I don’t have a transcript of the January 11th show, but I think MSNBC’s Chris Hayes just said something very big. Do US intelligence agencies see Trump as actually [equivalent to]–Hayes’s words–“a turned foreign asset”?
If so, then Trump’s aggressive and paranoid behavior toward those intelligence agencies tends to encourage that belief.
This is…exciting.
I call bullshit (not on the OP, but on the general hypothesis that this is something new and major), without any evidentiary support but with little hesitation. Trump behaves with paranoid aggression toward pretty much everybody, so I’m not seeing a smoking gun here.
Also, cite ASAP?
Yeah, I’m not really sure what we’re supposed to be debating here. Chris Hayes might have said something, but you’re not quite sure what it was and there is no context?
Before I grant this “biggly” status, I’d need to see the whole quote. I did a quick google search, but did not find anything.
I saw it on “All In with Chris Hayes.” I don’t have a link to an online copy of the video, and there aren’t transcripts for the most recent week. I was thrown by Hayes’s characterization. I’m more a Maddow fan, so maybe I’ve just never seen enough of Hayes to know, but in what I’ve seen of him, Hayes doesn’t usually seem that–over the top. I’m wondering if this is just an “MSNBC host misspeaks” thing, or there is an inside-the-Beltway attitude that, yeah, Trump is a foreign asset.
This reminds me of the episode of Married with Children in which Al remembers only three notes to a song, and is frustrated that nobody else can name the song that he can’t remember.
“Hmm hmm HIM! Come on, doncha remember?!?”
Keep in mind that CH is a political commentator, and may be just voicing his own opinion, not that of the intelligence community.
This news came out today.
US intelligence officials warned Israeli intelligence officials not to share secret information with Trump because due to Trump being compromised by the Russians, Trump will share Israeli secrets with Russia who will then pass them on to Iran (who Russia is allied with). Basically US intel officials are worried Trump may spy on Israel for the benefit of Russia & Iran.
Of course who knows what counts as an ‘intelligence official’.
But there is enough speculation to make this a serious question.
That seems a bit hyperbolic at this point. Intelligence agencies investigating the possibility of comprising information that could be used for blackmail. Sure. Them also investigating the possibility that the Russians have already used that information to turn him. Sure. Encouraging allies, like Israel, to be careful with classified information while they are working through the hoops. That was new to me but seems reasonable.
Saying that they have jumped to the conclusion that he necessarily is a turned asset is a jump too far. It’s a massive story just in the possibility. Chris Hayes, if he used that language, did the story no favor by overstating it IMO.
I didn’t think I was being that confusing, but I apologize if I was.
There is a TV show called “All In” on MSNBC. The host is named Chris Hayes.
I saw a piece of last night’s show, January 11; the same show as this conversation with Michael Moore:
Let’s make “turned foreign asset” the Hot New Phrase of 2017. Let’s put it in parentheses after every mention of the name Donald Trump (turned foreign asset). Let’s make it his new nickname. Forget about Clownstick, Cheetos, and Tinyhands; it’s all about TFA now. Let’s make it so that twenty years from now, there can be a 2010’s nostalgia cover band called Turned Foreign Asset.
Please?
What is a turned foreign asset? I googled it and this thread was the first (and only) result using this phrase.
I’m having trouble being shocked by something you think you might have heard from a talking head on TV. That’s all.
A foreign asset is, as I understand it, a foreigner [in a CIA context, a national of a country not the USA] who is an asset of an intelligence service [such as the CIA].
I’m not sure about this next part, but I think a turned asset would be an asset who was turned by a rival [nation or organization’s] agency–a double agent. So a “turned foreign asset” is implicitly “a foreigner who worked for us and now works for someone else.” I think that’s the correct usage, but I may be wrong.
By that definition, Trump is not a “turned foreign asset.” Trump isn’t foreign. Nor, I say waggishly, has he ever been an asset to US intelligence. But he is a danger in sort of the same the way a double agent would be. And I assume that Michael Flynn has already had a burn notice on him (as in, “burn anything this person says, it’s worthless”).
But Hayes (if I heard him right and he used the phrase) probably meant that Trump has been “turned” by a foreign power and is now their asset. That’s still intelligible grammatically.
I don’t care if you’re shocked. Chris Hayes just seemed to go surprisingly Olbermann there for a moment.
Without commenting on the accuracy of the charge, can American intelligence agencies declare the President “turned” and refuse to give him classified information? I thought the President was above clearance restrictions by virtue of his office.
He’s been pretty skeptical of the dossier contents on twitter so I’m dubious he’s being relayed accurately.
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Trump is foreign, to Russia. He is a foreigner (to the Russians) who was turned.
Apologies for bringing Hitler into the discussion, but it’s the first example that comes to mind.
It was illegal to assassinate Hitler, but that didn’t stop Claus von Stauffenberg from trying. If you believe something strongly enough and you’re in a position to do something about it, the rules and legalities of it can take a back seat.
I don’t see this as a relevant analogy. Killing the head of state isn’t just illegal; it’s irrevocable. You can’t undue it once it’s done.
But refusing to obey an order isn’t like that. If the President gives a legal order and the head of the CIA refuses to obey it, then the President fires the head of the CIA and repeats the process with his second-in-command. Eventually the President will find a Robert Bork who’ll obey the order.
Yes. It’s very exciting that Trump is a Russian controlled puppet.