Joseph Maguire (Credit: Ron Sachs/CNP)
“The New York Times and a host of allied political narrative engineers attempted to spin up another Russia narrative yesterday. The claim surrounds a briefing by DNI Joseph Maguire (pictured below) to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). Adam Schiff and house Democrats in the briefing claim DNI Maguire stated Russians favored President Trump and would work to assist his re-election.
The Democrat spin was to claim President Trump replaced Maguire as an outcome of this briefing, and Trump wants to ignore Russia interference assistance. etc. etc. The media ran with the framework of the Democrat narrative; and the political operatives piled-on.
However, in a surprise move Jake Tapper actually undercuts the narrative engineering through his own sources with information on the reality of the briefing:
(1) DNI Joseph Maguire never said Russia was, would, or is working to interfere in the election to help President Trump. Rather the briefing nuance was that Russia has an understanding of Trump and would likely view him as a deal-maker they could work with and Sanders, Buttigieg et al were unknowns.
(2) President Trump wasn’t angered at the Maguire briefing; however, he was angered that he had to find out about the briefing from GOP members of the HPSCI instead of Maguire briefing the President on the material prior to briefing congress. The executive office was blindsided by committee members asking questions of the White House when Maguire never informed the President of his briefing material in advance.
Those two points were spun wildly by the left-wing media. Kudos to Jake Tapper for setting the record straight.
However, it is not a surprise for President Trump to end the tenure of Maguire as DNI given this end-run around the President and the possibility Maguire’s motives might just be another example of the intelligence community undercutting the office of the President. [I would say that’s highly likely]
The fact DNI Joseph Maguire would brief Congress without informing the White House of the briefing material highlights a possible intent by Maguire to undermine the President. Whether that intent is accurate is a moot point. The action by Maguire leaves open the possibility, and his lack of judgment created a mess for the White House.
Therefore Maguire’s action showed poor judgment and a compromise within his position. Given the sensitive nature of the position he holds, both issues are fatal flaws.
Hence, President Trump selected a more dependable Richard “Ric” Grenell to replace Maguire as interim Acting DNI.”
