Trump’s Intel Agencies Are Trying To Sabotage Him Again. Will Ratcliffe And Patel Stop It?

A New York Times report on Thursday is either fake or people at the FBI or CIA ran to the paper to undermine their boss, though there’s no real reason both can’t be true.
Under the headline, “Intelligence Assessment Said to Contradict Trump on Venezuelan Gang,” the Times cited unnamed “officials” claiming that the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, members of which the White House says are illegally in the U.S., is not in cahoots with the origin nation’s government. It’s an assertion in direct contradiction to the administration, which has justified the expedited removal of many illegal aliens by claiming that the Venezuelan government works with the gang to destabilize America.
The report went on to say intelligence agencies “concluded that the gang, Tren de Aragua, was not directed by Venezuela’s government or committing crimes in the United States on its orders,” though it acknowledged that the conclusion was made with only “moderate confidence,” rather than high confidence. It also said that the FBI dissented with the opinion, claiming that the gang does in fact have “a connection” to the Venezuelan government.
If it’s true, then once again, the intelligence community is using media leaks to thwart Trump’s agenda. The president is right now in a legal dispute with a D.C. district judge as to whether the administration is illegally applying the Alien Enemies Act, which gives Trump the authority to remove illegal aliens from a “hostile nation” without a formal court hearing. That any intelligence personnel are aligning themselves with “the resistance” again is something CIA Director John Ratcliffe and FBI head Kash Patel are going to need to address immediately.
This is from the same playbook used in Trump’s first term. To cripple his presidency, the intelligence community, the FBI in particular, steadily plied all-too-willing reporters at the Washington Post, CNN, and the Times with information that was either wrong, out of context, or, at minimum, in dispute. It worked to stunning effect, keeping the jittery public on edge every single day of those four years, weakening support for effectively everything Trump did. That shouldn’t happen again.
The president’s authority on all things immigration shouldn’t be something that requires a defense — even the far-left 9th Circuit Court of Appeals appreciates extreme “executive discretion” on the issue — especially from this president’s own intelligence agencies.
Comments are closed.