Zkribbler
Deity
https://www.washingtonpost.com/
The Administration argue that because no sources or methods were discussed this WAPO story is false,
[RD] Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian diplomats
- Thread starter Zkribbler
- Start date
The Administration argue that because no sources or methods were discussed this WAPO story is false,
Didn't deny anything the article stated. Classic.
See this is the kind of thing that makes me upset. When idiot politicians who don't understand how intelligence collection works do crap like this, it makes it near impossible for the intel collectors to do their job properly. It also makes sources unwilling to work with us since they will fear having their identity compromised. It also makes our intelligence collectors look like liars since they promise their sources that their identities will be kept secret.
And just because they may not have specifically stated who the source was doesn't mean the administration didn't compromise the source. Depending on the information shared, it could be pretty easy to identify who would possibly have access to that information and which one of those who have access to it would be willing to share it with us. Figure that out, and all of a sudden the Russians know who our source is.
And just because they may not have specifically stated who the source was doesn't mean the administration didn't compromise the source. Depending on the information shared, it could be pretty easy to identify who would possibly have access to that information and which one of those who have access to it would be willing to share it with us. Figure that out, and all of a sudden the Russians know who our source is.
And if we should ever underestimate Russians ability to do things in intelligence, they walked a spy into the Oval Office to collect this info. And did it without any prodding unless just talking to Trump at all is prodding.
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Timsup2nothin
Deity
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You say this as if Dingbat Don wasn't a pretty singular case.
BirraImperial
Pura Vida!
I honestly don't see how Trump survives his term as President...Too many screw-ups already and in just a few months...He's either getting impeached or murdered...
He survives his term out of pride. Republican pride will never let them impeach him because that would be a huge embarrassment to the party. And the Democrats aren't going to push too hard for his impeachment because they are still Americans and there is no way the US government is going to admit to the world that we may have made a mistake in who we elected president and impeaching Trump would do just that.
So overall, Congress will just grin and bear it while stopping him from doing anything completely outrageous and then do damage control/cleanup once he's out of office.
He is a singular case in the egregiousness of the offense, but other politicians in the past have screwed over the intelligence community pretty hard with smaller acts of idiocy. The Bush administration's deliberate manipulation of intelligence reports in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was one of them. Not only did the administration manipulate the reports to make them say something they didn't say, they silenced anyone in the intelligence community who spoke up about it, AND had the gall to then blame the intelligence community for providing faulty intelligence when they couldn't hide their little WMD ruse anymore.
But hey, at least Bush never compromised our sources to a hostile government. So he has that going for him...
GoodSarmatian
Jokerfied Western Male
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Didn't the Bush guys out a CIA agent because her husband didn't go along with a story about Iraq buying Uranium in Africa ?
Trump makes me wonder if treason has to be intentional, of if can be just be the result of incompetence. Is there something like negligent treason in US law ?
Trump makes me wonder if treason has to be intentional, of if can be just be the result of incompetence. Is there something like negligent treason in US law ?
You have to give it to Bush though that he was acting according to a plan. He knew what he was doing. He thought he did what's best for the country, and that is essentially a presidents job. Trump, on the other hand, apparently just screwed up due to incompetence.
Zkribbler
Deity
The Constitution says this:
It seems to me, "levying War against them" must be an intentional act.
As for "adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort," I can conceived of negligently giving aid and comfort, but one must also "adhere" to an enemy. I would opine that adhering to an enemy must be an intentional. For example, if a person give aid and comfort to an undercover FBI agent only to later find out he's really a Russian spy, is this someone whom we wish to try for treason?
Yeah, it pretty much has to be an intentional act for one to be charged with treason in the US, as Zkribbler pointed out.
Perfection
The Great Head.
I think the bigger question was who in the Trump administration was so ignorant as to trust Trump with this information.
BirraImperial
Pura Vida!
ROFL classic Civ shenanigans...Nothing special.
Russianvisited Washington. What classified information?
If it had been a CIA operation, I'd of course been furious. But this is another country that is was sharing information with the US that the US simply cannot acquire on its own. I can't imagine how terrifying it must be to spy on ISIS. Trump risked an allied country's mission and an agent's life to brag. "I get the best intel." You're the President, of course you do. I'm furious and disgusted. If an allied spy died for this....
President gets to decide what is classified and what's not.
President gets to decide what is classified and what's not.
Zkribbler
Deity
Trump tweets a confession: 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...e4b05dd15f0aa0e6?b8&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...e4b05dd15f0aa0e6?b8&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
What allied country you are talking about?
And why agent's life would be endangered if information shared with Russia, which last time I checked, wasn't a big friend of ISIS?
Not to mention, the source of information doesn't have to be an undercover agent who is risking his life.
Ziggy Stardust
Absolutely Sane
Infracted for spam.
Sick.
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Lexicus
Deity
Well, exactly. Which is why the White House's denials here are so pathetic.
What the hell are you talking about? If the Democrats get control of the House, you can expect impeachment proceedings to start the next day.
Verbose
Deity
The Israelis have already signalled their unease with Trump — what he shares might as well end up in Teheran by way of Moscow.
And what they worry about is not the specific intel, but the secondary information about Israeli MO, ways, means and capabilities, this might inadvertently disclose. That's the kind of things intelligence services are endlessly trying to work out about each other, while keeping as much about their own ways and means as they can secret. It's actually important. But the worry is that Trump hasn't got the first idea about what is important an unimportant in that regard.
Other than the Israelis, the US has set up this special English-speaking club of intelligence communities — the Five Eyes. If Trump has given something away about the US intel services, he just as likely has about the British, Canadian, Australian and NZ ones in the process.
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