GOV/MIL National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien: There's a Reason President Trump Wasn't Briefed on the Russia-Taliban Story

[thompson]

Robert O'Brien: There's a Reason President Trump Wasn't Briefed on the Russia-Taliban Story

Interesting.

townhall.com

Robert O'Brien: There's a Reason President Trump Wasn't Briefed on the Russia-Taliban Story

Beth Baumann
Posted: Jul 01, 2020 7:30 PM

The left immediately went after President Donald Trump for not taking action after the New York Times published an article about the Russian intelligence unit being offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants if they successfully killed members of the American military. It was assumed that President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were briefed on the situation back March, something the White House has continually denied.

According to National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, President Trump was never briefed on the situation because the intelligence had not been confirmed.

"When it comes to the briefing, that's another false story. I'm somewhat surprised that the New York Times ran with that story," O'Brien told "Fox and Friends" on Wednesday. "The president was not briefed because, at the time of these allegations, they were uncorroborated. The DOD has come out, Secretary Esper on a prior segment just said that it was uncorroborated, the intelligence community did not have a consensus, and, as a result, the president's career CIA briefer decided not to brief him because it was unverified intelligence."

O'Brien praised the CIA briefer's decision not to brief Trump based on the facts and evidence surrounding the case.

"Sadly, because of the leak it may now become an impossible effort to get to the bottom of this, to get to the truth of the matter, and it's one of the very sad things," he explained. "We were working very hard on this matter and it may be impossible to get to the bottom of it because someone decided to leak to hurt the president rather than uphold their obligations to the American people they took when they became an intelligence officer or government employee."

According to O'Brien, the intelligence community meets with the president multiple times a week and provides him with updates on national security. If something breaking happens, O'Brien is in touch with Trump, whether that's at 5 a.m. or midnight.

Maybe the New York Times should consider waiting for things that are confirmed by more than one anonymous source. Did they learn nothing from the Mueller investigation?

 

[Texican]

The NYT will publish half truths and out right lies if it may harm President Trump.

Uncorroborated info can cause more trouble for the President than is warranted so the info is held until it can be confirmed. SOP (Standard Operating Procedure).

Texican....

 

[Jez]

Unlike the Times, the DOD likes to fact check.

 

[mistaken1]

How easy would it be for the whitehouse to feed the slimes easily verifiable false scoop after false scoop to totally destroy their credibility with their loyal base?

 

[Dobbin]

"Sadly, because of the leak it may now become an impossible effort to get to the bottom of this, to get to the truth of the matter, and it's one of the very sad things," he explained.

And the New York Times should be held responsible for compromising American Security Position (TM) and be charged.

NYT is trying too hard to be Woodward/Bernstein. They need to go at it with some thought to their corporate health.

Dobbin

 

[Pinecone]

How easy would it be for the whitehouse to feed the slimes easily verifiable false scoop after false scoop to totally destroy their credibility with their loyal base?

Their loyal base does not care. They see Orange Man Bad and that's all they need to hear. Truth is optional.

 

[mistaken1]

Their loyal base does not care. They see Orange Man Bad and that's all they need to hear. Truth is optional.

True but I was thinking that at some point they would grow weary of getting their hopes up only to find it was yet another orange man bad false alarm.

 

[Cacheman]

There's a Reason President Trump Wasn't Briefed on the Russia-Taliban Story

This might explain why and who the anonymous source for NYT was.....

Schiff Learned Of Russian 'Bounty' Intelligence In February, Withheld Information From Congress, And Took No Action

Schiff demands the Trump administration brief all of Congress about the unverified allegations, yet he himself did not ask for a briefing following the February briefing of his own staff.

thefederalist.com

Schiff Learned Of Russian 'Bounty' Intelligence In February, Withheld Information From Congress, And Took No Action

Schiff demands the Trump administration brief all of Congress about the unverified allegations, yet he himself did not ask for a briefing following the February briefing of his own staff.


Sean Davis and Mollie Hemingway

4 minutes


Top committee staff for Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, were briefed in February on intelligence about Russia offering the Taliban bounties in Afghanistan, but he took no action in response to the briefing, multiple intelligence sources familiar with the briefing told The Federalist. The intelligence was briefed to Schiff’s staff during a congressional delegation, or CODEL, trip to Afghanistan in February.

Schiff, who has acknowledged President Donald Trump was never briefed on the so-called intelligence, has thus far refused to disclose that his staff was personally briefed. The revelation raises serious questions that Schiff is once again politicizing, and perhaps even deliberately misrepresenting, key data for partisan gain.

Asked by a reporter Tuesday if he had any knowledge of the Russia story prior to the New York Times report, Schiff said “I can’t comment on specifics.”

Schiff’s recent complaints that Trump took no action against Russia in response to rumors of Russian bounties are curious given that Schiff himself took no action after his top staff were briefed by intelligence officials. As chairman of the intelligence committee, Schiff had the authority to immediately brief the full committee and convene hearings on the matter. Schiff, however, did nothing. He did not brief his committee on the matter, nor did he brief the gang of 8, which consists of top congressional leadership in both chambers.

Schiff is demanding that the Trump administration brief all of Congress about the unverified allegations, yet he himself did not ask for a briefing of the Intelligence Committee following the February briefing of his own staff.

Patrick Boland, a spokesman for Schiff on the intelligence committee, did not respond to a request for comment on Schiff’s inaction and declined to say why Schiff withheld the information from Congress for months. Boland also did not explain why travel records regarding the Congressional staff delegation trip to Afghanistan had not yet been disclosed in the Congressional Record as required by law.

Schiff, who was the key driver behind failed Democrat attempts to impeach and remove President Donald Trump from office earlier this year about the president’s interactions with foreign leaders, also lied about his staff’s interaction with the so-called whistleblower, identified by Real Clear Investigations as Eric Ciaramella, prior to the so-called whistleblower filing his complaint against Trump.

The California Democrat was also a main proponent of the Russia collusion hoax, falsely stating for years that he held “ample evidence of collusion” between President Trump and Russia. A lengthy investigation of the theory by Special Counsel Robert Mueller ostensibly set up to find that evidence was unable to find any evidence of any collusion between any American and Russia.

Just as Schiff falsely claimed that he and his staff had no interaction with the anti-Trump leaker behind the impeachment push and falsely claimed he was privy to secret evidence of collusion with Russia, Schiff attacked Trump for not taking action in response to the Russian bounty rumors while refusing to disclose that his own office was briefed in February and did nothing in response.

 

[Pinecone]

True but I was thinking that at some point they would grow weary of getting their hopes up only to find it was yet another orange man bad false alarm.

One can hope! I'm still waiting for Hillary to model an orange jumpsuit before being buried under Leavenworth.

 

[summerthyme]

True but I was thinking that at some point they would grow weary of getting their hopes up only to find it was yet another orange man bad false alarm.

They'll blame Trump for that, too...

You can't use reason with these morons...

Summerthyme

 

[jward]

I was watching Catherine Herridge break this down on twitter last week, and realized she's almost the lone MSM voice I trust these days. That should shame someone in the industry, though I realize I give them too much credit.

As far as the false stories, DJT has been doing that from day one. Feeding them, then like a plumber, seeing where the leaks needed to be plugged. Recall his "The news is fake the leaks are real" quotes from wbw? He busted many of them with those canary stories. As far as the rest and their deliberate printing of falsehoods, it's a win win for them. Studies continue to show that EVEN when we know it is a lie or propaganda, we still end up internalizing it. And of course, as was said, their base doesn't care. Their base has been caught on record complaining about the segment of the party WITH ethics, who refuse to cheat