Washington – One of President Donald Trump’s top intelligence directors is the latest person to be fired in a string of shake-ups at the White House and National Security Council.
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Ezra Cohen-Watnick became a focal point for top national security advisers earlier this year when CIA leaders raised concerns about him with Trump’s national security adviser H.R. McMaster.
A White House statement Wednesday said, “General McMaster appreciates the good work accomplished in the NSC’s Intelligence directorate under Ezra Cohen’s leadership.”
It said McMaster “has determined that, at this time, a different set of experiences is best-suited to carrying that work forward.”
McMaster moved to replace Cohen-Watnick when the concerns were raised in March, but Cohen-Watnick appealed to Trump’s top advisers, Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner, who got Trump to intervene to save his job.
Cohen-Watnick was a protege of Trump’s initial national security adviser, Michael Flynn, having worked for him at the Pentagon’s intelligence shop.
As the NSC’s senior director for intelligence programs, Cohen-Watnick was one of about a dozen people in the White House with access to a full range of classified information, including details of U.S. covert programs. His position also gives him the ability to request intelligence products from agencies.
In March, The New York Times identified Cohen-Watnick as one of two White House staffers who helped House intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes view secret reports.
A U.S. official confirmed to The Associated Press at the time that Cohen-Watnick had access to that kind of intelligence materials, but maintained he did not play a role in helping the congressman access the documents.
Uber-right wing schmata ‘Weekly Standard’ Mark Levin’s rag reports Herr Bannon about to quit, forced out by Kookoo Kelly… Ezra was Bannon’s goy, I mean, guy… Trumpf admin on the rocks…
And . . . we still have two more Trump “work” days this week before golf-recess!
A partial list of this week’s accomplishments . . . so far:
1) Fired chief of staff
2) Fired communications director
3) Abandoned Dept. Homeland Security without a leader
4) Lost on Obamacare legislation
5) Lost on sanctions legislation
6) Alienated Boy Scouts organization
7) Had his statements denounced by NYPD
8) Had his statements denounced by DEA
9) Had his statements denounced by Republican senators
10) North Korea missile test
11) Russia throws out US diplomats
12) More US deaths in Afghanistan
13) Caught colluding with son and FOX re: Russia-gate
14) Leaked confidential off-the-record Chinese investor info
I’m sure I’ve left something out; feel free to help out by adding events I missed.
it seems that working for Trump is like working for a temporary job service, in one day out the next….
Looks to me like he’s Anthony Weiner’s long lost brother. We’ll know soon enough if the Daily News digs up pictures of him in the Rose Garden in gotchkes.
To #3- You forgot to mention all the weight that Trump has gained while in office. If the present trend continues, he may pass the weight record of William Howard Taft, who was the heaviest President on record, weighting well over 320 pounds.
Another bites the dust.