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John Brennan outlines just how damaging to national security Trump's classified documents scandal is
There were two Chinese people arrested at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago's club, raising questions about possible efforts of foreign countries attempting to spy on the then president. Speaking to MSNBC, John Brennan noted that it begs the question about the security of the documents that were at Mar-a-Lago and it could have been a reason that the DOJ wanted to act quickly to take the classified information back.
"It certainly seems as though the Department of Justice and Merrick Garland have been careful in terms of how they've gone about trying to retrieve these documents that should not be in the possession of Donald Trump," said Brennan. "As your chronology indicates there has been back and forth between the folks in the Trump orbit and the Department of Justice [and] National Archives, but it's clear that over the course of 20 months these very sensitive documents, seven sets of classified documents as well as other sets of documents or material that shouldn't be in his private possession down in Mar-a-Lago that these documents are something that I think were intentionally withheld from the government."
He said it isn't likely a bunch of classified information was mixed in with to-go menus or coupons.
"But there seems to be some type of effort and not just for Donald Trump and others to try to conceal the fact that he was retaining these documents," said Brennan. "And so when I look at the labels that the Department of Justice said were on these documents, top secret, SCI, secret documents and others, it's really quite concerning because who knows who might have had access to these documents over the course of these last 20 months?"
IN OTHER NEWS: Trump might've stashed documents at Mar-a-Lago for two ‘deeply damaging and troubling’ reasons: biographer
He explained that's why the DOJ would have rushed in after only two months of negotiation with Trump, because the first objective was to regain possession of them so there would not be any further damage caused. And now since there were calls for damage assessment Avril Haines and others will have to look carefully at how damaging this information might be to our national security interest given that it was unsecured and it was illegally retained for this length of time."
He went on to say that whether or not there was nuclear information in the documents and what could have happened over the past 20 months.
"I do think foreign intelligence services, the Russians and the Chinese, could have easily tried to get people into Mar-a-Lago to gain access to what was an unsecured facility, and the availability of these documents that were kept in the files there," said Brennan.
See the videos below:
Brennan 1 www.youtube.com
Brennan 2 www.youtube.com
Pennsylvania Republican removes social media profile pics after warning from US Army
Doug Mastriano’s campaign took down social media profile pictures of the Republican gubernatorial nominee in his U.S. Army uniforms after learning they violated a Department of Defense policy, an Army spokesperson said.
The pictures showed Mastriano on Facebook smiling in a dress uniform and beret, and in camouflage fatigues on Twitter. Pittsburgh NPR station WESA-FM reported they were removed last week.
Mastriano, who was a strategic intelligence officer in the Army for 20 years, has incorporated his military background into his political career.
But the use of those photographs and others showing Mastriano interacting with Afghan orphans or posing with fellow soldiers ran afoul of armed service restrictions on the use of such images in political campaigns, Army spokesperson Matthew Leonard told the Capital-Star on Monday.
“Any military information posted by a military member not on active duty, must be accompanied by a prominent and clearly displayed disclaimer that neither the military information nor the photographs imply endorsement by the Army,” Leonard said.
The profile pictures on Mastriano’s campaign pages on Facebook and Twitter had been replaced Monday afternoon with an image of Mastriano in fatigues captioned “Afghanistan 2006.”
The image includes a disclaimer that is partially cropped out on the Facebook page. Mastriano’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Leonard said the Army was contacted by a member of the news media about Mastriano’s use of the images. In a report Monday, WESA-FM said it asked the Army last week whether the images violated the Department of Defense policy.
“The Army contacted Mr. Mastriano’s campaign and advised it of the rules for imagery use contained within the DoD Directive and Army Regulation. At this time the matter is closed,” Leonard said.
Leonard did not respond to a follow up question about whether the new images with the disclaimer pass muster.
Mastriano, a state senator from Franklin County, served in the Army from 1987 to 2017, retiring as a colonel, and serving in combat zones including the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm and in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom.
His campaign’s use of social media has come under fire for his association with the alt-right site Gab and its founder Andrew Torba. The site, to which Mastriano paid $5,000 for consulting services, has been criticized as a haven for white supremacists and anti-Semitic speech.
Mastriano has since removed his Gab profile and released a statement distancing himself from the racist and bigoted statements of its users and founder.
Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John Micek for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and Twitter.
By Tom Hals WILMINGTON, Del (Reuters) - Twitter Inc needs to give Elon Musk documents from a former Twitter executive who Musk said was a key figure in calculating the amount of fake accounts on the platform, according to a Monday court order. Bot and spam accounts on Twitter have become a central issue in the legal fight over whether Musk, who is Tesla Inc's chief executive, must complete his $44 billion acquisition of the social media company. Twitter was ordered to collect, review and produce documents from former General Manager of Consumer Product Kayvon Beykpour, according to the order f...
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