Natasha Bertrand

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AN 6 25

Although President Donald Trump is known for avoiding e-mail and text messaging, he is an avid social media user. Trump constantly used Twitter, now X, during his first presidency. But these days, his primary social media outlet is his own Truth Social platform — where he angrily raged against his media foes late Wednesday night, June 25.

Trump was especially angry at CNN.

The U.S. president, who was in The Hague, Netherlands to attend the 2025 NATO Summit, posted, in all caps, "FAKE NEWS CNN IS SO DISGUSTING AND INCOMPETENT. SOME OF THE DUMBEST ANCHORS IN THE BUSINESS!"

Trump singled out CNN reporter Natasha Bertrand, calling for her to be fired.

IFrame Content

Trump posted, "She should be IMMEDIATELY reprimanded, and then thrown out 'like a dog.' She lied on the Laptop from Hell Story, and now she lied on the Nuclear Sites Story, attempting to destroy our Patriot Pilots by making them look bad when, in fact, they did a GREAT job and hit 'pay dirt' — TOTAL OBLITERATION!"

The 79-year-old president added, "She should not be allowed to work at Fake News CNN. It's people like her who destroyed the reputation of a once great Network. Her slant was so obviously negative, besides, she doesn't have what it takes to be an on camera correspondent, not even close. FIRE NATASHA!"

But CNN, according to the Daily Beast's Cameron Adams, said, in an official statement, that they are '100 percent' behind Bertrand.

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ref 2 no lnx

no lnx

natasha bertrand

More than 50 former senior intelligence officials have signed on to a letter outlining their belief that the recent disclosure of emails allegedly belonging to Joe Biden’s son “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

The letter, signed on Monday, centers around a batch of documents released by the New York Post last week that purport to tie the Democratic nominee to his son Hunter’s business dealings. Under the banner headline “Biden Secret E-mails,” the Post reported it was given a copy of Hunter Biden’s laptop hard drive by President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who said he got it from a Mac shop owner in Delaware who also alerted the FBI.

While the letter’s signatories presented no new evidence, they said their national security experience had made them “deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case” and cited several elements of the story that suggested the Kremlin’s hand at work.

“If we are right,” they added, “this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this.”

Nick Shapiro, a former top aide under CIA director John Brennan, provided POLITICO with the letter on Monday. He noted that “the IC leaders who have signed this letter worked for the past four presidents, including Trump. The real power here however is the number of former, working-level IC officers who want the American people to know that once again the Russians are interfering."

[NATIONAL SECURITY

Intel chief releases Russian disinfo on Hillary Clinton that was rejected by bipartisan Senate panel

BY ANDREW DESIDERIO AND DANIEL LIPPMAN]

The former Trump administration officials who signed the letter include Russ Travers, who served as National Counterterrorism Center acting director; Glenn Gerstell, the former NSA general counsel; Rick Ledgett, the former deputy NSA director; Marc Polymeropoulos, a retired CIA senior operations officer; and Cynthia Strand, who served as the CIA’s deputy assistant director for global issues. Former CIA directors or acting directors Brennan, Leon Panetta, Gen. Michael Hayden, John McLaughlin and Michael Morell also signed the letter, along with more than three dozen other intelligence veterans. Several of the former officials on the list have endorsed Biden.

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said on Monday that the information on Biden’s laptop “is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign,” though the FBI is reportedly conducting an ongoing investigation into whether Russia was involved.

The New York Times raised questions on Sunday about the rigor of the Post’s reporting process, revealing that several of its reporters had refused to put their name on the Biden stories because they were concerned about the authenticity of the materials. The Post stood by its reporting, saying it was vetted before publication.

But the release of the material, which POLITICO has not independently verified, has drawn comparisons to 2016, when Russian hackers dumped troves of emails from Democrats onto the internet — producing few damaging revelations but fueling accusations of corruption by Trump. While there has been no immediate indication of Russian involvement in the release of emails the Post obtained, its general thrust mirrors a narrative that U.S. intelligence agencies have described as part of an active Russian disinformation effort aimed at denigrating Biden’s candidacy.

POLITICO DISPATCH: OCTOBER 20

He's been in the Senate since 2003, but this year could be his last. POLITICO's Andrew Desiderio traces Lindsey Graham's transformation from a moderate Republican known for working across the aisle to a staunch defender of President Trump.]

“We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails, provided to the New York Post by President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement,” the letter reads. But, it continues, “there are a number of factors that make us suspicious of Russian involvement.”

“Such an operation would be consistent with Russian objectives, as outlined publicly and recently by the Intelligence Community, to create political chaos in the United States and to deepen political divisions here but also to undermine the candidacy of former Vice President Biden and thereby help the candidacy of President Trump,” the letter reads.

National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director Bill Evanina said in August that Russia has been trying to denigrate Biden’s campaign, specifically through a Ukrainian lawmaker named Andriy Derkach who has met with Giuliani at least twice to discuss corruption accusations against Biden. Derkach was sanctioned by the Treasury Department last month for allegedly acting as a Russian agent and interfering in the 2020 election.

Giuliani brushed off concerns about Derkach in an interview with The Daily Beast this week, saying “the chance that Derkach is a Russian spy is no better than 50/50.” And he told The Wall Street Journal of the purported Biden email trove: “Could it be hacked? I don’t know. I don’t think so. If it was hacked, it’s for real. If it was hacked. I didn’t hack it. I have every right to use it.”

BY NATASHA BERTRAND AND KYLE CHENEY

The former officials said Derkach’s relationship with Giuliani and fixation on the Bidens, along with Russia’s reported hack on Burisma — the Ukrainian energy company that gave Hunter Biden a board seat and is at the center of Trump and his allies’ corruption allegations — “is consistent with” a Russian operation.

“For the Russians at this point, with Trump down in the polls, there is incentive for Moscow to pull out the stops to do anything possible to help Trump win and/or to weaken Biden should he win,” the letter says. “A ‘laptop op’ fits the bill, as the publication of the emails are clearly designed to discredit Biden.”

Top Biden advisers who staffed him during his vice presidency, citing their own recollections as well as a review of Biden’s official schedules, have sharply rejected suggestions that Biden ever met with a representative of Burisma in 2015 or has otherwise been involved in Hunter Biden’s business interests.

"Investigations by the press, during impeachment, and even by two Republican-led Senate committees whose work was decried as 'not legitimate' and political by a GOP colleague have all reached the same conclusion: that Joe Biden carried out official U.S. policy toward Ukraine and engaged in no wrongdoing,” Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said last week. “Trump administration officials have attested to these facts under oath.”

FILED UNDER: CIA, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, NSA, RUSSIA, JOE BIDEN,

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https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/trump-fires-people-for-telling-the-truth-president-blasted-for-dead-of-night-decision-to-fire-intel-watchdog/

‘Trump fires people for telling the truth’: President blasted for ‘dead of night decision’ to fire intel watchdog

President Donald Trump was harshly criticized on Friday for firing intelligence communityInspector General Michael Atkinson.

House Intel Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Senate Intel Ranking Member Mark Warner (D-VA) were among the lawmakers who took to Twitter to criticize Trump on his favorite social media platform.

Here’s some of what people were saying about Trump’s decision:

Adam Schiff

@RepAdamSchiff

Trump’s dead of night decision to fire ICIG Michael Atkinson is another blatant attempt to gut the independence of the Intelligence Community and retaliate against those who dare to expose presidential wrongdoing.

It puts our country and national security at even greater risk.

...

Mark Warner

@MarkWarner

In the midst of a national emergency, it is unconscionable that the President is once again attempting to undermine the integrity of the intelligence community by firing yet another intelligence official, the ICIG, simply for doing his job.

Mark Warner

@MarkWarner

The work of the intelligence community has never been about loyalty to a single individual -- it’s about keeping us all safe from those who wish to do our country harm. We should all be deeply disturbed by ongoing attempts to politicize the nation’s intelligence agencies.

Rep. Gerry Connolly

@GerryConnolly

Donald Trump tramples the Constitution again. This time, late on a Friday night under the cover of global crisis.

Congress may be at home, but we can see you, Mr. President. And we’re the one group of people you can’t fire. https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1246262473977561088 …

Kyle Griffin

@kylegriffin1

Breaking: Trump has fired the intelligence community's chief watchdog, Michael Atkinson, who was the first to sound the alarm to Congress about an "urgent" complaint he'd received from an intelligence official involving Trump's communications with Ukraine. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/03/trump-fires-intelligence-community-inspector-general-164287 …

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7:55 PM - Apr 3, 2020

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David Cicilline

@davidcicilline

How many civil servants will be victimized by this President before Republicans wake the hell up?

1,779

7:52 PM - Apr 3, 2020

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531 people are talking about this

Jim Himes

@jahimes

Captain Crozier and Inspector General Atkinson. Decent patriotic men of service doing their jobs with honor. And of course @realDonaldTrump can’t abide that.

Both fired in one week.

There is no bottom to this administration.

Chuck Schumer

@SenSchumer

Whether it’s LTC Vindman, Captain Crozier, or Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson:

President Trump fires people for telling the truth. https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1246261657086672896 …

Natasha Bertrand

@NatashaBertrand

BREAKING: Trump has fired the intelligence community’s chief watchdog, Michael Atkinson, saying he no longer has confidence in him. He will be removed 30 days from now. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/03/trump-fires-intelligence-community-inspector-general-164287 …

Chuck Schumer

@SenSchumer

Michael Atkinson is a man of integrity who has served our nation for almost two decades. Being fired for having the courage to speak truth to power makes him a patriot. https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1246261657086672896 …

Natasha Bertrand

@NatashaBertrand

Rep. Eric Swalwell

@RepSwalwell

America, time to fire @realDonaldTrump https://twitter.com/natashabertrand/status/1246261657086672896 …

Natasha Bertrand

@NatashaBertrand

BREAKING: Trump has fired the intelligence community’s chief watchdog, Michael Atkinson, saying he no longer has confidence in him. He will be removed 30 days from now.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/03/trump-fires-intelligence-community-inspector-general-164287 …

BS WT

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/nov/18/white-house-analyst-kashyap-patel-files-lawsuit-ag/

by Rowan Scarborough - The Washington Times - Monday, November 18, 2019

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A White House analyst filed a defamation lawsuit Monday against Politico and a reporter for two stories the complaint says falsely accused the analyst of hijacking Ukraine policy-making and intervening with President Trump.

Kashyap “Kash” Patel, a former investigator for Rep. Devin Nunes and now a National Security Council staffer, also says in his suit that Rep. Adam B. Schiff orchestrated press leaks against him.

The lawsuit seeks $25 million in damages and names Politico owner Robert L. Allbritton and reporter Natasha Bertrand.

Brad Dayspring, Politico’s vice president of communications and marketing, issued a statement to The Washington Times: “This lawsuit is high on bombast and low on merit. It is unserious and is a public relations tactic designed to intimidate journalists and media organizations from doing their job.”

The Democrats’ push to impeach Mr. Trump is centered on Ukraine foreign policy.

Linking Mr. Patel to Ukraine ensnares a former close aide to Mr. Nunes, California Republican and the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Mr. Patel helped write the House Intelligence Committee’s 2018 report that exonerated Mr. Trump in the Russia election investigation.

The two Politico stories stemmed from closed-door depositions by two NSC staffers — Fiona Hill, a former senior adviser and European and Russian affairs specialist, and Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, director of European affairs.

The articles, based on leaks and released transcripts, said Mr. Patel went outside his NSC lane and funneled Ukraine material to Mr. Trump. Upon the transcripts’ public release, Mr. Patel said such contact never happened.

Mr. Schiff of California, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is leading the Democrats’ impeachment drive.

Democrats sayMr. Trump committed bribery by holding up military aid to Ukraine until Kyiv opened investigations into the 2016 campaign and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

Republicans reject that charge, saying a phone call transcript of Mr. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shows no quid pro quo. They say the aid was held up from early July to early September for unrelated reasons..

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