General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSpeculation: Would John F. Kelly have been the one to suggest funneling stuff into that server?
His previous positions meant that he would have been aware of those systems and he was CoS after Preibus was ousted in July 2017 and was in there until this year and had previously been DHS head.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/12/john-kelly-white-house-chief-of-staff-leaving/569779/
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/john-kelly-dhs-official-email-foia-public-scrutiny
dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)To remember. That feels like years ago.
BumRushDaShow
(127,299 posts)I think people might recall his bragging about "all the generals" that had been brought in. I think all of them are gone now.
dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)canetoad
(17,088 posts)He was known for side-eyes and face-palms during his tenure.
dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)Speech, the one from Trump tower.
BumRushDaShow
(127,299 posts)dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)malaise
(267,808 posts)Why didn't he tell Mueller about these phone calls?
FoxNewsSucks
(10,375 posts)He never did succeed at that "adult in the room" thing people said he would be. Maybe he didn't even try. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he were behind the private server, and is now getting the reward for covering up for MF45.
malaise
(267,808 posts)BumRushDaShow
(127,299 posts)might be in the Mueller report but was redacted out. There were pages and pages that were blacked out - especially the stuff about Stone (and probably some about Manafort) because Stone's prosecution is ongoing with a trial supposedly due to start in November.
Some Stone connections to the latest revelations - https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/09/25/how-roger-stones-trial-relates-to-the-ukraine-scandal/
malaise
(267,808 posts)GP6971
(31,016 posts)They always worked behind his back.
Arazi
(6,829 posts)I have no problem believing he was the architect of this cover up of #Traitor's self dealing
BumRushDaShow
(127,299 posts)by hiding the evidence would have needed to have been done behind his back...
Xolodno
(6,330 posts)He was brought on to beat the Mueller Report officially....but I think he was also brought on to be Trump's new fixer.
It will also explain why he's been going bonkers, he knows he could go to jail....for doing things he put other mobsters in jail for.
BumRushDaShow
(127,299 posts)from back in the old days (decades ago) when he was a U.S. Attorney, but he would have had little or no knowledge about, let alone access to, the newest and more top secret stuff and where that was housed. Kelly had been DHS head and Commander of the Southern Command prior... Also he apparently had issues with how DHS was configured and was being run - https://www.businessinsider.com/john-kelly-homeland-security-a-mess-trump-dhs-2019-4
But one thing that I just saw in the link in this post, was mention of the name "Stephen Miller" - now THAT one is the devil and I wouldn't be surprised if he directed the operations and helped to engineer the coverups.
DURHAM D
(32,595 posts)contacts/comments started from the beginning. iows - I agree with the OP.
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)So they locked it in the most secure server in the entire world.
Then 2 months later the idiot spilled the bean in a public memo admitting the whole thing.
The stupid burns.
BumRushDaShow
(127,299 posts)he had a tendency to be a braggart and a blabbermouth and some of them seemed to want to be a "firewall" to that behavior. But there came a point where they couldn't even take it anymore and/or were summarily "fired" and that was the end of that.
JI7
(89,173 posts)some control to avoid things like this and it was one reason trump and others didn't like him.
BumRushDaShow
(127,299 posts)As I noted - it's speculation mainly because there were few in there who would have been familiar with these top secret systems... However, knowing that deleting these damning records would have made things worse, then a decision was made to "retain them" but do so in a covert way, perhaps with the intent to come up with a "justification" later as to why they were put into such a place.
Every one of these data systems have some kind of audit trail/log for who was accessing them and when, so there will be plenty of records to be poured through.
Again my speculation would be about who in there would have had knowledge of such a system and it could be that the info about the existence of these various security systems may have come from him but perhaps someone else - like Miller - may have been involved in giving orders.
AND another one who has gone far far underground and who hasn't been mentioned, is Sessions. Sessions would have probably been aware of some of these systems too and as much as he was supposedly "recused", the question might be how much was he really "recused" and was he doing other stuff behind the scenes until he was dismissed?
JI7
(89,173 posts)familiar to most and i think they may know more than sessions asks Kelly.
i think think sessions and Kelly are just kind of stupid.
BumRushDaShow
(127,299 posts)I mean that Sessions was in charge of the Department of Justice and most likely had awareness of these systems... And although he might not have personally accessed them, he might have had staff who could brief him on these things. And remember he was a Senator for 20 years and was on both the Senate Armed Services and Senate Judiciary Committees and I expect he has seen all kinds of top secret stuff over those years just through those 2 Committees.
They might appear to have been "stupid" but certainly Kelly had a long military career at the top ranks - and for me, having worked for the federal government for 30+ years, I know even the bottom folks are aware of the data systems in an agency, so anyone way up at the top would be aware (and/or would be briefed by their staff).
MFGsunny
(2,356 posts)Wondering what, if any, of this code secret stashing McGahn knew and/or ignored.
The mind reels with best laid webs of spiders and minions.
BumRushDaShow
(127,299 posts)(and he keeps getting "blocked" with the bogus "executive privilege" argument)
But I was just looking for one thing and found some wild stuff from 2017 about those earlier WH lawyers - https://www.npr.org/2017/09/19/552169759/obamas-white-house-counsel-weighs-in-on-trumps-lawyers
Marc Kasowitz
John Dowd
Ty Cobb
It was a zoo in there!
Zambero
(8,954 posts)He does not impress me as someone who would want to own this mess if the lid ever blew off.
BumRushDaShow
(127,299 posts)then he automatically DID "own it" and his raison d'etre was to "get control" of an out-of-control operation. He never was really able to do it successfully but since he was there, he had to consider "self-preservation". And destruction of such records was a no-go.
My thing is that with all the staff initially brought in there who had absolutely ZERO government experience, someone who did have such would have been needed to give the wild wild West Wing some guidance about how things in government operated.