From HJIC at Illicit Info OPINION Blog
OPINION| Lawrence David| Donald Trump is a dealmaker who more times than not achieves his objectives. That requires a deep understanding of what is most important and conceding less important objectives to whoever you are dealing with.
To get what you want most from any negotiation requires having the leverage to make concessions from the other side palatable.
That appears to be the case with his renomination of U.S. Representative John Ratcliffe (R-TX) for the position of Director of National Intelligence (DNI).
Follow the timeline:
-July 28, 2019 President Trump first nominates Rep. Ratcliffe for the position of DNI.
-Shortly thereafter Chairman Richard Burr and Vice-Chairman Mark Warner of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), through which all chief intelligence positions must pass, tells the president no way, Jose.
-August 2, 2019 President Trump withdrew the nomination…
What happened? Why was highly-qualified Rep. Ratcliffe summarily rejected by Sens. Burr and Warner? Self-preservation. Ratcliffe knows too much. And, he’s honest.
Rep. Ratcliffe is one of the few members of Congress who has seen all of the unredacted evidence of DOJ-FBI malfeasance while weaponizing the Deep State against President Trump.
This includes documentation of Sen. Warner’s complicity in advancing the Russia hoax.
When the DOJ Inspector General report on FISA abuse was released (December 9, 2019), the statements by John Ratcliffe about the FISA abuse scandal in perfect alignment.
Additionally, the severity of the FISA abuse, including the intentional manipulation of evidence by the FBI, was far more serious and substantive than anyone thought.
Rep. Ratcliffe was clearly on to their shenanigans and that represented an existential threat to the manner in which the government is controlled by the rich and powerful.
The SSCI has been the firewall that protects corrupt members of the intelligence community from sunlight. The CIA, FBI, DOJ, ODNI, DNI, etc. all require confirmation from the SSCI.
The SSCI controls all of the black files and IC gathered political surveillance research. These are the political nuclear weapons used to control compromised politicians from speaking up.
Over decades, the SSCI has evolved into the most corrupt and manipulative of all Congressional committees.
President Trump rump had no way of leveraging the Ratcliffe nomination… until now.
FISA is up for renewal and the president, for obvious reasons, opposes it in its current form.
However, it appears that President Trump realizes this is the leverage he needs to put an honest man at the head of the entire intelligence apparatus. Follow yesterday’s timeline…
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell visits with President Trump. Shortly thereafter, the president announces the renomination of Rep. Ratcliffe:
It appears that President Trump has enough votes aligned against a “clean” FISA reauthorization to prevent an override of his veto… leverage.
Did President Trump leverage a short-term, unchanged, reauthorization of the FISA process in exchange for the Senate Majority Leader’s agreement to steward Ratcliffe’s confirmation through the Senate?
If not, why would President Trump renominate Rep. Ratcliffe?
It would be a smart trade by President Trump.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has authority over the Directors of the CIA and the NSA and giving them control of the flow of classified intelligence.
Ratcliffe knows how the flow of intelligence was manipulated to maximize political damage to Donald Trump and to exonerate Hillary Clinton.
Ratcliffe, if confirmed, will have the authority to declassify previously redacted and not released information to shine sunlight on the previous administration’s corruption…
With the recent appointments of Nunes’ lead investigator Kash Patel (assistant DNI)and John McEntee as White House Personnel Office, President Trump is in the process of assembling a team of patriots to begin dismantling the Deep State.
How many patriots scattered throughout the government will now feel comforted to come forward to tell what they know?
Perhaps President Trump’s acting DNI, Ric Grenell, who will have complete authority over the intel community until Ratcliffe’s confirmation will start the declassification process to “inspire” the Senate to move quickly on Ratcliffe.
Keep in mind Attorney General William Barr also wants a “clean” FISA reauthorization. If what we have discussed comes to pass, he’ll get it. And, President Trump will have gotten the fuel (Ratcliffe) he needs to put a fire under his ass.
This article originally appeared at and was republished with permission.
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