In a continuation of the ongoing war between President Trump and the US intelligence community, NBC News is reporting:
That’s according to a senior U.S. official who has analyzed a series of highly sensitive intelligence reports detailing Russian deliberations and who says a Snowden handover is one of various ploys to “curry favor” with Trump. A second source in the intelligence community confirms the intelligence about the Russian conversations and notes it has been gathered since the inauguration.
The US intelligence community is so concerned with the Trump administration’s ties to Russia, especially National Security Council chief Michael Flynn, that they are reportedly withholding security briefings from Trump to keep them out of Russia’s hands. Interestingly, this information comes from the Observer, a publication owned by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Snowden reacted with joy that he’d been vindicated.
Finally: irrefutable evidence that I never cooperated with Russian intel. No country trades away spies, as the rest would fear they’re next. t.co/YONqZ1gYqm
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 10, 2017
Why would Russia consider this a gift? Trump expressed the following opinion of Snowden before the election:
ObamaCare is a disaster and Snowden is a spy who should be executed-but if it and he could reveal Obama’s records,I might become a major fan
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2013
More to follow…
