US Politics 2

A second intelligence official who was alarmed by President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine is weighing whether to file his own formal whistle-blower complaint and testify to Congress, according to two people briefed on the matter.

The official has more direct information about the events than the first whistle-blower, whose complaint that Mr. Trump was using his power to get Ukraine to investigate his political rivals touched off an impeachment inquiry. The second official is among those interviewed by the intelligence community inspector general to corroborate the allegations of the original whistle-blower, one of the people said.

The inspector general, Michael Atkinson, briefed lawmakers privately on Friday about how he substantiated the whistle-blower’s account. It was not clear whether he told lawmakers that the second official was considering filing a complaint.

A new complaint, particularly from someone closer to the events, would potentially add further credibility to the account of the first whistle-blower, a C.I.A. officer who was detailed to the National Security Council at one point. He said that he relied on information from more than a half-dozen American officials to compile his allegations about Mr. Trump’s campaign to solicit foreign election interference that could benefit him politically.

twitter.com/RWPUSA/status/1180259281469366280

The wife of a US diplomat has left the UK after being made a suspect in an investigation into a fatal crash.

Harry Dunn, 19, of Charlton, Banbury, was killed when his motorbike crashed with a car near RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on 27 August.

Police said they wanted to interview an American woman in her 40s.

Mr Dunn's mother Charlotte Charles says she is "utterly devastated" the woman has left the country, and is willing to travel to the US to seek her return.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he had called the US ambassador to express his "disappointment" she had left the UK.

Ms Charles told the BBC's PM programme: "Harry's stepdad, my husband, is a US citizen. A couple of weeks or more after we'd lost Harry we let the police know that Bruce, my husband, was a US citizen, in the hope that that would help matters.

"We're really hoping to try to get her back... you just hope that he [Dominic Raab] can try to get through to her. We don't wish her any ill harm, but we don't understand how she can just get on a plane and leave our family just utterly devastated.

"If we don't get any luck over here, then we will go over there."

RAF Croughton is a United States Air Force communications station.

Tafdolphin wrote:So without seeing evidence, and on the promise of money, McConnell is promising to quash the impeachment.

I genuinely don't know who's the bigger banana split at this point, Trump or Turtle-face.

Peter Crisp wrote:We have an extradition deal with the US and can issue an arrest warrant which will surely be carried out by US police if needed.
If this were the other war round I would expect UK police to do the same. I'm pretty sure you can't just bugger off to the US if you're a vital part of a possible murder investigation in the UK and it would reflect pretty terminally to any diplomats career to be living with family members who are in that situation.

On the issue of McConnell he really is an absolute banana split. He's spent years blocking everything from even being voted on for purely partisan reasons and then has the gall to moan when people point out just how damaging his actions are. Some of the stuff he's blocked is pretty incredible.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/18/poli ... index.html

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twitter.com/KellyO/status/1180828433573650433

twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/1180906578020569089

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captain red dog wrote:Trump's latest tweets are just something else. "great and unmatched wisdom"

twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1181232251390042118

twitter.com/revrrlewis/status/1181171727453364225

twitter.com/senatemajldr/status/1181271624550617089

A precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime. And it would increase the risk that ISIS and other terrorist groups regroup.

I urge the President to exercise American leadership to keep together our multinational coalition to defeat ISIS and prevent significant conflict between our NATO ally Turkey and our local Syrian counterterrorism partners. Major new conflict between Turkey and our partners in Syria would seriously risk damaging Turkey’s ties to the United States and causing greater isolation for Turkey on the world stage.

twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/1181204804586090497

twitter.com/SenatorRomney/status/1181213916740894720

twitter.com/marcorubio/status/1181192608762269696

Nikki Haley, former US ambassador to the UN, said the Kurds "were instrumental in our successful fight against" IS in Syria and that "leaving them to die [was] a big mistake".

In other reaction:

- Kino Gabriel, spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - which occupy former IS territory in north-eastern Syria - told Arabic TV station al-Hadath that the move "was a surprise and we can say that it is a stab in the back for the SDF"
- Brett McGurk, former US special presidential envoy for the coalition against IS, said the announcement demonstrated a "complete lack of understanding of anything happening on the ground"
- UN humanitarian chief in Syria Panos Moumtzis said aid workers were "preparing for the worst" if fighting breaks out in north-eastern Syria

twitter.com/JimLaPorta/status/1181272705133404193

In the place of clarity we only have President Trump's tweets and statements which appear to contradict him from both the state department and the Pentagon. This morning he appeared to signal the start of a US troop pullout from Syria and seemed to be washing his hands of the country, implicitly giving a green light for a major Turkish incursion.

Now both the state department and the Pentagon say there is no major shift in US policy; that only a handful of US troops have been pulled back for their own safety, fearing some Turkish move. And they insist that this administration, including the president, stands firmly against any further Turkish move across the border.

So did the President act on a Twitter whim in the wake of his phone call with Turkey's President Erdogan, only to be appraised of the likely consequences afterwards by officials?

This is an object lesson in how dysfunctional US foreign policy making has become.

Moggy wrote:

captain red dog wrote:Trump's latest tweets are just something else. "great and unmatched wisdom"

twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1181232251390042118

strawberry floating hell

twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1181322726843265026

twitter.com/HouseForeign/status/1181314334783414277