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Did Cohen-Watnick jump out of the WH plane without a parachute?
Fascinating article on TPM ... this is just the end of it. The bottom line? Gravity pretty much always works if you're on Earth.
Cohen-Watnick is a protege of Michael Flynn. He appears to be plugged into the DC Islamophobe network, anti-CIA, etc., along with Flynn. The President took extraordinary steps to protect Cohen-Watnick as recently as a couple weeks ago. Whether the President did this based on his own knowledge of the situation or simply because Bannon and Kushner asked him to isn't clear. It also may not matter.
Cohen-Watnick went to extraordinary, at least highly improper and likely illegal, steps to engage in political pushback on the President's behalf. There is at least some circumstantial evidence that he was doing this to monitor or subvert the FBI's investigation of the President and his top associates. Whether political pushback or obstruction, it is unlikely Cohen-Watnick would take such perilous steps on his own. Remember, Director of Intelligence Programs at the National Security Council. A simple review of the calendar makes it all but certain that Cohen-Watnick was up to this funny business at the same time Bannon and Kushner intervened to save his job - and, with that job, his almost unrivaled access to all US intelligence.
A recap of the timeline is helpful: McMaster reportedly told Cohen-Watnick he was out on the March 10th. By the 14th, McMaster had been overruled by President Trump. Devin Nunes's midnight run to the White House to get a look at Cohen-Watnick's handiwork came on the 21st.
As I've noted, big scandals create a vast gravitational field around them. People apparently unrelated to the main action keep getting pulled in. Until the full story is told, our best means of judging the scope of these scandals is the pull they have over those nearby. Things like this don't happen unless there's something big to hide. Incompetence and malevolence certainly play a role. The Trumpian need to fight every accusation and slight do as well. But none of those secondary factors explain what we're seeing.
Cohen-Watnick went to extraordinary, at least highly improper and likely illegal, steps to engage in political pushback on the President's behalf. There is at least some circumstantial evidence that he was doing this to monitor or subvert the FBI's investigation of the President and his top associates. Whether political pushback or obstruction, it is unlikely Cohen-Watnick would take such perilous steps on his own. Remember, Director of Intelligence Programs at the National Security Council. A simple review of the calendar makes it all but certain that Cohen-Watnick was up to this funny business at the same time Bannon and Kushner intervened to save his job - and, with that job, his almost unrivaled access to all US intelligence.
A recap of the timeline is helpful: McMaster reportedly told Cohen-Watnick he was out on the March 10th. By the 14th, McMaster had been overruled by President Trump. Devin Nunes's midnight run to the White House to get a look at Cohen-Watnick's handiwork came on the 21st.
As I've noted, big scandals create a vast gravitational field around them. People apparently unrelated to the main action keep getting pulled in. Until the full story is told, our best means of judging the scope of these scandals is the pull they have over those nearby. Things like this don't happen unless there's something big to hide. Incompetence and malevolence certainly play a role. The Trumpian need to fight every accusation and slight do as well. But none of those secondary factors explain what we're seeing.
(emphases mine)
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-gravity-is-strong-3
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