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25 Nov, 10 tweets, 5 min read
Thread — On potential war crimes charges against US officials for supporting Saudi Arabia in the Yemen war: House lawmakers have released an important affidavit from Michael F. Miller, a career State Dept. official who helps oversee arms sales. Full doc: foreignaffairs.house.gov/_cache/files/d…
2. Miller confirms State Dept. lawyers issued a 2016 “formal foundational document" that remains “the most authoritative legal assessment on this matter.” We wrote about the key memo and the controversy in the Trump administration in this detailed story: nytimes.com/2020/09/14/us/…
3. Miller & colleagues involved in arms sales wanted updated legal guidance from the State Dept. given the ongoing civilian killings by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. Legal risks to US officials were growing. But senior officials under @SecPompeo didn't update the guidance.
4. Pompeo announced an "emergency" over Iran in May 2019 to bypass a Congressional freeze on arms sales. Miller said the legal memo "was most likely a topic of attention" in the internal discussions leading to that move. State IG Steve Linick investigated the action last year.
5. Linick told Marik String, State Dept. legal adviser, that he wanted to ask Pompeo about mitigation efforts around civilian casualties, according to Oct. letter from State OIG to @HouseForeign. Whether US does mitigation is central to legal risk issue. foreignaffairs.house.gov/_cache/files/d…
6. Linick found State officials under Pompeo had failed to address legal risks and update a strategy to lessen civilian casualties. Trump fired him in May at Pompeo's urging. OIG report released in Aug. had the finding, but State ensured key details were classified and redacted.
7. "If I were in the State Department, I would be freaking out about my potential for liability. I think anyone who’s involved in this program should get themselves a lawyer," @oonahathaway told us. Hathaway is a Yale law professor who worked at DoD. nytimes.com/2020/09/14/us/…
8. @RepEliotEngel said Miller's affidavit shows Pompeo "ignored the department's own warnings that he and those who work for him could be implicated in war crimes by fueling the slaughter of civilians in Yemen." State Dept. has said US tries to lessen civilian casualties.
9. Brian Finucane, a State Dept. lawyer, spoke of legal risks to US officials at a Yale forum in 2018. Avril Haines, Biden's nominee for DNI, also spoke there. @wstrobel @JonathanLanday wrote about concerns in 2016 for Reuters. @just_security @rgoodlaw have examined the issue.
10. If the original link to the Michael Miller affidavit on @HouseForeign site is down, here is a new link to the full doc: foreignaffairs.house.gov/_cache/files/2…

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More from @ewong

Edward Wong Profile picture
3 Nov
NEW: Top Trump officials are accused of using taxpayer resources to campaign for Trump — Pompeo, O’Brien, Barr, Wolf, Ratcliffe. Office of Special Counsel is investigating @SecPompeo for 2 potential illegal acts. w/ @shearm @michaelcrowley @KannoYoungs. nytimes.com/2020/11/02/us/…
2. "Other presidents have embraced the perks of incumbency to their advantage. But no other modern president of either party has so brazenly directed government action toward his own benefit by so many agencies and departments." nytimes.com/2020/11/02/us/…
3. "And members of the president’s cabinet have fanned out across the country....In late September, Mr. Pompeo gave an official speech in — of all places — the Capitol building in Madison, Wis., a critical swing state that Mr. Trump narrowly won in 2016." nytimes.com/2020/11/02/us/…
Read 8 tweets
Edward Wong Profile picture
19 Oct
NEW: US diplomats & spies say Trump administration has concealed info on mystery attacks abroad in which Russia is a suspect. We found new episodes w/ CIA officers in Moscow & elsewhere — similar to Cuba & China crises. w/ @AnaSwanson @julianbarnes. nytimes.com/2020/10/19/us/…
2. Our @nytimes investigation found the Trump administration took a softer approach on China. State Dept. didn't open an investigation there, as they had in Cuba. They downplayed the idea of attacks. They didn't give the same benefits to the US government employees who suffered.
3. US officials told us political aims in the White House played a big role in different approaches on the suspected attacks against Americans. Trump wanted to undo Obama’s opening w/ Cuba. But he wanted to strengthen ties w/ Putin and Xi, and he sought a trade deal w/ China.
Read 9 tweets
Edward Wong Profile picture
20 Aug
In @nytimes story on indictment of Bannon: He was arrested in CT on yacht owned by Guo Wengui, Chinese tycoon in NYC said to have ties to China’s spy agency. Bannon took $1 million. Donald Trump Jr. endorsed the “fundraising.” Kobach was on its board. nytimes.com/2020/08/20/nyr…
2. Bannon’s friend Guo is not a Chinese “dissident,” as people claim. He has a complex history in elite power struggles. He fled China after officials arrested Ma Jian, a top officer in MSS, the spy agency. Sources in China say the two were close. More: nytimes.com/2018/12/27/wor…
3. Bannon has been on Guo’s payroll, in a big way. This story by @maggieNYT has info on a $1 million contract Bannon had with Guo and other payment details. @WSJ reported in July that the FBI is investigating Guo and looking into Bannon’s work with him. nytimes.com/2019/12/23/us/…
Read 5 tweets
Edward Wong Profile picture
23 Jul
Pompeo just delivered a speech on China at the Nixon Library in which he said US relations w/ China should be based on “distrust and verify.” He didn’t call on Chinese citizens to rise up against the CCP or to change the direction of the party, though he praised dissidents.
2. Pompeo said Nixon "engaged Beijing with clear eyes.” But he also said, while at the Nixon Library & in the presence of Nixon’s family members, that “the kind of engagement we have been
pursuing has not brought the kind of change in China that President Nixon hoped to induce."
3. Pompeo said "the old paradigm of blind engagement with China has failed.” This is a straw man. If Nixon "engaged Beijing with clear eyes,” as Pompeo said, so did other US leaders. They gambled on various approaches. But they all knew the history of CCP rule — from Mao to Xi.
Read 5 tweets
Edward Wong Profile picture
17 Jun
WSJ excerpt of Bolton book has Trump & China bombshells. Trump told Xi building concentration camps for Muslims "was exactly the right thing to do.” Trump pleaded w/ Xi to help him w/ re-election by making US farm product buys. And Trump helped Xi w/ ZTE. wsj.com/articles/john-…
2. Bolton details on Trump using China policy for re-election raises questions about @SecPompeo meeting quietly today in Hawaii w/ Chinese official Yang Jiechi. People ask: 1) Will they discuss farm goods purchases to help Trump? 2) Dirt on Hunter Biden? 3) Huawei & Meng Wanzhou?
3. Bolton book shows how Xi plays Trump. How many other autocrats do this? What do Putin & Erdogan say to him? At a Dec. 2018 dinner in Buenos Aires: "Xi said the U.S. had too many elections, because he didn’t want to switch away from Trump, who nodded approvingly."
Read 6 tweets
Edward Wong Profile picture
6 Jun
.@SecPompeo just released long statement denouncing bad-faith propaganda that China uses against US in current crises. This came hours after our @nytimes story on propaganda by autocrats, global erosion of US moral authority & the struggle of US diplomats: nytimes.com/2020/06/06/us/…
2. Pompeo accurately lists many rights abuses by the Chinese Communist Party, far greater than occurs in the US. But he doesn’t acknowledge the extraordinary # of recent incidents of violence against journalists in US — possibly at least 280, CPJ says: cpj.org/2020/06/cpj-bo…
3. Pompeo mentions US street violence 3 times, in line w/ Trump's messaging. He talks about church burning, "looting and violence," & "reckless rioting." By contrast, he nods to "peaceful protests" in US once. @AmbDana says diplomats can embrace the peaceful protests as models.
Read 4 tweets

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