Maddowblog-Conversation about Jared Kushner served as basis for Gabbard whistleblower complaint
New details are bringing the DNI whistleblower controversy into sharper focus.
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/conversation-about-jared-kushner-served-as-basis-for-gabbard-whistleblower-complaint
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbards troubles managed to get worse early last week when The Wall Street Journal reported that an unnamed U.S. intelligence official accused the DNI of wrongdoing in a highly sensitive whistleblower complaint that was supposed to be shared with Congress....
On Thursday, one of the core details of the story also came to the fore. The Wall Street Journal reported:
The highly classified whistleblower complaint against Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is related to a conversation intercepted last spring in which two foreign nationals discussed Jared Kushner, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
It couldnt be determined which country the foreign nationals are from or what they discussed about Kushner. But the connection to Kushner sheds further light on the top-secret whistleblower complaint that bureaucratically stalled within Gabbards agency for eight months and was kept locked in a safe until it reached Congress in heavily redacted form last week.
....And when that same official filed a complaint that was supposed to be shared with Congress, Gabbard apparently chose a different path.
There are still other unanswered questions we dont know what country the foreign nationals were from or what they had to say about Kushner but the latest revelations should probably renew the broader conversation about the presidents son-in-law and his role in the administration.
In Trumps first term, Kushner had an almost comically broad policy portfolio, but in the wake of Trumps defeat in 2020, his son-in-law shifted his focus away from domestic policymaking and toward international business, launching a private equity firm and picking up $2 billion from Saudi Arabias sovereign wealth fund.
In the presidents second term, hes nevertheless brought Kushner back into the fold, tapping his son-in-law to serve as a special envoy, representing the White House in Russia and the Middle East despite concerns about Kushners experience, skill set, potential conflicts of interest and role in the private sector.