TRUMP: “THEY ARE FADING FAST”
by Sharon Rondeau
(Feb. 16, 2017) — On Thursday morning, the media is reporting that the U.S. intelligence community does not trust the Trump administration with “classified information,” that the administration is in “crisis,” that a “crush of crises all but buries the young Trump White House,” that Ivanka Trump and White House Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway are at odds, and that Trump has “ties to Russia” without presenting any evidence.
On Wednesday, AFP titled an article, “As crisis swirls, Trump faces mounting pressure in party.”
“His team is riven by division and plagued by distractions. This week alone, controversy has forced out both his top national security aide and his pick for labor secretary,” wrote Jonathan LeMire of the Associated Press.
An IBT article based on a Wall Street Journal piece posted on Wednesday evening is titled “US Spies Don’t Trust President With Sensitive Intelligence.” Yahoo! News then prompts the reader to open the “next” story titled, “Trump’s in trouble. Is it Christie time already?” with a side-by-side photo of Trump and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
“Trump Team Said to be Under Investigation,” Bloomberg reported on Thursday, referring to alleged “ties to Russia.”
“Chaos is the norm in Trump White House,” is the title of an article published by CNN on Thursday. In a similar style to other mainstream outlets, the article’s three co-authors wrote:
President Donald Trump thrived on drama during his campaign — but signs of disarray in a White House beset by controversy and internal tensions are exposing the downside of his signature style.
US News & World Report wrote that Trump is “fuming” over “criminal leaks as culprits risk harsh penalties.”
On Wednesday evening, NBC Producer Jesse Rodriguez tweeted that he found something “troubling” about the WSJ article; whether it was its content or the fact that the intelligence community is withholding information from Trump on its own authority was not immediately clear.
However, Rodriguez tweeted the WSJ story a second time without the “troubling” observation:
At approximately 8:50 a.m. EST, CBS’s Mark Knoller tweeted of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s overseas meeting with Russian officials, “Asked about turmoil over Trump/Russia ties, [Russian Foreign Minister] Lavrov said ‘You should know we do not interfere in the domestic matters of other countries.'”
Knoller is the White House’s unofficial timekeeper and has never provided a response to this writer, who nevertheless returned his tweet with:
On Wednesday, ABC News quoted a Russian legislator, reacting to the allegations that there were conversations between Russian government operatives and Trump campaign officials, as having said, “This is not about information but about a high-precision information bomb. The goal is to blow up the Trump administration.”
Meanwhile, on Thursday morning Trump tweeted, “FAKE NEWS media, which makes up stories and ‘sources,’ is far more effective than the discredited Democrats – but they are fading fast!”
On Wednesday, Trump stated at a joint press conference with visiting Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu that members of the intelligence community leaked information to the mainstream media in violation of federal law which he said are “just like Russia.”
On Thursday morning, Trump pledged to identify and presumably pursue criminal charges against the leakers of classified information.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz has asked Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz to investigate how classified information pertaining to former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was leaked from the intelligence community, which presumably recorded Flynn’s telephone calls made to the Russian ambassador in December.
Approximately an hour minutes before press time, Trump tweeted, referring to his Electoral College vote count:
Some have called the leaking the actions of a “shadow government” designed to implode the Trump presidency.
Sharon Rondeau has operated The Post & Email since April 2010, focusing on the Obama birth certificate investigation and other government corruption news. She has reported prolifically on constitutional violations within Tennessee’s prison and judicial systems.
