119 replies to this topic

[D. C. Sessions]

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The more pressing issue in my mind is whether Mitch McConnell will even allow Biden to put someone in charge of the DOJ, assuming he’s still the Majority Leader in January.

Well, that and whether the evidence still exists in any meaningful sense. We saw that 12 years ago with the torture program.

Now, it's true that the Venn overlap in the Trump maladministration between competence and willingness to risk criminal prosecution for destruction of public records/evidence is rather small. That doesn't mean it's small enough to really put together anything resembling a complete story.

[LFC]

D. C. Sessions, on 24 November 2020 - 12:50 PM, said:

Well, that and whether the evidence still exists in any meaningful sense. We saw that 12 years ago with the torture program.

Obama truly blew that one. I understand his reasoning, I just disagree with it. A former investigator seems to think so too and is cautioning Biden not to allow any of those who were involved in the torture program or the cover-up into his administration. It doesn't sound like that will happen.

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The chief investigator for the Senate Intelligence Committee’s 2014 torture report is urging President-elect Joe Biden not to include anyone in his administration who was complicit in torture, or who otherwise frustrated efforts to investigate and hold people responsible for it.

In an article and Twitter thread Monday, former Intelligence Committee staffer Daniel J. Jones argued that anyone “complicit in torture or who frustrated oversight and accountability for torture” doesn’t deserve a job in the Biden administration. For the former Senate staffer, that includes CIA officials during the Obama administration who failed to hold personnel accountable for destroying records, or for interfering with the Senate’s mammoth investigation of the torture program.

Speaking to TPM Tuesday, Jones said he wanted accountability on “the most basic level.”

“They’ve failed to live up to the standards we should all accept, and there should be consequences for that,” he said, referring to former CIA officials.

On that front, Jones told TPM Biden had erred in his pick of Avril Haines to be nominated as director of national intelligence.

“This is about the continuing cover-up of the torture program, the long legacy of that,” Jones told TPM. “And I wish I could say Haines wasn’t a part of that, but she was.”

[LFC]

Great. We have a long-term corrupt liar tied to Devin Nunes leading Trump's transition team for the Dept. of Defense.

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A Pentagon official known for spreading Ukraine-related conspiracy theories about President-elect Joe Biden will lead the Defense Department’s transition team, CNN reports.

Kash Patel, chief of staff for Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller, got his hand in the Ukraine disinformation pot while working as a staffer for House Intelligence Committee ranking member Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA).

There, Patel tried to discredit the impeachment inquiry, and, earlier, wrote a memo in 2018 alleging that the Justice Department had abused its authorities by opening an investigation into Russian ties to the Trump campaign. The impeachment inquiry found that Patel and Nunes had been in touch with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani as he was pressuring Kyiv into manufacturing dirt on Biden.

Among other luminaries, Patel also worked for former Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell.

CNN reported that Patel was “put in charge” of the Pentagon’s transition team to prepare for the Biden administration.

[golden_valley]

LFC, on 25 November 2020 - 10:38 AM, said:

Great. We have a long-term corrupt liar tied to Devin Nunes leading Trump's transition team for the Dept. of Defense.

I doubt the Biden transition people will devote much attention to what most of Trump's transition team says. The Biden team just needs access to the classified stuff and access to the DOD people that actually worked there for several years.

[LFC]

It looks like progressive Dems won't allow Mike Morell, a strong defender of torture, to be confirmed. Good. We don't need these kinds of people in highly sensitive, secret, and powerful positions. Clearly his judgement is lacking.

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Among those on Biden’s CIA shortlist, Morell may have the most directly relevant experience but, potentially, be the hardest to confirm.

That’s because his selection would risk inflaming the Democratic Party’s progressive wing. A career CIA analyst who played a significant role in the hunt for Osama bin Laden–and was George W. Bush’s intelligence briefer on 9/11–Morell was an aggressive defender of the agency’s use of torture and drone strikes.

“No torture apologist can be confirmed as CIA director,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a member of the Senate intelligence committee, told The Daily Beast about Morell. “It’s a non-starter.”

Putting Morell atop the CIA would likely placate a large chunk of the national security establishment, which views his expertise as an asset and believes he would seamlessly step into the lead role at the agency. Sue Gordon, who served as Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said that "of the people mentioned for this position" she knew Morell best.

"He would bring a lot of strengths: a quick, analytic mind; leadership at every level at the Agency; and a broadened perspective based on his time in the private sector," Gordon added. "I know him to be committed to the people, the craft, and the delivery of the intelligence the Nation needs."

But a Morell nomination would also likely raise immediate questions about whether Biden intends more continuity than departure in the nearly 20-year war on terror, despite saying on the campaign trail that he agreed with ending endless wars.

The “only way” to deal with terrorists, Morell said in a 2015 interview with Vice News, “is to keep the pressure on them at all times. When you take the pressure off, they start planning and they are successful in that planning.”

[LFC]

Biden's transition team just delivered a message that said they don't need Trump's help. That should be obvious since he clearly understand very little about very little. I can't imagine him being of any help at all.

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Biden communications director Kate Bedingfield and transition senior adviser Jen Psaki on Wednesday denied that the President-elect needs President Trump’s help now that General Services Administration chief Emily Murphy has green lit Biden’s formal transition.

While Psaki and Bedingfield confirmed during a transition briefing on Wednesday that Biden and Vice-President elect Kamala Harris are expected to receive the Presidential Daily briefing next week, and that the team has been in contact with more than 50 major federal agencies, they also assured that a conversation with the sitting President (who still refuses to concede) isn’t essential.

When asked whether Biden would need to talk to Trump to ensure a smooth transition, or if the team is receiving “sufficient information” from conversations with people in the West Wing and at the agency level thus far, Bedingfield replied that a conversation is not necessary.

“We do not feel that it is necessary for President-elect Biden to speak with President Trump to get that information,” Bedingfield said. “We believe we’ve been getting the information that our teams need.”

Bedingfield added that the transition team is open to speaking with Trump if the sitting President would like to.

“Certainly should President Trump want to speak with President-elect Biden, then that’s something we would work out in the future,” Bedingfield said. “But in terms of whether it is mission critical to being able to move the transition forward efficiently, no.”

[golden_valley]

LFC, on 25 November 2020 - 02:04 PM, said:

Biden's transition team just delivered a message that said they don't need Trump's help. That should be obvious since he clearly understand very little about very little. I can't imagine him being of any help at all.

Are Biden and Harris going to get a traditional daily brief or the Trump coloring book style briefing?

[andydp]

“Certainly should President Trump want to speak with President-elect Biden, then that’s something we would work out in the future,” Bedingfield said. “But in terms of whether it is mission critical to being able to move the transition forward efficiently, no.”

Translation: "You are not going to add anything of value to this effort." (Unsaid: you're worthless.)

[D. C. Sessions]

Re: Obama and torture

LFC, on 25 November 2020 - 10:31 AM, said:

Obama truly blew that one. I understand his reasoning, I just disagree with it.

Agree, but my point was that there was a lot of evidence destruction before an investigation could even start. Which I expect to be even more widespread between now and the inauguration,

[Traveler]

Yeah, I worry more about institutional knowledge being lost. Face it, perps are now the new norm. Just gotta keep your head down and move on.

[LFC]

Traveler, on 25 November 2020 - 05:48 PM, said:

Yeah, I worry more about institutional knowledge being lost. Face it, perps are now the new norm. Just gotta keep your head down and move on.

That just hurts my soul a little cuz I can't even argue it.

[LFC]

More Biden picks. Women will completely control the senior communications roles.

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President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Sunday announced the first ever all-women senior White House communications team.

The Washington Post first reported the news on Sunday afternoon.

“Communicating directly and truthfully to the American people is one of the most important duties of a President, and this team will be entrusted with the tremendous responsibility of connecting the American people to the White House,” Biden said in a statement. “These qualified, experienced communicators bring diverse perspectives to their work and a shared commitment to building this country back better.”

[JackD]

Women as presidential "communicators" is not necessarily a good thing. Consider those who flacked for Trump.

[golden_valley]

JackD, on 30 November 2020 - 01:29 PM, said:

Women as presidential "communicators" is not necessarily a good thing. Consider those who flacked for Trump.

I doubt people are talking about this because its good to have females as communicators. I think it's just because it's the first time the entire staff is female.

[LFC]

JackD, on 30 November 2020 - 01:29 PM, said:

Women as presidential "communicators" is not necessarily a good thing. Consider those who flacked for Trump.

As compared to Sean Spicer who flacked for Trump? Or Mark Meadows as a semi-flack? When it comes to working for Trump gender doesn't matter. You're either already a corrupt asshole or you're about to become one.

[golden_valley]

LFC, on 30 November 2020 - 01:58 PM, said:

As compared to Sean Spicer who flacked for Trump? Or Mark Meadows as a semi-flack? When it comes to working for Trump gender doesn't matter. You're either already a corrupt asshole or you're about to become one.

Did they wear crosses where everyone can see them while they talked? I'm not religious but seeing McEneny lying while wearing that silver cross really makes me wish for a bolt of lightening to come down into the briefing room.

[D. C. Sessions]

Lying for Trump Jesus is exempted from Ex. 20:16.

[JackD]

"When it comes to working for Trump, gender doesn't matter". Yes, but it's hard to forget the source of "alternative facts". On the other hand, as pointed out above, lots of males generated awful garbage in that office. Still, "alternative facts" is a high point.

[LFC]

JackD, on 30 November 2020 - 04:07 PM, said:

"When it comes to working for Trump, gender doesn't matter". Yes, but it's hard to forget the source of "alternative facts". On the other hand, as pointed out above, lots of males generated awful garbage in that office. Still, "alternative facts" is a high point.

True enough but then Kellyanne is on a whole different plain of lying than others like the poor hapless and perpetually dazed Suckabee and that blunt bimbo McANinny. In fact the only one I ever saw who could lie, dodge, weave, and redirect as effortlessly as her was Ari Fleischer. Outside of saying the term "alternative facts" out loud he was her male counterpart. The rest wish they could lie on their feet like these two.

[LFC]

Fauci is going to be Biden's Chief Medical Adviser.

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White House COVID-19 expert Dr. Anthony Fauci revealed on Friday morning that he had accepted President-elect Joe Biden’s offer to be his chief medical adviser.

“Absolutely,” Fauci told NBC News’ “Today” host Savannah Guthrie when asked about the offer, which Biden had mentioned in an interview with CNN on Thursday. “I said yes right on the spot.”