Posted on 07/28/2019 2:14:57 PM PDT by COUNTrecount
Dan Coats to leave post as director of national intelligence as Trump selects Rep. John Ratcliffe as replacement
President Trump on Sunday announced that Texas GOP Rep. John Ratcliffe, a staunch White House ally, will replace Dan Coats as director of national intelligence (DNI), following months of speculation and public spats between the president and the intelligence community.
"I am pleased to announce that highly respected Congressman John Ratcliffe of Texas will be nominated by me to be the Director of National Intelligence," Trump wrote.
"A former U.S. Attorney, John will lead and inspire greatness for the Country he loves," Trump added. "Dan Coats, the current Director, will be leaving office on August 15th. I would like to thank Dan for his great service to our Country. The Acting Director will be named shortly."
Coats frequently appeared out of step with Trump during his two-year tenure, and disclosed to prosecutors how he was urged by the president to publicly deny any link between Russia and the Trump campaign. The frayed relationship reflected broader divisions between the president and the government's intelligence agencies.
Speculation about Coats' ouster had been lingering in recent days. Sources told Fox News earlier this month that Trump spoke to two people recently about the job. Among the candidates he was considering at the time were Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Fred Fleitz, who previously served as chief of staff to National Security Adviser John Bolton.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Well, bye!
Ratcliffe. Wow.
Representative John Ratcliffe questions how Robert Mueller presented an investigative finding with no evidence of guilt, yet simultaneously states the investigation “would not exonerate” the President. Ratcliffe crushed the construct of Mueller and left the biased special counsel speechless and jaw-agape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvreQ9VM9L8&feature=youtu.be
Politics moves on no matter who is in office. I understand that
as the Leader wants people who will follow and do his bidding.
Business is the same. Do your job or get fired.
Damn, I’m not used to Trump picking slam dunks for his cabinet.
And... if there were no links between Russia and the Trump campaign, why would it be out-of-line to inform the public? Would it have been a lie, Mr. Coats? If so, come out and accuse the president of asking you to lie, don't just imply it, you gutless weasel.
Ratcliffe is the heir apparent of DJT after that phenomenal takedown of Mueller this week.
Great choice
Ratcliffe: Do you think any laws were broken?
Comey: I don't think there is evidence to establish that.
R: Well, OK, I think you're making my point when you say there's no evidence to establish that.
Maybe not in the way she handled classified information, but with respect to obstruction of justice.
And you've got a pen here, and I just want to make sure I'm clear about the evidence that you didn't have, that you can't use to prove.
Now this comes from the FBI's own report. The FBI didn't have Clinton's personal Apple server used for Hillary Clinton's work emails--that was never located so the FBI could never examine that.
"An Apple Macbook and thumbdrive containing Hillary Clintons e-mail archives was lost so the FBI never examined that.
"Two Blackberry devices didn't have sim card or SD data cards, 13 Hillary Clinton mobile devices were lost, discarded, or destroyed with a hammer--so the FBI clearly didn't examine those
"Various server backups were deleted over time--so the FBI didn't examine that.
After the State Department and my colleagues Mr. Gowdy here notified Mrs. Clinton that her records would be sought by the Benghazi committee, copies of her emails on the laptops of both of her lawyers Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson were wiped clean with bleach bit so the FBI didn't review that.
"After those emails were subpoenaed, Hillary Clinton's email archive was also permanently deleted from the Platte River network, so the FBI didn't review that.
"And also after the subpoena, the backups of the Platte River server were manually deleted.
Now, Director, hopefully that list is substantially accurate, because it comes from your own documents. My question is to you is this. Any one of those, it that very long list, to me says, obstruction of justice. Collectively, they scream obstruction of justice, and to ignore them, really allows not just reasonable prosecutors, but reasonable people to believe that maybe the decision on this was made a long time ago, not to prosecute Hillary Clinton. And with that I yield back.
Goodlatte: Director do you care to respond?
Comey: Very briefly, to ignore that which we don't have . . . [shrugs] we're in a fact-based world. We make evaluations based on the evidence we're able to gather, using the tools that we have, so it's hard for me to react to these things that you don't have. That's my reaction to it.
Radcliffe did very well at that sham of a hearing last week.
I hope this is a great choice and he is up to the task. But such things can be hard for us to assess.
E.g., from Ratcliffe’s wikipedia page, links to the Bushes, Mukasey, Ashcroft and Romney:
“In 2004, Ratcliffe was appointed to be Chief of Anti-Terrorism and National Security for the Eastern District of Texas in the Department of Justice.[11] In 2007, he was named Acting U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of Texas and subsequently appointed US Attorney by former Attorney General Michael Mukasey.[12] It covered 33,000 square miles (85,000 km2), including almost all of the 4th congressional district. He managed a combined staff of over 100 federal prosecutors and support personnel, 6 district offices, and a $12 million budget allocated by the Department of Justice. [13]
Following his public service, he went back into private law practice, becoming a partner with the former Attorney General John Ashcroft in the Ashcroft, Sutton, Ratcliffe law firm.[14] He served as an aide to Mitt Romney as part of a transition team established before the 2012 elections for vetting potential government appointees.[15][16]”
Good riddance to the deep State RINO.
Emmmm...
It doesn’t look like he was a honcho at a high level. More like a team player; one of several. Sometimes a good Republican who wants to help his party is just that, a good Republican.
I guess we’ll see.
We can certainly hope. His voting record is fantastic — gotta love this scorecard: https://www.numbersusa.com/content/my/congress/14246/gradescoresheet — and if Trump is finally finding some of the right guys for key roles, that is huge.
Nice solidify the team going forward
Thank you I missed that in the hearings. Dan Ratcliff is impressive!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvreQ9VM9L8&feature=youtu.be
Will Coats be SWATted? Will he be put in solitary confinement? Will he lose all his residences?
I will be more sanguine when the I see something approximating equal justice before the law.
Paul Manafort’s life is ruined - because he helped Donald Trump to be elected.
Many here do not care. They call him a sleaze; they only care about Trump and #Winning.
I care about abuse of the Constitutional rights of any American citizen - whether he has committed any past crimes or not.
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