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The Rise and Fall of H.R. McMaster

H.R._McMaster_ARCIC_2014One of the most damaged individuals from the various controversies surrounding President Donald Trump has been his National Security Adviser, General H.R. McMaster.  McMaster of course replaced the most damaged individual, General Michael Flynn who is now the subject of multiple investigations.  McMaster was brought in to bring professional and credibility to the position.  He was an excellent choice.  However, the use of McMaster to try (unsuccessfully) to deflect concerns of Trump’s disclosure of highly classified information to the Russians destroyed much of his reputation in Washington.  Now, what remains of that reputation seems to be rapidly evaporating with McMaster’s dismissive “not concerned” response to a high-level advisor (Jared Kushner) reportedly asking the Russians to create a secret, secure communications line  through their embassy or other location.  While that allegation does not appear a criminal violation in and of itself, it would a highly disturbing addition to an already troubling story on the close relations between the Trump officials and the Russians.  The former head of the NSA and CIA under Bush said that such a back channel would be both uncommon and dangerous.

McMaster’s problems began with the President’s bizarre decision to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.  This Russian meeting was been a cascading scandal that has grown worse by the hour. First, many felt that things could not get worse after Trump inexplicably met with the very Russian – Kislyak – at the heart of the Russian influence scandal on the day after he fired FBI Director James Comey. The world was debating whether Trump (who publicly denounced the Russian investigation) had canned Comey to try to curtail the investigation. The next morning, American woke to pictures of Trump laughing in the Oval Office with Lavrov and Kislyak.

The public then learned that the White House barred U.S. media from the meeting while allowing in the Russian state-run Tass organization into the Oval Office (a media outfit long suspected as a front for Russian intelligence and state services).

Then Politico reported that the meeting occurred at the request of Vladimir Putin and the Russians released the photographs without notice to the White House – sending the administration into another tailspin.

Then it pulled out McMaster who walked out in front of the White House and denied something that no one alleged: that the President had released sources and methods.  The allegation was that the President told the Russians that he had read intelligence reports on the terrorist threat over computers and then inexplicable told them the name of the village that the information came from.  Later the Israelis would confirm that it was their human intelligence and that they did not approve its disclosure — and had to quickly take steps to address the disclosure.  McMaster’s statement (with no questions) was viewed as overtly misleading and calculated by many neutral observers. Obviously the release of shared intelligence from Israel (exposing an agent within ISIS) is a serious breach of protocol.  Indeed, the White House has never explained why it was necessary for the President to even give the geographic location of the intelligence.

This however is much much worse than the disclosure of the Israeli intelligence.  Once again, I have grown weary of those on both ends of this political debate in either assuming the worst about Trump or blinding themselves to real problems.  The Russian controversy at a minimum should cause concern for all Americans. It does not make it criminal but it is astonishing to see conservatives making excuses for disclosures of highly classified information to the Russian and such allegations of secret back channels.  It is all worthy of detached and dispassionate investigation.  On that we should all be able to agree.

McMaster insisted that “We have back-channel communications with any number of individual (countries). So generally speaking, about back-channel communications, what that allows you to do is communicate in a discreet manner.” He added  “we’re not concerned about it.”  If that last statement is true, we all have reason to be concerned.  Various national security experts have disagreed with that statement for obvious reasons.

I have worked around national security field for a couple decades, including holding and maintaining a TS/SCI clearance for much of that time.  I have represented officials accused of leaks and others accused of national security violations.  It is certainly true that back channels are often used as was the case in the Cuban missile crisis.  However, this is different.  Kushner could have easily asked for the creation of a secure line for discussions with the Russians from the Obama Administration.  Obama had shown a significant level of deference to Trump’s team after the election, including asking them to approve the campaign on arming the Kurds (which Flynn reportedly blocked initially).

This is different. The allegation is the Kushner went not to the American intelligence but to the Russians to create a secret line of communication. The key would be whether Kushner told American intelligence. If he did, my concerns are reduced (though not eliminated).  I expected the White House to come out with that type of statement but it has remained virtually silent for days beyond McMaster’s statement.  The most pressing question is whether Kushner shared his plans with Flynn or some other national security adviser or official. The Trump camp was already receiving regular national security briefings and had a staff of national security personnel assigned to it after the election.

I am not sure how Kushner could complete the SF-86 and other standard forms without disclosing such an effort as well as the undisclosed meetings with the Russians. It is one thing to claim (rather implausibly that these meetings were insignificant and thus unworthy of disclosure) but entirely another thing to claim that an effort to create a secret communication channel did not have to be disclosed.  This is a very big deal for people who guard our secrets.

I have heard that national security experts are appalled by the role being played by McMaster to deflect these scandals.  Most of the top officials have conspicuously removed themselves from these controversies. McMaster looks like the “designated defendant” for the White House.  His stated lack of concern over releasing Israeli intelligence to the Russians coupled with his lack of concern of secret Russian communications has left many wondering what would concern him.  The problem with being a political human shield is that it leaves little credibility in your dealings with Congress or other countries or even the U.S. military and intelligence organizations.

Once again, the lack of response from the White House has again served to magnify this latest controversy.  The White House seems to have taken a largely pedestrian view of scandals — watching the fires with the hope that they will burn themselves out.  The problem is that there are too many fires and they are beginning to combine into a runaway firestorm.  McMaster has put himself dead center in that firestorm and his credibility is rapidly melting away.

 

142 thoughts on “The Rise and Fall of H.R. McMaster”

  1. The Trump supporters have now become the Trump excusers, at best, explainers but poorly, poorly because you simply cannot make a silk purse out of a pig’s ear and pearls should not be tossed before swine. This is after only a few months, not a half a year, not a year, not half a term… This is the difference between the preceding Presidents and Trump. Trump started early, sometime in adolescence, with becoming a complete: charlatan, idiot, a**hole, buffoon, etc (the list is too too long). Trump was born into wealth, privilege, and every connection to create his empire pandering to the mega wealthy. There is nothing else there. This becomes more and more obvious every day. This is seen in the apologies of the desperate.

    Every other President held some level of competence before, up to, and well into their Presidencies. You can always complain about how Obama focused on certain neighborhoods in Chicago but not in gated communities, how this or that President learned in a cloistered manner. The fact of the matter is that a President is only one person coming from a limited background, whatever it is. It is typically through politics or in the service of the people, the people in general. It becomes perverted once in office and typically well before as the candidates learn all about the sides of the toast which are buttered and who does the buttering, the strings and what is attached to them, etc. Never before was a President exposed as so deficient, so early, and to such a degree, as Trump.

    The major criticisms of any administration, aside from the ideological ‘minuteman’ versus ‘progressive’ schtick, is how gas prices fare and the cost of junk. Unfortunately too many Americans equate the quality of life with the cost of life. The Trump supporters were looking for a benevolent despot to rule them with an iron hand and much bravado. As it turns out, there isn’t even much bravado, just buffoonery and incompetence.

    Bannon, Kushner, Trump, etc, all have one overriding concern that overwhelms the reason for their position, themselves and their wealth. Ask yourself, honestly-if possible, would Trump, Kushner, and the other oligarchs make a decision that is good for the majority of the population, at their own personal expense, or the expense of their fellow ‘club’ members? There has never been a duo like Kushner and Trump in the White House, never two oligarchs-both born into it with no other perspective, never two megalomaniacs of such placement that deal primarily with the mega wealthy…… Think on that awhile.

  3. ” The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists ” Hannah Arendt, the origins of totalitarianism. 1951……….And after reading some and most of these comments today I see why Trump supporters are hanging by their fingernails on any excuse they can get.

  4. One wonders what this will do to the military career of McMaster. Ethical compromises of the kind involved here contradict the thesis of his highly regarded book on Vietnam. Another caution about having senior military officers in the White House.

  5. I cannot believe how stupid Democrat voters have become. Im no fan of the GOP either but the Democrats take it to a whole different level.

  6. McMaster is now eating his ***t sandwich. Wonder if he likes ketchup on it, like Trump.

  7. Notice how the Washington Post, who is the CIAs *itch btw, printed that story right after the 2 stories broke

    Of Obama spying on every American and Seth Rich being assassinated probably by the DNC

      1. Are you anti-law enforcement or something?In your world Trump and his mobsters go free.

          2. And the Gateway Pundit troll carries on and on to deflect from the profs column.

  8. Where’s the crime? Back Channels have been in use continuously ever since Marconi invented the radio. Even in something as low level as squad commo on AN/PRC25’s when using the triple nickel 55.5 channel the highest one available was in common use and we used to pass requests and info from as far north as overlooking the DMZ with North Vietnam to as far South as Saigon area. The current version of back channeling is called email and a good example of common usage is civilian and non US

    Citizencrews on Military Sealift Command supply ships giving location and movement information to their families in a foreign country and those were straight up intentional leaks especially when some were avowed very open about it Muslims. No big deal nothing done BUT ……we also had the Commanding General going on pubic TV and leaking routes and arrival times of the ships to various Middle East ports with information such as it takes five or six ships to transport the *** divisions equipment. Nothing done about it. In fact I think that guy made Chief of Staff.

    But in this case someone out of the loop of security moniitoring thought it would be a good idea to approach another country who were fighting against the same enemey as ourselves and mend some fences and establish some communication. The security clearacnes and the briefings and the training came later BUT it did come and was accepted unlike the SecState of the previous administration who refused the briefings. and established a full blown pipeline.

    This smacks of another Hillary coverup….and another example of a government gone rogue or at the least so lax it thinks it walks on water.

    It is not distrubing, not uncommon, and the opinion of the previous administration to the contrary is hardly from again un-named sources is hardly a source that can be trusted. IF we knew who the leakers were?

    1. I did not Miss Spell public intentionally but on contemplation it seems to fit the legitimacy of the whole discussion.

  9. Obama literally continued most Bush policy and wars as well as started new ones and you literally have Leftists falling all over themselves to defend him. Its insane. You people have zero integrity.

    Obama created wars
    Obama created a Orwellian spying system on the American people
    Obama lied to your faces on most everything

    and just because he has ‘Democrat’ beside his name, you defend him. You are all fools.

    But worse, you are listening to the propagandists and NWO moles that are trying to oust the guy who can expose their treachery.

    2. Your attempts to deflect from the current criminals residing in the whitehouse are pathetic and old. Good day.

    3. You run the same footage every other day. Clinton has not been Secretary of State for 5 years. Who ever is paying you is not getting their moneys worth.

      1. But Hillary’s work in Libya lives on. It’s a chaotic failed state and a major base for ISIS terrorists (who massacred a bus full of Egyptian Coptic Christians just the other day). And black slavery (complete with open slave markets) has returned to Libya.

  10. The lefty poison is coming out . It is so disgusting that even the somewhat reasonable democrats get brainwashed by the media . If this country continues to have the current crop of media filth and the elites I’m skeptical about the future of the politics and the msm, it can really destroy everything and every principle of self growth that had enabled the young US to become the only superpower

  11. The Left is so warped now that they are literally buying into and doing the dirty work for the CIA. Chew on that a minute. The freakin CIA who does nothing but lie and try to rig every election around the world and start wars for corporations. Thats who you are believing? They freaking blew Kennedys head off for daring to oppose them ! Holy cow.

      2. It was OK to hate the FBI when J. Edgar was alive and chasing Communists.

  12. McMaster’s name has indeed been severely damaged as a result of the Washington Post’s bombshell and expose on the Trump-Russian connection!

    As previously reported, The Post’s crack investigative reporters have uncovered and obtained incontrovertiblebonified, and verified evidence that Jared Kushner ate sandwiches and/or salads that included RUSSIAN dressing made with a secret or unknown recipe on February 21, 2016, April 7, 2016, April 28, 2016, June 3, 2016, September 12, 2016, September 15, 2016, September 20, 2016, September 30, 2016, October 5, 2016, October 12, 2016, October 16, 2016, November 4, 2016, November 5, 2016, November 7, 2016, November 8, 2016, November 12, 2016, and December 7, 2016.

    Reporters interviewed countless waiters and studied days of restaurant surveillance videos that demonstrated Kushner’s undeniable pattern in which he consumed the RUSSIAN dressing with increasingly greater frequency at the approaching U.S. election and even after the election. And if this were not damning evidence enough, the Washinton Post engaged prominent British statisician Sir David Roxbee Cox to assess the likelihood that Kushner’s consumption of the RUSSIAN dressing was a mere coincidence. But Sir Cox definitively concluded that the odds of this being a coincidence were 1 in 2,563,890.

    Now, The Post has also revealed that both Trump, Kusner, and McMaster were once caught consuming food made with RUSSIAN dressing. While they may try to brush this off as another coincidence, clearly the evidence against them is mounting.

    Can you taste impeachment? Can you taste the Pulitzer Prize coming for these revelations? We truly are blessed to have such outstanding reporting by The Post and Jon Turley’s own damning commentary on this pressing and vital national security subject.

    1. You better pray theres never an impeachment because it will cause a Civil War. 65 Million people voted for Trump. Most of whom voted for him in the GOP primary against all the Establishment puppets. Most of whom did so because Trump represents their anger at the system that is rigged and corrupt. Most of whom are freakin armed and willing to take up arms to defend Trump against the corrupt rigged political parties. So tread carefully.

      1. Go ahead and defend the Kushner Trump crime family. They won’t reward you. They hate you. You are not rich.

  13. This is a hit piece not worthy of the author. Innuendo and accusatory language a la CNN. Why?

      1. Jon Turley did not wake up. He’s always been a dedicated Leftist. As a confirmed and dilgent Leftist he know that all opponents to Leftism are all guilty. The Leftists have told us this is so and only the Leftists have any credibility. We must always look to Leftists for guidance in our lives. They will tell us what to think, what to believe, and what to do. They have our best interests at heart, and we would be well served to comply and be obedient to their interests. Thank you, Frank for you wise and prudent thoughts on this compelling issue.

          1. How is Russia an enemy of the US? Ukraine is not in NATO or any other alliance with the US.

            Based on the record, a better case can be made that Israel is an enemy of the US: (1) Clandestine false flag attacks on US facilities in Egypt (the Lavon Affair) to increase tensions between US and Egypt, (2) Israel attacked a US intel ship (USS Liberty) with the full knowledge it was a US ship (killing 34, wounding 174). It was *not* a case of “friendly fire”, (3) The Jonathan Pollard spy operation, Journalist Seymour Hersh: “A full accounting of the materials provided by Pollard to the Israelis has been impossible to obtain: Pollard himself has estimated that the documents would create a stack six feet wide, six feet long, and ten feet high. Rafi Eitan, the Israeli who controlled the operation, and two colleagues of his attached to the Israeli diplomatic delegation — Irit Erb and Joseph Yagur — were named as unindicted co-conspirators by the Justice Department. In the summer of 1984, Eitan brought in Colonel Aviem Sella, an Air Force hero, who led Israel’s dramatic and successful 1981 bombing raid on the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak. (Sella was eventually indicted, in absentia, on three counts of espionage.) Eitan’s decision to order Sella into the case is considered by many Americans to have been a brilliant stroke: the Israeli war hero was met with starry eyes by Pollard, a chronic wannabe. Yagur, Erb, and Sella were in Washington when Pollard was first seized by the F.B.I., in November, 1985, but they quickly left the country, never to return. During one period, Pollard had been handing over documents to them almost weekly, and they had been forced to rent an apartment in northwest Washington, where they installed a high-speed photocopying machine. “Safe houses and special Xeroxes?” an American career intelligence officer said, despairingly, concerning the Pollard operation. “This was not the first guy they’d recruited.” In the years following Pollard’s arrest and confession, the Israeli government chose not to cooperate fully with the F.B.I. and Justice Department investigation, and only a token number of the Pollard documents have been returned. It was not until last May that the Israeli government even acknowledged that Pollard had been its operative., (4) Israel’s history of unauthorized resale of the latest US def tech to China.

        2. Prof Turley is a man with integrity that I respect. I think he has been tricked on this though and being led off the trail of the real crime……. Obamas Orwellian database

    2. Seems like some love to spew the hate, the lies and innuendo while other so called impartial jurists are just two faced huge pot stirrers. Still called playing the GOTCHA game. Good try professor but your liberal thong is showing. Oh, and stop bragging about your credentials. Very unbecoming. Stick to facts and case law and get the hell out of the kitchen.

    3. He’s been in D.C. long enough to fear the tar and feathering he will get by failing to carry his pitchfork and torch in lock step with those who – unlike McMasters – care more about their “image” than about the rule of law and the stability of this country.

  15. Micheal, where you yelling “Lock Her Up” about Hillary? Where you yelling about Obama’s birth certificate? Its just that the ones that foamed at the mouth about Obama and Hillary are the very same ones that are saying that there’s nothing there about Trump.

      1. Stephen King @StephenKing

        ISIS: A rogue cult that has substituted superstition and murder for spirituality. Every bombing hastens the day when they will be no more.-Twitter.

        Who is going to care of it Stephen?
        Generation Snowflake?

        1. Libs are retconning history to convince the credulous that no Islamic terrorism existed prior to ISIS.

  17. Let me explain what is going on exactly

    Bush/Clinton/Obama Cabal, aka The New World Order are trying to destroy Trump because he is not part of the NWO syndicate. So they are lying or distorting everything.

    This just shows the dangers of a surveillance state. Not because it will catch ‘bad guys or traitors’ but because it allows bad guys or traitors to usually hijack control of a country in spite of elections

    Look at this.

    1. “Let me explain what is going on exactly.”
      Well, let ME explain what is going on exactly:
      The Trump and Kushner organizations/families have received many millions of dollars/rubles, to fund and finance their numerous real estate and development deals around the globe. This occurred because conventional banks and funding sources did not want anything to do with Trump/Kushners, possibly because of bankruptcies and shady and strongarm practices.
      To protect these investments, the Russians implemented a shrewd and ultimately successful campaign, to undermine the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, just enough to nudge DJT into the White House. Hillary made many mistakes to be sure, but the Russian thumb was on the scale, just enough.
      To protect these investments, and possibly get more funding, the Trump/Kushner organizations wanted and still want clandestine channels into Russia, to get their marching orders and learn just what concessions and considerations the Russians want, such as a free hand in eastern Europe and a weakening of NATO.
      That is, you might say the Russians would like the US government to be their puppet state, hopefully without anyone catching on.

  18. I don’t see anyone in the administration who has any credibility, lots of incredibility, but not credibility.

    1. You’re correct. Only Leftists can have credibility. That goes without sayng. If you want credibility, you have to go to the Clintons. They know what is credible and what is not.

  19. Where IS the CRIME? Probably in all the baseless, unfounded, BS that is littering this site to what purpose? Where’s the crime, where’s the proof? Nothing but unknown sources and unsigned letters?

    In the last month standards have taken a worse nose dive than United Airlines

    1. The crime is OBVIOUS. Guilty, guilty, guilty. The Post and Jon Turley have clearly stated, “Show me the man, and I will show you the crime.” That is ALL the evidence that is needed to convict the guilty in the MSM.

  20. Nearly every one that takes a job with Trump ends up damaged.The prince-in-law may end up wearing orange and I don’t mean sharing his father in laws orange face paint.

    1. Yes, they were all guilty before they began the presidency. The Leftists have told us this is so and only the Leftists have any credibility. We must always look to Leftists for guidance in our lives. They will tell us what to think, what to believe, and what to do. They have our best interests at heart, and we would be well served to comply and be obedient to their interests.

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