Category: National Security

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Donald Trump Foreign Policy National Security

NATO Nations Say They’ll Seek New Allies If Trump Is Reelected: Report

If failed, one-term former President Donald Trump hasn’t been indicted or descended into complete mental incapacity by the time the 2024 election is held and he manages to win a second term in office, it could result in the complete destruction of the NATO alliance.

That terrifying prediction comes from Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), who told CNN’s Kasie Hunt that some NATO allies have told him they will “re-think” remaining aligned with the United States if Trump wins two years from now.

Hunt asked Romney:

“Do you think that the former president, Donald Trump, permanently damaged NATO?”

The senator replied:

“I think what happened with NATO is they have said can we rely on the U.S.? And is this America First idea, which is the president saying to everybody, ‘hey, go off and do your own thing,’ that approach is one that frightens other members of NATO and they wonder are we committed to NATO and our mutual defense, or are we going to go off on our own? And so they wonder.”

That led Hunt to inquire:

“Are they going to get over that?”

Romney:

“They wonder whether we’re going to return to the, if you will, policies we have had for the last 70 years or we’re going to take the turn that Donald Trump represented. If he were to come back as the U.S. president, I think it would represent a pretty dramatic departure for the world and they would rethink on whether they can count on the United States.”

Will the 2024 election decide the question? Hunt asked. The Utah Republican responded:

“I think if President Trump were to return as president, the nations of the world would say they have to really rethink their own national security and the extent to which they want to be in line with us and be allied with someone else. You saw that happen during the time President Trump was there. I have had conversations with leaders of other nations now, members of NATO, and they raise this question: we’re happy to see you committed to our mutual defense, but we don’t know whether you’re just committed short-term or whether this is a long-term and permanent commitment. I think it’s long-term and permanent.”

Imagine a world without NATO. Such a scenario would be a dream come true for Russian mass murderer Vladimir Putin. And it would leave the world less secure and more unstable.

There’s any number of reasons that Trump should never hold office again. The most terrifying is how badly a second Trump administration would threaten the national security of the United States and the world.

Here’s the video from CNN:

Categories
Crime Donald Trump National Security The Trump Adminstration

Classified National Security Documents Were Likely ‘Stolen’ By Trump From The White House: Report

Now that the National Archives and Records Administration has referred the matter of failed, one-term former President Donald Trump’s mishandling of White House documents to the Justice Department for further investigation and possible criminal charges, there’s a much larger threat that could be caused as a result of Trump purloining materials that should have been handed over before he left office on January 20, 2021.

Some of those documents, according to a former Republican congressman, were likely classified national security materials, and that means they could have been given to adversaries of the United States.

Former Florida congressman David Jolly warned on “Deadline: White House” that Trump is capable of anything, no matter how sinister:

“It’s easy to think of presidential records as being benign, and I’m sure many of the records are benign, but consider this is a president who was twice impeached for malfeasance and maladministration within office, and he also is somebody who is under criminal investigation in multiple jurisdictions, so there certainly could be evidentiary information that is relevant, not just to a fact-finding investigation of the Congress, but to criminal investigations and investigations that might to relate to behaviors that have not yet been identified.”

Jolly then brought up the specter of national security materials being in the possession of a man as unstable as Trump:

“I would also say in a very real way, in terms of our national security posture, there very likely are national security documents that despite having certain classified protections, were also prone to being torn up. I mean, there are staff members who have acknowledged — those responsible for having to remove national security documents — that he did this when it came to national security measures as well. So it is important form a fact-finding perspective. it is important for posterity, if you will, but it’s also important because of the uniqueness of his president, who was twice impeached and is now under criminal investigation.”

Consider this scenario: Trump is badly in need of money and protection, so he calls up Russian President Vladimir Putin and offers him classified materials in exchange for several million dollars and the promise of safe haven if and when he’s indicted on any number of alleged crimes.

The DOJ needs to take a close look at what exactly Trump took from the White House, and if any of the documents were indeed classified they need to consider asking a grand jury to indict him for endangering U.S. national security.

Categories
Climate Change National Security U.S. Senate WTF?!

Ted Cruz Says The Joint Chiefs Of Staff Should Be Fired For Believing In Climate Change

Bless his tiny, coal-black heart, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) just cannot accept facts that go against his own fantasies and lies about something as fundamentally hazardous to every person who lives in this planet as climate change and and global warming.

It’s not that Cruz doesn’t know any better. He does. But he chooses to deny scientific evidence so he can continue to get large campaign contributions from fossil fuel companies, many of whom have major operations in the Lone Star State.

However, this time Ted is going even further over the crazy line and demanding that the the Joint Chiefs of Staff who run the U.S. armed forces be fired for daring to agree with something President Joe Biden said during a speech.

Biden told a collection of Air Force personnel that the Joint Chiefs of Staff had told him that global warming is the “greatest threat facing America.”

And yes, the Defense Department has indeed warned that global warming and climate change will greatly worsen “poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership and weak political institutions that threaten stability in a number of countries.”

Despite that, Cruz couldn’t resist tweeting out a video of Biden’s speech along with a sarcastic notation that the either the top military brass be fired or President Biden was lying:

Actually, Ted, neither of those options is the least bit factual. The joint chiefs do not need to be fired and President Biden isn’t lying. Also, why did Cruz never see fit to call Donald Trump a liar? At least he’d have been right on that one.

However, something good did come out of Teddy’s snarky posting: The reactions he received from others on social media:

Sorry, Ted, but as usual you’re full of shit and too arrogant to admit your own ignorance.

 

Categories
Corruption National Security The Trump Adminstration

Michael Flynn Is Facing Penalties From The Army For Taking Russian Money

Former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn doesn’t have to worry about going to prison for lying under oath thanks to a pardon from his good friend, failed, one-term president Donald Trump, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to get off scot-free for playing footsie with the Russians.

According to the Washington Post, the U.S. Army is looking to punish Flynn for his failure to reveal that he received $45,000 from a Kremlin-controlled media organization. In return for the money, Flynn agreed to sit next to Russian president Vladimir Putin at a dinner held in 2015:

“The investigation focuses on Flynn’s acceptance of money from Russian and Turkish interests before joining the Trump administration, a potential violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause. With few exceptions, U.S. officials, including retired service members like Flynn, are prohibited from accepting money or gifts from foreign governments. Flynn retired from the Army as a three-star general in 2014.”

Army officials are also said to be upset by Flynn’s remarks about the 2020 election being stolen from Trump. Flynn even went so far as to suggest that Trump — acting as commander in chief — could declare martial law and order a “redo” of the election in key swing states where President Joe Biden triumphed over Trump.

If they choose, the Army could penalize Flynn financially:

Defense Department guidelines warn that it ‘may pursue debt collection’ if a retired service member does not secure approval to accept foreign payments before doing so.

In other words, all of the money Flynn earned working for Russia or other countries would have to be paid back to the Pentagon because he failed to disclose the payments he received.

Considering all the harm Flynn has done to the United States, it’s a shame the Army can’t just lock him up and also collect the ill-gotten money.

 

Categories
Corruption Crime Donald Trump National Security The Trump Adminstration

The Impeachment Inquiry Now Has A Star Witness Who Can Bring Down Trump

Late Friday evening, news broke that Kurt Volker, who had served as special envoy for Ukraine, had suddenly resigned from the Trump administration. The Washington Post noted:

“Volker tendered his resignation to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday, within hours of an announcement from three House committees that the veteran diplomat was among State Department officials who would be compelled to testify.

“That committee has set a hearing for Thursday for Volker, one of several officials whose interactions with Trump or Ukrainian officials are outlined in a whistleblower complaint.”


As the special envoy to Ukraine, Volker tried for months to set up a meeting between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. That means that Volker likely knows details about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and is also familiar with Trump’s attempt to trade $400 million in military aid for dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who have been cleared of any wrongdoing regarding business dealings the younger Biden had in Ukraine.

And since Volker has insider information, he can potentially implicate his boss, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and others in the administration, including Trump. Pompeo was subpoenaed by three congressional committees on Friday for documents related to the impeachment inquiry which was formally initiated earlier this week.


Former CIA Russian operations chief Steve Hall remarked Saturday on CNN that Volker could wind up being a star witness for the impeachment inquiry:

“With Giuliani’s involvement and president saying what he did to the newly elected, very inexperienced president of Ukraine, it seems to me — and hopefully we will hear from him to discuss further what his thinking process was — it seems to me he just said ‘Look, this is kind of a mess and I don’t know that I want to be a part of it.’”


Hall also added:

“We’ll find out whether there’s any more of that or what (Volker’s) willing to say about the work he was doing either with Giuliani, or perhaps around or despite Giuliani. We need to hear more from him about that. It will be very interesting to see what he says.”

It certainly will. And if Volker can shed more light on exactly what Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Pompeo, and others in the administration did to further the Ukraine conspiracy and cover-up, he may wind up being the key to unwinding the facts that will all but guarantee articles of impeachment are drawn up against Donald Trump.

Mr. Volker, you now have the floor.