Part 180, some of Russian meddling, and related, material from F6 big ones. These from a post Thursday, 04/05/18, covering March 13, 2018, and headed, “Unprecedented & Shocking”: Armed Secret Service Agents Should Not Be Allowed at Polling Sites https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=139827108
To music - 'Put your right foot out', the fourth in
Trump Replaces Rex Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo at State; Torturer Named New Head of CIA
Published on Mar 13, 2018 by Democracy Now! President Trump has ousted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and said he will replace him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo. Trump announced the news on Twitter this morning. He also said CIA’s deputy director Gina Haspel will be tapped to succeed Pompeo at the CIA. Both would need to be confirmed by the Senate. If confirmed Gina Haspel will become the first woman to head the CIA. Gina Haspel was directly involved in the CIA’s torture program under the George W. Bush administration. She was responsible for running a secret CIA black site in Thailand where prisoners were waterboarded and tortured. We air President Trump’s remarks and highlights from Democracy Now! coverage on Pompeo and Haspel. https://www.democracynow.org/2018/3/13/trump_replaces_rex_tillerson_with_cia [with embedded video, and transcript] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnX1oeXabW0 [with comments] [and see also in particular (linked in) https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=39471610 and preceding and following]
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WATCH LIVE: Rex Tillerson speaks after President Trump fires him from State Department
Trump Personal Assistant Reportedly Fired Over Security Issue John McEntee is reportedly being investigated for “serious financial crimes.” A longtime personal assistant to President Donald Trump was reportedly fired and escorted out of the White House on Monday, with one report claiming the ouster was due to a criminal investigation. John McEntee was unceremoniously removed from his position because the Department of Homeland Security is investigating him for “serious financial crimes,” CNN reported, citing an unidentified source familiar with his termination. The alleged crimes are said to not be related to Trump. The Wall Street Journal, which was the first to break the news of McEntee’s ouster, reported that he was removed because of an “unspecified security issue,” citing an unidentified White House official. McEntee wasn’t allowed to collect his belongings ? including his jacket ? before being escorted out, according to the Journal. The DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. McEntee previously served as an aide to Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign, and the Trump campaign announced Tuesday that he will rejoin the organization as a senior adviser for campaign operations. He’ll work alongside Katrina Pierson, who served as the 2016 campaign’s national spokesperson and will now oversee the campaign’s national grassroots outreach. If there was any issue with McEntee inside the White House, Trump’s campaign hasn’t acknowledged it. “As we build out our operations for the 2018 mid-term elections and the 2020 reelection campaign, we are pleased to welcome back two outstanding members of our 2016 team,” Brad Parscale, the Trump for President campaign manager, said in a statement. “We need the help of proven leaders such as Katrina and John to promote the President’s growing portfolio of achievements across the country. News of McEntee’s reported removal came Tuesday morning, when Trump also announced he had moved to replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo. He said he had nominated Gina Haspel to be the new director of the CIA. The news also came nearly a week after it was reported that several White House staffers were either terminated or reassigned because of issues related to their security clearances. More than 30 White House staffers were stripped of their top-level security clearances, pending the completion of a background check. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who is a senior Trump adviser, also had his clearance downgraded. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/john-mcentee-trump-reportedly-fired_us_5aa7d246e4b087e5aaedf006
Trump says he will wait for 'the facts' on Sergei Skripal poisoning before condemning Russia Trump says he will wait for the "facts" and whether "we agree with them" on the poisoning of a double agent on British soil. US president says he will speak to British prime minister Theresa May later on Tuesday. May has said it is "highly likely" Russia is responsible. Trump: "as soon as we get the facts straight, if we agree with them, we will condemn Russia or whoever it may be." http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-condemn-russia-or-whoever-for-sergei-skripal-poisoning-2018-3
Power Briefing: Tillerson axed and undersecretary who released department response also reportedly fired Two U.S. officials say the White House has fired one of Rex Tillerson’s top aides after he contradicted the official account of the secretary of state’s dismissal by President Donald Trump. The officials said Steve Goldstein, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, was informed of the move shortly after he released a statement in his name saying that Tillerson was ‘unaware of the reason’ for his termination. Goldstein had also told reporters that Tillerson learned of his firing Tuesday morning from Trump’s tweet announcing he was nominating CIA chief Mike Pompeo to lead the State Department. https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook-power-briefing/2018/03/13/rex-tillerson-fired-state-department-254312
5 high-profile departures in 2 weeks for Trump's 'no chaos' White House Rex Tillerson, secretary of state Gary Cohn, National Economic Council director Hope Hicks, White House communications director John McEntee, personal aide to the President Josh Raffel, White House communications aide https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/13/politics/trump-departures-white-house/index.html
House Intelligence Committee Democrats say they have 'ample evidence' of collusion between Trump and Russia Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee will release a report of their own on the committee's Russia investigation, according to Rep. Adam Schiff. Republicans released a draft report on the investigation on Monday in which they claimed they had found no evidence of collusion between President Donald Trump and Russia during the 2016 presidential election. The Democrats, however, claim that they have found "ample" evidence. One Republican on the committee said his party had "gone completely off the rails" with regard to the investigation. http://www.businessinsider.com/house-intelligence-democrats-have-evidence-of-trump-russia-collusion-2018-3
Stormy Daniels friend describes listening in on her phone calls with Trump A close friend of Stormy Daniels is confirming her affair with Donald Trump more than a decade ago — saying he listened in on their phone conversations — and defending her efforts to get out of the $130,000 hush agreement she made shortly before the 2016 election. The account given by Keith Munyan, a 56-year-old photographer who is among four people listed in the nondisclosure agreement as knowing about the alleged relationship, is the latest development in what has become a daily public relations skirmish between the porn star and the president of the United States. The agreement does not bar Munyan from speaking publicly about the matter. In a telephone interview late Monday with The Washington Post, Munyan mostly corroborated details Daniels already revealed in a recently published interview she gave to In Touch magazine in 2011: that she and Trump met at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in 2006; that he offered to get her on“The Apprentice” reality TV show; and that he also offered her a condominium in a proposed Trump Tower in Tampa. [...] https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/stormy-daniels-friend-describes-listening-in-on-her-phone-calls-with-trump/2018/03/13/ff004956-26af-11e8-ab19-06a445a08c94_story.html