Trump's security chiefs H.R. McMasters and John Kelly went on TV this past week to proclaim that Jered Kushner's proposed "back channel", as they termed it, was "a good thing", a useful way for "governments to communicate discreetly".
Baloney!
Kushner wasn't proposing an ordinary "back channel". Such are indeed useful, JFK having used one to Krushev so as to avoid nuclear war in the Cuban missile crisis.
But as George W. Bush's State Department adviser Elliot Cohen says,“There’s no way that it can be appropriate to say, ‘I want to use a hostile government’s communications system to avoid our government knowing anything about it.’ ” As White House defends Kushner, experts criticize his alleged back-channel move
What Kushner proposed was a "covert" channel for the Trump family. It was to have nothing to do with our government. That's why it was to originate in the Russian embassy and go from there to the Kremlin. This was Kushner's idea of how to keep our government from knowing anything about what was going on. The ignoramus hadn't learned or even suspected that the US government monitors every message going in or out of the Russian embassy.
Why distrust our own government but trust the Russians? A senior State Department official has raised that point: Kushner's effort shows "that the Trump team had less trust in the American government than in a foreign adversary that undermined our election. And the million-dollar question then becomes: What was so urgent and so sensitive that the president needed it to be handled this way? Every explanation offered so far has been wholly unsatisfying.”
On December 1 and 2, the dates of Kushner's alleged proposal, the Obama administration was still in office, but what was Kushner trying to hide from them? By December 1, Obama had smacked Russia with additional sanctions beyond those imposed for aggression in the Ukraine and Crimea. These new sanctions were for interfering with our election. Did Kushner want to hide discusssion of the Trump role in this interference?
Or was it about illict family business?
How do we know the proposed discussions may have involved Trump family business and not our government's business?
Here's the tip-off. The embassy link was supposed to also connect Kushner with the Russian bank virtually run by Putin and on a US list of Russian players who are sanctioned.
So it's obvious this wasn't a traditional back channel to do government business. There is no USA government business conceivable that would have included that proscribed bank.
What is very troubling is that McMasters and Kelly, the very tippy-top of Trump's intelligance advisory team, are so dumb they didn't spot this.
Or are they so devoted to being Trump's puppets that they will say anything to cover for their boss?
Either way, we have to get rid of Trump and His Gang That Can't Shoot Straight.
Because, my friends, we are talking about national security. We need smart security people and not just dummies or puppets.
Howard Dean was on a Sunday talk show, pointing out that this Kushner proposal would be a "covert" operation dedicated to the Trump family, not a back channel for diplomacy. May we please have Howard Dean as president? Or Bernie Sanders? Or six others I can think of. All of them smart. And all loyal to the USA.
Baloney!
Kushner wasn't proposing an ordinary "back channel". Such are indeed useful, JFK having used one to Krushev so as to avoid nuclear war in the Cuban missile crisis.
But as George W. Bush's State Department adviser Elliot Cohen says,“There’s no way that it can be appropriate to say, ‘I want to use a hostile government’s communications system to avoid our government knowing anything about it.’ ” As White House defends Kushner, experts criticize his alleged back-channel move
What Kushner proposed was a "covert" channel for the Trump family. It was to have nothing to do with our government. That's why it was to originate in the Russian embassy and go from there to the Kremlin. This was Kushner's idea of how to keep our government from knowing anything about what was going on. The ignoramus hadn't learned or even suspected that the US government monitors every message going in or out of the Russian embassy.
Why distrust our own government but trust the Russians? A senior State Department official has raised that point: Kushner's effort shows "that the Trump team had less trust in the American government than in a foreign adversary that undermined our election. And the million-dollar question then becomes: What was so urgent and so sensitive that the president needed it to be handled this way? Every explanation offered so far has been wholly unsatisfying.”
Or was it about illict family business?
How do we know the proposed discussions may have involved Trump family business and not our government's business?
Here's the tip-off. The embassy link was supposed to also connect Kushner with the Russian bank virtually run by Putin and on a US list of Russian players who are sanctioned.
So it's obvious this wasn't a traditional back channel to do government business. There is no USA government business conceivable that would have included that proscribed bank.
What is very troubling is that McMasters and Kelly, the very tippy-top of Trump's intelligance advisory team, are so dumb they didn't spot this.
Or are they so devoted to being Trump's puppets that they will say anything to cover for their boss?
Either way, we have to get rid of Trump and His Gang That Can't Shoot Straight.
Because, my friends, we are talking about national security. We need smart security people and not just dummies or puppets.
Howard Dean was on a Sunday talk show, pointing out that this Kushner proposal would be a "covert" operation dedicated to the Trump family, not a back channel for diplomacy. May we please have Howard Dean as president? Or Bernie Sanders? Or six others I can think of. All of them smart. And all loyal to the USA.
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