Free Republic

The United States is much better off without Michael Flynn serving as national security adviser. But no one should be cheering the way he was brought down. The whole episode is evidence of the precipitous and ongoing collapse of America's democratic institutions — not a sign of their resiliency. Flynn's ouster was a soft coup (or political assassination) engineered by anonymous intelligence community bureaucrats. The results might be salutary, but this isn't the way a liberal democracy is supposed to function. Unelected intelligence analysts work for the president, not the other way around. Far too many Trump critics appear not...

It was reported during the transition that renovations were done on the White House. Could establishment have bugged the White House and be the source for the leaks?

White House says it's investigating leaks By Jordan Fabian - 02/09/17 04:49 PM EST The White House says it is investigating leaks about President Trump's calls with foreign leaders. “We’re looking into the situation, yes, and it’s very concerning,” press secretary Sean Spicer said when asked about the leaks. “Some of them are done in a way that the release of that information is clearly a breach of a lot of protocols and laws.” Spicer did not reveal any further information about the nature of the investigation. The spokesman said Trump is personally troubled that the details of his talks...

Tuesday at the White House press briefing, while answering questions about the resignation of Michael Flynn as National Security Adviser, press secretary Sean Spicer said part of the story ignored is leaks by government employees. Those employees he explained were “entrusted with national security secrets,” and that he argued undermined national security and was a “real concern” President Donald Trump. Spicer said, “Understand that all of this information was leaked. I mean, again, I know we’ve got this me lecturing to you about what the stories should be, but I think there’s a real story here. The idea that not...

In the final hours before his resignation, now-former White House National Security Adviser Michael T. Flynn said he “crossed no lines” in his discussion with Russia’s ambassador, but ultimately he was most concerned about the steady stream of leaks to reporters based on classified information. “In some of these cases, you’re talking about stuff that’s taken off of a classified system and given to a reporter. That’s a crime,” Flynn told The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group during a telephone interview from his White House office on Monday. “You call them leaks. It’s a criminal act. This is a...

President Trump responded publicly to the news of the forced resignation of his national security advisor, Michael Flynn, asserting on Tuesday that the “real story” is the number of “illegal leaks” from U.S. government officials. Trump made the claim in an early-morning tweet.

Dear anonymous sources, I must confess, you’re helping the mainstream media create some gripping and troubling content. I’m not sure which of your stories stands out the most. Is it the portrait you painted almost two weeks ago, of a president in his bathrobe compulsively watching the news? Yesterday’s story of a National Security Council in “turmoil,” filled with staffers who “struggle to make policy” to fit President Trump’s tweets? The report in Politico that Trump’s personnel concerns extend “beyond his embattled national security adviser” and that Sean Spicer and Reince Priebus may be on the chopping block, with...

OMG! OMG! Trump Administration is in turmoil! They’re going to dump Sean Spicer as Press Secretary! He’s screwed everything up!As reported by Fake News Site, CNN: The White House is ramping up its search for a new communications director in an effort to lighten the load of embattled White House press secretary Sean Spicer, multiple sources told CNN.A source familiar with internal communications said President Donald Trump is disappointed in Spicer's performance during the first two weeks of the administration. A longtime Republican operative, Spicer is a close ally of White House chief of staff Reince Priebus. According to the...

Just a day after Chris Ruddy, Newsmax Media CEO, joined President Trump for a drink (Trump had a diet Coke, Ruddy had a scotch), the long-time friend appeared Sunday on CNN's Reliable Sources and unprompted, launched into an attack on the President's chief of staff, Reince Priebus, describing him as weak and incompetent.   Drinks two days ago...   Is Priebus on the out? And will Steve Bannon now become de facto Chief of Staff?  

Reince Priebus is the White House Chief of Staff. No one is closer to President Trump. Mike Cernovich is an author and filmmaker far removed from the Administration. Why has the media written more hit pieces about me than about Reince? The media isn’t barking at Reince. Why?Fans of Sherlock Holmes will recognize the dog that didn’t bark allusion, which comes from The Adventures of Silver Blaze, a story involving the murder of a horse trainer and the disappearance of race horse.Police initially suspect a stranger stole the horse, which Holmes considered curious as a guard dog was never heard barking during...

Donald Trump’s White House has sprung a remarkable number of leaks since his inauguration. The question is where they’re coming from. Barely a day goes by without some unusual tale emerging from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Recent examples in a single New York Times story included the assertion that White House aides have held meetings in the dark because they can’t figure out how the lights work and that the president is fond of watching television alone in his bathrobe. Trump took to Twitter to assert that the Times “writes total fiction” about him, while White House press secretary Sean Spicer insisted that...

President Donald Trump spent much of a recent phone call with French President Francois Hollande veering off into rants about the U.S. getting shaken down by other countries, according to a senior official with knowledge of the call, creating an awkward interaction with a critical U.S. ally. While the Hollande call Jan. 28 did touch on pressing matters between the two countries — namely the fight against the Islamic State — Trump also used the exchange to vent about his personal fixations, including his belief that the United States is being taken advantage of by China and international bodies like...

President Donald Trump pointed the finger at Obama administration holdovers at the White House and National Security Council for leaking information about private phone conversations he had with leaders of Australia and Mexico. “It’s a disgrace that they leaked because it’s very much against our country,” Trump told Fox News Sunday, accusing “Obama people” in civil service positions for the leaks. “It’s a very dangerous thing for this country,” he added noting that these individuals were still being sought out and replaced. Trump described the media stories of what seemed to be contentious interactions between him and the two foreign...

President Barack Obama's nominee to become the next U.S. ambassador to Iraq withdrew his name on Monday after Republican lawmakers questioned his suitability following revelations that he had engaged in an extramarital affair with a journalist who later became his wife. Brett McGurk, a long-time Iraq expert who had served on the Bush administration's National Security Council, wrote to U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that he was withdrawing "with a heavy heart." "I believe it is in the best interests of the country, and our life together, to withdraw my nomination and serve in another...

James Cartwright, formerly vice chairman to Joint Chiefs of Staff, was accused of lying to investigators A retired top US general pleaded guilty on Monday to making a false statement during an FBI probe into a classified intelligence leak about a cyber attack against Iran's nuclear programme in 2010. Marine Corps General James Cartwright, 67, formerly the vice chairman to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was accused of lying to investigators when he said he had not confirmed classified information to New York Times journalist David Sanger. Sanger wrote a book describing a joint US and Israeli operation that deployed...

An American cyberattack on North Korea half a decade ago was fruitless overall, sources say. The National Security Agency (NSA) led a mission in 2010 to damage North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, Reuters reported on Friday. Operatives tried using a variant of the Stuxnet computer virus deployed against Iran that same year, the news service said, with developers crafting a version that would activate once it reached Korean-language settings on targeted machines. Operatives hoped the virus would disable centrifuges for enriching uranium, much like it had when used against Iran, Reuters said, but the cyberattack stumbled when it encountered North...

An internet security specialist says that Stuxnet, the computer malware that targeted Iran's nuclear facilities in 2010 and widely attributed to Israel and the US, has spiraled out of control and attacked a Russian nuclear plant and the International Space Station.

President-elect Donald Trump, after growing suspicious that intelligence officials were leaking news about their classified briefings with him, says he conducted a sting operation to try to prove top spies were behind the leaks. Trump revealed the extraordinary scheme to try to entrap the senior spies in a furious press conference where he suggested the intelligence community had been behind salacious and totally unproven allegations against him. ‘I think it’s pretty sad when intelligence reports get leaked out to the press. First of all, it’s illegal. These are classified and certified meetings and reports,’ Trump said during a press conference...

President Barack Obama is seriously considering a pardon for former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, according to a new report from NBC News. Manning was convicted of violations of the Espionage Act and other charges in July 2013 after he stole nearly a million secret documents while working as an intelligence analyst, later giving them to WikiLeaks. The files detailed operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and revealed secret diplomatic cables, some of which were highly embarrassing to the US. A Justice Department source told NBC News that Manning was on the president's "short list" for commutations. The 29-year-old is currently...

<p>Russian hacking of America’s presidential campaign is only an issue because of crybaby Democrats, the President-elect tweeted early Saturday.</p> <p>“Only reason the hacking of the poorly defended DNC is discussed is that the loss by the Dems was so big that they are totally embarrassed!” wrote Trump, who lost the popular vote by nearly three million.</p>