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View Full Version : John Ratcliffe: Trump withdraws pick for US intelligence director




Zippyjuan
08-02-2019, 02:32 PM
Trump claims he only hires the best people but a very large number seem to have troubles even getting to the approval process. Naturally he blames the media for picking poor candidates.


intelligence amid criticism that the Texas congressman was under-qualified.

Mr Trump tweeted that he told Texas Republican John Ratcliffe that the nomination process would be "miserable" for him due to unfair media coverage.

Mr Ratcliffe thanked Mr Trump and said he did not want the job to become "a purely political and partisan issue".

Critics have accused Mr Ratcliffe of padding his intelligence credentials.

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Mr Ratcliffe was appointed by Mr Trump days after his aggressive questioning of former-Special Counsel Robert Mueller, the ex-FBI director who led an inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Last Tuesday, after Mr Ratcliffe was picked, Mr Trump defended him as the best man to control US intelligence agencies - a frequent target of criticism by Mr Trump.



Perhaps the president has had a change of view. More probable, however, is that John Ratcliffe's chances of being successfully confirmed by the US Senate were diminishing by the day.

The drumbeat of negative information about Mr Ratcliffe's credentials-inflation was only exacerbating existing Senate concerns about his qualifications for the intelligence post. Prominent Republicans like Foreign Relations Committee Chair Richard Burr were signalling reluctance to support the president's choice.

It wouldn't take too many Republican defections to sink Mr Ratcliffe's nomination if it came to a vote.

This is far from the first time the president has seen a political appointment founder - either before or after confirmation - because of insufficient vetting or objections from unexpected sources.

At this point in his presidency it seems unlikely that Mr Trump will back away from his nominate-from-the-hip style of personnel selection, but it's also clear at this point that such an approach comes at a price.



More at link.

Brian4Liberty
08-02-2019, 02:43 PM
Ah, so the swamp didn’t like Ratcliffe.

Cap
08-02-2019, 02:43 PM
This looks like a job for ...wait for it...















































https://rightweb.irc-online.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/elliott-abrams1-1.jpg

Zippyjuan
08-02-2019, 02:46 PM
Ah, so the swamp didn’t like Ratcliffe.

Is Rand Paul swamp? http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?537469-Rand-Paul-says-Trump-Intel-pick-has-worrisome-record-on-surveillance

https://hillreporter.com/rand-paul-becomes-first-republican-to-voice-doubts-over-john-ratcliffe-42181


Rand Paul Becomes First Republican To Voice Doubts Over John Ratcliffe

Rand Paul, the Republican senator from Kentucky, has always made a point of breaking from the pack. He regularly voices displeasure with GOP initiatives, but often votes for them in the end. This behavior was apparent when Paul threatened to vote against Trump’s tax bill, but helped to pass the measure in the end.

Paul has now voiced his displeasure with a nomination that the President has recently announced. Paul told reporters on Wednesday that he is concerned with National Intelligence nominee, John Ratcliffe’s record on surveillance.

The Kentucky senator told The Hill, “My first impression is [Ratcliffe] seems to be coming from a different point of view, which is worrisome. I haven’t made a final conclusion, but I can tell you that our initial look is very, very worrisome. It sounds like he’s been a proponent of more power to the FISA court, he’s been a proponent of warrantless searches.”

Paul continued, “We’ve been advocating for years that we need more protection for Americans. The Fourth Amendment needs to be applied more consistently throughout the intelligence community. We want more restrictions on FBI looking at FISA data that’s been obtained without a warrant for Americans.”

The Kentucky senator finished by saying that Fourth Amendment concerns are his biggest worry. “I’m more worried about that than whether or not he’s a loyalist to the president because I think it takes someone who thinks maybe the president was abused, it takes someone who can generalize that to say, hey, I’m for really protecting all Americans from an overzealous intelligence community, and I’m not so sure his record reflects that,” said Paul.

Brian4Liberty
08-02-2019, 02:56 PM
Is Rand Paul swamp? http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?537469-Rand-Paul-says-Trump-Intel-pick-has-worrisome-record-on-surveillance

https://hillreporter.com/rand-paul-becomes-first-republican-to-voice-doubts-over-john-ratcliffe-42181

Yeah right. As if the people who decide do it for the same reasons as Rand.

Like when Rand votes against a budget that is too big, and everyone else votes against it because it’s too small. Ratcliffe was probably not a big enough war mongering, rights stomping statist for the swamp.

Occam's Banana
08-02-2019, 03:05 PM
This looks like a job for ...wait for it...















































https://rightweb.irc-online.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/elliott-abrams1-1.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/olUAWo6.jpg

Zippyjuan
08-02-2019, 03:07 PM
Yeah right. As if the people who decide do it for the same reasons as Rand.

Like when Rand votes against a budget that is too big, and everyone else votes against it because it’s too small. Ratcliffe was probably not a big enough war mongering, rights stomping statist for the swamp.

Concerns have also been raised about him lying about his background.


https://www.texastribune.org/2019/08/02/texas-rep-john-ratcliffe-said-he-arrested-300-immigrants/


Trump’s pick to lead U.S. intelligence claims he arrested 300 undocumented immigrants in a single day. He didn’t.

President Trump’s choice to lead the nation’s intelligence community often cites a massive roundup of immigrant workers at poultry plants in 2008 as a highlight of his career. U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Heath, claims that as a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Texas, he was the leader of the immigration crackdown, describing it as one of the largest cases of its kind.

“As a U.S. Attorney, I arrested over 300 illegal immigrants on a single day,” Rat*cliffe says on his congressional website.

But a closer look at the case shows that Ratcliffe’s claims conflict with the court record and the recollections of others who participated in the operation — at a time when he is under fire for embellishing his record.

Ratcliffe played a supporting role in the 2008 sweep, which involved U.S. attorneys’ offices in five states and was led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, according to a Justice Department news release. The effort targeted workers at poultry processor Pilgrim’s Pride who were suspected of using stolen Social Security numbers.

Only 45 workers were charged by prosecutors in Ratcliffe’s office, court documents show. Six of those cases were dismissed, two of them because the suspects turned out to be American citizens. One of those citizens, a 19-year-old woman, was awakened in her home and hauled away by immigration agents, the woman said in an interview.

Two people involved in the planning or execution of the enforcement effort said they could not recall Ratcliffe playing a central role.

A.J. Irwin, a former immigration investigator who was involved in the early planning stages before retiring, said in an interview that the operation was a costly failure. Later, as a private immigration consultant, he advised the poultry processor after the sweep and gathered details about the woman who was arrested.

“At the end of the day, it did not deliver,” Irwin said. “It was the biggest waste of money and hype.”




https://www.newsweek.com/ratcliffe-trump-terrorism-republican-texas-1451849


"John Ratcliffe's Website Claimed He Won Terrorism Convictions as a Federal Prosecutor- He Didn't."

Question marks have been raised over the depth of experience touted by President Donald Trump's pick to lead the country's intelligence agencies.

Trump has been fulsome in his praise of Texas congressman John Ratcliffe, who he wants to take over from Dan Coats as Director of National Intelligence.

Trump told reporters on Tuesday, via The Hill: "We need somebody strong that can really rein it in, because as I think you've all learned, the intelligence agencies have run amok."

However, opponents have pointed to discrepancies between the Texas Republican's stated and actual experience. Concern is growing among Democrats, and some Republicans, about his resume.

On his website, Ratcliffe says he had convicted suspects accused of funneling money to Hamas.

The case revolved around government efforts to end funding of terrorist groups after the September 11 attacks.

Known as the "Holy Land Foundation" investigation, its focus was a Muslim charity that had sent money to the banned Palestinian terrorist group.

But former government lawyers and an ex-F.B.I. official said Ratcliffe had played no part in the substance of the case, which was prosecuted in another Texas district, ABC News reported.

Another prosecutor said that Ratcliffe had only investigated possible irregularities that caused a mistrial in 2007.

Rachel Stephens, a spokeswoman for Ratcliffe's congressional office, confirmed to The New York Times that the Justice Department had appointed him "to investigate issues related to the outcome" of the Hamas case.

Other credentials that Ratcliffe brandishes include his post as United States attorney for the Eastern District of Texas during the George W. Bush administration.

However he was only an interim holder of that position, which he held between two Senate-confirmed presidential appointees, the NYT reported.

Brian4Liberty
08-02-2019, 03:33 PM
Concerns have also been raised about him lying about his background.

https://www.texastribune.org/2019/08/02/texas-rep-john-ratcliffe-said-he-arrested-300-immigrants/


https://www.newsweek.com/ratcliffe-trump-terrorism-republican-texas-1451849

Was this before or after Hillary Clinton was jumping out of helicopters under heavy fire?

Occam's Banana
08-02-2019, 04:00 PM
Was this before or after Hillary Clinton was jumping out of helicopters under heavy fire?

I bet Brian Williams could tell us ...

Swordsmyth
08-02-2019, 04:15 PM
Trump probably had someone else in mind all along.

Zippyjuan
08-02-2019, 06:18 PM
Trump probably had someone else in mind all along.

He only picks the best people. If this was the best.....

Swordsmyth
08-02-2019, 06:22 PM
He only picks the best people. If this was the best.....
He picks the people who best suit his purposes and my point was that maybe this wasn't a real pick but a head-fake.

Zippyjuan
08-02-2019, 06:24 PM
He picks the people who best suit his purposes and my point was that maybe this wasn't a real pick but a head-fake.

So Trump was lying again. This is his 63rd withdrawn nominee so far. Obama only had 32.