Failing POTUS might need to call in his immigrant tailor and get re-fitted for his Depends, because they---he---are leaking. Yes, he himself is the source of most of the leaks.
There are leaks. Real leaks---as opposed to gossip regarding the palace intrigue in his ‘nutjob’ Administration---have been few (5), and four of those have come from Failing POTUS himself. The fifth leak saved the US from having a traitor as National Security Adviser, on the payroll of both Russia and Turkey.
AG Sessions said Friday that ‘4 people have been charged’ with leaking, but that is not entirely accurate. He included those people charged with unreported contacts with foreign intel services, which happens to be 4 of 4. Such is the veracity of this Administration, who now wants to go after journalists who publish even palace intrigue. The term for that is: Dictatorship.
Flashback: When Failing POTUS held his little Oval Office shindig with Russian FM Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Kislyak---with only a TASS photographer and FSB/SVR case officer in attendance----Failing POTUS ‘let slip’ some code word intel provided to the US by a foreign liaison contact. As irresponsible as that was---leading to the death of a covert asset who had infiltrated a dangerous terror cell---it taught Failing POTUS one thing: he has the authority to declassify anything any time. (That was one leak.)
Failing POTUS has used that authority several times, albeit in an underhanded way. Two ‘leaks’ coming from Failing POTUS do not actually qualify as leaks, since if caught he can claim the authority to declassify. Failing POTUS even leaked one time before he knew he had declassification authority.
What is this leak? The Deven Nunez Dog and Pony Show. Remember that? Here is the script:
The White House calls Nunez (Republican House Chair of HPSCI) and tells him to make an announcement that “I found some critical information I need to deliver to the White House immediately”. Nunez called reporters in the Capitol and made the breathless announcement, even though at that moment he did not actually have any material; he had to go over to the White House to get it, merely to give it back to them.
Once inside the White House Nunez and his WH friends concocted the easily disproved fabrication of Nunez getting a late night call, being escorted into the WH grounds after hours, and getting info that---for some odd reason---Nunez then had to give to the WH. Reporters pressed for WH Logs, which detail every single entry and exit on to WH grounds---including who signed in the visitor. The WH immediately answered by making logs private, not public as they had been under President Obama. Nunez was, of course, lying. He had not visited late at night, as logs would have revealed. Nunez lied.
Nunez was given both this silly story as well as the material the WH wanted leaked. What prompted this was a desire by the WH to discredit the Obama Administration and divert attention from the then-nascent Russia investigation. An NSC employee brought in by traitor Michael Flynn, a 30-year old named Ezra Cohen-Watnick, had used his new access to the NSC database and looked at all the times ‘unmasking’ had been undertaken by former NSA Susan Rice. (Unmasking is a regular occurrence---despite Failing POTUS’ many attempts to imply otherwise---and takes place when otherwise hidden names of US Persons are revealed in order to provide context to some intel reporting. Unmasking is not a leak, and it is not universal. Only the one who requests unmasking is given the name. The Failing POTUS’ Administration, while trying to imply there is something untoward about unmasking, is a regular and aggressive user of it itself. Yes, they are hypocrites.)
Now armed with the material the WH wanted leaked, Nunez called WH reporters to an outside microphone and revealed the material. Repeat: in his first assemblage of reporters back on Capitol Hill, where Nunez said he had info he needed to deliver to the WH immediately, he did not have anything. Only after meeting with the (now fired) Ezra Cohen-Watnick, did Nunez get his script. This entire amateurish attempt at a covert op was the idea of Darth Bannon and the Failing POTUS himself, with input from the grossly overpaid ‘adviser’ Jared the Eunuch.
Deven Nunez is not going to get an Oscar for that performance, as it would have been camp and trite even in a grammar school class play. Nunez embarrassed even his own Party and had to back down from much of his role as Chair of HPSCI.
Theoretically what Nunez told reporters on the WH grounds would constitute a leak, but since he received the material at the behest of Failing POTUS---who has instant declassification authority---there was no prosecutable offense.
Other than with Failing POTUS’ poorly educated base, who think Men in Black is a documentary, the ruse failed.
Failing POTUS’, armed with knowledge of his instant declassification authority, recently leaked a transcript of an NSA intercept of former Russian Ambassador Kislyak, where it showed AG Jeff Sessions lied about his meeting with Kislyak. According to the intercept, Kislyak reported to Putin that Kislyak and Sessions---before Failing POTUS took office---discussed pulling back the US sanctions on Russia. It is, of course, illegal for an incoming Administration to discuss policies with foreign officials before taking office, as it implies authority they do not yet have.
Failing POTUS leaked the NSA intercept as part of his failed attempt to get rid of the AG, in the hope Failing POTUS could appoint a new AG who could then fire SC Robert Mueller. The ruse was so transparent that the self-claimed ‘Great Dealmaker’ showed just how incompetent he really is. Failing POTUS’ own Party fought back and has now obviated any way in which FP could get rid of Mueller (Congress has the authority to appoint a Special Prosecutor, and would obviously appoint Mueller if it ever came to that, so Mueller and his team would not lose a step.)
This week Failing POTUS has leaked transcripts of his own phone calls with the President of Mexico and the Prime Minister of Australia. FP can now blow his two favorite dog whistles: ‘unauthorized’ leaks and ‘the Enemy of the People’, aka the Free Press installed into the nation’s fabric by the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution, written by people infinitely smarter than FP. FP’s base will be newly energized, too stupid to realize they have been punked again.
Incidentally, the universe of those who receive transcripts of POTUS discussions with foreign leaders is extremely limited. Only the folks in the White House Situation Room (who do the transcription), senior advisers, and key Cabinet Officials get them. In other words, every person who had access to the transcripts is a Failing POTUS appointee. Of course that is merely for background, as Failing POTUS himself is the leaker.
The transcripts of the phone calls are damning, in that they demonstrate just how weak, impotent, whiny and amateurish Failing POTUS is, and they also show that The Wall is not a part of national security, but rather just a political ploy to appeal to FP’s ignorant base. Rational people already knew that no wall is going to stop anybody, as many migrants simply use tunnels. Of course, so woefully ignorant is FP’s base that they think installing solar panels on a 900 mile structure somehow generates usable power, other than perhaps to run a few flashlights along the way.
Why would Failing POTUS release transcripts that would damage his credibility and lay bare just how incompetent and whiny he is? Because he knows his base doesn’t read much, would never go through dozens of pages of a transcript, and can be made to believe anything in 140 characters or less. Those who already think Failing POTUS is a clown will just have more on which to base their opinion, whereas for Failing POTUS’ shrinking base of morons, the poorly educated, and the brain addled who think Alex Jones is something more than the Performance Artist his lawyer claimed him to be, the transcript release will do no harm. In fact, because it will allow Failing POTUS to act all indignant and jump on the Free Press again, he will be able to use it to some advantage.
Prediction: Nobody will be prosecuted for the ‘leak’ of these telephone transcripts, nor for the ‘leak’ of the NSA transcript of the Kislyak conversation. Nobody will be prosecuted because these ’leaks’ are just a Failing POTUS Pee Party. Okay, maybe Failing POTUS will pull a Putin and finger some immigrant "bad hombre" who washes dishes in the White House as the source and prosecute the poor soul.
Back when the phone calls took place, a report of the gist of the conversations made it into the press. Failing POTUS called the reports "Fake News", and claimed both phone calls were civil and "great". The transcripts, now released, not only prove Failing POTUS was lying, but that the news was anything but fake. FP also called reports he referred to the White House as "a dump" Fake News, but nine people who overheard him say he is lying yet again.
Pre-emptive Warning: Now that it is public that SC Mueller is utilizing at least two Grand Juries, note that what comes out of that will NOT be leaks. No one who is called to testify before a Grand Jury is required to keep the hearing private. Anyone who meets with a Grand Jury is free to go straight to the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC---even Fox---and tell all. They can write a book or even Tweet. A persons testimony to a Grand Jury is not classified.
Expect much more to become public in our democracy, not just Failing POTUS’ orchestrated ‘leaks’.
