May 28, 2017

Did Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly have to take a loyalty oath before being offered his position? I ask because his responses to Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday are completely absurd, but consistent with someone indentured to Dear Leader.

Chris Wallace asked Secretary Kelly for his reaction to revelations about Jared Kushner and his efforts to set up a backchannel using Russian communications equipment in the Russian embassy in order to avoid accountability to U.S. security agencies.

Kelly ducked at first, casting doubt on the veracity of the report, but Wallace nipped that in the bud by letting Kelly know he had independently confirmed the story.

Backtracking, Kelly said, "I would just tell you, Chris, that I think any channel of communications, back or otherwise, with a country like Russia is a good thing."

"I mean, multiple ways to communicate back and forth is a good thing with any country, I think, and particularly a country like Russia, so it doesn’t bother me," he added.

Well, then. This is coming from the folks who had apoplexy over an unhacked private email server located on the grounds of Hillary Clinton's home in upstate New York. Yet it's no big deal now to establish backchannel communications with a hostile country that just interfered in our election.

Wallace was pretty shocked by Kelly's response, too.

"Let me — you say you don’t see a big deal?"

Kelly reiterated that he thought any communication with Russia was just fine by him, and that in fact, he saw no issue with any of it.

This is some of the most disingenuous and dishonest spin I've ever seen. Question the story, refuse to comment until everything is confirmed by investigators, or whatever, but the collective shrugs of so-called national security professionals are disturbing and unsettling to those of us who know better.

Even Chris Wallace knows better!

(h/t ShareBlue)

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon