Donald Trump Just Launched A War On Whistleblowers

[UCmeNdc]

Source: Huffington Post

The president is suggesting a major purge is in the offing.


President Donald Trump is launching a war on leakers, attempting to turn a story about the firing of his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, into a campaign to purge and clean out intelligence agencies.

The latest salvo came Thursday in classic Trumpian fashion: early-morning tweets attacking a national newspaper and making vague threats.


Trumps main priority seems to be protecting himself. The leaks that preceded Flynns firing raised questions as to whether the now former adviser had communicated with Russia on behalf of Trump to promise an easing of sanctions once the administration took power.



Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-whistleblowers_us_58a59c26e4b037d17d252e28?

[Freethinker65]

1. Time for a cascade of information to be leaked

[lagomorph777]

4. Yeah, this will not end well for Agent Orange

I don't think he gets how deep and long the investigation has been. Nor how angry the IC is. Nor how skilled they are at regime change.

[LakeVermilion]

30. From "First Blood"...

Teasle: Are you telling me that 200 of our men against your boy is a no-win situation for us?
Trautman: You send that many, don't forget one thing.
Teasle: What?
Trautman: A good supply of body bags.

[Hortensis]

32. The 47th is incapable of avoiding hugely damaging mistakes,

including ones that happen to be illegal--he's always used those to prove his power to the world.

Look at his appointees who have already badly damaged their own standing, or already destroyed it, by following orders they had to know would be disastrous: Just since election, Not-So-Perky Conway, Sean Spicer, and Lite Gen. Flynn, the latter very possibly ultimately headed to prison. None of these people behaved this way before they started taking orders from a volatile megalomaniac.

Now he's actually threatening to purge our own intelligence community--which itself almost certainly holds information that, presented when it can't be buried, could destroy him. And so many other "what!!??" face-slappers.

The point is, these behaviors and disasters, and fallen underlings (AG Sessions, eventually?), are only going to continue to mount. As president he's uncontrollable, and he can't change. Oh--and a yoooge one: He craves attention, the more always the better.

[Augiedog]

2. The harder he squeezes the uglier it will get for him

[riversedge]

15. Lets hope so.

[SharonAnn]

23. Sort of a "Plumbers" group? Like under Nixon?

[dixiegrrrrl]

38. "like Nixon":

Link to tweet

[chelsea0011]

3. I hope he goes through with this because if people in the IC start to feel

cornered and they are, unfairly or not, about to be outed, it could open up to them talking. trump may find out how much he is hated.

[still_one]

13. What concerns me is that when Cheney outed Valerie Plame, nothing happened. Whether the same thing

happens this time or not depends a lot on how the media cover it, and just how many congressional republicans have a problem with it

[Samantha]

22. Valerie Plame originally thought Cheney "outed" her but

it was actually Armitage who leaked the info to Novak. Nothing happened to him either.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/08/leak.armitage/

Sam

[still_one]

24. Appreciate the correction. If I recall there was a special prosecutor, and no one was punished as

you just posted

[Samantha]

31. Patrick Fitzgerald was the Special Prosecutor

He was a person with an excellent reputation. Armitage was truly sorry for his inadvertent slip revealing Plame's true employment. Scooter took the hit like a good soldier. Convicted of lying to the FBI and a grand jury (I think). Bush commuted his sentence but did not pardon him, which truly angered Cheney.

Now here is a fascinating point. Guess who appointed Fitzgerald? Comey!

Comey and Fitzgerald had years earlier worked on cases together at the US attorney's office in New York, and Comey noted that Fitzgerald had a "sterling reputation" and was "absolutely apolitical." Fitzgerald was, Comey remarked, "Eliot Ness with a Harvard law degree and a sense of humor."

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/05/fbi-nominee-james-comey-triggered-plamegate-investigation

Sam

[still_one]

36. Wow!!!

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Broad cover-up now in process.

[riversedge]

16. Workers in the WH are compaining of the noise from the paper shredders!

[BumRushDaShow]

20. Thing is

in the era of the modern federal government (thanks to the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Digital Signature And Electronic Authentication Law, and the later Paperwork Elimination Act), most of the documents over the past 20 years are electronic (i.e., the "official copies" are the electronic ones).

So shredding is meaningless (this ain't 1973).

[DURHAM D]

6. So now he thinks he is President of the World and

can control our allies who are the ones doing the leaking?

[riversedge]

17. No, trump is still c/o the government-not realized HE is the government now.

[OldRedneck]

7. Big yawn.

EVERY administration does this. Results always the same. Leaks continue.

The Trumpster doesn't understand that the national sport of DC is NOT football, basketball, hockey, or soccer -- it's LEAKING and the city is filled with world-class leakers who love the game and are good at it.

[GusBob]

8. He will fail

For one thing, the newspapers will never give up their sources

He has no idea how Washington works.

[dalton99a]

10. +1

[George II]

9. This is becoming more and more appropriate:

[world wide wally]

11. Keep in mind...There s a HUGE difference between leaks and fake news.

Leaks are just facts that someone did not want known.

[coco22]

12. More leaks please..

The more the better. If you have nothing to hide? Leaks on McConnnell,Ryan,and the rest damn hypocrites.

[Equinox Moon]

14. Obama had a war on whistleblowers and it worked.

I understand he prosecuted x9 people as well. I wonder if trump is trying to follow suite?

[nuxvomica]

18. He should put together a task force called "The Plumbers"

What could go wrong?

[logosoco]

19. Because exposing illegal and unethical behavior won't make America great.

In the mind of Republicans.

[Dopers_Greed]

21. Let's see what Assange and Greenwald have to say about this

Probably nothing

[Morganfleeman]

25. One part of me says

These leaks are just desserts from Trump & Co. given how they benefited from FBI leaks and Wikileaks' damaging DNC emails. At the same time, it's rather disturbing. When calls between the President and a foreign leader are leaked that's going to completely undermine the ability of the President to conduct foreign policy. As much as I dislike Trump, and as bad as the Russian interference into our democratic process was, these leaks of highly classified information intelligence agencies are a threat to democracy. We elect representatives and the President. When the FBI/CIA/NSA before and after the election are leaking to the press then the deep state is really pulling the strings via information warfare.

That to me is as frightening as a Trump presidency.

[mchill]

29. Under normal circumstances leaks would be troubling

but when a POTUS starts acting like a fascist and the GOP controlled Congress won't provide a check, then the leakers are acting on behalf of Americans and democracy. IMHO, the leakers know exactly what they are doing and why and I"m sure they are not even happy about having to do it, but after Yates told Trump's GC that Flynn was compromised and Trump did nothing, what are they to do?

[ProfessorGAC]

37. Wow, That's Some Hyperbole

Obesience to the POTUS is more important than the truth, democracy and the exposure of authoritarianism? Leaking about the actinos of an incompetent and dangerous, fascist leaning administration is worse than the incompetnt and dangerous, fascist leaning administration?

Just yikes!

[DeminPennswoods]

26. WH factions

The leaks don't surprise me at all. And I'd bet most of them are coming from the various factions within the WH trying to undermine each other.

[CincyDem]

27. Live by the leak, die by the leak. As with all of his efforts - this too will come to nothing. n/t

[hurple]

28. If this goes like his last "military action"

They'll wind up with more leaks, multiple staffers arrested and the orange goblin out of office, either in a straitjacket or in a jail cell.

Happy Day!

[truthisfreedom]

33. I can hardly wait to hear the leaks about this buffoonery.

Ho boy.

[LiberalLovinLug]

34. There are a handful in here that would seem to be thrilled with that news

[Blue_Tires]

35. Greenwald, Timm and Snowden were unavailable for comment