Donald Trump admires the strong men dictators of Russia, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, among others. He told North Korea’s Kim Jong Un how much he admired the dictator’s people respecting their leader. He did not get that respect came on the tip of a death sentence.
The US people have been free to dislike their leaders, and being president of these United States has never been an easy job. Freedom gives citizens the right to protest, criticize, and dislike their president — especially after he gave away national secrets.
Trump’s fondness for Russia has come at a great cost to the nation. The country had to extract one of its “highest level covert sources within the Russian government,” CNN reported.
The intelligence community came to that conclusion:
‘(POTUS and members of his administration) mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy.’
The decision was made after the president met with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the former Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak in the Oval Office. The American press was not admitted, and they found out about the secret meeting after Russian journalists reported it.
During that May 2017 meeting, Trump disclosed “highly classified intelligence” Israel had shared with America about ISIS in Syria.
The problem was, of course, that removing the high-level Russian assets has handicapped the US from seeing what has been going on in the Kremlin. That included its plans during a time of increased high-tension between the two countries.
Even though Trump considers Putin his friend, America’s intelligence community has long believed that Russia and China have been and continue to be the “greatest threats to US national security.”
Although former CIA director and current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo oversaw the extraction, his spokesperson did not comment. White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said:
‘CNN’s reporting is not only incorrect, it has the potential to put lives in danger.’
A former intelligence official spoke to CNN:
‘The impact would be huge because it is so hard to develop sources like that in any denied area, particularly Russia, because the surveillance and security there is so stringent. You can’t reacquire a capability like that overnight.’
Pompeo told other senior Trump officials that the administration was leaking too much intelligence. He feared the covert source (asset) was in “immediate danger.” The intelligence officials rarely extract (exfiltrate) high-level intelligence personnel unless they are in serious danger.
CIA Director of Public Affairs Brittany Bramell spoke to CNN:
‘CNN’s narrative that the Central Intelligence Agency makes life-or-death decisions based on anything other than objective analysis and sound collection is simply false. Misguided speculation that the President’s handling of our nation’s most sensitive intelligence—which he has access to each and every day—drove an alleged exfiltration operation is inaccurate.’
After the US extracted the Russian spy in July 2017, Trump held a private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Hamburg G20 summit. For some reason, the US president seized the interpreter’s notes. This concerned members of the intelligence community, fearing that our commander-in-chief had shared intelligence improperly.
As the Obama administration drew to a close, the US intelligence officials were already concerned about the spy’s safety. The spy had been in place for quite some time. As information about Russia’s attack on the US 2016 presidential election grew, so did the concerns of the intelligence community.
As part of his transition from candidate to president, intelligence briefed Trump on “highly protected details,” including information about the spy.
CNN did not reveal its full details about the spy to protect the individual’s identification.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
