http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/14/politics/donald-trump-aides-russians-campaign/index.html
“(CNN)High-level advisers close to then-presidential nominee Donald Trump were in constant communication during the campaign with Russians known to US intelligence, multiple current and former intelligence, law enforcement and administration officials tell CNN.
President-elect Trump and then-President Barack Obama were both briefed on details of the extensive communications between suspected Russian operatives and people associated with the Trump campaign and the Trump business, according to US officials familiar with the matter.
Both the frequency of the communications during early summer and the proximity to Trump of those involved “raised a red flag” with US intelligence and law enforcement, according to these officials. The communications were intercepted during routine intelligence collection targeting Russian officials and other Russian nationals known to US intelligence.
Among several senior Trump advisers regularly communicating with Russian nationals were then-campaign manager Paul Manafort and then-adviser Michael Flynn.
Officials emphasized that communications between campaign staff and representatives of foreign governments are not unusual. However, these communications stood out to investigators due to the frequency and the level of the Trump advisers involved. Investigators have not reached a judgment on the intent of those conversations.
Adding to US investigators’ concerns were intercepted communications between Russian officials before and after the election discussing their belief that they had special access to Trump, two law enforcement officials tell CNN. These officials cautioned the Russians could have been exaggerating their access.”
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This is story that is unlikely to go away any time soon.
PWS
02/14/17
From Gus Villageliu:Far out and solid. The question just changed from what did the President know and when, to who owns Trump and when did he get bought!
Is this a great country or what? America. Love it or leave it! I hear North Korea is looking for people who like tyrants as Kim is rapidly running out of relatives to kill.
G
From CMD Tom Felhofer:
Gee, Gus,
Sit down and take a deep breath. Even CNN says that “communications between campaign staff and representatives of foreign governments are not unusual.” Flynn lied to Pence about the extent of the talks, and was therefore canned by Team Trump. In any other administration, Flynn’s efforts might well have been described as “Detente.” How we end up in North Korea on this is curious.
Tom
From PWS:
This one’s likely to go downhill for the Administration, Tom.
And, after Yates told Trump that Flynn was a blackmail risk, how does he still have a security clearance at all, let alone continue as NSC Adviser? Any other USG employee would have been reassigned pending further investigation. Potential national security issues are always checked out before an employee is given further access.
That even applies to “inferior officers of the USG” like US Immigration Judges. I didn’t “ace” my last few required National Security Training courses for nothing. And, I once was in charge of reviewing certain background and security files. I can assure you that a DOJ appointment could be “derailed” or a higher level clearance withheld on a lot less than a phone call from the Acting AG saying someone was a potential blackmail risk from the Ruskies.
Best,
P
As always, the dialogue is interesting and welcome. But, I’d like to “take it over to courtside” so we don’t jam everyone’s mailbox.
Thanks and cheers.
P
From Gus Villageliu:
Tom: Innocuous communications about logistics or social “get to know you” are not a problem. But keep in mind that our intelligence agents who can hear everything we say and read everything we write seem to despise Trump, giving Trump’s administration the “Death of a Thousand Cuts” with leaks. Half of our people despise him and our courts are also actively resisting Trump’s claim that his actions are unreviewable.
Trump’s approval is down to 40% and dropping. He is on very thin ice. The party of Lincoln, Reagan and the Bushes has been patiently waiting for an opportunity with controlling the Presidency and both the House and the Senate to enact their policies. But beyond that and their shared hatred for the Clintons most traditional GOP resent how Trump hijacked their party in 2016.
CDR Tom Felhofer
I agree 100%, Gus. The career bureaucrats are out to get Trump, and certain media just suck it all up. The out-of-context well-selected tidbits leaked let the “journalists” run wild with ominous conjecture, which, I believe is the intent. Career federal bureaucrats are a powerful bunch–a fourth branch of government if you will. As a rule, they vote Big Government and more taxpayer dollars for their personal fiefdoms, while slow-walking or sabotaging things with which they disagree (read “Trump” here). My experience (I’m a federal retiree) is that as much as career guys pee and moan about their employment conditions, they will vigorously resist any (even minor) attempt at reform, especially if the word “accountability” is in there somewhere. As “poor” as they have it, they are relatively well-paid, their jobs are recession-proof, they pretty much can’t be fired, and they have great retirement plans and benefits. Trump is not a “status quo” guy. He’s their enemy. He’s a threat. Plus he’s criticized them publically. Don’t get me wrong. Some of my former co-workers were among of the finest people I have ever met. On the other hand, there were several clinkers that could barely zip up their pants.
And speaking of leakers, I hope they are ferreted out and fired or worse. It’s insubordination at the very least. And it never fails to amaze me that a paper that wouldn’t print an unsigned letter to the editor in a zillion years, bases huge stories on unnamed, secret (possibly self-serving) sources—little people without the guts to be publically identified or cross-examined.
Tom
PWS:
I suspect the truth eventually will out. Seems to me that it was quite important that we learned the truth about Flynn’s lies and how he and the President basically “set up” the Vice President. Seems to be a strange situation.
And certainly, the stream of lies, misrepresentations, fabrications, and “alternative facts” coming out of the “official spokespersons” for the Trump Administration make me hope that someone on the inside is coming clean.
Maybe Flynn just used bad judgement. But, then he shouldn’t have been in the position, which was fairly obvious from the start given the problems he had during both his military career and during the campaign.
But, perhaps it was something more. You seem to be papering over the potential problems with the “Russian Connection,” Tom. Either way, Trump’s attempt to blame the media and others for his and Flynn’s shortcomings are totally inappropriate for someone in his position. In this case, however, he won’t be able to tweet his way though it.
On to Federal career employees. I was in both the Feds and the private sector at reasonably high levels. And I represented a fair number of major U.S. and international businesses. If anything, the work ethic in the Feds was better, even at the “Legacy INS.” In the Immigration Courts, pretty much everyone who stayed around for more than a couple of years worked their respective tails off, and at the court clerk level they were significantly underpaid. Some off the best ones left and went places, including the private sector, where you could get paid more for less work.
Even judges (in Courts “Other Than Arlington”) whom I thought were way off base legally were industrious. In some ways, the public might have been better served if they had worked less and thought more.
Most of the problems related to the management level. Even there, folks worked hard, they were just in the wrong positions or misdirected from above, thereby making their work not as effective as it should have been.
One issue was that the pay scale favored supervisors, so that individuals who were really good at “line jobs,” whether it was a court clerk or a criminal investigator, eventually got “booted upstairs” where they did not necessarily have the right set of management skills to succeed.
Most, but not all, politicos also were highly industrious. But, they were sometimes misdirected so that they caused more problems than they solved. The best ones, from both parties, took time to listen to the folks who “knew the business” and figure out how to move the group forward as a team with a specific objective.
“Accountability” is overrated. Usually it’s a “buzzword” for “go along to get along” or turning out lots of mindless work product as the behest of politicos who don’t know what they are doing. In private industry, it’s a bit easier to quantify things — “billable hours, etc.” But, in the public sector, goals are mostly subjective and aspirational, rather than easily quantifiable. That’s why being a Federal manager is challenging — to succeed, you have to figure out how to motivate people to do their best and pull together without the financial incentives available in the private sector. Also, although I did have to fire a few people in my career, I do agree that for the most part you had to do the best you could with what you had. Usually, I was able to make it work, for everyone involved.
Best,
P