On Wednesday, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien exposed yet another Fake News story by the New York Times, pointing out that the senior CIA officer who briefs President Donald Trump in person made the decision to not verbally brief him on intelligence about a Russian scheme to offer bounties targeting American troops in Afghanistan, explaining that she lacked confidence in the veracity of the intelligence. In other words, she thought the information wasn’t credible.
“The president’s career CIA briefer decided not to brief him because it was unverified intelligence,” O’Brien said to Fox News. He added she is “an outstanding officer.”
At the White House, following his interview,O’Brien told reporters that the CIA officer who serves as the president’s briefer, who he didn’t identify, decided to not inform Trump of the Russian bounty operation “because she didn’t have the confidence in the intelligence that came up.” She didn’t think it was real. Administrations get false tips and information all the time, so much so that they need career officers who analyze the information to make a professional judgement on the accuracy of it.
“We get raw intelligence and tactical intelligence every day, hundreds of pieces of intelligence come in every day, thousands of pieces of intelligence come in a week,” he said. “She made that call and, you know what, I think she made the right call, so I’m not going to criticize her. And knowing the facts that I know now, I stand behind that call.”
Folks, any time the New York Times does a story that makes Trump look bad, I implore you to wait 24 – 48 hours before believing it, because by that time the story will usually be debunked. Dan Bongino calls it The Bongino Rule, and it’s a good one to follow.
Trump’s absorbance of intelligence, both through the President’s Daily Brief, a daily written summary, and his in-person intelligence briefings, has come under scrutiny after the New York Times reported a Fake News story on Friday that the US had intelligence leading to a Russian military spy unit offering cash payouts to Taliban-linked soldiers for killing US troops and coalition forces in Afghanistan.
The president, O’Brien and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said neither the president nor the vice president were briefed on the Russian operation targeting American soldiers as a result of the intelligence was not verified by the intelligence community. That’s pretty much what Trump originally said in his response, and the Fake News and Democrats called him a liar. However, the Times and the Associated Press reported this week the information was included in The president’s written intelligence briefings.
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters that the president has since been briefed “on what is unfortunately in the public domain.” I wonder if what the Times did is protected by the First Amendment? It’s one thing to have a Constitutional protection for when the press publishes a story to get the truth out to the general public, but what about when they intentionally spread lies to the general public because Orange Man Bad? Our Founding Fathers couldn’t have wanted to include that kind of unscrupulous skullduggery passed off as real journalism.
“He has been briefed,” she said, “but that does not change the fact that there is no consensus on this intelligence that still has yet to be verified.”
The Times’ report was just another interference in the November election, an attempt to make Trump look bad. I can almost guarantee the Times knew what they were publishing was fake, and they did it anyway, because Orange Man Bad.
O’Brien told reporters the president is now “fully aware of the situation.” However he noted that when the US received raw intelligence on the Russian bounties, US and coalition forces were made aware despite the fact that the intelligence wasn’t verified.
“The DOD came out and said as soon as we had this information, we made sure that we had tactics in place, that we took protective measures, to look after our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines in Afghanistan. That hasn’t been reported. That was done right,” he said. “Here at the White House, when we had this raw intelligence, we started an interagency process to look at options, so that if the intelligence turned out to be verified, if it could be corroborated, then we’d have options to go to the president with to address the Russian situation.”
The matter has raised questions amongst Democrats and Republicans who’re urging the White House to supply them with more information on the Russian operation, including what Trump knew and when. The White House, meanwhile, has castigated the New York Times for its report on the intelligence and criticized the unidentified official who leaked the information to the press. Leaks are a felony, and it’s time for the administration to find ways of catching the leakers, and then prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
Rich is a conservative, syndicated opinion writer and owner of MAGA-Chat.com. He writes about politics, culture, liberty, and faith.
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