Tag Archives: President Franklin Roosevelt

When An Agency Gets Too Big For Its Britches

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The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was formed under President Franklin Roosevelt during World War II. It was headed by William J. (“Wild Bill”) Donovan. It was a strategic part of the Allied war effort. In one instance, a group of agents stopped the German U-boats from sinking the oil tankers as they were leaving Venezuela to supply allied troops with oil. The agents found the person with the shortwave radio who was telling the U-Boats when the tankers were leaving port. The OSS was an important part of the war effort. The OSS was the root of what is now the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Unfortunately it does not seem as though the patriotism and devotion to America and its principles of government that was part of the OSS has carried over to the CIA.

On Wednesday, The Gateway Pundit posted two articles about the latest videotapes released by investigative reporter James O’Keefe. The first article deals with the videotape, and the second article deals with the reaction to the videotape by some in Congress. Basically, the videotape is of a CIA operative saying that the CIA intentionally withheld information from President Trump during the Trump administration. The CIA has responded to the videotape by claiming the agent is lying. Based on the past behavior of the CIA, we can all draw our own conclusions. The actual video is included in both articles.

The first article reports:

Amjad (Amjad Fseisi, a project manager working in Cyber Operations for the CIA with top-secret security clearance) reveals to OMG’s Undercover American Swiper that intel agencies not only kept intelligence information from a sitting United States President and Commander-In-Chief, they also used FISA to spy on President Trump and his team and are still monitoring President Trump according to Amjad who says, “We monitor everything.” Amjad adds “we also have people that monitor his ex-wife. He likes to use burner phones” – information only an insider with access to highly sensitive information would state.

“We steal it [information]” and “We hack other countries just like that,” Amjad, who states he currently works on the CIA’s China Mission Center, explains how intel agencies obtain information. He also describes a broken intelligence system where “We don’t share information across agencies” because the CIA is “very reluctant” to share information with the “careless” NSA.

O’Keefe Media Group’s bombshell undercover footage supports earlier reports by investigative journalists Michael Shellenberger, Matt Taibbi, and Alex Gutentag that revealed how the American intelligence community illegally ran a spy operation against then-candidate Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 and illegally acquired intelligence that was later used to justify the Federal Bureau of Investigation (@FBI) official probe, “Crossfire Hurricane,” which in turn led to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation that ultimately did not find evidence of Russia collusion by the 2016 Trump campaign.

Contractors like Fseisi hold the duty to withhold sharing confidential or national security information. In denying his statements, Fseisi may have realized he could be held liable for violating internal agency provisions and federal laws like the Executive Agency ethics provisions, which restrict what he may share with others outside of his contracted-to agency. Additionally, any government worker or agency head who withheld information from a superior (i.e. President Trump) may violate: (a) obstruction of justice by deception (18 USC 1512); (b) conspiracy to obstruct (18 USC 371); and false statements (18 USC 1001). Agency regulations may also provide offenses related to insubordination, reflecting poorly on the agency in public, or misrepresentation or dishonesty.

The second article reports:

Conservative Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) isn’t wasting any time getting to the bottom of this very serious and disturbing story. Rep. Gaetz has already formally called on the Weaponization Subcommittee to IMMEDIATELY launch an investigation into the BOMBSHELL report by James O’Keefe’s OMG Media Group.

Amjad claims that the CIA withheld information because they considered President Trump a ‘Russian asset.’ That was not their decision to make. Have they considered the Chinese money flowing into the Biden family where there is NO product or service involved?

A Short History Lesson

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In February of 2016, Amy Howe posted an article at scotusblog.com about the history of filling Supreme Court vacancies in presidential election years. I thought sharing that history might shed some light on the current situation. First of all, I don’t think anyone is going to pay attention to the history. The political atmosphere is very intense right now. The Democrats are making an unprecedented power grab with last minute changes to election laws, threats to end the filibuster and stack the Supreme Court if they take the Senate, and threats to burn down the country if President Trump nominates a Supreme Court judge to fill the vacancy left by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I don’t see this as rational behavior, and I am not sure how voters will react to it.

Amy Howe shares some of the history of presidential election year appointments:

The first nomination during an election year in the twentieth century came on March 13, 1912, when President William Taft (a Republican) nominated Mahlon Pitney to succeed John Marshall Harlan, who died on October 14, 1911. The Republican-controlled Senate confirmed Pitney on March 18, 1912, by a vote of fifty to twenty-six.

President Woodrow Wilson (a Democrat) made two nominations during 1916. On January 28, 1916, Wilson nominated Louis Brandeis to replace Joseph Rucker Lamar, who died on January 2, 1916; the Democratic-controlled Senate confirmed Brandeis on June 1, 1916, by a vote of forty-seven to twenty-two. Charles Evans Hughes resigned from the Court on June 10, 1916 to run (unsuccessfully) for president as a Republican. On July 14, 1916, Wilson nominated John Clarke to replace him; Clarke was confirmed unanimously ten days later.

On February 15, 1932, President Herbert Hoover (a Republican) nominated Benjamin Cardozo to succeed Oliver Wendell Holmes, who retired on January 12, 1932. A Republican-controlled Senate confirmed Cardozo by a unanimous voice vote on February 24, 1932.

On January 4, 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt (a Democrat) nominated Frank Murphy to replace Pierce Butler, who died on November 16, 1939; Murphy was confirmed by a heavily Democratic Senate on January 16, 1940, by a voice vote.

On November 30, 1987, President Ronald Reagan (a Republican) nominated Justice Anthony Kennedy to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Lewis Powell. A Democratic-controlled Senate confirmed Kennedy (who followed Robert Bork and Douglas Ginsburg as nominees for that slot) on February 3, 1988, by a vote of ninety-seven to zero.

In two instances in the twentieth century, presidents were not able to nominate and confirm a successor during an election year. But neither reflects a practice of leaving a seat open on the Supreme Court until after the election.

Please follow the link to the article for further details. In 2016, Joe Biden said there was no Biden Rule. Evidently now there is a Biden Rule. I guess it’s all a matter of perspective. It would be nice if someone in Washington would occasionally read the U.S. Constitution.