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Natasha Bertrand Profile picture
@NatashaBertrand
Sep 23, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
NEWS, and a thread: The CIA has made it harder for intel about Russia to reach the White House, stoking fears among officials that info is being suppressed to appease Trump. Dir. Gina Haspel also has a very contentious relationship w/CIA’s Russia House.
politico.com/news/2020/09/2…
In an “unprecedented” move, in the words of one former CIA lawyer, Haspel last year, around the time of impeachment, tasked CIA’s general counsel Courtney Elwood with reviewing virtually every product that comes out of Russia House before it goes to the White House.
Elwood has a very close working relationship with John Eisenberg, the NSC’s top lawyer. Recall that Elwood called Eisenberg last year to inform him of the CIA whistleblower complaint about Trump’s conversation with Ukrainian president Zelensky.
Another former CIA official said Elwood has showed “a lot more interest” in CIA’s counterintel unit than previous general counsels, and had that unit’s attorney begin reporting to her deputy. “No one is willing to challenge” Elwood or Haspel, said the former senior CIA official.
Coming back to Russia House: Haspel’s scrutiny of intelligence coming out of that unit has led to some recent dust-ups. The head of Russia House was fired earlier this year. Another analyst there quit earlier this year after Haspel accused him of lying about intelligence.
Haspel actually accuses analysts of purposefully misleading her fairly often, several former officials said. “She calls analysts liars all the time,” said one former CIA official.
More recently, Haspel “completely dismissed” Russia House analysts who brought her intelligence showing a correlation between Russia and the curious phenomenon of diplomats experiencing brain trauma, according to on US official w/knowledge of the episode.
Haspel then made some comments about needing to “clean out” Russia House. Another former official said she has raised disbanding it altogether.

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More from @NatashaBertrand

Natasha Bertrand Profile picture
Feb 18, 2023
News: The US has recently begun seeing “disturbing” signs that Beijing wants to “creep up to the line” of providing lethal military aid to Russia without getting caught. US officials have been concerned enough that they have been sharing this intelligence w/allies at Munich.
CNN reported last month that the US raised concerns w/China about evidence suggesting Chinese companies have sold non-lethal equipment to Russia for use in Ukraine, like helmets. But there are signs now that Beijing is weighing lethal aid, like weaponry, officials say.
More here: cnn.com/europe/live-ne…
Read 4 tweets
Natasha Bertrand Profile picture
Dec 8, 2022
BREAKING: Brittney Griner has been RELEASED from Russian detention in a prisoner exchange for Russian Viktor Bout, via @jmhansler
The swap did not include Paul Whelan.
This was a one for one swap, which is not what the US had initially proposed. CNN previously reported the Russians had asked for an additional prisoner in addition to Bout, in exchange for both Whelan and Griner. amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/07/29…
Read 4 tweets
Natasha Bertrand Profile picture
Jul 11, 2022
Jake Sullivan with some news: Says US has intelligence that Iran is preparing to provide Russia with UAVs to use in Ukraine and is preparing to train the Russians how to use them.
Sullivan said the information is that some of the drones, which number in the hundreds, are weapons-capable. Unclear if some or all have been delivered already.
NSC spokesperson echoes Sullivan’s comments, which spox says are based on declassified intel.

“Our information indicates that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs, including weapons-capable UAVs, on an expedited timeline. 1/2
Read 4 tweets
Natasha Bertrand Profile picture
Jun 30, 2022
“We have to change that decision by codifying Roe v Wade,” President Biden says, referring to Supreme Court decision which he says is essentially a challenge to the right to privacy.
“We are going to stick with Ukraine for as long as it takes to ensure they are not defeated by Russia,” Biden says.
“I don’t know how it’s going to end, but it will not end with” Russia’s victory in Ukraine, Biden adds.
Read 7 tweets
Natasha Bertrand Profile picture
Jun 28, 2022
White House officials are losing confidence that Ukraine will be able to take back all of the land it has lost to Russia and go back to pre-Feb 24 territorial lines, even with the heavier and more sophisticated weaponry the US and its allies plan to send. cnn.com/2022/06/28/pol…
Advisers to President Biden have begun debating internally how and whether Zelensky should shift his definition of a Ukrainian "victory" -- adjusting for the possibility that his country has shrunk irreversibly.
US officials emphasized that this outlook does not mean the US plans to pressure Ukraine into making any formal concessions to Russia to end the war. There is also hope that Ukraine will be able to take back significant chunks of territory in a likely counteroffensive.
Read 4 tweets
Natasha Bertrand Profile picture
Jun 10, 2022
New: Senior US officials have conveyed to Saudi Arabia that the US is prepared to move forward with a reset of the relationship, effectively moving on from the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi in order to repair ties with the key Middle East ally. cnn.com/2022/06/10/pol…
"Both sides have decided that for the sake of achieving peace and stability in the Middle East, we need to move past it," said one senior official. The Saudis, for their part, consider the Khashoggi case closed—and have made that clear to the US, officials said.
That doesn't mean forgiving and forgetting, the sources noted. Biden, they said, does plan to raise Khashoggi's murder directly with MBS, as the crown prince is known, when they meet next month. And some admin officials still believe more should be done to hold MBS accountable.
Read 4 tweets

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