Posted originally on CTH on February 7, 2026 | Sundance
The attempted framing of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard continues with senate intelligence committee Mark Warner and/or his collaborating whistleblower attorney Andrew Bakaj (also Ciaramella’s attorney) leaking details to the British intelligence services and their preferred media outlet The Guardian.
DNI Tulsi Gabbard has responded to the ongoing nonsense but first let’s review the newly disclosed details for some interesting information.
The UK Guardian now shares the agency for the “whistleblower” as the NSA, likely an NSA contractor, and the basic details of an intercepted phone call which the contractor deemed “unusual”. I’ll pull citations from the article.
SUMMARY VERSION: In/around March of 2025 an NSA contractor “detected evidence of an unusual phone call between an individual associated with foreign intelligence and a person close to Donald Trump, according to Whistleblower attorney, Andrew Bakaj.” The NSA contractor then wrote up a report and gave it to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. DNI Gabbard then took the report to Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles.
One day after meeting Wiles, Gabbard told the NSA not to publish the intelligence report. Instead, she instructed NSA officials to transmit the highly classified details directly to her office. (Guardian citation)
The NSA whistleblower was upset that DNI Gabbard didn’t share the report with others and filed a whistleblower complaint on April 17, 2025, with the Intelligence Community Inspector General. Within the complaint the NSA whistleblower included the details of the phone call leading to the complaint being labeled Top Secret Compartmented Information (TSCI classification). This format of including TSCI material complicates how the complaint can be reviewed. This looks like it was done on purpose.
Because the complaint contained TSCI material, it could not follow ordinary whistleblower pathways toward congress.
(Guardian) […] Acting inspector general Tamara A Johnson dismissed the complaint at the end of a 14-day review period, writing in a 6 June letter addressed to the whistleblower that “the Inspector General could not determine if the allegations appear credible”. The letter stipulated that the whistleblower could take their concerns to Congress, only after receiving DNI guidance on how to proceed, given the highly sensitive nature of the complaint. (citation)
The inclusion of the TSCI material, the ‘highly sensitive‘ part, creates a conflict within the process. [The TSCI material is the name of the individual associated with foreign intelligence, and the name of the person close to President Trump.]
The NSA whistleblower complaint is against DNI Gabbard, but any complaint containing TSCI material must carry guidance from DNI Gabbard for further sharing. The NSA whistleblower likely intended to create this problem as part of the scheme to set up the events.
(Guardian) […] The contents of the whistleblower complaint are still largely unknown. Bakaj, the whistleblower’s attorney, said that Gabbard’s office had redacted much of the complaint that was released to intelligence committee members on Tuesday, citing executive privilege.
“I don’t know the contents of the complaint, but by exercising executive privilege they are flagging that it involves presidential action,” he said.
On 3 February, Bakaj again requested guidance from Gabbard’s office about how to share the whistleblower’s full report while taking appropriate precautions.
“As you are well aware, our client’s disclosure directly impacts our national security and the American people,” Bakaj wrote. “This means that our client’s complete whistleblower disclosure must be transmitted to Congress, and that we, as their counsel, speak with members and cleared staff.”
Bakaj said that the DNI’s office did not respond to his letter by its Friday deadline. He plans to contact members of the Senate and House intelligence committees on Monday to schedule an unclassified briefing on Gabbard’s conduct and the “underlying intelligence concerns”.
Members of the gang of eight have contacted the NSA to request the underlying intelligence that the whistleblower says Gabbard blocked, according to staff in Warner’s office. (more)
NOTE: At this point I’m more interested in the name of this NSA contractor who is listening to the phone calls of foreign intelligence and the Trump administration. Much like the heavily protected Eric Ciaramella (2019 effort), this NSA contractor likely carries similar motivations. Both Ciaramella and this “whistleblower” are using the same lawyer, Andrew Bakaj.
Regardless, DNI Tulsi Gabbard responded today via her X account:
“Senator Mark Warner and his friends in the Propaganda Media have repeatedly lied to the American people that I or the ODNI “hid” a whistleblower complaint in a safe for eight months. This is a blatant lie.
The truth:
– I am not now, nor have I ever been, in possession or control of the Whistleblower’s complaint, so I obviously could not have “hidden” it in a safe. Biden-era IC Inspector General Tamara Johnson was in possession of and responsible for securing the complaint for months.
– The first time I saw the whistleblower complaint was 2 weeks ago when I had to review it to provide guidance on how it should be securely shared with Congress.
– As Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Warner knows very well that whistleblower complaints that contain highly classified and compartmented intelligence—even if they contain baseless allegations like this one—must be secured in a safe, which the Biden-era Inspector General Tamara Johnson did and her successor, Inspector General Chris Fox, continued to do. After IC Inspector General Fox hand-delivered the complaint to the Gang of 8, the complaint was returned to a safe where it remains, consistent with any information of such sensitivity.
– Either Senator Warner knows these facts and is intentionally lying to the American people, or he doesn’t have a clue how these things work and is therefore not qualified to be in the U.S. Senate—and certainly not the Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Here is a detailed chronology of the situation:
– June 2025, I became aware that a whistleblower made a complaint against me that after further investigation, neither Biden-era IC Inspector General Tamara Johnson nor current IC Inspector General Chris Fox found the complaint to be credible.
– The complaint required special handling and storage in a safe because the complainant chose to include highly sensitive information within the complaint itself rather than referencing the sensitive reporting and leaving the complaint at a lower level of classification.
– Security standards for complaints that include such sensitive intelligence required the Inspector General to keep the complaint and the intelligence referenced secured in a safe from the time the complaint was made, until now.
– In June 2025 after Biden-era Inspector General Tamara Johnson completed her review of the complaint, no further oversight or investigative activity took place.
– Biden-era Inspector General Johnson had communicated with me directly throughout the course of her investigation into this complaint, yet neither she nor anyone from her office informed me that the Whistleblower chose to send the complaint to Congress which would require me to issue security instructions.
– When a complaint is not found to be credible, there is no timeline under the law for the provision of security guidance. The “21 day” requirement that Senator Warner alleges I did not comply with, only applies when a complaint is determined by the Inspector General to be both urgent AND apparently credible. That was NOT the case here.
– I was made aware of the need to provide security guidance by IC Inspector General Chris Fox on December 4, 2025, which he detailed in his letter to Congress.
– I took immediate action to provide the security guidance to the Intelligence Community Inspector General who then shared the complaint and referenced intelligence with relevant members of Congress last week.
Senator Warner’s decision to spread lies and baseless accusations over the months for political gain, undermines our national security and is a disservice to the American people and the Intelligence Community.” {source}
This multi-layered IC operation against Tulsi Gabbard is transparent in its political motivations. However, at the end of the day the dynamic is really remarkable when you cut through the fog and see it for what it is. The Intelligence Community (Fourth Branch) is listening to the conversations of the Trump administration, conducting full spectrum surveillance and looking for anything the IC can exploit to retain their status and power.
For additional perspective, put this IC effort into context looking at it through the separation of powers.
Every element of the Executive Branch is President Donald Trump:
An NSA contractor working for Donald Trump intercepted a phone call between a foreign intelligence person and a person working for Donald Trump. That contractor, working for Trump, then shared the intercept with the ODNI, who also works for Trump. The DNI, working for Trump, then informed the chief of staff to Donald Trump, and later secured the intercept.
The NSA contractor, who works for Trump, was angered by the DNI who works for Trump, and filed a complaint against the DNI because she didn’t share their intercept with other people who do not work for Trump.
That’s the current state of the Intelligence Community within the U.S. govt.
Again, I will repeat…. Until the Trump administration puts full sunlight on the intelligence community operations; which includes retrieving, declassifying and sharing the sealed secret transcript of former ICIG Michael Atkinson; the various intelligence officials who are comfortable weaponizing their positions will continue trying to manipulate American politics. They are continually using the same playbook.
Posted originally on CTH on February 5, 2026 | Sundance | 93
This is funny, not because the narrative is so obvious, but because the well-used script is so transparent.
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), a misnomer if there is one, Vice Chairman Mark Warner, finds out that Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, had previously (May ’25) retrieved voting machines from Puerto Rico for analytical review. Of course, he needs immediate camera time to clutch his pearls, but it gets better.
For those who walk the deep weeds, you will remember when the Warner operation in 2017 needed to promote the intel script about the first discussion of the Christopher Steele “dossier”, they enlisted CNN’s Manu Raju, Jim Scuitto, Jake Tapper and Carl Bernstein. That ‘breaking news’ was the original trigger for the Daily Beast to then publish the “dossier.” Senator Mark Warner then came in for the close with the leak of the Carter Page FISA. That was the script in 2017. We watched it in real time.
So, now Mark Warner finds out Tulsi Gabbard is on the trail of the intelligence manipulation of election machines. In this video below, Mark Warner appears for an entirely scripted segment with… wait for it… Manu Raju. How do you know this was pre-scripted for TV? Because: (a) that’s what they do, and (b) Raju is the only one who asks questions – while Warner doesn’t even look at him because he knows the narrative in advance. Seriously, watch it. It’s funny:
[A completely unrelated side note: Notice how the U.K, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have refused to join the Board of Peace? You know what they all have in common…. 5-eyes.]
(REUTERS) – WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (Reuters) – A team working for President Donald Trump’s spy chief, Tulsi Gabbard, last spring led an investigation into Puerto Rico’s voting machines, said Gabbard’s office and three sources familiar with the previously unreported events.
The sources said the goal was to work with the FBI to investigate claims that Venezuela had hacked voting machines in Puerto Rico, but added the probe did not produce any clear evidence of Venezuelan interference in the U.S. territory’s elections. Reuters first reported the investigation.
Gabbard’s office, in a statement to Reuters, confirmed the May investigation but denied a link to Venezuela, saying its focus was on vulnerabilities in the island’s electronic voting systems. Her team took an unspecified number of Puerto Rico’s voting machines and additional copies of data from the machines as part of its investigation, a spokesperson for Gabbard’s Office of the Director of National Intelligence said.
Her office said the taking of voting machines and data was “standard practice in forensics analysis.”
Noting similar voting infrastructure elsewhere in the United States, it added: “ODNI found extremely concerning cyber security and operational deployment practices that pose a significant risk to U.S. elections.”
Jorge Rivera Rueda, head of Puerto Rico’s State Elections Commission, said he could not comment on any ongoing investigations. He added in a statement, “the Commission will fully cooperate with any investigative process conducted by the appropriate authorities, whether at the state or federal level.”
Venezuela’s government did not respond to a request for comment.
ODNI said some security gaps in voting machines used in Puerto Rico stemmed from their use of vulnerable cellular technology and that software flaws existed that could give hackers access deep into vital electoral systems. (more)
Warner is super nervous.
DNI Tulsi Gabbard is off the range of control.
The next play is obvious. Warner et al will attempt to put DNI Gabbard into a position where an answer to a Senate question will need some kind of classified response. The weaponized IC elements, of which Warner is a key participant, need to get Tulsi Gabbard removed from her position.
Posted originally on CTH on February 4, 2026 | Sundance
As background for this interview, I’m going to say something that generally will not be received well by many. I have it on very good authority that FBI Director Kash Patel’s organization is currently one of the biggest impediments to successful execution of Trump administration domestic policy goals.
Specifically stated, DC operatives within the FBI are creating, manufacturing and leaking information against the goals and objectives of the White House, DOJ and other administration executive offices. In short, Kash Patel does not have his arms around the agency and subversive operatives are actively successful because of his incompetence. Accept it or disregard it, but that is the honest expressed sentiment from officials who are having to deal with the consequence.
All of that said, here is FBI Director Kash Patel appearing on Fox News to again emphasize that the agency is working in a supportive role on various domestic issues of concern. Not “lead“, “support.” WATCH:
Director Gabbard: “Contrary to the blatantly false and slanderous accusations being made against me by Members of Congress and their friends in the propaganda media, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has and will continue to take action under my statutory authorities to secure our nation and ensure the integrity of our elections. My response to Congress:”
Within the letter DNI Gabbard notes, President Trump “specifically directed” her to be present for the execution of a search warrant in Fulton County, Georgia last week as part of the probe. Director Gabbard announced in April 2025 that ODNI was investigating electronic voting systems in order to protect election integrity.
“As I publicly stated on 10 April 2025, there is information and intelligence reporting suggesting that electronic voting systems being used in the United States have long been vulnerable to exploitation that could result in enabling determined actors to manipulate the results of the votes being cast with the intent of changing the outcome of an election,” she writes. “ODNI and the IC continue to collect and assess all available intelligence concerning this threat to ensure the security and integrity of our elections,” she said.
Director Gabbard explained that the process of assessing the intelligence “ensures that the IC’s finished intelligence products are objective, independent of political considerations, and based on all available sources.” … “I will share our intelligence assessments with Congress once they are complete,” she said.
Posted originally on CTH on January 1, 2026 | Sundance
The tenuous legal theory permitting the U.S. government to conduct surveillance on U.S. citizen data (emails, texts, phone calls, messages etc.) rests on the unconstitutional ability of the government to intercept your “private papers” with the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, specifically FISA-702. The “702” aspect is the term for U.S. citizen intercepted.
The authority for the United States government to capture the electronic records of all Americans without warrant falls under the auspices of FISA-702. The current authority expires in April of 2026. The 702 authorities have been abused to conduct political surveillance for just about everything in Washington DC. Millions of unauthorized searches have been identified; it is unconstitutional.
Politico, an outlet for the concerns of the administrative state, begins the new year by noting there is increased resistance to the reauthorization. However, in order to carry out the domestic national security agenda of the Trump administration, the Deep State considers JD Vance, Marco Rubio and others as likely supporters for reauthorization.
(Politico) – […] During the last reauthorization debate in 2024, then-candidate Trump urged Congress to “kill” the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the larger spy law that Section 702 is nested under. Trump’s decision frustrated supporters of the program — in part because they believe he conflated the foreign-target spy program with the broader surveillance law that was not up for reauthorization.
A crucial Biggs-sponsored House amendment that would have added a warrant requirement for any communications involving Americans failed on a 212-212 tie, with Speaker Mike Johnson casting a rare and decisive vote to kill it.
Now the spy powers fight is a major headache for Johnson, who infuriated privacy hawks with his 2024 amendment vote after having advocated for more surveillance guardrails as a former member of the Judiciary Committee.
Judiciary Committee Republicans — led by Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, a close Trump ally — have started discussing how to approach the reauthorization during their weekly meetings. Jordan said in an interview he is again hoping to impose a warrant requirement for searches involving Americans as well as a ban on data brokers selling consumer information to law enforcement.
He said he has “had some discussions over this past year with some members of the administration” on this issue and plans to meet alongside House Intelligence Committee Chair Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) with White House officials on the matter early next year.
Lawmakers on both sides of the debate are carefully watching Crawford, who opposed the warrant requirement in 2024 — along with every other House Intelligence Committee Republican. But Johnson has since added five Republicans to the panel who each voted for the Biggs amendment.
A committee spokesperson said Crawford is working with House leadership, Jordan, the Senate and the administration “to determine the best way forward to extend 702 authority.”
There are still, however, a majority of Intelligence Committee Republicans who are working to extend the program without adding a warrant requirement — and they are hoping administration officials whom they view as allies, including Vice President JD Vance, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will be able to sway Trump. (read more)
Some administrative state defenders will argue this issue with me. However, having researched almost every aspect to the construct, and the argument, I am confident FISA-702 authority underpins the much bigger, quasi-constitutional justification for the wholesale collection of U.S. citizen metadata. Without the 702 authority, the legal justification for the apparatus of surveillance no longer exists. It really is that simple.
The only way the government can justify the capture of U.S. Citizen data is if there is some quasi-constitutional or national security reason for it. That’s where FISA-702 comes in.
Take away “702” search authority, and the data collection argument collapses; ANY “incidental” search of the database then loses any plausible legal justification. 702 is the camel’s nose under the tent that forms the baseline for all data records to be intercepted, stored and ultimately available for review.
This is a very key component to fully understand. Most practical applications of surveillance are contingent upon the capture of electronic records for tracking. Ex. – if domestic travel records are considered private papers (never argued yet), then government agencies have no right to exploit them without a valid search warrant underpinned by a national security justification. The government, not private sector – government, tracking people becomes more difficult if privacy rules are applied.
The legal aspect runs through the 4th Amendment, which -while historically undefined in the modern era- likely stirs in the background of the recent TSA decision to provide a $45 opt-out, for the use of REAL ID in domestic transit (interstate commerce application notwithstanding).
The Fourth Amendment aspect to the ‘warrantless’ government capture of American citizen records has never been fully argued in court; the modern definitions are opaque, and the govt has a vested interest in retaining the untested status quo.
The Intelligence Community (IC) has told Congress, particularly the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, that all hell will break loose if they don’t reauthorize full electronic surveillance of Americans.
Congress has historically been scared of the “seven ways from Sunday” IC. However, now Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is attempting to change things; specifically change things as they pertain to the domestic use of the intelligence agencies.
As the counterargument is made, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and all of the key participants, are siloed from understanding that 702 has nothing to do with incidental collection of American data, whilst the honorable IC were doing foreign intercepts.
According to intelligence experts, Speaker Johnson and most Republicans believe the IC justification, and perhaps many of them pretend not to know the alternatives. I do not buy this argument, because too much recent evidence exists to sell the story that Congress is unknowing of how this metadata capture is being continually exploited.
The only way to really test congressional knowledge is to question them. No one is questioning them.
In my opinion, the politicians and their key staff pretend they cannot fathom how the FBI, DOJ, NSD, DHS and contractors use this database to conduct political and “other” (think corporate espionage for sale) surveillance. When you engage with them, you realize they really do put on a great show proclaiming the IC is full of honorable rank-and-file, trying to walk a fine line between the 4th Amendment and exploitation. The counter position is akin to them living in a DC bubble.
The IC argument is now something akin to how we have let thousands of terrorists into the country through the southern border crisis. They say: “My god, we need to monitor the terrorists, and if you take away the 702, the foreign terror cells will activate and start killing us all. Do you want that blood on your hands?” You cannot take away surveillance tools.
Then you overlay the FISA 702 reauthorization argument, as used as a bargaining chip by the same people who don’t want to get caught up in the surveillance.
The DC conversations end up like, “Ok, we’ll reauthorize it, but you cannot use it against us – and all the sex parties and perverted stuff we do when no one is around; you must promise to keep our secrets hidden“… Then, just like the 2024 reauthorization change, they exempt themselves.
The IC agree to accept a reauthorization that exempts Congress. The IC keep the process – just promise not to use it against Congress. This outlook is what we see visible in the CR bill extension that included forbidding the FBI from seeking search warrants against Senator’s telecommunications, and this outlook is highlighted by Elise Stefanik demanding that Congress be notified if any federal candidate for office is under investigation. The Big Club protects the Big Club.
Unfortunately, ‘We The People’ do not have many friends in DC on this issue, other than a very small group in/around Tulsi Gabbard’s office, and they are constantly under attack.
After spending several years asking every representative of consequence why they support the FISA-702 process, I can tell you every one of them says they believe it is needed, because the IC tells them there are just too many domestic terror threats that need to be monitored.
It is almost impossible to find a person in DC who will forcefully try to stop FISA-702 reauthorization.
If you ask me why in hindsight, I now take the position that FISA-702 is the gateway to the massive surveillance system currently being put into place using Real ID and the AI facial recognition software provided by Palantir (CIA exploit). In essence, the gateway that allows the full-scale surveillance state, is opened by the prior authorization of FISA-702 that negates any 4th Amendment protection.
BIG Why? Because all of the surveillance mechanisms within the network being updated and enhanced by AI search and capture, comes from the IC being allowed to exploit the NSA database. That same database access allowance is the targeting mechanism for FISA-702. If warrantless searches of the NSA database were stopped, the Palantir/IC and Tech Bro collaboration could hit a brick wall.
The significance of this FISA-702 issue is much bigger than most can appreciate.
This surveillance underpinning also reconciles many of the puzzled faces when it comes to who is permitted nomination and who is not. The DC Deep State confirmed both Kash Patel to be Donald Trump’s FBI Director (SSCI), and Pam Bondi to be U.S. Attorney General (SJC). Both Bondi and Patel are expressed believers in the value of FISA-702.
You might even remember this odd question from October of 2025 that came out of nowhere. Attorney General Bondi literally read a script on the issue that was prepared for her. WATCH:
Additionally, the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard to be Director of National Intelligence was initially opposed by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), until she acquiesced and agreed there was value in the FISA-702 process.
We have a few weeks before things get really ugly, but they will get ugly.
Deals will be cut. Offers will be made. Corruption throughout this argument will run amok.
In the background of every headline, that will surface over the next two months, this issue will enmesh.
We need to watch closely how National Security Advisor Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Vice President JD Vance respond to the surfacing issues.
All of the modern surveillance mechanisms, within the U.S. government network currently being updated and enhanced by AI search and capture, come from the gateway of 702; ie. govt being allowed to exploit the NSA database against Americans.
If warrantless searches of the NSA database are legally stopped, or no longer authorized, the gate closes and the DHS, Palantir/IC and Tech Bro surveillance collaboration hit a brick wall.
Posted originally on CTH on December 24, 2025 | Sundance
As we noted yesterday, lawyers representing former CIA Director John Brennan are sending proactive letters to the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida {SEE HERE}. However, some of the information included in the letters intended to be exculpatory is actually damning against their defense position.
You have to go deep in the weeds to see it, but if you understand the details of the events, the information being revealed by Brennan’s lawyers is the opposite of helpful to his case. As an example, there is a citation included in a footnote of the December 22, 2025, [fn #20 page 6] letter that links to a March 31, 2022, letter sent to John Durham.
In 2025, Brennan is telling the Florida court the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) conclusion was confirmed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in a “very serious review.” However, in 2022 Brennan told John Durham that Robert Mueller never interviewed him or offered an assessment of the ICA; Mueller just regurgitated it.
So, which is it?
These contradictions are throughout both of the letters when you compare them side-by-side. In 2022, former CIA Director John Brennan was trying to escape the Durham review. In 2025, Brennan is trying to escape a grand jury review.
[We are aware that the U.S Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jason Reding Quiñones, has access to the CTH public library of research into all of these historic events.]
There are other citations in the 2022 letter that are certainly worth reviewing, because the legally binding statements made by John Brennan at the time have been shown to be false in 2025.
Another of the claims, in the 2022 letter to John Durham, highlights why it was critical for the CIA to assist in the capture and arrest of Julian Assange in 2019.
The lawyers representing John Brennan in the above 2022 letter apparently did not know the DNC emails were provably not hacked by Russia, unless they are claiming that Seth Rich (DNC staff) and Julian Assange (Wikileaks) were working for the Russian government.
John Brennan asserts a “definitive determination” that Russia was involved in the theft of the DNC emails, and across the intelligence community that determination was “unanimous.” That assertion, by Brennan, underpinning the “Russian interference narrative”, opens up the entire DNC email issue for Jason Quiñones to explore.
The DNC hired Crowdstrike to investigate the leak/hack; the James Comey FBI never looked at the DNC servers; and Crowdstrike told the Senate there was no evidence of a hack or outside intrusion. Perhaps Quiñones will finally highlight these contradictions and get to the bottom of it? Because, after all, this is part of Brennan’s ICA defense.
What Brennan did not realize we would discover when he wrote the letter in 2022:
In December of 2016, President Obama turned to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and CIA Director John Brennan with a request to change the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) and blame the Russians for election interference in the prior presidential election. Brennan gave the task of assembling the fraudulent intel to a CIA analyst named Julia Gurganus.
Subsequently, inside the CIA the National Intelligence Council (NIC) and the Directorate of Analysis began working on a pretext that would create the impression for the misleading Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), as demanded by Obama, Clapper and Brennan – ultimately constructed by Julia Gurganus.
Inside the National Intelligence Council, one of the key figures who helped create the ICA fabrication was a CIA analyst named Eric Ciaramella.
You might remember the name Eric Ciaramella from the 2019 impeachment effort against President Trump. However, in 2016/2017 Eric Ciaramella was a CIA deputy national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia on the CIA’s National Intelligence Council, at the time the fraudulent Intelligence Community Assessment was created.
Oh look, there’s another trail for U.S Attorney Jason Quiñones to follow.
What would Julia Gurganus and Eric Ciaramella have to say about putting the ICA together?
Posted originally on CTH on December 23, 2025 | Sundance
Lawfare lawyer Kenneth Wainstein representing former CIA Director John Brennan confirmed in a proactive litigation letter to Chief Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga of the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida, their client is a “target” of a grand jury investigation.
The word “target” is important here, because the letter specifically outlines how Brennan has received subpoenas for documents and information surrounding his construct of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment.
The letter notes that prosecutors from the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jason Reding Quiñones, have advised Mr. Brennan that he is “a target” of a grand jury investigation.
The letter by is by Mr. Kenneth Wainstein, a partner in Mayer/Brown law firm, Washington DC, who served in the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Joseph R. Biden Jr., and he describes a “concocted case” and “politically motivated and fact-free criminal investigation.”
Wainstein is seeking proactive intervention by Chief Judge Altonaga to block U.S. Attorney Quinones from seeking jurisdiction in the Fort Pierce Division, the court with jurisdiction over the Mar-a-Lago raid, led by Judge Aileen Cannon.
I strongly urge everyone interested to READ THE ENTIRE LETTER to understand why I shared prior warnings about the nonsense ramblings of perhaps well-intentioned voices who will create problems for this case against Brennan if it is to continue.
Pay attention to the footnotes being cited by Brennan’s lawyers as they begin to pull in some of the commentary by voices who have publicly given opinion about the overall Trump targeting operation. Mike Davis name appears frequently in this letter, as the Brennan defense team begins to frame the conspiratorial nature of some claims against their client.
In essence, the Brennan legal team are attempting to refute the evidence by pointing to the blanket of some crazy commentary that covers it. This is exactly what I have been cautioning about {SEE HERE}.
U.S Attorney Quinones already faces an uphill battle, because John Durham already reviewed the ICA origination as part of his investigation – but Durham never prosecuted anyone inside government.
What the evidence shows is a focused targeting operation intended to fabricate a false premise by the United States Intelligence Community, centered around a fraudulent CIA analysis (ICA) led by John Brennan, and organized through the Office of former DNI James Clapper. The op was green-lighted by Barack Obama as a way to impede the agenda of incoming President Donald Trump. All three branches of government eventually collaborated on the scheme.
Lawyers for John Brennan are now seeking to proactively undermine the grand jury proceedings and influence the venue where any investigation and review might be taking place. [pdf, Page 9]
In addition to sending the letter to the Southern District of Florida, John Brennan also sent the letter to the New York Times to help him frame a media defense.
[…] Pursuing the case in Fort Pierce, Fla., would draw jurors from a more conservative area than the District of Columbia and put it under Judge Cannon, who showed Mr. Trump unusual favor during the documents investigation. In particular, Mike Davis, an influential former Republican Senate staff aide and friend of Mr. Reding Quiñones, has pushed the idea of a Fort Pierce grand jury, warning Mr. Trump’s adversaries to “lawyer up.” (read more)
Posted originally on CTH on December 12, 2025 | Sundance
Generally, the Washington Post is the outlet for interests and concerns of the CIA or international elements of the U.S. intelligence community. Narratives from the Washington Post usually shape storylines against scrutiny of the Intelligence Community.
It has been widely reported that the FBI has been working closely with the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) in detecting and discovering corruption amid Ukraine officials who have skimmed money from various international aid programs. However, the Washington Post is suddenly concerned that FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino have held “secret meetings” with lead Ukraine peace negotiator Rustem Umerov.
This becomes interesting if you have followed along and noted that during negotiations the reports of Rustem Umerov indicated his concurrence with the peace agreements structured by Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Indeed, based on feedback during these meetings President Trump has said the Ukraine delegation appeared “quite happy” with the terms of the Witkoff/Kushner proposals, while Ukraine President Zelenskyy was less accepting.
Between the lines of statements following the consultations, it is easy to get the sense that Rustem Umerov is in alignment with the U.S. proposals, but Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not. Hence, Zelenskyy keeps returning to his U.K, France, Germany and EU support network for counterproposals despite his officials like Umerov working with the U.S. team directly.
[…] “The meetings have caused alarm among Western officials who remain in the dark about their intent and purpose. Some said they believe Umerov and other Ukrainian officials sought out Patel and Bongino in the hopes of obtaining amnesty from any corruption allegations the Ukrainians could face. Others worry the newly established channel could be used to exert pressure on Zelensky’s government to accept a peace deal, proposed by the Trump administration, containing steep concessions for Kyiv.” (more)
The FBI working with NABU to uncover Ukraine corruption. The FBI is meeting with Ukraine lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov. A massive corruption scandal has just taken down Zelenskyy’s main aide, Andriy Yermak.
“The discussions [between the FBI and Umerov] are happening at a critical moment for Ukraine. It is under pressure by the Trump administration to agree to an end-of-war proposal with huge implications for the country’s borders and territorial integrity.
It is also facing its most far-reaching corruption scandal since Zelensky took office in 2019. Ukrainian investigators alleged last month that $100 million had been stolen from the country’s energy sector through graft and kickbacks.
Eight people, including Zelensky’s former business partner, are accused of embezzlement, money laundering and illicit self-dealing. Zelensky’s top aide, Andriy Yermak, the second most powerful person in Ukraine, resigned in late November after his house was raided. Another close former ally of Zelensky, Oleksiy Chernyshov, who served as deputy prime minister, is accused by Ukrainian authorities of receiving $1.3 million in kickbacks.” {link}
Perhaps Zelenskyy’s primary negotiator for the USA team, Rustem Umerov, has specific knowledge of corruption connected to the generous financial support the USA has provided Ukraine. Watching Yermak get taken down within the FBI/NABU investigation, might have triggered Umerov to cooperate on several levels.
Umerov reported as happy with the negotiated U.S. terms. Volodymyr Zelenskyy openly not happy with the negotiated terms.
Posted originally on CTH on November 24, 2025 | Sundance
During the Biden administration I often thought about a Mike Vanderboegh quote when it seemed like we were under unrelenting opposition and victory was a distant hope:
“This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it could not be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly will not be done. The Founders’ Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost.”
I found great strength in those words, the simple words, “if we do not try then how will we know it could not be done? and if we do not try, it most certainly will not be done.” The plain spoken, no-pretending reality of our situation, as true today as then.
With that spirit and a bucket overflowing with prayer, I assembled thick binders, receipts, direct and incontrovertible evidence, to put directly into the hands of those voices who could help make a difference. I know exactly what those binders look like and I know exactly what they contain. Ms. Herridge is holding one in her hands. The DC proletariat hate the information within the briefs, but it’s good to see they are still out there being used as reference material….
What the collective institutions of all three branches of government have done to our nation sickens me. But the mission to keep pushing sunlight inch-by-inch continues.
In 2020 Catherine Herridge was one of a group of DC institutional defenders who just couldn’t/wouldn’t fathom or believe the background story of corruption as told by me in documented evidence with citations and full context.
Remember, the story behind these citations only becomes visible when you walk through two parallel timelines; both must be done at the same time in order to cut through the obfuscation always present in the silo defenses:
1. The timeline of the actual corrupt activity, as the events took place. And…
2. The timeline of when the evidence of the corrupt activity surfaced.
The former timeline shows the corruption; the latter timeline shows how they tried to hide the corruption. The second timeline is what DC investigators focus on in order to understand how the evidence was/is discovered.
The information within the second timeline, how the evidence surfaced, is what DC tries to use in order to control the underlying information; it’s the ‘how do you know this‘ part.
Chapters:
02:00 FBI ‘Burn Bags’ evidence revealed in Comey criminal prosecution 03:50 Former FBI agent suggests a potential whistleblower wanted to records preserved and discovered 05:10 CIA intelligence about 2016 presidential election found in storage closet near Director’s office 06:15 Connecting the dots: In 2016, CIA intelligence alleged potential ‘Clinton Plan’ to damage candidate Trump 08:00 FBI leak investigation alleges ‘investigator-level briefing” for reporters on Clinton email case 09:40 Surveillance warrant application cited media reports for national security court. Not standard. 12:10 DNI Clapper email: we all need to be on the same page. NSA Director pushes back, “took a lot of courage.” 13:30 National Security Adviser Susan Rice 2017 email: claims investigations ‘by the book.’ 14:40 FBI ARCTIC FROST investigation: GOP phone toll records collected. Retired FBI agent said toll records are intrusive. 16:30 Alleged coordination FBI, DOJ and intelligence community
During the 2016 effort to weaponize the institutions of government against the outside candidacy of Donald Trump, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) was headed by Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein. After the 2016 election Senator Feinstein abdicated her vice-chair position to Senator Mark Warner in January 2017.
While the SSCI was engaged in their part of the 2016 effort Vice-Chair Feinstein’s lead staffer was a man named Daniel Jones. Dan Jones was the contact point between the SSCI and Fusion-GPS.
After the election, and after Feinstein abdicated, Dan Jones left the committee to continue paying Fusion-GPS (Glenn Simpson) for ongoing efforts toward the impeachment insurance policy angle.
Feinstein appears to have left because she didn’t want to deal with the consequences of a President Trump, IF he discovered the SSCI involvement.
Dan Jones left because with a Trump presidency the SSCI, now co-chaired by Senator Mark Warner, needed arms-length plausible deniability amid their 2017 operations to continue the removal effort (soft coup).
The trail for this plausible deniability process and ongoing soft-coup effort first surfaces with Dan Jones appearing in the early 2017 text messages between Senator Warner and the liaison for Christopher Steele, lawyer and lobbyist Adam Waldman:
In those March 2017 text messages you can see Senator Warner attempting to set up covert “no paper trail” communication with dossier author Christopher Steele. Adam Waldman represented Chris Steele and Steele’s employer, Oleg Deripaska.
Less than a month later you can see within the text messages that Christopher Steele is in direct contact with Dan Jones. “[Chris] said Dan Jones is coming to see you” etc.
(Text Messages Between Feinstein’s replacement, Mark Warner, and Chris Steele’s lawyer/lobbyist, Adam Waldman, noting the importance of Dan Jones)
Former Feinstein staffer Dan Jones talking to Christopher Steele in April 2017 is critical to understanding what was going on after Trump won the election.
Jones raised $50 million from those who were behind the 2016 stop Trump effort, and the purpose was now the 2017 impeachment effort [SEE LINK]. Jones having left the SSCI (now outside govt.) then paid Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS to keep up their efforts. As you can see from the texts, Jones was now talking in person (“coming to see you”) to SSCI Vice-Chair Mark Warner in April 2017.
[Side-Bar: The role of Fusion-GPS in 2017 shifted, and was now weighted toward feeding a specific media narrative that would aid impeachment (through the FBI, Weissmann and Mueller obstruction angle). Fusion-GPS was now the conduit for arms-length media leaks from the usurping small group still inside the DOJ and FBI. Dan Jones was paying Fusion on behalf of those with larger interests. Fusion was feeding the media.]
So, you can clearly see the SSCI was heavily involved in the impeachment effort after the election.
Secondary documentation of the connection between the DOJ, FBI, Fusion, and Dan Jones shows up in the FBI investigative 302 notes of Bruce Ohr, released by Judicial Watch. [Pay attention to the May 8th, 2017, interview – pg 18, 19 of pdf]
The highlighted bottom portion of page 18 (May 8, 2017, interview) shows a heavily redacted text, but holds enough material to overlay with other research.
This is where Bruce Ohr is talking about Dan Jones efforts as they were currently aligned with Fusion GPS: “and had been on the staff of the [Senate Intelligence Committee]”…. “At the time of the interview [Jones] was working with the [Vice Chairman of the Committee Mark Warner]”… etc.
This part is heavily redacted because the corrupt agents within the current DOJ and FBI once again don’t want people to piece together what was happening.
This is not sources and methods being redacted. This is not national security being redacted. This is the trail of the connective tissue in/around the small group plotting that is being hidden.
At the top of page 19, the investigative notes of Ohr’s discussion continues.
Bruce Ohr is telling the FBI investigator, likely Agent Joe Pientka, about Glenn Simpson and Dan Jones visiting Christopher Steele sometime after May 8, 2017, and they were in the process of “lawyering up”.
Now before going deeper in the SSCI weeds, let me pause and explain the important specifics behind why the FBI was interviewing Bruce Ohr about Chris Steele; by overlaying what was going on in/around early 2017.
Chris Steele wasn’t alone in creating the “dossier”. Heck, the purpose of Fusion-GPS contracting Steele; and the purpose of the FBI engaging with Steele; was the laundry value of having a known intelligence officer validate political opposition research which the FBI could use against Donald Trump. The reality is: most of the raw material and research inside the dossier was from Glenn Simpson and Nellie Ohr at Fusion GPS.
The ‘small group’ inside the DOJ and FBI always knew the provenance of the material; the plan and intent was to utilize Fusion-GPS for their political purposes.
Everyone carrying out this operation, all of the corrupt entities within it, knew the material from Chris Steele was essentially political opposition research. Many of those same people later weaponized the research into the FISA application to give it higher import and value.
That set’s up early 2017 – where the FBI was evaluating the extent to which Chris Steele was willing to remain on public record to support a false framework about the dossier itself. This is the same timeframe where Fusion is being paid by Dan Jones to facilitate the calls for a special counsel. Fusion drives that narrative with structured leaks to media.
Steele’s support was a key issue because the corrupt DOJ and FBI officials were about to hand-off the dossier to Special Counsel Robert Mueller (figurehead only) as the basis for the ‘small group’ and him to launch the special counsel aspect of an ongoing operation.
If Chris Steele suddenly walked away from the dossier, and/or admitted publicly the dossier was political opposition research primarily from Glenn Simpson and Nellie Ohr, the FBI would have a shit-storm on its hands…. and they needed to evaluate the position of Steele. Steele could be a risk if he was not supporting the team playbook. That’s the driving purpose behind all of this 2017 “re-engagement” with Steele through Bruce Ohr.
The small group in the DOJ and FBI planned to continue, pass-off and modify the Trump investigation by shifting it to a special counsel. The centerpiece of that investigation would be using the dossier as justification for a need to investigate Trump as a Russian risk. The DOJ/FBI small group needed Glenn Simpson and Chris Steele to stand by the false narrative all of the players had assembled over the prior year.
The wildcard to retain the false story was Chris Steele… Steele was an outside participant, albeit aligned with the ideology and the purpose. Evaluating Steele’s willful participation in keeping the narrative as assembled was the reason for their urgent talks; however, the “small group” couldn’t run the risk of direct talks in the same way that Mark Warner couldn’t risk of a paper trail.
Additionally, in support of the 2017 use of Chris Steele to frame the Russia narrative, the CIA, FBI, ODNI and aggregate intelligence community simultaneously pushed the December 2016 Joint Analysis Report (JAR) and the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), as evidence to support their Russia narrative.
Now, the Joint Analysis Report (JAR) and the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) construct.
If the ICA is a false political document, then guess what? Yep, the entire narrative from the JAR and ICA is part of a big fraud (it is). Then the construct of the special counsel probe was false (it was).
In early 2017 Adam Waldman and Dan Jones were facilitating a plausibly deniable information pipeline from Chris Steele to the SSCI and Senator Mark Warner. At the same time, and for the same purposes, DOJ official Bruce Ohr was facilitating a plausibly deniable information pipeline from Chris Steele to the FBI/DOJ small group. The purposes were the same, everyone needed assurances Steele wasn’t going to back-out.
That corrupt planning activity is what some unknown DOJ and FBI officials were hiding behind the Bruce Ohr 302 redactions. Now, where does the DOJ and FBI small group start to place their defensive positions?
This is where it all starts coming back together:
[…] The Senate intelligence committee examined the allegations about Downer, Mifsud and Halper, as part of its bipartisan investigation into the intelligence community’s assessment that Russia was responsible for attacking the 2016 election, and found nothing to substantiate any wrongdoing, a committee aide said. (read full article)
Again, notice how the FBI small group is utilizing the SSCI, and it is a committee aide within the SSCI that is leaking to NBC. The small group are pulling the Senate Intelligence Committee back into the picture. That brings Dianne Feinstein, Mark Warner, Richard Burr, Daniel Jones, Adam Waldman and James Wolfe back in.
Why go there?
Why was the FBI small group pulling the SSCI back into the picture?
Because they have to.
In 2018 the DOJ and FBI covered up the corruption evident during the 2017 pre-Mueller effort.
In 2019 the position of the small group was to force the DOJ and FBI to do it again.
Throughout the 2016 and 2017 effort, a part of one branch of the United States government, the U.S. Senate through the SSCI, was assisting the efforts of the DOJ and FBI against a candidate, president-elect and later United States President, Donald Trump.
As a result of a FOIA release in Mid December 2018, Judicial Watch revealed how the State Department was feeding “classified information” to multiple U.S. Senators on the Senate Intelligence Committee by the Obama administration immediately prior to President Donald Trump’s inauguration:
The documents reveal that among those receiving the classified documents were Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Sen. Robert Corker (R-TN).
Judicial Watch obtained the documents through a June 2018 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the State Department after it failed to respond to a February 2018 request seeking records of the Obama State Department’s last-minute efforts to share classified information about Russia election interference issues with Democratic Senator Ben Cardin (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:18-cv-01381)).
The documents reveal the Obama State Department urgently gathering classified Russia investigation information and disseminating it to members of Congress within hours of Donald Trump taking office. (read more)
The impeachment program was a plan, an insurance policy of sorts; a coordinated effort between corrupt politicians in the Senate and hold-over allies in the executive; however, because she didn’t want to participate in this – Senator Dianne Feinstein abdicated her vice-chair position to Senator Mark Warner. [Background Here]
This is the pre-cursor to utilizing Robert Mueller. A plan that was developed soon after the 2016 election. The appointment of a special counsel was always the way they were going to hand-off and continue the investigation into Trump; but they needed a reason for it.
The continued exploitation of the Steele Dossier was critical; thus, they needed Chris Steele to be solid. And the continued manipulation of the media was also critical; thus, they needed Fusion-GPS to continue. [Dan Jones paid both]
While Mark Warner was communicating with Adam Waldman and Dan Jones as a conduit to Chris Steele, the FBI/DOJ team was communicating through Bruce Ohr to Chris Steele (and by extension to Nellie Ohr and Fusion GPS).
Part of Warner’s role was to weaponize the Legislative branch to advance the ‘Muh Russia conspiracy’, a fundamental necessity if a special counsel was going to have justification.
The SSCI, and the security protocols within it, were structurally part of the plan; hence the rapid information from Obama’s State Dept. to the SSCI and Senate participants in the last moments prior to departing.
♦ On March 17th, 2017, the Senate Intelligence Committee took custody of the FISA application used against Carter Page. We know the FISA court delivered the read and return Top-Secret Classified application due to the clerk stamp of March 17, 2017.
The FISA application (original and first renewal) was delivered to Senate Security Director James Wolfe. Senator Mark Warner entered the basement SCIF shortly after 4:00pm on March 17, 2017, the day it was delivered (texts between Warner and Waldman): Now, when SSCI Security Officer James Wolfe was indicted (unsealed June ’18), we could see the importance of the March 17th date again:
We can tell from the description within the indictment the FBI investigators are describing the FISA application.
Additionally, Wolfe exchanged 82 text messages with reporter Ali Watkins. The FISA application is 83 pages with one blank page.
The logical conclusion was that Wolfe text Ali Watkins 82 pictures of the application.
FBI Investigators applied for and received a search warrant for the phone records of journalist Ali Watkins. Ms. Watkins was notified in February 2018, three months after Wolfe was questioned by FBI investigators in December 2017.
However, despite the overwhelming (public) circumstantial evidence that Wolfe leaked the FISA application, he was never charged with leaking classified information. Wolfe was only charged with lying three times to federal authorities, and he pled down to one count of lying to the FBI.
CTH made the case in mid 2018 that someone at the DOJ had influenced a decision not to charge Wolfe with the leaking of the FISA application; despite the FBI and DOJ having direct evidence of Wolfe leaking classified information.
The logical reason for the Rosenstein DOJ not to charge Wolfe with the FISA leak was because that charge would ensnare powerful Senators on the powerful committee. Worse still, in hindsight we now see how that committee was working to aide the purposes and intents of the corrupt DOJ and FBI officials as they built their impeachment agenda.
Remember, the SSCI has intelligence oversight of the DOJ, DOJ-NSD, FBI and all associated counterintelligence operations. Additionally, when the FBI was investigating Wolfe for leaking classified documents, according to their court filings they had to inform the committee of the risk Wolfe represented. Who did they have to inform?.. Chairman Richard Burr and Vice-Chair Mark Warner.
Think about it. Both gang-of-eight members (Warner/Burr), who happened -as a consequence of the jaw dropping implications- to be two SSCI members who were warned by the FBI that Wolfe was compromised…. and they, along with Feinstein in 2016, were the co-conspirators who used James Wolfe. The ramifications cannot be overstated.
Any criminal charges for leaking classified intelligence information against James Wolfe would likely result in a major scandal where the SSCI itself was outlined as participants in the weaponization of government for political intents. Thus, the perfect alignment of interests for a dropped charge and DC cover-up. REMEMBER:
If it already wasn’t transparently sketchy as hell, in an act of serendipity and self-preservation, the accused Security Director James Wolfe evidenced the schemes when he threatened to subpoena members of the SSCI as part of his defense. [See Here]
[…] Attorneys for James A. Wolfe sent letters to all 15 senators on the committee, notifying them that their testimony may be sought as part of Mr. Wolfe’s defense, according to two people familiar with the matter.
[…] Mr. Wolfe’s defense lawyers are considering calling the senators as part of the proceedings for a variety of reasons, including as potential character witnesses and to rebut some of the allegations made by the government in the criminal complaint, these people say. (link)
Immediately after threatening to subpoena the SSCI (July 27, 2018), the DOJ (Rosenstein authorizing) cut a deal with Wolfe and dropped the charges down to a single charge of lying to investigators. However, someone in the FBI who was doing the investigative legwork wasn’t happy with that decision.
The overwhelming circumstantial evidence that Wolfe leaked the FISA application went from a strong suspicion, to damn certain (after the plea deal) when the DOJ included a sentencing motion in mid-December 2018.
On December 15th, 2018 the DOJ filed a response to the Wolfe defense teams’ own sentencing memo (full pdf), and within the DOJ response they included an exhibit (#13) written by the FBI [redacted] special agent in charge, which specifically says: “because of the knowndisclosure of classified information, the FISA application”… Thereby admitting, albeit post-plea agreement, that Wolfe did indeed leak the damn FISA:
Right there, in that FBI Special Agent description is the bombshell admission that James Wolfe leaked the Carter Page FISA application to journalist Ali Watkins at Buzzfeed.
We know the special agent who wrote exhibit #13 in the December filing was Special Agent Brian Dugan, Asst. Special Agent in Charge, Washington Field Office. The same investigator who originally signed the affidavit in the original indictment against Wolfe.
So, with hindsight there was absolutely no doubt that James Wolfe leaked the 83-page Carter Page FISA application on March 17, 2017. Period. It’s all documented with circumstantial and direct evidence; including the admissions from the FBI agent in charge.
So, why was SSCI Security Director James Wolfe allowed to plea to a single count of lying to investigators?
Because all three branches of our government were participating in the corruption and targeting of Donald Trump. Their fates are all tied together. Take down one participant like James Comey and all the other participants are at risk.
Posted originally on CTH on November 23, 2025 | Sundance
CIA Analyst and Senator, Elissa Slotkin, appears on ABC’s Face the Nation to defend herself from accusations of unlawful conduct following a video she produced telling military and intelligence officers to defy President Trump’s orders.
Senator Slotkin’s behavior is classic tradecraft when she appears in media.
Slotkin claimed the video was intended to draw attention to the unlawful orders that President Trump has used; however, when asked to give an example of a illegal order issued by President Trump, Slotkin nervously admits there aren’t any. WATCH (prompted):
[TRANSCRIPT] – […] RADDATZ: And here’s what White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said about your video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: They’re suggesting, Nancy, that the president has given illegal orders, which he has not. Every single order that is given to this United States military by this commander in chief and through this command — chain of command, through the secretary of war is lawful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RADDATZ: Is that an accurate statement?
SLOTKIN: So, I think the reason we put that statement out is because the sheer number of, frankly, young officers who are coming to us and saying, I just am not sure. What do I do? You know, I’m in SouthCom and I’m involved in the National Guard. I’m just not sure what do I do? And I think, look, you don’t have to take my word for it. We’ve had report after report of legal officer, JAG officers coming forward and saying, look, I push back on this. I’m not sure that this is legal.
There is such things as illegal orders. That’s why it’s in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Going back to Nuremberg, right? And it’s just a — it’s a totally benign statement. And if the president is concerned about it, then he should stay deeply within the law. But I think it’s important to know it’s not hypothetical, right?
This president in the last administration, his last administration, asked his secretary of defense and his chairman of the Joint Chiefs to, quote, “shoot at their legs at unarmed protesters in front of the White House that he wanted moved.”
RADDATZ: Actually, I know I know you’re talking about Mark Esper’s book. He didn’t exactly say that. He said the president suggested that, but they were never ordered to do that.
SLOTKIN: And he got out of the Oval Office quickly so that he wasn’t told to actually do it. And I give him a lot of credit for that. I give him a lot of credit.
RADDATZ: I do — so — so, let’s talk right now. Do you believe President Trump has issued any illegal order?
SLOTKIN: To my knowledge, I am not aware of things that are illegal, but certainly there are some legal gymnastics that are going on with these Caribbean strikes and everything related to Venezuela. And I think that’s why —
RADDATZ: And be specific about that. Let me read you what Senator Lindsey Graham said about your video. “You owe it to the men and women in the military to be specific about what you are talking about. What these senators and House members did was unnerving and it was unconscionable to suggest that the President of the United States is issuing unlawful orders without giving an example.”
SLOTKIN: Yeah. So, for me, my primary concern is the use of U.S. military on American shores, on our city — in our cities and in our streets. We’ve seen now the courts overturn the deployment of U.S. military into our streets, including here in Washington, D.C.
When you look at these videos coming out of places like Chicago, it makes me incredibly nervous that we’re about to see people in law enforcement, people in uniformed military get nervous, get stressed, shoot at American civilians. It is a very, very stressful situation for these law enforcement and for the communities on the ground. So, it was basically a warning to say, like, if you’re asked to do something particularly against American citizens, you have the ability to go to your JAG officer and push back.
RADDATZ: And with these service members calling you, couldn’t you have done a video saying just what you just said? If you are asked to do something, if — if you are worried about whether it is legal or not, you can do this. It does imply that the President is having illegal orders, which you have not seen.
SLOTKIN: I think for us, it was just a statement widely, right? We say very quickly and very — to all the folks who come to us, this is the process. Go to your JAG officer, ask them for explanation, for top cover, for their view on things. We do that on a case-by-case basis, but we wanted to speak directly to the volumes of people who had come to us on this.
RADDATZ: And it is very clear that no one should follow an illegal order, but it’s very murky when you look at what is an illegal order. And if you go into morally, ethically, that’s a pretty tough thing to look at and say, how do I navigate this?
SLOTKIN: I don’t — I mean, going back to Nuremberg, right, that, well, they told me to do it, that’s why I murdered people, is not an excuse. If you look at popular culture, like, you watch, you know, A Few Good Men, like we have plenty of examples since World War II in Vietnam, where people were told to follow illegal orders, and they did it, and they were prosecuted for it.
So, the best thing for people to do is go to their JAG officer, their local law enforcement or a legal officer in their unit, and ask for some explanation, ask for help. And that’s what we’ve been advising people to do.
RADDATZ: You are on the Senate Armed Services Committee. What are you seeing in terms of Venezuela? Do you think there will be further action by the president?
SLOTKIN: Well, certainly the sheer size of the military buildup in and around Venezuela. I mean, you have to assume that when superpowers put that much force into an area that they’re going to use it. They brought in aircraft carriers, they brought in F-35s.
I think the cost already is a billion dollars to move all that force into theater. Certainly, if we’re going to actually think about prosecuting some sort of war or military action against the mainland of Venezuela, I would hope that the president would want to have that conversation publicly, bring in the American people who are not looking to get into another war, who are not looking to get into regime change. We had Iraq and Afghanistan. I think people generally on all sides of the aisle are exhausted by war. But just have that conversation, be transparent about it. I think that’s what’s been hard about the strikes in the Caribbean.
Many of us would be supportive of going after drug cartels, but a secret list of secret terrorist organizations, you know, just be transparent with the American public.
RADDATZ: OK, thanks very much for joining us this morning, Senator. We appreciate it.
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This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
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