Holy cow: Trump team copied documents and removed them from SCIF https://t.co/ZjjOT7NxIf pic.twitter.com/jQ1UJUIehc
— Justin Miller (@justinjm1) May 5, 2017
Timely!
In late November, a member of Donald Trump’s transition team approached national security officials in the Obama White House with a curious request: Could the incoming team get a copy of the classified CIA profile on Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the United States?
Marshall Billingslea, a former Pentagon and NATO official, wanted the information for his boss, Michael Flynn, who had been tapped by Trump to serve as White House national security adviser. Billingslea knew Flynn would be speaking to Kislyak, according to two former Obama administration officials, and seemed concerned Flynn did not fully understand he was dealing with a man rumored to have ties to Russian intelligence agencies.
To the Obama White House, Billingslea’s concerns were startling: a member of Trump’s own team suggesting the incoming Trump administration might be in over its head in dealing with an adversary…
In the following weeks, the Obama White House would grow deeply distrustful of Trump’s dealing with the Kremlin and anxious about his team’s ties. The concern — compounded by surge of new intelligence, including evidence of multiple calls, texts and at least one in-person meeting between Flynn and Kislyak — would eventually grow so great Obama advisers delayed telling Trump’s team about plans to punish Russia for its election meddling. Obama officials worried the incoming administration might tip off Moscow, according to one Obama adviser…
As a number of wise folk — including commentor EFGoldman — keep pointing out, it took more than two years of ‘Watergate investigations’ before Nixon choppered out of office one step ahead of criminal indictment. There’s only so much forty years’ improvement in social media can do to speed up the timeline.
Per the NYTimes, last night:
The House’s investigation into Russian meddling in the election lurched back to life on Thursday, as a closed-door hearing with James B. Comey, director of the F.B.I., and Adm. Michael S. Rogers, head of the National Security Agency, cleared the way for the inquiry to move forward.
Representatives K. Michael Conaway of Texas, the newly minted Republican leader of the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation, and Adam B. Schiff of California, the top Democrat, said they were inviting more witnesses and requesting documents — effectively restarting the investigation that halted in recent months amid political infighting.
Those witnesses will include Sally Q. Yates, the former acting attorney general who was fired by President Trump, they said. Plans for a public hearing with Ms. Yates in March were scrapped at the last minute despite protest from committee Democrats. Representative Devin Nunes, Republican of California and the committee’s chairman, argued that they first needed more time with Mr. Comey and Admiral Rogers.
“We’re working together very well,” Mr. Schiff told reporters on Thursday after the hearing, standing beside Mr. Conaway. “The whole committee is.”…
Last month, the House committee extended a new invitation to Ms. Yates; James R. Clapper Jr., the former director of national intelligence; and John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. director.
The panel has not scheduled that public hearing, though Ms. Yates and Mr. Clapper are expected to testify before a Senate panel on Monday…
According to PBS Newshour:
HARI SREENIVASAN: There are at least three major investigations underway into what role Russia played in the presidential election, and whether the Trump campaign colluded in that process. Today, two of the nations top national security officials held a closed-hearing with congressional investigators…
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The House Intelligence Committee is one of those investigative bodies looking into Russia’s role in the election. And today, the director of the FBI, James Comey, and the director of the NSA, Mike Rogers, briefed that committee on Capitol Hill.
Joining me now is the top Democrat on that committee, Representative Adam Schiff from California…
You heard from the head of the NSA, the head of the FBI, I know this was a confidential, closed door hearing. Can you share a little bit with us about what you heard today?
REP. ADAM SCHIFF, D-Calif.: Certainly. While I can’t go into the contents, I can tell you the three areas of focus for us, and that is who we have this very public assessment by the intelligence committee — community, rather, that the Russians intervened. They did so to hurt Secretary Clinton, to help Donald Trump. And we are investigating to make sure that the conclusions reached in that report are an accurate reflection of the raw intelligence.
We also want to look at the U.S. government response. Did the FBI, for example, bring the necessary urgency to the task when it discovered the Russians were into computers at the Democratic National Committee and elsewhere?
And then finally, and probably most public interest, we continued to investigate the issue of whether there were U.S. persons, particularly those involved in the Trump campaign, that were somehow colluding or coordinating with this Russian hacking into our democracy…
If you click the link, Rep. Shiff’s also got “serious questions” about James Comey. So, don’t lose heart just yet.
Open Thread: About Those Investigations into Russian Election-Tampering…Post + Comments (128)