Trump is prepared to go to any length in order to keep a November report by the U.S. National Center for Medical Intelligence from seeing the light of day
Trump has already removed IGs for the Defense Department and the CIA, and replaced them with loyalists.
This important reporting helps explain why he desperately needs loyalists in these national security and defense agencies. 1/11
Four sources who have seen the report, which dates back to November, told ABC News that it is damning. Because it was widely circulated, it presumably informed the CIA’s reporting as well (which reached similar conclusions independently). 2/11
Trump wants to make sure that voters do not know about any of this before the November election. He needs to silence all whistleblowers and critics in these departments in particular. Hence the IG shutdowns at DOD and the CIA. (My opinion). 3/11
Contrary to doubts raised in recent days by @NateSilver538 and others, the reporting on the Wuhan outbreak by our intelligence agencies was solid. For example, the November report discussed here was the product of the National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI). 4/11
The NCMI is a component of the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency, and its intelligence is highly rated:
“The report was the result of analysis of wire and computer intercepts, coupled with satellite images.” It also included reports on the ground from China. 5/11
“Medical intelligence takes into account all source information — imagery intelligence, human intelligence, signals intelligence. Then there’s analysis by people who know those specific areas.” 6/11
The November report was briefed multiple times to the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s Joint Staff and the White House. 7/11
It all culminated with a detailed explanation of the problem that appeared in the President’s Daily Brief of intelligence matters in early January. This means it would have had to go through weeks of vetting and analysis. 8/11
Intelligence reports that China’s leadership knew the epidemic was out of control even as it kept such crucial information from foreign governments and public health agencies were circulating in a number of agencies of the federal government by Thanksgiving. 9/11
Trump has denied ever seeing the Navarro internal WH memos warning of a possible cataclysm. He’ll deny seeing this stuff as well.
I guess Trump was too busy sticking his head in a big denial hole in the sand or playing golf at Mar-a-Lago. 10/11
But Trump has no excuse. He must be held accountable, and not be allowed to lie and bully his way out of it.
Trump lied, people died. 11/11
