Wow. Just wow. Kudos to Medhi Hasan who holds Erik Prince Accountable!!!

[kpete]

Wow. Erik Prince is saying that the transcript of his testimony is wrong, and that’s why he lied


VIDEOS:

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Toward the end of the interview, I raised the issue of “Russiagate” and the special counsel’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Putin government. Prince was grilled by the House Intelligence Committee over a secret meeting he had in the Seychelles with Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian oligarch described as a “messenger” to Putin by Prince’s friends in the UAE; the meeting was on January 11, 2017, nine days before Trump’s inauguration. “It lasted one beer,” he told me flippantly, in reference to the Dmitriev meeting, which has been described by U.S., European, and Arab officials as “an apparent effort to establish a backchannel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump.”

But why didn’t Prince tell members of Congress about his other secret meeting, in Trump Tower in August 2016? Especially if it was about a sensitive foreign policy issue like Iran?

“I don’t believe I was asked that question,” he replied.

Not true. I reminded him that he had been asked by a member of the House Intelligence Committee whether he had any “formal communications or contact with the campaign.”

The Blackwater founder then switched tack. He “did” inform the committee about the meeting, Prince told me. Why wasn’t it in the transcript of the hearing then, I countered? “I don’t know if they got the transcript wrong,” he said. Later in the interview, in response to a question from the audience, he doubled down: “Not all the discussion that day was transcribed, and that’s a fact.”

Got that? First, he said he wasn’t asked; then he said he told them about it; then he claimed that they made a mistake with the transcript; then he claimed that it was said off the record.

WHOLE
TRANSCRIPT:
https://theintercept.com/2019/03/08/erik-prince-trump-mehdi-hasan/

[gratuitous]

1. It was off the record! No? Okay, how about the transcriber was insane? Yes? No?

chucktodd, see what can be accomplished when an interviewer comes prepared?

[malaise]

2. He should have been locked up in a cell in the Hague for war crimes against

the people of Iraq ages ago.

[mopinko]

3. the faces in the crowd

show just how delicious this is.

[kpete]

4. The faces in the crowd:

Link to tweet

[ZeroSomeBrains]

5. I love it. I would have the same expression if I was there

Mercenary war profiteers like Prince can go to hell.

[Evolve Dammit]

6. Subpoena the MF and all those involved in the meeting. Lying SOS

[DemocracyMouse]

9. WE ONLY KNOW THEY ARE LYING WHEN JOURNALISTS START ACTING LIKE JOURNALISTS

That British dude did proper prep for his interview. Why are American journalists so poorly trained?????????

Oh, yeah, I forgot: WE DOUBLED THE NUMBER OF ADMINISTRATORS in higher education (in the last 30 yrs) and cut the numbers of full time faculty. Hired stretched-to-the-limit adjuncts who sleep in CARS and OFFICE FLOORS and CAN'T RAISE FAMILIES TO PASS ON THE FLAME OF TRUTH AND WISDOM. OUR COLLEGES ARE A CRUEL JOKE.

Yes, I'm angry.

[Evolve Dammit]

11. Totally agree; also perpetually PO'd. U.S. failing in so many areas. Greed is the common denominator

[DemocracyMouse]

13. Thanks "Evolve Dammit" for also being PO'd!

What I don't get is why such cultural issues like increasing "greed" or the administrative (and computer/corporate) takeover of our colleges, isn't entering the national conversation. It doesn't have a handy face to lampoon, but it's more insidious. An enterprising (and conscientious) university board could create a flagship campus where they:

1) Start trusting faculty (and their culture) to teach without an unnecessary wad of bureaucratic oversight.

2) Raise faculty salaries, shift adjuncts to fulltime, and pay for it by cutting administration in half.

3) Offer an olive branch to admins by giving them 2 years to get a masters degree and earn a place at the academic table. (The fact that the folks with lesser degrees run the show has got to end).

4) Do the math: Lower tuition by drastically cutting admins and computer congestion. If you lower it by the right amount there should be enough to return to a more functional pay scale for faculty and move well-deserving adjuncts into full time.

5) Bring back the tenure system so faculty who have earned their stripes can teach and do research without fear of censorship. If systemically applied, this increases the overall intellectual fortitude of the country.

[DemocracyMouse]

14. ....and by applying such reforms to our universities we might start producing better journalists!

[Evolve Dammit]

15. I am very impressed with your knowledge on the issues. The current system has so many

problems. If you can, reach out to your Congress-person and offer your services to provide insight. The only way some of these things will change, is when experienced, knowledgeable career people provide the information necessary (as you just laid out) to make changes at a legislative level, because truly academia in US is broken, mostly by financial greed, laziness and ignoring our next generations (students) needs. If your Rep is GOP forget it. Sadly, it's not even worth it. They have no desire to do anything constructive, because they simply don't care. If you have a decent Dem. they may well advance some of your great ideas.
Best to you

[triron]

7. Get him back Schiff.

[mjvpi]

8. If there is a hell..........

[JDC]

10. Our media is incapable of this type of journalism

[Botany]

12. The Seychelles....

Are 1000 off the coast of east central Africa in the middle of no place ... and Prince just ran into a Russian agent and a middle eastern middle man there?

[Solly Mack]

16. That man should be in prison right now. He should already be into a 20 year sentence.