Brennan on Trump and Putin

For John, BLUF:  It would help if Mr Mueller could speed up his investigation and get his report out to DOJ, Congress and the Public.  Focus on the main issue and not on peripheral issues.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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It isn't like I didn't blog about this before (yesterday), based on a month old article from The Cipher Brief.

Ex-CIA officer:  Brennan’s attacks on Trump ‘cringe-worthy,’ put national security at risk

Here is the sub-headline:

Daniel Hoffman says the former intel chief is aiding a Russian plot to deepen America’s partisan divide

From The Washington Times, by Reporter Guy Taylor, 7 May 2018.

The first four paragraphs:

A behind-the-scenes U.S. intelligence community fight over the merits of publicly scorning President Trump has burst into the open recently, with the CIA’s former Moscow station chief accusing Obama-era spymaster John O. Brennan of crossing a red line through incessant Twitter and cable news excoriations of the current commander in chief.

In addition to claiming that Mr. Brennan is aiding a Kremlin plot to deepen America’s partisan divide, former CIA Clandestine Service Officer Daniel Hoffman says the former CIA director has actually jeopardized national security by publicly insinuating that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be blackmailing Mr. Trump.

Mr. Brennan made the insinuation in late-March when he asserted during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Mr. Trump is “afraid of the president of Russia” and that “one can speculate as to why.”

“The Russians may have something on [Mr. Trump] personally, that they could always roll out and make his life more difficult,” Mr. Brennan said.  “That [Mr. Trump] has had this fawning attitude toward Mr. Putin…say[s] to me that he does have something to fear and something very serious to fear.”

The thing is, if Mr John Brennan is convinced that Mr Putin has the goods on President Trump,♠ and Ms Nancy Pelosi believes Mr Brennan, then it will cause the House Minority Leader to operate in ways different from what she might have done if she felt she was dealing with a President free of Kremlin pressure and acting solely in the interest of these United States (and his political party).  That means that every proposed piece of legislation, every announcement, every tweet, must be viewed through the lens of what is Russia trying to accomplish here, and resisted based on that assumption.♥

So why would President Trump trust the Intelligence Community?

Hat tip to The Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Or just has a visceral reaction to President Trump and acts on that feeling by seeing him as a Kremlin Stooge, whether it is so or not.
♥  It also serves to destroy trust and create an infinity of mirrors.