Trump Doesn't Trust Our Intelligence: Now May Be Worse Year for His Distrust to Grow

Ratcliffe vs. Mueller: Has Same Intel Hatred as Trump

Trump Seeking a New DNI

(His fourth pick is Ratcliffe)

DNI Oversees these 16 Agencies

Update of the following original post at very big national security news at a critical time:

Trump says he will nominate Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) as new DNI.

CNN's Note: This is a breaking story and will be updated.

From CNN (February 28, 2020): Trump says he intends to formally nominate Rep. John Radcliffe (R-TX) as the permanent DNI (Director of National Intelligence), which is the second time he has attempted to make the Texas loyalist lawmaker his #1 spy chief.

Trump announced via Twitter: “I am pleased to announce the nomination of Congressman John Ratcliffe to be Director of National Intelligence (DNI).  Would have completed process earlier, but John wanted to wait until after IG Report was finished. John is an outstanding man of great talent!”

Ratcliffe had been nominated as Trump's pick to be the DNI after former Senator Dan Coats (R-IN) stepped down from the post in July 2019 – his reasons stated here – a clear reminder – Trump didn’t take his intelligence warnings seriously and suppressed them – so Coats quit and with honor.

But, Ratcliffe withdrew his name from consideration after lawmakers from both parties raised concerns about his qualification after CNN reported earlier that the President was once again considering Ratcliffe to be the permanent director.

The choice of Ratcliffe to be the new permanent director, and the earlier choice to install Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell as the “Acting” DNI and it offers more distinct evidence that Trump is looking for a loyalist to lead the intelligence services – the same group he has so often maligned during his presidency.

Loyalty has been something Trump has focused on as he looked for a candidate for the permanent job, and during conversations about the role with potential nominees, he has attempted to assess how loyal they would be to him should they be nominated and confirmed for the job (two sources told CNN).

Trump is looking for a pick who would back his mandate, explained one of the sources.

This decision will dredge up controversy from 2019 that rankled lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about Ratcliffe’s credentials.

Questions arose regarding his qualifications and experience for that sensitive top intelligence post after reports surfaced revealing he had had embellished his credentials.

That prompted swift criticism from Democrats in Congress, and CNN also reported that Republicans also privately had raised concerns with the White House about Ratcliffe's nomination.

Trump then in turn blamed the media reports for Ratcliffe's decision to pull his name. In the time since that debacle unfolded, Ratcliffe has remained a faithful ally of the President and was one of the members of Congress who Trump mentioned in his victory speech after his Senate impeachment acquittal. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, under Chairman Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), warned Trump on against nominating Ratcliffe, saying in part: “I think there was pretty uniform bipartisan opposition to that pick earlier and I don't think anything has changed.”

My 2 cents: Again, this is a poor choice but that’s how Trump operates: Loyalty to him first; country and everything job-related second, or sometimes even lower – just be a loyal Trump sycophant. for the DNI job loyalty to mission is paramount and first with the country’s intelligence safety always #1 NOT pleasing Trump whims or wild anti-intelligence conspiracy theories. 

When he is NOT attacking the entire intelligence community which he has basically since day one, Trump always brags that he is smarter than anyone else about everything – and that he loves “Acting” appointments – a reminder of that is below. 

Smartest Man on Earth Just ask Him

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ORIGINAL STORY FROM HERE:

WASHINGTON (Reuters via U.S.NEWS) - U.S. intelligence officials told lawmakers last week (Feb 13, 2020 briefing) that Russia is interfering in the 2020 election campaign by aiming to cast doubt on the integrity of the vote and boost President Trump's re-election said a person at the briefing.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity, and also said Trump's Republican allies on the Democratic-led House Intelligence Committee in the briefing questioned the assessment presented by officials of the Office of National Intelligence (ONI), and said: “The Republicans responded as you would expect. They went nuts. They questioned the intelligence.

The briefers all warned the committee in the classified briefing that Russia was working to cast doubt on the integrity of the November 3, 2020 vote while at the same time boosting Trump's election to a second four-year term, adding: “The Russians are favoring one candidate while they do it.” Then added that the briefers identified that candidate as Trump, but did not elaborate. There was no immediate response to a request for comment from committee Republicans. The New York Times reported one day after the briefing (Feb 14, 2020) that Trump rebuked acting DNI, Joseph Maguire, for allowing his staff to appear before the committee and Times quoted five people familiar with that aspect.

Trump now has said he was replacing Maguire on an acting basis with Richard Grenell, a strong Trump loyalist who has served as ambassador to Germany since 2018 –

Note: Trump says “acting” because sources say Grenell has zero intelligence training, experience, or knowledge about the office and duties there and that he could not be confirmed by the senate thus Trump apparently knows that and is making him “acting” which does not need senate confirmation.

The Times also reported that in Trump reprimanding Maguire that he cited the presence in the briefing Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who by-the-way is the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and has every right to have been in the briefing. Trump apparently is still pissed about Schiff leading the House impeachment proceedings against him. Note: The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on that. The Washington Post also reported that Trump rebuked Maguire in an Oval Office meeting after a Republican ally informed the president of the election security briefing. That briefing was conducted by Shelby Pierson, a Maguire lieutenant who oversees election security. 

Note: Also, the ONI declined to comment that aspect of the story.

U.S. officials have long warned that Russia and other countries would try to interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election campaign. The U.S. intelligence community earlier concluded that Russia used fake news, cyber-attacks, and other methods in an operation designed to swing the 2016 presidential election to Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Note: Russia has denied the allegation numerous times and BTW: So, has Trump – he never agreed that they did interfere in 2016 and he has repeatedly questioned the findings. At a 2018 summit in Helsinki with Putin for example, he said he found Russian President Vladimir Putin's denials of Russian meddling “extremely strong and powerful.” 

Putin again supports a Trump second term, why – check out these reasons. However, Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded in a report last year that there was no conclusive evidence of coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign, but he also was unable to clear Trump of obstructing his investigation that he testified to Congress also late last year.