Earlier this week, Grenell quickly forced out the number two intelligence official in the US government, Andrew Hallman, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to CNN. Hallman was an intelligence veteran and well respected in the intelligence community.CNN reported earlier this week that Hallman was leaving. The New York Times first reported Grenell ousted him.
There are fears within the intelligence community that Hallman may not be the only top official forced out. Career intelligence professionals worry that Shelby Pierson, the person in charge of evaluating intelligence regarding election security with the ODNI, will be moved out of her position, according to a former top intelligence official.
Pierson is highly regarded and viewed as not partisan by intelligence community colleagues who know her to be confident and well versed in the work she does. She isn’t afraid of making tough calls and fiercely defending her analysis when challenged, colleagues say.
Pierson has done briefings for senior leaders for years and her experience and preparation shows, said one former intelligence official who worked with her.
Here’s “Republican strategist” Sara Fagen on “This Week” this morning:
FAGEN: Look, this is such a political — this has become such a politicized issue, and every opportunity Democrats get to put out the notion that Russians are trying to help Trump, they do it. And that’s not helpful either.
You know, it’s been reported that the woman doing the briefing in the House did not put any information out about Trump, and then when pressed repeatedly by Democrats gave her opinion that, in fact, the Russians did want…
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, her analysis.
FAGEN: Her analysis of reports. But it was her opinion. And so, you know, I think that’s what you heard the national security adviser responding to.
I do think, though, that Trump would be well served to remind people of some of the things that he has done to support fighting these foreign governments trying to interfere in our elections. You know, he signed — he did an executive order to put sanctions in place on anybody caught interfering. Now is the time to look at that again.
There was $425 million in this last spending bill, allocated to states to improve their security. There’s been a lot that has happened. That’s what I think Republicans should be talking about.
STEPHANOPOULOS: We should just say, this official is not just any official, she’s in charge of election security for the intelligence community and was being asked by the members of the House Intelligence Committee what her analysis is of the situation.
She was speaking for the intelligence community when she gave that analysis.
FAGEN: Fair, but it has been reported on cable news, not exactly Trump-friendly territory, speaking about how she was pushed repeatedly by Democrats, and then she put her thumb on the scale. That’s how it’s been reported.
When she says “it’s been reported” she’s talking about that very same CNN article I quoted above which had this:
During the recent House briefing, she faced a series of questions from lawmakers who were trying to pin her down on whether the intelligence showed a Russian preference for Trump, and she finally relented to provide her view of what the intelligence showed, one source familiar with the matter said.
It’s the type of situation intelligence briefers are prepped to avoid, the source said, in part so as not to wade into partisan controversy. The answer she gave has been misconstrued because it’s missing the context and nuance, the source said.
She’s cooked. I’ll bet she’s out within the week.
Now we have this from CNN:
The US intelligence community’s top election security official appears to have overstated the intelligence community’s formal assessment of Russian interference in the 2020 election, omitting important nuance during a briefing with lawmakers earlier this month, three national security officials told CNN.
The official, Shelby Pierson, told lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee that Russia is interfering in the 2020 election with the goal of helping President Donald Trump get reelected.
The US intelligence community has assessed that Russia is interfering in the 2020 election and has separately assessed that Russia views Trump as a leader they can work with. But the US does not have evidence that Russia’s interference this cycle is aimed at reelecting Trump, the officials said.”
The intelligence doesn’t say that,” one senior national security official told CNN. “A more reasonable interpretation of the intelligence is not that they have a preference, it’s a step short of that. It’s more that they understand the President is someone they can work with, he’s a dealmaker.”
Who said that? Grenell?
Trump is not a “dealmaker.” He’s an idiot. They want him because he’s blindly tearing up the post-war world order in a chaotic, ignorant way that benefits them.
They know he can be manipulated. They know he is a moron. And they know he is destroying us from within.
Of course they prefer him. There isn’t any doubt. And CNN accepting this obvious bullshit from Intelligence sources just shows how truly fucked we are.
Update: