolution –
“Deep State-Gate”, Very appropriate word for what really transpired starting in the summer of 2016. We are used to being told that plotting coups happens only in Banana Republics. If the Truth ever comes out , you will see that Obama will be at the top of the list of those involved. It is very difficult to believe what has been going on for the last two years.
Jean, there’s nothing Russian about the Steele Dossier: it is the work of MI6, ie, British intelligence.
And where did they compile all those rumors from for the Steele dossier?
Top Russian government officials
That’s Russian collusion
More than what they have on Trump after 2 years and more of illegally spying on him.
These “top Russian officials”-who are they?
Jean – Thanks for the list, it’s a great reminder of who we’re dealing with. I must say I can’t help thinking that your list does in fact look a lot like the “resume” of a guy/gal on the way to their next deep state “promotion” – under normal circumstances! Though at this point Brennan would appear to be overqualified for most such positions other than perhaps Grand Inquisitor.
I agree
I’ll add one. Brennen traveling to Ukraine to meet with the coup leaders, traveling under a diplomatic passport and a false identity (assumed name). this put him right in the middle of the Ukraine crises, along with Biden and V Nuland, and the mess they created just to get NATO on Russia’s borders.
This is as big, if not bigger than his lying to Congress, so I’ll throw in the reminder.
And supporting nazis to do it……and overthrowing a democratically elected president.Talk about interference in elections.
He gave a phony political hit piece to Harry Reid, with intent to undermine the Trump campaign. .
That much is clear. They tried to usurp the will of the American people to put Hillary in power. Brennan hoped to be director of defense..
Thank GOD in heaven it didn’t happen.
Devin Nunes has been kept busy trying to secure documents from the Department of Justice and FBI, who have been very reluctant to turn them over. When these agencies do turn documents over, they’re heavily redacted, with the excuse being that they’re somehow classified. Of course, once they are eventually unredacted, after multiple requests, often subpoenaed requests, Nunes has found that there was absolutely no reason for them to have been classified in the first place.
Can anyone say the word “stall”?
John Brennan may possibly be looking at:
“18 U.S. Code § 2384 – Seditious conspiracy
If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.”
backwardsevolution,
With respect to the Browder-Magnitsky Act legislation scandal, people might consider that ongoing, colossal, bombshell story in light of the mentioned 18 U.S. Code § 2384 – Seditious conspiracy:
“.. or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States,”
If moral force is deemed a correct legal interpretation, the growing number of men and women becoming aware of the scandal, in the United States particularly and around the Earth generally, could face 20 years of imprisonment. Of course, “by force” in the clause is meant as kinetic or physical force, so people demanding the profoundly consequential truth about Browder-Magnitsky have nothing in to worry about.
Political reality in America reveals that the two-party system is mythical, but actually that Americans are experiencing a one-party structure serving members of the transnational capitalist class – named and described in the recently published book “Giants: The Global Power Elites” by Sonoma State (CA) Professor Peter Phillips (co-founder of Project Censored with Mickey Huff).
Confirmation is found in the unanimous-total silence over the historic magnitude Browder-Magnitsky scandal of John Brennan(D), Gina Haspell(R), Loretta Lynch(D), Jeff Sessions(R), Ben Cardin(D), John McCain(R), all 535 U.S. elected representatives(D, R and I), Hillary Clinton(D), Mike Pompeo(R), Joseph Biden(D), Mike Pence(R), Barack Obama(D), Donald Trump(R) …
The fact that Magnitsky Act legislation is founded on a massive concoction of lies is unacceptable and, far more importantly, increasingly dangerous and destructive to international relations with each passing day of the coverup. It is of paramount importance that humanity learns the full truth about the Browder-Magnitsky laws scandal – and NOW.
Jerry – I saw a Youtube video by Professor Peter Phillips a few months back where he outlined the concentration of wealth by these transnational corporations. It was a very good video, and he’s right – something definitely needs to be done about these people. They are going to either kill us with war or kill us by ruining the planet. It’s like they’re addicted to greed and cannot help themselves, almost like a drug addict. We’ll have to stop them.
Yes, the Magnitsky Act legislation is a crock, isn’t it? And the sad thing is that these congressmen know it, but, as Peter Phillips said, they go along because it’s all part of controlling the world in favor of these transnational corporations. We just think our votes count! How stupid are we?
I don’t know where it’s all going to end, but we’d better start fighting back before these addicts take us all out.
Good talking to you, Jerry.
Perjury.
The CIA spied on Congress and Brennan lied about it to Congress.
My comment was directed to this article, which has nothing to do with that, not to the vast panoply of U.S. “national security” crimes.
David – First of all, don’t equate Nunes with Guiliani.
Second, here is a list I made last year of federal felonies and/or Class A misdemeanors, for which Hillary Clinton could and should have been indicted.
“18 USCA 201 Bribery
18 USCA 208 Acts Affecting a Personal Financial Interest (includes Recommendations)
18 USCA 371 Conspiracy
18 USCA 793(f) Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information – gross negligence in
handling or knowledge of illegal removal (the elements of which were
misinterpreted and misapplied by FBI Director Comey and rubber-stamped by
Attorney General Loretta Lynch and/or her staff)
18 USCA 1001 False Statements
18 USCA 1341 Frauds and Swindles (Mail Fraud)
18 USCA 1343 Fraud by Wire, Radio or Television
18 USCA 1349 Attempt and Conspiracy (to Commit Fraud)
18 USCA 1505 Obstruction of Justice
18 USCA 1519 Destruction (Alteration or Falsification) of Records in Federal Investigations
and/or Bankruptcy
18 USCA 1621 Perjury (Including Documents Signed under Penalties of Perjury)
18 USCA 1905 Disclosure of Confidential Information
18 USCA 1924 Unauthorized Removal and Retention of Classified Documents or Material
18 USCA 2072 Concealment (Removal or Mutilation) of Government Records
18 USCA 7201 Attempt to Evade or Defeat a Tax (Use of Clinton Foundation Funds for Personal
or Political Purposes)
18 USCA 7212 Attempts to Interfere with Administration of Internal Revenue Laws ?(Call to IRS
on Behalf of UBS not Turning over Accounts to IRS)
[ALSO: RICO ACT VIOLATIONS re: the Clinton Foundation Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organizations Act – 18 USC 1961-1968]
That’s just for starters. The more serious crimes being war crimes and crimes against humanity, for which her emails alone provide strong evidence.”
I think after the hoary details of Brennan’s record are scrutinized, there are many of these and many more for which he could be indicted and prosecuted. The question is, will the Administration willing or able begin the process.
As for Special Prosecutor Mueller, I hope you’ll familiarize yourself with Coleen Rowley’s articles in Consortium News and interviews with The Real News. For decades he has had a dirty history.
YEEESSS!!!
Unless he managed to secure one of those pallets of Benjamins that fell off many a loading ramp in Afghanistan, he will be embarrassed by some very high legal bills. We’ll see if anyone represents him for free.
After reviewing Dept. of the Navy v. Egan, I’d be inclined to include a count of unauthorized disclosure of classified information in the charges against Brennan. See Egan, 484 U.S. 518 (1988), https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/484/518/ [1]
Almost certainly, Brennan’s arrogance and impunity have allowed classified information to pass his lips during his various pronouncements on Russia-Gate. Prosecuting him for disclosure of classified information thus draws on a large body of prior statements, enabling him to be prosecuted for his prior statements. It also deprives him of his defebse if a purported First Amendment right of free speech. And the more instances of him spouting classified information are proved, the more wild he and his prior statements will seem to the jury.
[1] “The President, after all, is the ‘Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States.’ U.S.Const., Art. II, § 2. His authority to classify and control access to information bearing on national security and to determine whether an individual is sufficiently trustworthy to occupy a position in the Executive Branch that will give that person access to such information flows primarily from this constitutional investment of power in the President, and exists quite apart from any explicit congressional grant. This Court has recognized the Government”s ‘compelling interest’ in withholding national security information from unauthorized persons in the course of executive business. The authority to protect such information falls on the President as head of the Executive Branch and as Commander in Chief.”
(Internal citations omitted.)
Paul Merrell – thanks for the addition of “unauthorized disclosure of classified information”.
“Almost certainly, Brennan’s arrogance and impunity have allowed classified information to pass his lips during his various pronouncements on Russia-Gate.”
Yes. Washington has been leaking like a sieve, and I have no doubt that Brennan has played some role in this leakage.
With the evidence now trickling out of the Department of Justice and the FBI re spying/FISA Court abuse/Steele dossier, I’m holding out for “Seditious Conspiracy,” because I think this was their “intent” all along. LOL – I’m going right for the jugular!
Seems without a doubt that Brennan is guilty as a coconspirator to perpetrate a fraud on the FISA court.
I read the analysis/story linked by O Spirit, above. Or is it below, now in the topsy-turvy comment threads. Anyhow, he/she (O) presents an outline of what Brennan is thought to have done.
Seymour Hersh: Russia Gate: a Brennan operation.
Ray, what do you think the outcome will be for Brennan?
Incidentally, for all the people who routinely call Putin a thug, what about Brennan? It’s well known he chaired the Obama kill sessions, aka Terror Tuesdays. And he’s got the look.
The crux of this whole sorry saga that has dominated the public sphere for approaching two years now, is that nothing gets done for American people whose tax dollars are wasted on this pathetic show, demonstrating that the “public servants” exist primarily to serve themselves. That Brennan should be a mouthpiece for MSNBC is testimony to the mess of American politics both “right” and “left”. Too bad JFK’s wish to shatter the CIA into “a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds” was ended.
Word.
So true Jessica; that has been my lament as well…
And this is why we can’t have nice things.
“Brennan knew he was treading on a political minefield. He referred to the FBI/ CIA’s spying on the Trump campaign as an “exceptionally, exceptionally sensitive issue.” That helpful crumb comes from Russian Roulette, the book by David Corn and Michael Isikoff.
Brennan understood there would be hell to pay if it came out Hillary partisans in the U.S. government were spying on her opponent’s campaign, making use of opposition research she had purchased. But Brennan, who was auditioning to be Hillary’s CIA director and choking on his anger at the thought of Trump as president, couldn’t help himself apparently.
From April 2016 to July 2016, according to leaked stories in the British press, he assembled a multi-agency taskforce that served as the beginnings of a counterintelligence probe into the Trump campaign. During these months, he was “personally briefing” Obama on “Russian interference” — Brennan’s euphemism for spying on the Trump campaign — and was practically camped out at the White House. So in all likelihood Obama knew about and had given his blessing to Brennan’s dirt-digging.
The FBI’s liaison to Brennan was Peter Strzok, whose hatred for Trump equaled Brennan’s. But even Strzok knew Brennan was blowing smoke about Trump-Russian collusion. Strzok would later tell his mistress he sensed the probe would prove a crock — “there’s no big there there.”
What’s valuable about the Corn/ Isikoff account is it inadvertently provides a picture of Brennan running an anti-Trump spying operation right out of Langley. Even after the FBI probe formally began in July 2016, Brennan was bringing CIA agents, FBI officials, and NSA officials into the same room at CIA headquarters to pool their anti-Trump hunches.
To give these meetings a patina of respectability, Brennan invoked the post-9/11 rationale of interagency cooperation. Their political import is still unmistakable.”
John Brennan’s Exceptionally Sensitive Issue
Well done.
Who is donating to Stzok’s go fund me campaign? Is that in the public domain?
The problem is that both Brennan and Giuliani are pathological liars who cannot be trusted (neocons). There’s probably truth and lies to what both of them are saying- the idea that Brennan cooked up the Russia investigation is exaggerated and has little basis in reality, but he has indeed added fuel to the fire with leaks and public statements on TV (still can’t get over the fact that a CIA head is a newsman).
@ Anne, thanks for a thoughtful reply. I am reluctant to put the two in the same category because, while Giuliani’s lies are easy to dissect, Brennan is very careful with his words — whether he is telling the truth or not. The same can be said of Comey who has been remarkably consistency with his statements since 2016.
I would be concerned of neocon’s hawkish agendas in the long run, but clear and imminent threat of Donald Trump is more pressing for me. Whether the email was “leaked” or “hacked” is a trivial issue, considering the entire country is sinking.
“Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of ‘high crimes & misdemeanors.’ It was nothing short of treasonous,” Brennan, a frequent critic of Trump who served as CIA chief from 2013 through January 2017, tweeted during the event.
After those cretinous sentences, Brennan said that Trump’s statements after the meeting were “imbecilic and totally in the pocket of Putin”.
Careful with words? Guliani at “his best” was hard to exceed, at least in my humble opinion. When NY finest gunned down Patrick Dorismond, a Black unarmed man born in Haiti, Guliani “eulogized” the victim saying “he was no altar boy”. In fact, Dorismon was a former altar boy. Callous, stupid AND false. Perhaps Guliani, Brennan and too many other persons of importance suffer from the same brain infection.
Drew. You strike me as a one-issue troll. Blame everything on Trump and the Russians seems to be your theme song.
There is very substantial evidence that John Brennan has continued to act as a leaker over the past few months in order to create media narratives.
In July, the New York Times published a front-page article on Trump’s alleged behaviour when he was briefed by the DNI about Russian interference (remember that “DNI Report” that said RT programming on fracking and Occupy swayed the electorate to vote for Trump?)
The story says that Trump was briefed by “John O. Brennan, the C.I.A. director; James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence; and Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency and the commander of United States Cyber Command,” and that the meetings were top-secret. The story is entirely based around testimony from “several people who attended the intelligence briefing.”
Only three people attended the meeting, and Brennan is a stated enemy of Trump. It is therefore all but stated that the story is basically a “plant” by the former head of the CIA, on the front page of the US’s most well-regarded newspaper! They’ve gone from publishing Sy Hersh on intelligence abuse to letting their paper be used as an editorial space for ex-spooks.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/18/world/europe/trump-intelligence-russian-election-meddling-.html
“……He expected Hillary Clinton to play that role (were it ever to be needed), and that seemed to be solidly in the cards. But, oops, she lost……..”
The simple truth is that President Barrack Obama was clearly seen and heard desperately attempting to prop up Hillary, perhaps the weakest candidate to ever run. (And there have been some weak candidates in my memory. Dukakis, McCain and Romney come to mind, but none of them had frequent coughing fits at the podium, stumbled up stairs, or had to be dragged and shoved into a oversized SUV. Very Presidential, eh? Did the Russkies do that one?), in order to protect his legacy.
There is ample evidence in open public news reports of BO’s having his finger on the scale, both before the election and after Trump’s inauguration, which implicates him in pre-election meddling, as well as post-inauguration apparent sedition, in the form of his (Obama’s) shadowing Trump as he (Trump) began his first awkward attempts at visiting overseas, likely offerring these potentates an alternative foreign policy, (once a coupe d’tat of some sort takes place) .
Brennan was Obama’s stooge. Can’t wait to hear JB sing.
The link in the first sentence is broken.
I recall being hopeful when Brennan testified to the Senate that he would implement Obama’s plan to transfer all CIA drone operations to the military. This echoed JFK’s order to transfer all CIA military operations to the military, essentially reverting the CIA to its original purpose of gathering information. The JFK case was discussed well by Colonel L. Fletcher Prouty. JFK’s order died with him. Obama’s order was never implemented by Brennan. So who does Brennan really work for? An obvious candidate is the brotherhood of war profiteers. e.g. http://warprofiteerstory.blogspot.com