TheFox
War Child
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2015
- Messages
- 767
It's crazy. It's so blatant what's going on with Russia. You couldn't write a movie script like this.
Trump just gives it out for free.
One day after dismissing Comey, Trump welcomed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak — a key figure in earlier Russia controversies — into the Oval Office. It was during that meeting, officials said, that Trump went off script and began describing details of an Islamic State terrorist threat related to the use of laptop computers on aircraft.
For almost anyone in government, discussing such matters with an adversary would be illegal. As president, Trump has broad authority to declassify government secrets, making it unlikely that his disclosures broke the law.
[...]
In his meeting with Lavrov, Trump seemed to be boasting about his inside knowledge of the looming threat. “I get great intel. I have people brief me on great intel every day,” the president said, according to an official with knowledge of the exchange.
Trump went on to discuss aspects of the threat that the United States learned only through the espionage capabilities of a key partner. He did not reveal the specific intelligence-gathering method, but he described how the Islamic State was pursuing elements of a specific plot and how much harm such an attack could cause under varying circumstances. Most alarmingly, officials said, Trump revealed the city in the Islamic State’s territory where the U.S. intelligence partner detected the threat.
The Post is withholding most plot details, including the name of the city, at the urging of officials who warned that revealing them would jeopardize important intelligence capabilities.
[...]
The identification of the location was seen as particularly problematic, officials said, because Russia could use that detail to help identify the U.S. ally or intelligence capability involved. Officials said the capability could be useful for other purposes, possibly providing intelligence on Russia’s presence in Syria. Moscow would be keenly interested in identifying that source and perhaps disrupting it.
Russia and the United States both regard the Islamic State as an enemy and share limited information about terrorist threats. But the two nations have competing agendas in Syria, where Moscow has deployed military assets and personnel to support President Bashar al-Assad.
“Russia could identify our sources or techniques,” the senior U.S. official said.
A former intelligence official who handled high-level intelligence on Russia said that given the clues Trump provided, “I don’t think that it would be that hard [for Russian spy services] to figure this out.”
At a more fundamental level, the information wasn’t the United States’ to provide to others. Under the rules of espionage, governments — and even individual agencies — are given significant control over whether and how the information they gather is disseminated, even after it has been shared. Violating that practice undercuts trust considered essential to sharing secrets.
The officials declined to identify the ally but said it has previously voiced frustration with Washington’s inability to safeguard sensitive information related to Iraq and Syria.
Guys and gals, I would caution throwing hands up at this.
It's sad that this type of intel isn't shared more routinely. Though, I would also say that it's not clear whether or not sensitive or compromising info was included as part of the breach. Needs more info.
if this had happened a couple months ago i might be suspicious that there were some nefarious things going on. but now i'm convinced that trump is just a fucking inept bumbling dipshit who let the professional diplomats walk all over him and (probably shockingly easily) got him to blab way more than he should have. he's got the brain of a 10 year old boy, he's not pulling off any covert national conspiracy shit - he'd tweet constantly about how stealthy he is and how he has the best secret plans ever ffs.
we'll probably never really know the full impact of this though, if it's as high-level as they say it is. that kind of stuff isn't just enemy troop positions.
I remember discussing the election with someone who's worked with Trump on a few projects, who's a liberal, and who rebuked me immediately when I talked of how stupid Trump was. He agreed he was a con man, but was adamant that he was one of the sharpest persons he's ever worked with.
So we're up to 4 distinct, realistic possibilities...
1) treason
2) sheer incompetence and/or stupidity
3) publicity stunt gone wayyyyy too far that he can't seem to get out of no matter how hard he tries
4) mental illness / cognitive impairment
Makes you all warm and fuzzy inside.
#TeamKush is definitely not trying to capitalize on their new found power with favorable real estate deals in China. No ma'am, not them. Not at all.Where is Ivanka? I thought she and the husband were widely seen as some sort of stabilizing factors. Have they given up? Is she back to shilling cheap purses?
In truth we (the world) are being held hostage to Paul Ryan's obsessive compulsive need for tax cuts. So long as Trump is a useful idiot for this purpose nothing will change. After the tax cuts are in place, what little need they had for him will expire and then it'll be like a snake devouring its own tail just in time for the 2018 primaries.
Imagine one day he just snaps from the pressure?
"What the fuck is wrong with you people? How could you not see through this bullshit? I was TRYING to lose and TRYING to get impeached, and you assholes couldn't even get THAT done???"
I don't get the idea that GOP are using Trump to get what they want.
If trump is impeached or resigns or whatever, Pence is in charge. Pence will go along with the same ideas and legislation
I don't get the idea that GOP are using Trump to get what they want.
If trump is impeached or resigns or whatever, Pence is in charge. Pence will go along with the same ideas and legislation