Tag: leaks

So the CIA head testified

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During a House Intelligence Committee Hearing on Tuesday, former CIA Director John Brennan confirmed he’s aware of communications between the Trump campaign and Russian officials that sparked concern about possible collusion.

 

[…]

 

That “information and intelligence,” Brennan added, led to the FBI’s counterintelligence probe of the Trump campaign, which began in July 2016.

 

Brennan was responding to a question from Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) about evidence of collusion that seemed intended to highlight that no such evidence exists. His effort backfired. During House Intelligence Committee hearing about the Russia probe, Gowdy has repeatedly tried to change the topic from possible collusion involving the Trump campaign to leaks.

 

Trey Gowdy’s effort to throw cold water on
Trump-Russia collusion backfires spectacularly
Think Progress

 

 

So the CIA head testified
and as much as the congressman tried
to silence critiques
by obsessing on leaks,
there’s a story that can’t be denied.

Mary Boren, 5/25/17

 

All the turmoil is taking a toll

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It’s not judges or senators who will save us from the worst of Trump, which is most of Trump. His undoing will come from within. Be as cynical as you want about Washington — I certainly indulge myself — but there remain insiders with consciences, and some of them actually work for the president. They’re willing to work against him if circumstances warrant it. Circumstances have been warranting it, and here we are.

 

What we’re witnessing is astonishing. I don’t mean Trump’s actions — including the infuriating reports that he divulged highly classified information to Russian visitors and had asked James Comey to lay off Michael Flynn — though those do qualify. I mean how reliably Trump’s embarrassing or outrageous behavior always reaches journalists, as government officials use the very media that he demonizes to expose his recklessness, ridicule his cluelessness, warn Americans about his intentions and head him off at the pass.

 

This much leaking this soon in an administration explodes the norms of the White House every bit as much as Trump’s own conduct does, and it’s an indication more powerful than just about any other of what kind of president we have. He is so unprepared, shows such bad judgment and has such an erratic temper that he’s not trusted by people who are paid to bolster him and who get the most intimate, unvarnished look at him. Some of them have decided that discretion isn’t always the keeping of secrets, not if it protects bad actors. They’re right. And they give me hope.

 

Blessed be the tattletales in the Trump White House
Opinion, The Seattle Times

 

 

All the turmoil is taking a toll
at the prospect there’s more than one mole
bent on bringing him down.
Will king trump lose the crown
for which he has ransomed his soul?

Lily Beth Baker, 5/17/17

Wondering whence came the leak? Here’s a clue …

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“Trump’s eldest son tweeted or retweeted 26 posts about the report by 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, thanking MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow for revealing that Trump paid $38 million in federal taxes in 2005, slamming the media as ‘#fakenews’ and boasting about how his father’s tax rate compared to that of other prominent politicians.”

Donald Trump Jr. is really happy about his dad’s tax returns
Politico

 


While his daddy is screaming “No fair!”
Donnie Junior’s ecstatic that there
was a tax return leak
allowing a peek
at the one year he paid fair and square.

© Susan E. Eckenrode, 2017

Yeah the one year he paid fair and square
and it’s leaked– gee, I wonder from where?
Distraction’s the game,
no matter how lame.
Is there really no tack he won’t dare?

© Lily Beth Baker, 2017

 

Staff Leaks (2-link limerick chain)

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[…] with mounting tension inside the West Wing over stories portraying an administration lurching between crises and simmering in dysfunction, aides are increasingly frustrated by the pressure-cooker environment and worried about their futures there.

Sean Spicer targets own staff in leak crackdown
Politico

 

 

 

Now the BLOTUS is moaning and crying
About leaks from his staff who were spying.
I say, let those leaks out;
Real patriots speak out
When their boss is the one who is lying.

© Colleen Anderson, 2017

When their boss is the one who is lying,
presented the facts, keeps denying,
they’ll go to extremes,
embrace any means
to save a republic that’s dying.

© Susan E. Eckenrode, 2017