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Dissent and the State Department: What Comes Next?
Some 1000 employees at the Department of State are said to have signed a formal memo sent through the “Dissent Channel” in late January, opposing President Donald Trump’s Executive Order initially blocking all Syrian refugee admissions indefinitely, delaying other refugees 120 days, prohibiting for 90 days all other travelers (diplomats excluded) from seven Muslim-majority nations, and other immigration-related issues.
What is the Dissent Channel those State employees used? What effect if any will the memo have on policy? What does the memo say to the new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson about the organization he now heads, and what will he do about it?
What the State Department calls the Dissent Channel is unique inside the American government. Created in 1971 during the Vietnam War, the system allows Foreign Service officers to express their disagreement with U.S. policy directly to senior leaders. The secretary of state is obliged to read and through his staff respond to all Dissent Channel messages, normally within 30-60 days. Persons using the Channel are fully protected against retaliation. Dissent messages are intended to foster internal dialogue within the State Department, and are never intended for the public.
The issues surrounding the most recent dissent memo begin where that previous sentence ends.What was once understood to be a way to foster internal dialogue is in this case playing out more like an online petition. Multiple versions of the memo circulated within the State Department globally, with persons adding their signatures and making edits as they opened their email. Someone (no one seems to know exactly who) later allegedly melded the multiple versions into the one that was submitted, meaning some signers did not see the final text until it was leaked.
That leak changed everything, making the exercise less an expression of policy dissent than an anonymous press release sent out from a bureaucratic safe place. The intent in going public seems to be a combination of whining about, provoking, and embarrassing the administration. It is unclear anyone could feel that going to the press would foster greater discussion; actually, the opposite – many diplomats hoping to open a channel for discussion were deeply dismayed the memo went public, followed by anonymous interviews.
As one career ambassador stated regarding another dissent message quickly leaked to the media, State Department officers’ “oath of office is to protect and defend the Constitution, but they are not free to debate publicly with their president… If they want to go public they should resign.”
And indeed that sentiment appeared to be contained, albeit indelicately, in the White House’s initial reaction to the memo. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said of those diplomats who signed that they “should either get with the program, or they can go.”
Spicer, and the ambassador above, touch on a more fundamental issue underlying the dissent memo.
The average State Department Foreign Service officer has served 12 years, meaning a large number have never worked for any president other than Barack Obama and more than half have not experienced a presidential transition. These employees have never had their oath of service to the Constitution – not to George W. Bush or Barack Obama or Donald Trump – tested. Government carries out the policies of the president on behalf of the United States; it’s called public service for a reason. Those concerned because the wrong candidate won may be learning they are in the wrong business.That sense of frustration as much with the man in the Oval Office as with his policy appears evident in the text of the dissent memo, which is long on emotional (core values, nation of immigrants, shame of Japanese-Internment camps, yada-yada), and short on concrete policy other than “we shouldn’t do what the Executive Order says” and suggestions for more vetting and social media monitoring. Potential lost revenue figures are mostly global, not limited to the seven countries, and presume none of the people denied entry will visit another time to spend their money.
There is an extraordinary amount of high-caste rhetoric in the memo that appears to describe a situation that many Middle East travelers might not recognize: the welcoming atmosphere of the United States (as if long waits to pay $160 to apply for a visa, two year or more invasive vetting for refugees stuck abroad, and crude TSA treatment did not previously exist.) The memo speaks of souring relations with Middle Eastern nations, increased anti-American sentiment, and creating the impression of a war based on religion, while somehow overlooking that 15 years of the horrors of the War on Terror (torture, drone kills, wedding parties blown up, Guantanamo) have already accomplished those sordid tasks.
The memo also somewhat dramatically raises the specter of humanitarian issues, a child denied medical care in the U.S. for example, when the Executive Order in Section 3(g) clearly allows for such exceptions to be made on a case-by-case basis. The memo brushes that process off as unworkable, when in fact such exceptional processes exist throughout U.S. immigration law and work just fine – it has been the State Department who has in fact implemented them.
Left unsaid is any commentary on pre-Trump U.S. refugee policy. Since 1980, the United States has accepted fewer than two million refugees overall, and 40 percent of those were simply children accompanying their refugee parent(s). By contrast, though not limited to refugees, the Obama administration alone deported 2.5 million people. The FY2016 American quota for Syrian refugees was 10,000. In contrast, Canada in 2016 took in 25,000. Germany admitted 300,000 refugees from various nations in 2016, following close to one million in 2015.No dissent memos were publicly released about any of that; while the State Department drafters may not even have been aware of the crude reality of pre-Trump policy as they wrote of a welcoming America, one can bet persons in the Middle East affected by those policies are. Same for the Obama-era illegal and unconstitutional denial of passports to Yemenis. Those actions ended up crushed in Federal court, but received no public dissent from inside State.
The memo concludes with an erroneous statement that Federal employees take an oath to whatever “core American and Constitutional values” are. Sources state the memo was drafted largely by persons new to the State Department, and that clearly shows.
(Of ancillary interest, the memo, written by people who work with the nuts and bolts of visa and immigration law daily, makes no assertions that Trump’s executive order is illegal or unconstitutional, just bad policy.)
So what happens next?
Rex Tillerson’s staff owe the signatories a response. Past experience suggests, and the near-certainty that the response will be leaked within minutes assures, that the reply will be of the “we acknowledge your concerns,” content-free variety. It is possible the response could be delayed until near the actual end of the legal wrangling, long after the media have forgotten the dissent memo ever existed.In characterizing the dissent memo as unprecedented (it is in the number of signatories, claimed to be 1000, albeit out of a workforce of close to 19,000), many media outlets have raised the question of resignations. Will Tillerson one day find himself in a State Department without diplomats?
Experience suggests no.
There were no known State Department resignations of protest during the 15 years of atrocities known as the War of Terror (as well as no publicly released dissent memos.) At the State Department there were only three resignations of conscience over the 2003 Iraq War, and one other related to Afghanistan. The last time more than a handful of diplomats resigned in protest was at the height of the Vietnam War, arguably a more significant foreign policy event than a temporary visa ban aimed at a handful of countries.That said, emotions are running high inside the State Department, and one should not be surprised by a handful of resignations (one employee announced his resignation was actually a protest 12 days after he handed in his papers and even though he will remain at work until March, saying without explanation that Trump is a “threat to the Constitution”), a few scheduled retirements mediagenically re-categorized as resignations of protest, and an overreaction to all of that. Just remember outside the Beltway there is little love, or even real knowledge of, the State Department. It is doubtful Trump’s core constituency could give a hoot what happens at Foggy Bottom.
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity.
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RICH BAUER said...
1Answer: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
Trump doesn’t expect State to contribute anything in the next four years. As far as he is concerned, the place can be turned into a flea market.
State should not expect Trump to tell the truth about his plans.
The guy lies compulsively, a trait that is required for employment in his administration.
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough was baffled why Attorney General Jeff Sessions failed to disclose his meetings with the Russian ambassador while he was a senator and campaign surrogate for Donald Trump.
The Washington Post reported late Wednesday that Sessions had met twice with the ambassador, which contradicted claims he made during his confirmation hearings before the U.S. Senate.
Scarborough asked his co-host Mika Brzezinski why Sessions would conceal those meetings, which wouldn’t have necessarily been unusual for his role on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“What does it say, Mika, when you lie about something that you don’t have to lie about,” Scarborough said. “There is a multiplying effect — when you have your NSA, your national security adviser, lying and having to resign. And then you have your attorney general lying in front of Congress over something he shouldn’t have to lie about, because he’s on the armed services committee. He had the right to talk to whomever. Why lie about it? It just compounds all of the questions.”
Problems? It got Trump elected.
03/2/17 8:26 AM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
2State will at least have one function: issue visas…many more visas.
Saying that the U.S. still requires citizens of five EU member nations to obtain an entry visa, the European Union’s Parliament approved a measure on Thursday calling for the EU Commission to urge full visa reciprocity — or reinstate visa requirements for Americans who want to visit Europe. The U.S. currently requires citizens of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania to obtain visas before visiting. The move sets a two-month deadline for the EU Commission to act if the U.S. doesn’t change its policy.
The EU resolution cites rules that require the organization’s executive body to take action against the any nations that haven’t offered full visa reciprocity. The rules set a two-year warning period before action is taken — and because the initial warning to the U.S. went out in April of 2014, it expired last year.
Then the US will have to require visas for all EU travelers…
03/2/17 11:05 AM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
3It also shows a great deal of major confusion, publicly, at the state department.
A lot of mud on their face, just in Peter’s article.
No wonder they are becoming a non- agency.
M
03/2/17 11:12 AM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
4If Trump’s core constituency (Bauer) sees videos of lavish parties at numerous US embassies they’ll want to close down most of the diplomatic corps. Can’t blame them. Witnessing fat cat donors acting as ambassadors at lavish events in castle settings in Rome, Lisbon, Paris, etc. is pretty galling to those who meals are far simpler by necessity. Unfortunately this same constituency would never want to witness the waste the Pentagon produces. Not all the military burn pits emit toxins. The Pentagon’s real burn pit is located in your wallet.
03/2/17 11:39 AM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
5Wait until Trump hears about the BILLION DOLLAR embassy to be built in London.
03/2/17 11:43 AM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
6“It’s fun to build something when it’s not your money,” said David Williams, vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste, who called the plans a “blank check” for government spending and excess.
“Some of the amenities really seem kind of ridiculous and almost medieval,” said Williams, criticizing plans for the moat, which will be dug as a security measure to separate the embassy from a busy road nearby.
“Are they going to have turrets and sword fights?”And it is Britons who may be benefiting most from the new enbassy construction, said Williams, who did not expect to see many jobs created for struggling American workers in the massive project.
“I could foresee an American firm doing a lot of the planning but the actual construction probably is going to take place by foreign construction firms,” he told FoxNews.com. “I guess no matter where a job is created, it’s considered good.”
And here comes the Trump tweet.
The State Department’s Bureau of Overseas Building did not respond to e-mail and phone requests for comment. They are too busy with their 2-hour lunches.
03/2/17 11:49 AM | Comment Link
Bruce said...
7No D.C. opposition to Queen HELL’S 4-year 0TB, RICO BaRacketeering $hakedown with Bush $hadow B0$$, DingleBarry? NOW, with resignations, Trump can claim Moar JOB$’ Creation !
03/2/17 2:40 PM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
8The judge is not in Sessions.
03/2/17 4:20 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
9Bauer- the moat thingee is wonderful. Britain can exhume drawings from its 14th century history to make sure the moat is in scale to the main structure. Are the architects laughing as they cash their checks?
03/2/17 5:56 PM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
10If Joe McCarthy were alive today what would he make of the White House aka the Russia House?
“I have here in my hand a list of 205 White House employees and Trump loyalists as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the White House.”
03/3/17 7:33 AM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
11Some Cajun is probably wrestlin’ a few crocs in the everglades this morning to ship over to Britain so the new embassy’s moat can really really be a deterrent to anyone foolish enough to try and breach the US’s diplomatic castle fortress.
03/3/17 8:39 AM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
12Rich.
All that hate is going to burn you up inside.
M
03/3/17 8:41 AM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
13I kind of like the moat and crocs idea… Better than BB guns for keeping kids and cats off your lawn….
And no messy, loud minefields…..no machine gun nests…. Nobody sleeps on guard duty…. Great place to get rid of leakers…. Not to mention those pesky reporters….
Probably have to put signs up in 300 languages though.
M
03/3/17 8:48 AM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
14The most tone deaf statement of the day…but is still early:
“there’s one thing we know about administration officials of popular vote loser Donald Trump, it’s that they never disclose anything unless they’re forced to. As Sen. Chuck Schumer put it, “They’ll only do the right thing when they’re caught doing the wrong thing.”
Yo Chuck, don’t forget Hillary, Weiner, and the majority of politicians and businessmen. How stupid do you think this country is? Oh yeah.
03/3/17 9:16 AM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
15Mitch- good points. Actually the croc wrangler told the Brits what the crocs needed to eat to survive in their new moat and the incoming the embassy staff said that had already been taken care of.
03/3/17 10:21 AM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
16NEWSFLASH: DHS concludes Trump’s MUSLIM BAN should be extremely vetted before it incites Muslim terrorism.
03/3/17 10:21 AM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
17John.
Hell of a good way to…. Discourage… Anyone with out a valid visa application too.
M
03/3/17 11:14 AM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
18When will the Republicans take out the Trump trash?
1. Not a good look for Republicans being defended by the Evil Empire. Hurts their brand as the defenders against the “leftists.”
2. The howls of laughter coming from the government professionals at the Trump amateur clown circus falling flat on its faces with the Muslim ban fiasco is not going to go away.
3. The latest leak from DHS threatens to turn into a flood when the johnny come lately crowd get involved.
4. If Trump wants them all investigated by the FBI, then he needs to hire lots more FBI guys.
03/3/17 11:23 AM | Comment Link
chuck said...
19Killery/2020. I’m with Her. We Came, We saw, He died. Have a nice day. Drug Co’s working on Russiaphobia drug. Profits enormoU$. Vote D or R?!!!
03/3/17 12:20 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
20So…. Now that the Sessions tirade is over…. People really need to stop clutching at straws …. And maybe grow up some.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/03/sessions-not-alone-russian-ambassador-also-met-with-numerous-democrats.html
M
03/3/17 12:52 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
21Wonder if this applies to screen writers as well.
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/03/03/star-wars-actor-riz-ahmed-calls-for-more-diverse-movie-roles-or-people-will-turn-to-isis.html
M
03/3/17 1:00 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
22Ahhh…. Journalists….
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39157934
M
03/3/17 2:01 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
23Mitch- it all comes down to parenting. With genuine adn intelligent parents no offspring would join ISIS nor the SEALS nor have the need to become a needy celebrity.
03/3/17 3:07 PM | Comment Link
chuck said...
24What are the next Award Ceremony’s on TV? Are they Paid for every two weeks or so by an agenda? The latest is Actor Activist. How special. Where where you with the Obama drones killing?
03/3/17 4:14 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
25John.
You did not see where Rich is writing screen plays ?
M
03/3/17 6:16 PM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
26Trump: Do as I say, not as I do.
Every time President Donald Trump spends the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, it costs taxpayers $3 million. Yet, just days ago, Trump told Americans that spending must be cut.
“Unfortunately, the budget we’re essentially inheriting is a mess. The finances of our country are a mess,” Trump told reporters at the start of a meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney. “We must do a lot more with less.”
If his own spending is any indication, Trump must have meant that everyone other than him must do more with less.
03/3/17 6:43 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
27Rich.
Did you bitch this much about Obama’ s trips … Anywhere????
3 mil to go to Florida…. Far better than 30 mil to go to Chicago.
M
03/3/17 9:02 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
28Well now that this post includes crocs in moats we might as well go to Trump saying Obama is sinister and tapped his phones. I agree 100%. Obama is totally sinister. Michele is now hobnobbing with Bush. Funny how being extremely well off feels very very nice so by inference those who are well off must be very very nice! Michelle and Barack will be even richer after their book advances. They’ve lived like royalty for 8 years.
Here’s a thought. Make being POTUS a low paying gig with and the stipulation that you can’t earn more than $90K for the next 10 years. One is restricted from cashing in during and after “serving” one’s country. I’d also include the military. No more generals making $400K from being on ten boards of Fortune 500 companies. Oh well, I can dream.
03/4/17 4:12 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
29Excuse me for thinking PVB’s site is a soap box for Bauer types. My latest posting was a lapse. Too many Russian Imperial Stouts was to blame.
03/4/17 4:23 PM | Comment Link
chuck said...
30Be careful of Russiaphobia.
03/4/17 5:33 PM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
31“Obama tapped Trump’s phone.”
Do you mean the NSA, or is the paranoid lunatic Trump aware of another secret outfit that taps American citizen’s phones?
Let’s play devils advocate that there is some secret outfit that Obama employed to tap Trump Tower…just like Joe McCarthy, right Don? Then go for it, Mr Presidense, shut down all those criminal outfits like the NSA that are spying on US illegally.
But you won’t because you are full of shit, and NO ONE should be listening to your insane phone calls.
03/4/17 5:40 PM | Comment Link
chuck said...
32Where is Snowden Traitor dude? Freedom isn’t Free.
03/4/17 5:46 PM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
33What’s on tap, Don?
Deflection Don is desperately trying to divert our attention from his MUSLIM BAN fiasco, his Jeff Sessions Russian to judgment fiasco, his Mexico fence-once-a-wall fiasco, his GEneral Jack D Ripper Flynn rasPutin fiasco, whatever the hell Carter Page was trying to say fiasco, etc etc.
Don, your angry as hell act ain’t making it in presidential primetime. Grow the fuck up or Get the fuck off the stage before the guys in the white coats have to remove you. You are embarrassing yourself.
03/4/17 5:58 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
34John.
You were not mistaken.
But…… When Trump makes the world glow…. Rich will find out his crush does not want him on her island…. Or in her bunker….
https://heatst.com/politics/hillary-clinton-feels-betrayed-says-would-bring-no-one-to-a-deserted-island/
M
03/4/17 6:39 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
35Rich.
All that hate is going to burn you up inside.
Try taking a walk… Deep breathing… Meditation… Maybe go to dinner with someone pretty….or.. Perhaps… Watch some good porn.
Trump is not going anywhere for a few years.
M
03/4/17 6:42 PM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
36If Trump is right, then he is in Deep State shit:
It would have been difficult for federal agents, working within the law, to obtain a wiretap order to target Mr. Trump’s phone conversations. It would have meant that the Justice Department had gathered sufficient evidence to persuade a federal judge that there was probable cause to believe he had committed a serious crime or was an agent of a foreign power, depending on whether it was a criminal investigation or a foreign intelligence one.
03/4/17 8:04 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
37Rich.
Your entire statement is flawed.
Trump is not saying they tapped the phones. Which would require a warrant.
He is saying the tower was bugged. ….. Which is a whole lot grayer area…..
The tech Does exist, that makes it very possible to listen to any conversation in the tower, from outside the tower.
Why tap the phones….. When you can have everything?
Think of it kind of like the NSA …. All you have to do is get an order for a downstairs tenet.. And Accidentally get all of Trumps conversation…..
Things like that, I can assure you…. Happen ALL the time.
And… It does not mean that the information will stand up in court….
But…. The information obtained…. Never was meant for court…. Now was it ?
M
03/5/17 12:15 AM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
38Oh Mitch, Trumpie s paranoia is contagious. Now put your tinfoil hat on and go to your happy place.
03/5/17 6:38 AM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
39Rich.
Here’s a question…
What is the purpose of gathering intelligence information?
Answer :
To effect the outcome of any given contest or conflict.
Hence…..
If you don’t think the tower was bugged…. As well as whatever secret places the DNC has…. Then I will have to start sending you alien abduction videos again. …
Its how things are down in this day and age….
What???…. You don’t think Trump has never had to deal with “industrial espionage ” before?
M
03/5/17 6:59 AM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
40Stellar Wind blowback: If you have nothing to hide, why are you worried about the gov monitoring you?
This was a Republican creation, nicht war? Ashcroft said the Stellar Wind plan was a no-go but Fredo and the joker Card thought differently. Comey in the middle again?
03/5/17 7:21 AM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
41For those that don’t have a clue of what Rich speaks of….
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_Wind
Rich,
Please note that Obama expanded and used the hell out of the “program “…
Which actually reinforces Trump’s statements that the tower was bugged.
And Rich, for the record…. I resent the shit out of it, and all similar domestic programs… And there are a lot of them.
M
03/5/17 7:55 AM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
42And you are doing what exactly now that trump has the keys to total surveillance of US? Call your republican congressman.
Where are the repugnicans demanding the investigations of this criminal total surveillance activity authorized by the repugnicans?
This whole deep State conspiracy against trump if it exists could be shut down today if he desires it. Turn off the lights to the CIA, NSA until we can figure what the hell is going on,
.
03/5/17 9:00 AM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
43Obama tells Trump North Korea will be his biggest problem. Trump should reply; Hey, hopey changey guy what did you do about that situation for EIGHT YEARS???? You just kicked the can down the road for eight years. Don’t bother me again.
03/5/17 9:06 AM | Comment Link
chuck said...
44Did Clapper lie? Did Snowden Lie? Assange? Did DebbieWS and Donna B. Cheat? (I did not vote for Trump. Killery/2020)
03/5/17 9:09 AM | Comment Link
chuck said...
45RIP James Leroy Marker, Have a nice day.
03/5/17 9:14 AM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
46NEWSFLASH: Donald Trump considering joining TSA. The sex pervert is excited at the prospect of the new TSA enhanced hand pat downs.
03/5/17 9:34 AM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
47Groin scrutiny. Trump’s wet dream.
03/5/17 9:37 AM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
48Trump should shutdown the CIA and NSA.
After all, he gets his “intelligence” from Bretfart and Fox and Fiends.
03/5/17 9:47 AM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
49John.
2 points. Just too cool.
M
03/5/17 10:56 AM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
50Rich. ,
You did nor respond.
And I doubt Trump will shut them down.
Rein in… Perhaps…. Shut them down… Doubt it… At least as long as there are rabid, out of control haters, throwing wild out of control statements around.
M
03/5/17 10:59 AM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
51Or he is just regurgitating the bile vomit from Bannon, and the CIA and FBI would laugh in his face.
03/5/17 11:26 AM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
52More Fake News…from Trump sources:
During an appearance Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” White House deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders said that Trump “is going off of information that he’s saying has led him to believe that this is a very real potential.” Yet she, too, did not offer evidence to back up the president’s claim.
What do they have to hide…other than the truth that Trump and Bannon are raving lunatics?
03/5/17 11:34 AM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
53NEWSFLASH: Deep State plants false news that Trump’s phones were tapped so the presidense looks more foolish…if that is possible.
03/5/17 11:53 AM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
54NEWSFLASH: Lunatic Trump will have his own investigators find the Obama wiretap evidence …as soon as they complete Trump’s investigation of Obamas fraudulent Hawaiian birth certificate and Ted Cruz.s father involvement in the JFK assassination.
03/5/17 1:17 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
55Rich.
Try to reach you this way.
Someone released info to the press that compromised Intel capabilities. Which in turn, notified the big, bad Russians that their communications had been compromised.
Now, as President, Trump has access to information that would make most people’s heads explode.
If he releases how he knows, at this point, without taking steps to protect the way the information was garnered, he risks giving up a future source of Intel.
Obama, he is a likely suspect, after all he did just move Valerie Jarrett into his and Michelle’s DC house to “head the resistance ” against Trump.
Trump is actually acting responsible. Which is what many people have been hoping for.
Over- riding his basic need to lash out, and handle it in the correct fashion.
M
03/5/17 6:28 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
56Now here would be a fine example of leaks…..
And irresponsible reporting….
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/04/world/asia/north-korea-missile-program-sabotage.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=span-ab-top-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0&referer=http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/03/05/us-wages-secret-cyber-operations-against-north-korea-missile-program.html
M
03/5/17 6:43 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
57Rich.
Just read the last sentence…… Think I just said this though…..
But…… Oh WAiT !!!.. This guy is a professional…
” Ret. U.S. Army Intelligence Officer Tony Shaffer said potential wiretapping by a sitting U.S. president is “Soviet-level wrongdoing.”
Lt. Col. Shaffer was a guest Saturday morning on “Fox & Friends Weekend” sharing his thoughts on President Donald Trump’s early morning tweets accusing the Obama administration of wiretapping Trump Tower prior to the 2016 election.
Obama, through his spokesman Kevin Lewis, denied such allegations.
Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my “wires tapped” in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
Shaffer said it is “very likely” Obama authorized the wiretapping.
“Simply because you don’t like someone doesn’t give you the right as the sitting president to do something like this. … This was about trying to gain an advantage for his side, this case [Hillary] Clinton,” he said.
Shaffer also said Trump must have sufficient evidence since he went public with the accusations on Twitter. ”
M
03/5/17 7:00 PM | Comment Link
RICH BAUER said...
58Comey says Trump is full of shit. Has evidence to prove it.
03/5/17 8:13 PM | Comment Link
Mitch said...
59Rich.
The same Comey that gave Hillary a pass?
Yea…. Reliable source there. …… Not.
M
03/5/17 10:21 PM | Comment Link