As the Communists Democrats wallow in the failed Schumer Shutdown and try to find some way to blame the Republicans, it is important to remember the truth of how we arrived here. In so doing one will be reminded of just how duplicitous Washington is.
Sundance over at CTH has published a post summarizing many facets that we all should be watching carefully. Remember the truth has no agenda.
Part 17 delved into the faux impeachment effort. That impeachment effort exposed Adam Schiff, now a sitting Senator from California, as someone who lied over and over to the American public. However, he was not the only corrupt actor in the impeachment proceeding.
The House impeachment effort lasted from August to December 18, 2019. The people in charge at the CIA and DNI:
Gina Haspel…CIA Director
Vaughn Bishop…CIA Deputy Director
Courtney Flood…CIA General Counsel
Joseph Maguire…Acting DNI
ICIG Michael Atkinson was at the center of the firestorm. Anyone with a basic understanding of DC dynamics would have been able to predict this. This buttresses the idea that Atkinson did not do what he did in changing the rules for whistleblower complaints on his own.
Who gave Atkinson the okay or more likely ordered the change so that this entirely fraudulent “urgent concern” could be brought forward to congressional intelligence committees?
Based on published media reports at the time, it appears that CIA General Counsel Courtney Elwood and Acting DNI Joseph Maguire did not sign-off on changing the CIA rules permitting an anonymous whistleblower. Both offices did not support the effort of ICIG Atkinson.
From Sundance:
In fact, as the story is told (and investigatively affirmed) CIA Analyst Eric Ciaramella was frustrated because he talked to CIA General Counsel Elwood about the leak from Alexander Vindman, and Elwood did not respond to his claims.
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Now we get to the crux of the story.
♦ On October 4, 2019, ICIG Michael Atkinson gave closed-door testimony to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) as part of their impeachment investigation. One of the key questions to Atkinson surrounded the authority of his office changing the CIA whistleblower rules that permitted Eric Ciaramella to remain anonymous.
That Atkinson testimony was then “classified” and sealed under the auspices of “national security” by HPSCI Chairman Adam Schiff, the same guy who Ciaramella talked to before filing the complaint.
If Congress, or more importantly the American public, had known CIA Analyst Eric Ciaramella was both the key author of the fraudulent 2016 ICA and the later 2019 CIA complaint, it’s doubtful any impeachment effort would have moved forward.
Why would there be a need to classify Atkinson’s testimony regarding the source of the rules change? What national security aspects could possibly be involved? This appears to be putting up a smokescreen so that the conspiracy to overthrow a sitting President would be more difficult to unravel.
And the need for anonymity is obvious. The same person coming forward with claims of impropriety had previously “cried wolf.” If the identity was known, he would not have been seen as credible. No spin by the media could have erased the stink.
Sundance:
From within the CIA, Eric Ciaramella was the impeachment narrative creator and the Russian interference narrative creator. In short, a political fabricator of intelligence within the CIA.
Again, ICIG Atkinson could not change the ‘whistleblower’ regulations on his own. Someone had to sign-off on that, giving him the authority. Additionally, Atkinson a former legal counsel to the Deputy Asst Attorney General within the DOJ-NSD, is not going to go out on such a limb without a CYA to protect himself.
The only person likely to give that authority within the structures and confines that operate inside our government was then CIA Director, Gina Haspel. The Deputy CIA Director is not going to make that kind of a decision, especially given the circumstances, and the CIA General Counsel was not touching it.
Let that sink in for a moment. This means that the 2016/2017 CIA ‘stop-Trump’ operation under CIA Director John Brennan, was effectively continued by CIA Director Gina Haspel in 2019/2020. Remember the Hunter Biden laptop story that was “discredited” by intelligence “experts?” Who recommended Haspel to PDJT for the job of CIA Director? As one wag has noted, “This is where pretending not to know takes on a whole new meaning.
From Sundance:
♦ IMPLICATIONS: CIA Director Gina Haspel had no way to know if the 2019 impeachment of President Trump was going to be successful. Just as the ICIG needed a CYA to protect himself, so too would Director Haspel want a legal defense mechanism in case the entire fiasco blew up. Enter the only oversight agency that can provide Haspel cover, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Underneath all of these machinations, there’s no other way for Director Haspel to protect herself other than to use the primary mechanism within the functions of IC oversight, inform the SSCI chair and vice-chair of her changed rule guidance to ICIG Atkinson. That Occam’s Razor scenario puts SSCI chairman Richard Burr and SSCI vice-chair Mark Warner in the silo-system loop. If things blew up, Haspel could always defend herself by pointing to her informing the mechanism for CIA oversight, the SSCI.
Richard Burr (R-NC) was the SSCI chairman. Was he informed of the change? If so, were objections made to such a change? If not, it would appear that both he and Mark Warner (D-VA) were parties beforehand to the machinations that were going on.
Warner is still in the Senate but Burr has since retired. Before retiring, Burr voted to convict PDJT in the second impeachment effort. Some in the lapdog media called his vote courageous. Perhaps, when viewed through the prism of what went on in 2019, not so much.
A few other notes here about this.
Sundance:
Before the impeachment effort began, Congressman John Ratcliffe was President Trump’s first choice to replace outgoing DNI Dan Coats in 2019. However, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said they would not confirm John Ratcliffe. President Trump was forced to appoint “acting DNIs.”
Somehow, within an unexplained reversal, after the impeachment effort ended, the SSCI had a change of position and agreed to confirm John Ratcliffe.
As the fully confirmed DNI, in 2020 John Ratcliffe would have full control of the ICIG, including an understanding of what took place within the CIA that led to the change in protocol creating the “anonymous whistleblower” complaint: the impeachment origination.
Let’s be reminded that CIA Director Gina Haspel most likely informed Richard Burr of the change in protocol creating the “anonymous whistleblower” complaint. Richard Burr was replaced by Marco Rubio in May 2020.
John Ratcliffe is now CIA Director. Marco Rubio is now National Security Advisor.
Why is the transcript of ICIG Michael Atkinson’s testimony still classified?
The truth has no agenda. It is our only ally.