Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
In Death, Khashoggi Exposes the Corruption of Kushner and Trump
There are several bombshells involved with the story:
1. This information has been out in the wild for over a year, virtually ignored.
2. This is not the only time Trump has thought about giving up a US resident for almost certain execution. (See Fethullah Gulen, also mentioned in this article.)
3. Jared Kushner had to have a source for the classified intelligence he has been peddling, as well as permission to do what he did with it. Should he?
In Death, Khashoggi Exposes the Corruption of Kushner and Trump Nov 17, 2018
Putting aside the heinousness of the actual crime—to say nothing of MbS’s betrayal of the members of his own security detail, five of whom will likely be executed for their role in the operation—the Khashoggi affair has dramatic significance to the United States in general and to Donald Trump and Jared Kushner in particular. [snip]
With respect to the assassination, Trump and Kushner both have skin in the game. Saudi Arabia was the first state visit Trump made as president, a trip organized and pushed for by Kushner, who is chummy with MbS and has acted as the de facto ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi was not banned from Saudi media for his criticisms of MbS, but rather for his criticisms of Donald Trump. More importantly, U.S. intelligence knew of a plan to lure Khashoggi back to arrest him, so the president and the de facto ambassador to Saudi Arabia must have also known. If they knew and did not share the information with Khashoggi, they are liable. [snip]
Why exactly are Trump and Kushner going to the mat for MbS? Is it to advance U.S. interests—or their own?
Last October, Jared Kushner paid an unannounced visit to Riyadh, where it’s reported that he stayed up until the wee hours talking “strategy” with the crown prince, apparently his new BFF. He allegedly gave MbS an “enemies list” culled from the classified president’s daily brief, which MbS seems to have used the following month to purge disloyal relatives from government and take their money. Also last October, Kushner’s company received a $57 million loan from Fortress Investment Group, which was recently purchased by SoftFund, a Saudi investment concern, to bail out its troubled property at One Journal Square in Jersey City. (A larger and more widely-reported loan, to bail out the troubled property at 666 Fifth Avenue, came the following summer, via Qatar.)
There is a term for the exchange of U.S. intelligence — or, worse, policy — for money. The term is espionage. It is punishable by death.
With respect to the assassination, Trump and Kushner both have skin in the game. Saudi Arabia was the first state visit Trump made as president, a trip organized and pushed for by Kushner, who is chummy with MbS and has acted as the de facto ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi was not banned from Saudi media for his criticisms of MbS, but rather for his criticisms of Donald Trump. More importantly, U.S. intelligence knew of a plan to lure Khashoggi back to arrest him, so the president and the de facto ambassador to Saudi Arabia must have also known. If they knew and did not share the information with Khashoggi, they are liable. [snip]
Why exactly are Trump and Kushner going to the mat for MbS? Is it to advance U.S. interests—or their own?
Last October, Jared Kushner paid an unannounced visit to Riyadh, where it’s reported that he stayed up until the wee hours talking “strategy” with the crown prince, apparently his new BFF. He allegedly gave MbS an “enemies list” culled from the classified president’s daily brief, which MbS seems to have used the following month to purge disloyal relatives from government and take their money. Also last October, Kushner’s company received a $57 million loan from Fortress Investment Group, which was recently purchased by SoftFund, a Saudi investment concern, to bail out its troubled property at One Journal Square in Jersey City. (A larger and more widely-reported loan, to bail out the troubled property at 666 Fifth Avenue, came the following summer, via Qatar.)
There is a term for the exchange of U.S. intelligence — or, worse, policy — for money. The term is espionage. It is punishable by death.
And there it is: Jared Kushner's intelligence source, the classified president’s daily brief.
The President's Daily Brief (PDB), sometimes referred to as the President's Daily Briefing or the President's Daily Bulletin, is a top-secret document produced and given each morning to the President of the United States, and is also distributed to a small number of top-level US officials who are approved by the President, and includes highly classified intelligence analysis, information about covert operations of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and reports from the most sensitive US sources or those shared by allied intelligence agencies.[1] The PDB is also provided to the President-elect of the United States, between election day and inauguration.
The PDB is produced by the Director of National Intelligence,[2] and involves fusing intelligence from the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency (NSA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other members of the U.S. Intelligence Community.
The PDB is produced by the Director of National Intelligence,[2] and involves fusing intelligence from the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency (NSA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other members of the U.S. Intelligence Community.
Kushner's access to the president’s daily brief isn't a problem if he has the proper security clearances and respect for said clearances - but there is evidence that, while he does have clearances, they are not necessarily proper, and he clearly has not respected the boundaries involved in having them.
Remember Patricia Newbold?
Whistleblower says 25 people given White House clearance despite rejections
In the case of one person identified as "Senior White House Official 1," Newbold said that the background investigation had revealed "significant disqualifying factors, including foreign influence, outside activities ('employment outside or business external to what your office at the (Executive Office of the President) entails'), and personal conduct."
The director of Personnel Security, Carl Kline, overruled the rejection by noting in the file that "the activities occurred prior to Federal service." He did not, said Newbold, address each concern noted by her and by another adjudicator.
On the same day that she talked with Kline about the Senior White House Official 1, she also spoke with him about a second "very senior White House Official," referred to in Cummings' memo as "Senior White House Official 2," who had been rejected by her and another adjudicator. The reviewer, Newbold said, had written an "'extremely thorough'" 14-page summary listing disqualifying concerns including "foreign influence and outside activities." She said that Kline instructed her "do not touch" the case, and soon afterward, he overturned the rejection and approved the security clearance.
The director of Personnel Security, Carl Kline, overruled the rejection by noting in the file that "the activities occurred prior to Federal service." He did not, said Newbold, address each concern noted by her and by another adjudicator.
On the same day that she talked with Kline about the Senior White House Official 1, she also spoke with him about a second "very senior White House Official," referred to in Cummings' memo as "Senior White House Official 2," who had been rejected by her and another adjudicator. The reviewer, Newbold said, had written an "'extremely thorough'" 14-page summary listing disqualifying concerns including "foreign influence and outside activities." She said that Kline instructed her "do not touch" the case, and soon afterward, he overturned the rejection and approved the security clearance.
In the end, regardless of whether he was SWH Official 1 or SWH Official 2 or one of the other 25 candidates originally rejected for them, Jared Kushner got his security clearances, legally.
Virtually all of a president’s authority with respect to intelligence — to collect, to analyze, to classify, to declassify, and to grant or withhold clearances — is delegated to inferior officials within the executive branch, as it should be. But a president does not need the permission of an inferior executive branch official to act in this arena; ultimately, for instance, a president can classify or declassify intelligence as he sees fit. Broadly speaking, the information is for him to use, after all. [snip]
Interestingly, the rules that apply to the president here do not apply to those who work for him. If an inferior officer in a U.S. intelligence agency provided highly classified information to the Russians on his or her own accord (that is, without authorization), there would be serious consequences, ranging from losing a clearance, to losing a job, to going to prison. But, none of that is true for a president. Remember, the information is gathered and analyzed for him and he can essentially do what he wants with it.
Interestingly, the rules that apply to the president here do not apply to those who work for him. If an inferior officer in a U.S. intelligence agency provided highly classified information to the Russians on his or her own accord (that is, without authorization), there would be serious consequences, ranging from losing a clearance, to losing a job, to going to prison. But, none of that is true for a president. Remember, the information is gathered and analyzed for him and he can essentially do what he wants with it.
Chilling though it may be, it's possible Trump gave Kushner permission to do these things, thinking it was legal. He shouldn't have. It's not legal to knowingly send a man to his death, or to hand over a hit list to an autocrat looking to dole out reprisals. Using intelligence to make a buck is not legal, no matter who you are.
The systems and processes put in place to safeguard US intelligence are there for a reason. This is necessary to make sure that only those who can be trusted with intelligence are those who receive it. When the safeguards are bypassed, this *points up* is what can happen.
Jared Kushner is directly implicated in espionage and as an accessory to murder.
This should not have happened. It should not stand uninvestigated and unprosecuted.
8 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
