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Tony Shaffer, whom Trump quoted this morning, is a "well known nutjob" and Flynn "mini-me"
Great tweet from John Schindler this morning, commenting on Trump's tweet quoting what Shaffer said on Fox & Friends.
Link to tweet
FYI the Fox idiot POTUS just hailed is a well known nutjob (famed for his 9/11 fantasies) & a #MoscowMisha mini-me.
This was Trump's tweet:
Link to tweet
"Senator Chuck Schumer helping to import Europes problems" said Col.Tony Shaffer. We will stop this craziness! @foxandfriends
The December 2016 Newsweek article Schindler posted the link for has background on Shaffer:
http://www.newsweek.com/anthony-shaffer-michael-flynn-donald-trump-911-conspiracy-theories-defense-532133
A former Army colonel at the center of a years-long controversy related to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon may be joining the Trump administration as a senior Defense Department intelligence official.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer, 54, said he was invited to join the administration in some capacity, but declined to say who approached him or what the job might be. The position would be at the “senior defense intelligence” level, Shaffer has told associates who asked for anonymity because the discussions were considered private.
“I was asked to put my name in for a job—that's it,” Shaffer said in a brief telephone interview. He is connected to retired Army Lieutenant General Michael T. Flynn, the incoming White House National Security Adviser, through their joint service in Afghanistan as well as The London Center, a New York-based conservative think tank where Shaffer is vice president for strategic initiatives and operations. At a banquet in September, Shaffer presented Flynn, a senior fellow at the center, with a leadership award. The center is named after its founder, Herbert I. London, a widely published social critic and one time Conservative Party candidate for mayor of New York.
Shaffer ignited years of Pentagon and congressional investigations a decade ago with his charges that Defense Department suppressed the existence of his top-secret unit’s reports on the 9/11 plotters a year in advance of the attacks. The reason, he said in interviews, congressional testimony and a book, Operation Dark Heart, was that Defense Department officials didn’t want to be blamed for the intelligence failure that tarred other security agencies. The first edition of the book was bought up and pulped by the Pentagon even after reporters had received advance review copies of it. Shaffer’s publisher later issued a heavily censored edition.
A 16-month investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that Shaffer’s operation, code-named ABLE DANGER, “did not identify Mohamed Atta or any other 9/11 hijacker at any time prior to September 11, 2001," and dismissed other assertions that have fueled 9/11 conspiracy theories. The Defense Department’s inspector general (DoD OIG) made a similar conclusion.
-snip-
Shaffer and Flynn share out-of-the-box views on some of the most contentious events in recent U.S. foreign policy. In 2012, Shaffer claimed—falsely—that President Obama was "in the White House Situation Room in real-time watching" the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. At the time, Flynn was head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and according to The New York Times, startled aides with an abrupt conclusion that Iran was behind Benghazi. Both assertions turned out to be baseless.
The two have hawkish views on other key issues, particularly Islam. Flynn, who was fired as head of the DIA in 2014 for his inflammatory leadership style, according to several reports, recently tweeted that “fear of Muslims is rational.” Shaffer, likewise, claimed in a November radio interview that “15 to 17 percent” of Middle East and North African refugees “are ISIS," or agents of the Islamic State militant group.
-snip-
This week Shaffer was active in swatting back charges by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia covertly interfered in the U.S. presidential campaign to defeat Hillary Clinton and elect Donald Trump. On Monday he maintained that "the Russians would not benefit” from electing Trump, who has repeatedly said he wants closer relations with Moscow. “There's no upside for a President Trump in the Russian influence in the world," he said in a radio interview. On Wednesday he declared that CIA Director John Brennan “is making stuff up” about the alleged Russian campaign to put Trump in office.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer, 54, said he was invited to join the administration in some capacity, but declined to say who approached him or what the job might be. The position would be at the “senior defense intelligence” level, Shaffer has told associates who asked for anonymity because the discussions were considered private.
“I was asked to put my name in for a job—that's it,” Shaffer said in a brief telephone interview. He is connected to retired Army Lieutenant General Michael T. Flynn, the incoming White House National Security Adviser, through their joint service in Afghanistan as well as The London Center, a New York-based conservative think tank where Shaffer is vice president for strategic initiatives and operations. At a banquet in September, Shaffer presented Flynn, a senior fellow at the center, with a leadership award. The center is named after its founder, Herbert I. London, a widely published social critic and one time Conservative Party candidate for mayor of New York.
Shaffer ignited years of Pentagon and congressional investigations a decade ago with his charges that Defense Department suppressed the existence of his top-secret unit’s reports on the 9/11 plotters a year in advance of the attacks. The reason, he said in interviews, congressional testimony and a book, Operation Dark Heart, was that Defense Department officials didn’t want to be blamed for the intelligence failure that tarred other security agencies. The first edition of the book was bought up and pulped by the Pentagon even after reporters had received advance review copies of it. Shaffer’s publisher later issued a heavily censored edition.
A 16-month investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that Shaffer’s operation, code-named ABLE DANGER, “did not identify Mohamed Atta or any other 9/11 hijacker at any time prior to September 11, 2001," and dismissed other assertions that have fueled 9/11 conspiracy theories. The Defense Department’s inspector general (DoD OIG) made a similar conclusion.
-snip-
Shaffer and Flynn share out-of-the-box views on some of the most contentious events in recent U.S. foreign policy. In 2012, Shaffer claimed—falsely—that President Obama was "in the White House Situation Room in real-time watching" the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. At the time, Flynn was head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and according to The New York Times, startled aides with an abrupt conclusion that Iran was behind Benghazi. Both assertions turned out to be baseless.
The two have hawkish views on other key issues, particularly Islam. Flynn, who was fired as head of the DIA in 2014 for his inflammatory leadership style, according to several reports, recently tweeted that “fear of Muslims is rational.” Shaffer, likewise, claimed in a November radio interview that “15 to 17 percent” of Middle East and North African refugees “are ISIS," or agents of the Islamic State militant group.
-snip-
This week Shaffer was active in swatting back charges by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia covertly interfered in the U.S. presidential campaign to defeat Hillary Clinton and elect Donald Trump. On Monday he maintained that "the Russians would not benefit” from electing Trump, who has repeatedly said he wants closer relations with Moscow. “There's no upside for a President Trump in the Russian influence in the world," he said in a radio interview. On Wednesday he declared that CIA Director John Brennan “is making stuff up” about the alleged Russian campaign to put Trump in office.
So he's a RWNJ who loves conspiracy theories and never has his "facts" right. No wonder Trump -- and Fox -- love him...
