@PostOpinions .@petestrzok on Radcliffe's Russian intel: “There’s not anything nefarious there. [Trump’s allies] are trying to claim that Clinton spun all this up. This is clearly false. Her campaign did not." washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
@JohnBrennan@jaketapper@TheLeadCNN@SenAngusKing@ODNIgov The U.S. intelligence community is still more reliable than Putin’s, no matter what Trump or Ratcliffe says. The Trump team’s efforts to help Russia undermine confidence in our own government must end.
On Aug. 31, the CIA published an assessment of Russian efforts to interfere in the November election in an internal, highly classified report with input from the NSA and FBI... washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
The CIA assessment includes details of the activities of Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach to disseminate disparaging information about Biden inside the U.S. through lobbyists, Congress, the media and contacts with figures close to the president (Rudy) washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
@PostOpinions Trump's Monday comments came as a complete surprise to most of his own staff, not to mention the governments of the other 10 countries involved. #G7#G7Summit#CampDavid
France and Germany had already informed the White House they would not attend. Four other countries were invited: Australia, Brazil, India and South Korea. As of yesterday, those governments had no idea whether the event was on. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
This @NBCNews report on their field trip to Wuhan Institute of Virology has several errors, but the most glaring is that it misrepresents what U.S. officials wrote in diplomatic cables in 2018. I'll explain: nbcnews.com/news/world/ins…
@NBCNews The NBC story says that U.S. officials "said they observed" serious safety issues at the lab. That's just wrong. The officials reported the Wuhan Institute of Virology scientists TOLD THEM about the safety issues. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/… There's more...
@NBCNews Wang Yanyi, director of the WIV, told NBC reporters the U.S. officials visited in March 2018, two months after the first cable was written. The truth is they visited three times, both before and after the Jan. 2018 cable. Did U.S. officials make an entire visit? Not likely..
The U.S. has ignored so much Chinese government behavior over the years out of fear of damaging the relationship. Now that costs are being imposed, we see the sky won’t fall if we push back. And maybe Beijing will get the message their free ride is ending.
The Houston embassy closing is both punishment for CCP illegal and corrupt behavior on our soil and pressure for them to cut it out. But if they won’t change, it has the side benefit of making their mischief more difficult. Good move for those reasons.
Whenever you hear a CCP official or media (propaganda) organ or proxy tell you the U.S. is causing tension in the relationship, remind them we tried asking them nicely to be a responsible world actor for 40 years but they declined so now we have to try something new.
The State Dept released the 2018 Wuhan cables, but they did NOT release the FULL cables. They redacted IMPORTANT stuff. I have the full cables, so I know what they redacted. Would you like to know what they are trying to hide? foia.state.gov/Search/Results… THREAD
Redaction #1: "China must invest in the development of the technical and scientific expertise needed to safely and efficiently operate this facility if it wishes to become a fully-engaged and collaborative global partner in infectious disease research and control..." 1/3
2/3 "..In addition, government BSL research decision-making processes need to be more transparent so that international partners and Chinese scientists are confident that the government is providing informed oversight that meets the highest global standards.."
@robertcobrien National Security Adviser @robertcobrien to me: “The Chinese have weaponized covid, they are trying to take advantage of this crisis to displace the United States as the leading global power.”
@robertcobrien@PostOpinions "Trump feels burned. Even if Beijing comes through on its purchasing promises, it won’t make a dent in the overall economic damage that could have been avoided if China had contained the virus or, at least, been honest about it."