Problem No. 1: DHS Intelligence Report. So Trump commissions an intelligence report from the intelligence arm of the Department of Homeland Security ("DHS"). The specific directive given to DHS is to come back with an intelligence report that supports an Executive Order banning travel to the U.S. from the seven countries listed in the original EO that was enjoined by several courts. (Let's leave aside for the moment how inappropriate it is to instruct an intelligence agency to come back with an intelligence report that supports a predetermined narrative. There are more troubling issues than that.)
The DHS intelligence team comes back with a report that, instead, says there is no data to suggest that an immigrant's country of origin is determinative of his or her propensity to commit terrorist atrocities, noting that no attacks in this country have been committed by an immigrant from one of the seven listed countries.
The Trump Administration instructs that the DHS intelligence report be deep sixed. (Can't have THAT floating around for the public and the press weasels to read.) So what happens? What is virtually certain to happen in instances like that. The DHS intelligence report gets leaked to the press. You can't go around calling the press "the enemy of America," comparing your intelligence professionals to Nazis, and instructing them to issue bogus intelligence reports for you, and expect success in suppressing the truth.
Problem No. 2: Trying to Suppress Investigation of Contacts with the Russians. So there are multiple admissions that Preibus, Mannafort, and other Trump operatives were communicating with the Russians prior to Election Day. Naturally, there are people wondering what they spoke about. People (most but not all of them Democrats) start calling for an investigation, so that statements can be made under oath. Sen. Richard Burr and Representative Devin Nunes (who head the Senate and House Committees that would be responsible for Congressional investigations) demur.
It turns out that the Trump Administration asked Burr and Nunes to make statements that "there's nothing to see here, move on." Without taking steps to get information which would allow them to make an informed statement on that issue. Moreover, Preibus was having direct conversations with the FBI about this matter, even though (as a Trump campaign insider and person who admitted to communicating with the Russians during the campaign) he would be a prominent subject of any investigation. Recall all the fulminating that conservatives did when Bill Clinton spoke for ten minutes with Loretta Lynch in the back of an airplane? This goes well beyond that. The chances of an independent investigation commencing of Trump Campaign contacts with the Russian just went up considerably.
The DHS intelligence team comes back with a report that, instead, says there is no data to suggest that an immigrant's country of origin is determinative of his or her propensity to commit terrorist atrocities, noting that no attacks in this country have been committed by an immigrant from one of the seven listed countries.
The Trump Administration instructs that the DHS intelligence report be deep sixed. (Can't have THAT floating around for the public and the press weasels to read.) So what happens? What is virtually certain to happen in instances like that. The DHS intelligence report gets leaked to the press. You can't go around calling the press "the enemy of America," comparing your intelligence professionals to Nazis, and instructing them to issue bogus intelligence reports for you, and expect success in suppressing the truth.
Problem No. 2: Trying to Suppress Investigation of Contacts with the Russians. So there are multiple admissions that Preibus, Mannafort, and other Trump operatives were communicating with the Russians prior to Election Day. Naturally, there are people wondering what they spoke about. People (most but not all of them Democrats) start calling for an investigation, so that statements can be made under oath. Sen. Richard Burr and Representative Devin Nunes (who head the Senate and House Committees that would be responsible for Congressional investigations) demur.
It turns out that the Trump Administration asked Burr and Nunes to make statements that "there's nothing to see here, move on." Without taking steps to get information which would allow them to make an informed statement on that issue. Moreover, Preibus was having direct conversations with the FBI about this matter, even though (as a Trump campaign insider and person who admitted to communicating with the Russians during the campaign) he would be a prominent subject of any investigation. Recall all the fulminating that conservatives did when Bill Clinton spoke for ten minutes with Loretta Lynch in the back of an airplane? This goes well beyond that. The chances of an independent investigation commencing of Trump Campaign contacts with the Russian just went up considerably.
