Possible pardon of Assange worries intel community

You have to admit it--sometimes President Trump says dumb stuff. Like the time he said that he loves WikiLeaks because they revealed Hillary Clinton's emails. Now a GOP lawmakers suggested that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could be pardoned by Trump and that isn't sitting well with the intelligence community.

The probability for a pardon of Assange appears unlikely, but the fact that not only has the president praised the website, Assange's own efforts to question the intelligence community's conclusion that Russia tried to influence the presidential election helped get Trump off the hook to some degree.

So the idea that Trump might pardon Assange is being taken seriously by intelligence organizations.

"It would send a terrible message to the intelligence community," said Robert Deitz, former senior counselor to the director of the CIA and general counsel at the NSA. 

Deitz is currently a professor at George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government.

"What moral are people supposed to draw from that? Why on Earth would you believe Julian Assange before the intelligence community?" asked Deitz.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) is being investigated for having ties to Russia and he's behind the Assange pardon pursuit. 

The deal Rohrabacher is pushing: pardon Assange in exchange for information he claims proves Russia didn't collude with the Trump campaign in the 2016 presidential race.

He was the first lawmaker to meet with Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London last month. Assange is holed up there for years in order to avoid arrest. Rohrabacher claims at that time, Assange offered him "firsthand" evidence that would prove there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Rohrabacher also claims that a meeting is in the works with himself and Trump to discuss Assange's information and a potential pardon. 

If President Trump pardons the scumquat seditionist, it would be a horrible mistake and it's possible that many people will see it as an indication of some sort of conspiracy.

But a pardon of Assange, while it would be self-serving for Trump, would also cast doubt on the CIA, NSA, FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

And if you don't think that would suck, you might be reading this post from Russia.

"He'd [Trump, that is] show that he'd do anything to skate out of the not just allegation, but clear fact of Russia's involvement [in the election]. That would be appalling," said Glenn Carle, a 23-year veteran of the CIA's clandestine service and who ended his career as deputy national intelligence officer for transnational threats on the National Intelligence Council.

Remember, however, Assange hasn't been charged or convicted of any wrongdoing by the United States, so "It would be extremely unusual to pardon someone who hasn't been charged," said Margaret Love. 

Love served as Department of Justice pardon attorney between 1990 and 1997, and noted the exceptions: Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon, Carter's pardon of Vietnam draft dodgers, and Reagan's pardon of illegal immigrants. 

Michael Borohovski, a former intelligence contractor said that a pardon of Assange would reinforce the idea the it's okay to leak.

"Assange allegedly was involved with a few of the largest intelligence leaks of all time. Pardoning him would make it seem okay," he said.

No, most informed Americans don't love WikiLeaks.

Tweet

Kim and Dennis Off the Hook?

Guess what. It wasn't Kim. It wasn't even Dennis Rodman.

New evidence brought to the FBI by a security company claims that the culprit who hacked Sony over the making of the film The Interview, is a laid-off employee of the company. North Korea's Kim Jong-un is innocent of the cyber attack.

Norse, a cyber intelligence firm told Fox News that they turned over information to the FBI on Tuesday and briefed the FBI during a meeting in St. Louis. No cops were attacked at the meeting.

Kurt Stammberger, senior vice president for market development of Norse said the "they were very open" to the new information his company provided to them.

Many have voiced skepticism about the FBI's claim that it was Kim Jong-un who was responsible for the attack, saying that North Korea doesn't have the cyber capability to launch such a sophisticated assault.

Stammberger said that his company has data about the malware samples that indicated "super, super detailed insider information" that only a Sony insider would have.

But the FBI is saying "that's our story, and we're sticking by it." Of course, this led to massive numbers of First Amendment patriots, as well as a few liberals, flock to the web to see the movie as a way of flipping the bird to Kim and Dennis Rodman.

In a statement issued by the FBI they stated: "The FBI has concluded the Government of North Korea is responsible for the theft and destruction of date on the network of Sony Pictures Entertainment." They then went so far as to assert: "Attribution to North Korea is based on intelligence from the FBI, the U.S. intelligence community, DHS, foreign partners and the private sector."

Yeah, sure. Where is the NSA when you need them?

Tweet