The Justice Hall of Mirrors
The latest intel leak is designed to block a House subpoena.
Late Tuesday the Washington Post published a story with the headline “Secret intelligence source who aided Mueller probe is at center of latest clash between Nunes and Justice Department.” The story reports that House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes recently sent a classified letter and subpoena to the Justice Department demanding information about a “top secret intelligence source.”
The story’s bias is that Mr. Nunes—you know, a nasty House Republican—is threatening to compromise national security. Yet the article itself discloses details that suggest the Post already knows who this “top secret” source is. For example, the source is a “U.S. citizen,” has been an informant for both “the CIA and FBI,” and has provided information that was given to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.
The story also says intelligence officials fear that outing the source could “damage relationships with other countries,” suggesting the source has worked overseas. And the story says the “role of the intelligence source” could further provoke Republicans who have accused Justice and the FBI of engaging in “misuse of their surveillance power”—hinting that the government may have used the source to snoop on the Trump campaign.
We can’t say who talked to the Post, but with leaks it’s always useful to see who benefits. In this case the Post story was clearly spun to justify the DOJ’s noncompliance with the House subpoena, and it also reports on a White House-DOJ discussion that included only a few individuals. Readers can figure out who had the political motive and knowledge to leak.
Yet somebody who doesn’t want to cooperate with Congress leaked to the Post, and in the process left a trail of details describing the very source whose name the leakers say must be protected from disclosure to Congress. Who exactly is putting that source at risk? We now have an idea who this government informant is, though no one in Congress has provided or confirmed to us the name.
All of this underscores that Justice should be compelled to cooperate with this latest House subpoena. Judging by the Post story, everyone in Washington will soon know the exploits of this “top secret” source except for Members of Congress who are trying to understand what happened during the 2016 campaign.
Last summer Mr. Nunes subpoenaed information related to the FBI’s monitoring of the Trump campaign. Justice and the FBI resisted that request for months, and now we learn that even when they did cooperate they withheld critical parts of the story. Their warnings now about risks to a source and to intelligence relationships must be measured against their prior warnings that turned out to be false. The leak and spin to the Post confirm that Mr. Nunes is asking questions that deserve to be answered.
This latest hall-of-mirrors episode should also show President Trump that if he really wants Americans to learn the whole truth about the FBI and the 2016 campaign, he should order a full declassification and end these intelligence games once and for all.
The latest intel leak is designed to block a House subpoena.
Late Tuesday the Washington Post published a story with the headline “Secret intelligence source who aided Mueller probe is at center of latest clash between Nunes and Justice Department.” The story reports that House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes recently sent a classified letter and subpoena to the Justice Department demanding information about a “top secret intelligence source.”
The story’s bias is that Mr. Nunes—you know, a nasty House Republican—is threatening to compromise national security. Yet the article itself discloses details that suggest the Post already knows who this “top secret” source is. For example, the source is a “U.S. citizen,” has been an informant for both “the CIA and FBI,” and has provided information that was given to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.
The story also says intelligence officials fear that outing the source could “damage relationships with other countries,” suggesting the source has worked overseas. And the story says the “role of the intelligence source” could further provoke Republicans who have accused Justice and the FBI of engaging in “misuse of their surveillance power”—hinting that the government may have used the source to snoop on the Trump campaign.
We can’t say who talked to the Post, but with leaks it’s always useful to see who benefits. In this case the Post story was clearly spun to justify the DOJ’s noncompliance with the House subpoena, and it also reports on a White House-DOJ discussion that included only a few individuals. Readers can figure out who had the political motive and knowledge to leak.
Yet somebody who doesn’t want to cooperate with Congress leaked to the Post, and in the process left a trail of details describing the very source whose name the leakers say must be protected from disclosure to Congress. Who exactly is putting that source at risk? We now have an idea who this government informant is, though no one in Congress has provided or confirmed to us the name.
All of this underscores that Justice should be compelled to cooperate with this latest House subpoena. Judging by the Post story, everyone in Washington will soon know the exploits of this “top secret” source except for Members of Congress who are trying to understand what happened during the 2016 campaign.
Last summer Mr. Nunes subpoenaed information related to the FBI’s monitoring of the Trump campaign. Justice and the FBI resisted that request for months, and now we learn that even when they did cooperate they withheld critical parts of the story. Their warnings now about risks to a source and to intelligence relationships must be measured against their prior warnings that turned out to be false. The leak and spin to the Post confirm that Mr. Nunes is asking questions that deserve to be answered.
This latest hall-of-mirrors episode should also show President Trump that if he really wants Americans to learn the whole truth about the FBI and the 2016 campaign, he should order a full declassification and end these intelligence games once and for all.
![[laughing]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/classic/laugh.r191677.gif "Laughing [laughing]")
They're losing their shit over this. Kelly's comments has them riled up, howlin' about racism and xenophobia...
![[banana]](https://ct.yimg.com/mr/uploads/891/1682178.gif "banana [banana]")
