Trump Swaps Gaetz for Bondi. FBI Director Out, Too?

Russia fires nuke-capable missile at Ukraine. Your weekly roundup

Trump’s new pick for Attorney General, Pam Bondi | Getty

Weapons of Mass Distraction. Russia’s attack on Ukraine by a long-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead this week led to another round of panicked discussions about the danger of nuclear war. The incident was in fact carefully choreographed with Washington. Moscow notified the U.S. beforehand that it would use such a missile, “through nuclear risk reduction channels,” as the Pentagon puts it. The Pentagon also says that they did not see any changes in Moscow’s nuclear posture. In other words, the strike was just Putin saber rattling to scare the Europeans into thinking nuclear war is imminent — a narrative the major media played into beautifully with its sensational coverage.

Russia’s use of a new missile was in response to news this week that the Biden administration granted Ukraine permission to fire U.S.-made ATACMS missiles onto Russian territory. We didn’t come close to nuclear war this week but the conflict is clearly escalating. So much for the adults being in charge.

There is no war with Russia. At least, that’s the dubious position of the Pentagon. After Russia’s missile attack, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said, “We don’t seek war with Russia.” Then she uttered this doozy:

“Our forces aren’t in the fight. You don’t see it. I mean, the only other foreign country that’s been brought into this fight is North Korean soldiers on the battlefield, But you’re not seeing U.S. fighters on the ground. And that’s not the intention of this administration.”

I haven’t seen a whopper that big since Biden claimed the U.S. isn’t at war anywhere in the world (literally an hour before the U.S. bombed Houthi fighters in Yemen, as I wrote at the time.) In reality, the U.S. has had CIA operatives and special operations forces going in and out of Ukraine for well over a year, and it just announced that American contractors would serve on the ground as well. It’s time to end the charade that “boots on the ground” only means infantry. 

My favorite Singh lie was her statement that “We don’t want to see this escalated to a wider regional conflict” — the exact same line the Biden administration has been using in relation to the Gaza war (now expanded to Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen). In both cases, the conflicts are already plenty regional.

Former commander of Army forces in Europe retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges provided a much more honest assessment to CNN’s Erin Burnett:

“Of course, the Russians are at war with us. Even if we don't think of ourselves as being at war with them in the traditional sense…the Russians are at war with us, whether it's disinformation, missiles flying through Polish airspace, Latvian airspace, Romanian airspace, sabotage."

The link between the nuclear war frenzy and denial of boots on the ground is Washington’s big lie that the war as it is — with a combined one million plus dead and injured on both sides — isn’t bad enough, that the world hasn’t ended. That kind of complacency about the world at war is part of why Kamala Harris lost the election.

FBI head turning in his badge? The FBI director is supposed to serve a set ten-year term and be above and beyond partisan politics, but word is already circulating in Washington that current  FBI Director Christopher Wray is going to be fired by Trump.

This week, Wray gave what sounds like a farewell address, a sign that he knows his days are numbered . Wray gave the remarks at an FBI Agents Association dinner in Las Vegas. The talk was titled, “G-Man Honors: A Salute to FBI Heroes.” What better way to salute the heroes than shaking down the taxpayer one last time? Wray’s speech lamented “the shortsighted prospect of budget cuts…” Never mind that the Bureau’s budget has almost doubled since 9/11.

Tulsi trials. Trump’s pick for Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has an impressive ability to make her critics sound even more crazy than she is. Here’s Virginia congressperson Abigail Spanberger talking to MSNBC’s Jen Psaki about Gabbard:

“I’m a former CIA officer. I worked undercover for my time at the Agency as a case officer. The reason this nomination is so dangerous is because any damage she would do, any information, she would provide the president. She tweets Russian propaganda, why not include it in the presidential brief?” 

To answer the congresswoman’s question, the reason Gabbard wouldn’t include Russian propaganda in the presidential daily brief is because she would not have the ability to do so. Every word in the PDB is carefully chosen, edited, and vetted by a multitude of agencies in the intelligence community. And though the PDB is delivered on a use-friendly Ipad-like tablet, Trump will likely continue to operate based upon what’s on cable, particularly Fox News. It’s not like the DNI can just jump in at the last second  and steer the ship in other directions. . As a former CIA officer, Spanberger knows this. And so should the cable outlets breathlessly repeating her claims.

Former FBI Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi echoed Representative Spanberger’s absurd claim, saying “the job is also to decide what goes in the daily brief to the president and if the president doesn’t want to hear anything about Russia, then guess what, she’s going to say I don’t want that in the brief.”

Of course, Gabbard is in many ways crazy. But what impact she will have remains to be seen. What the Washington insiders Spanberger and Figliuzzi want you to think is that only people who make believe that the U.S. and Russia are not at war are “qualified” to serve, that only experts who can increase budgets and expand the empire and stay at war everywhere are the people we should listen to.

The attacks on Gabbard remind me of the unhinged paranoia of Russiagate. Glad the media learned nothing from that debacle!

The name’s Bondi. Pam Bondi. That’s who president-elect Trump has chosen for Attorney General after his previous pick, Matt Gaetz, announced his withdrawal on Thursday. (The Senate’s role in his withdrawal is wildly overstated, as I wrote about here.) In so doing, Trump swaps Florida Man (former) congressman Matt Gaetz with Florida Woman, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

As Attorney General of the United States, Bondi would be America’s top law enforcement official, overseeing agencies like the FBI. In light of that, I was amazed to see just how little she’s said about national security. She’s mostly stuck to pretty boilerplate rhetoric about the need to fight street crime, defend Trump from persecution by the FBI, combat the southern border cartels, and so on. 

I thought Gaetz’s private conduct was disqualifying but at least he had positions on things! If Trump’s other initial picks fail, expect to see more empty suits like Blondie. I mean, Bondi.

— Edited by William M. Arkin