Gabbard avoids condemning government secrets leaker Snowden in confirmation hearing
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(WASHINGTON) — Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle gave director of national intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard more than a half-dozen chances to withdraw her past support of Edward Snowden, the prolific leaker of government secrets, in her confirmation hearing Thursday, but she didn’t take them.
Gabbard has in the past called the former NSA contractor a “brave” whistleblower who uncovered damning civil liberties violations by the intelligence community. As a lawmaker, she introduced legislation supporting a grant of clemency.
On Thursday, she has repeatedly refused to withdraw that characterization of him. And she repeatedly refused to call him a “traitor.”
“This is where the rubber hits the road,” Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet boomed inside the hearing room. “This is not a moment for social media, this is not a moment to propagate conspiracy theories … this is when you need to answer the questions of people whose votes you’re asking for to be confirmed as the chief intelligence officer of this nation.”
“Is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America This is not a hard question to answer when the stakes are this high,” he continued.
Instead, Gabbard repeated a canned response that his acts were illegal and that she disagreed with his methods.
“Edward Snowden broke the law. I do not agree with or support with all of the information and intelligence that he released, nor the way in which he did it,” she said.
But she added he “released information that exposed egregious, illegal and unconstitutional programs.”
Bennet concluded with an impassioned call to vote her down.
“Can’t we do better than …. someone who can’t answer whether Snowden is a traitor five times?” … “I’m questioning her judgment.”
Republican Sen. James Lankford presented her with another opportunity to clarify her position: “Was Edward Snowden a traitor?”
Again, Gabbard equivocated.
She did back off her support of a pardon. In an exchange with GOP Sen. Susan Collins, a key vote on the panel, she said the role of DNI does not have a role in advocating for clemency actions.
“My responsibility would be to ensure the security of our nation’s secrets,” Gabbard said. “And would not take actions to advocate for any actions related to Snowden.”
And moments later, Republican Sen. Todd Young, a potential swing vote in the committee, asked Gabbard, “did [Snowden] betray the trust of the American people?”
“Edward Snowden broke the law,” she said, “and he released this information in a way that he should not have.”
(WASHINGTON) — As President Joe Biden prepares to pass the baton to President-elect Donald Trump on Monday, it’s unclear if Biden will follow the tradition of leaving his successor a note in the Oval Office.
President Ronald Reagan started the ritual in 1989, according to the Washington Post, when he left a note for his former running mate, President George H.W. Bush.
He used light-hearted stationery that said, “Don’t let the turkeys get you down,” with a drawing of turkeys climbing on top of an elephant. Reagan wrote, “I treasure the memories we share and I wish you all the very best. You’ll be in my prayers. God bless you & Barbara. I’ll miss our Thursday lunches.”
Every president since has taken part in the tradition. But since Reagan’s letter to Bush, each handover has been from a Democrat to a Republican or vice versa.
Bush, who lost the 1992 election to Bill Clinton, said to the nation’s new leader, “Don’t let the critics discourage you or push you off course.”
“You will be our President when you read this note,” he wrote. “I wish you well. I wish your family well. Your success now is our country’s success. I am rooting hard for you. Good Luck.”
“I love that letter,” Clinton told ABC News in 2018. “I thought it was vintage George Bush. I thought he meant it, but I also thought he was trying to be a citizen in the highest sense of the word. It was profoundly moving to me personally.”
Clinton followed his predecessor’s tradition in 2001, when he said in a letter to President George W. Bush, “Today you embark on the greatest venture, with the greatest honor, that can come to an American citizen.”
“Like me, you are especially fortunate to lead our country in a time of profound and largely positive change, when old questions, not just about the role of government, but about the very nature of our nation, must be answered anew,” Clinton said. “You lead a proud, decent, good people. And from this day you are President of all of us. I salute you and wish you success and much happiness.”
“The burdens you now shoulder are great but often exaggerated. The sheer joy of doing what you believe is right is inexpressible,” he wrote. “My prayers are with you and your family. Godspeed.”
In 2009, George W. Bush wrote to President Barack Obama, “Congratulations on becoming our President. You have just begun a fantastic chapter in your life.”
“Very few have had the honor of knowing the responsibility you now feel. Very few know the excitement of the moment and the challenges you will face,” he said. “There will be trying moments. The critics will rage. Your ‘friends’ will disappoint you. But, you will have an Almighty God to comfort you, a family who loves you, and a country that is pulling for you, including me. No matter what comes, you will be inspired by the character and compassion of the people you now lead. God bless you.”
When Obama handed off to Trump in 2017, he wrote to his successor, “Congratulations on a remarkable run. Millions have placed their hopes in you, and all of us, regardless of party, should hope for expanded prosperity and security during your tenure.”
“We’ve both been blessed, in different ways, with great good fortune,” Obama said, according to CNN. “Not everyone is so lucky. It’s up to us to do everything we can (to) build more ladders of success for every child and family that’s willing to work hard.”
Obama noted later in the letter, “We are just temporary occupants of this office. That makes us guardians of those democratic institutions and traditions — like rule of law, separation of powers, equal protection and civil liberties — that our forebears fought and bled for. Regardless of the push and pull of daily politics, it’s up to us to leave those instruments of our democracy at least as strong as we found them.”
He concluded by saying, “Michelle and I wish you and Melania the very best as you embark on this great adventure, and know that we stand ready to help in any ways which we can.”
Trump described Obama’s letter as “long,” “beautiful” and “so well-written, so thoughtful.”
“I called him and thanked him for the thought that was put into that letter,” Trump told ABC News “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir in 2017.
Then, in 2021, despite the contentious handover from Trump to Biden when Trump refused to admit he lost the 2020 election, Trump did follow tradition and leave Biden a note.
Biden described it as a “very generous letter,” according to Politico. The letter has never been released.
(WASHINGTON) — Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk, chairman of the House Administration’s subcommittee on Oversight, in a new report suggests former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney should be investigated for alleged criminal witness tampering, claiming she played an “integral role” shaping key witness testimony before the Jan. 6 committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
President-elect Donald Trump posted early Wednesday morning on his social media platform that “Liz Cheney could be in a lot of trouble based on the evidence obtained by the subcommittee, which states that ‘numerous federal laws were likely broken by Liz Cheney, and these violations should be investigated by the FBI.”
Earlier this month, Trump, speaking about Jan. 6 committee members, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that, “for what they did, honestly, they should go to jail.”
The House GOP report released Tuesday marks not only the latest effort by House Republicans to discredit the Jan. 6 committee, but also a possible preview of its oversight efforts in the next session of Congress beginning in January.
Cheney’s name appears in the report more than 120 times, excluding the table of contents, going line-by-line to blast her participation as vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee.
“Without authority and against House Rules — the role of ranking member, Congress itself must right its former wrongs and declare this appointment of Representative Cheney invalid now,” the report states.
The report alleges that as Cheney participated in the investigation, she colluded with Cassidy Hutchinson, the former Trump White House aide, about her testimony describing then-President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
The report contends that Cheney not only “backchannelled” with Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump White House aide and a host of ABC’s “The View,” to get Hutchinson to change her narrative but also communicated with her “directly for days.” After that, the report alleges that Cheney also convinced Hutchinson to fire her attorney, Stefan Passantino.
“According to text messages, that appear to be from the encrypted messaging app “Signal,” between Hutchinson and Farah Griffin obtained by the Subcommittee, Cheney agreed to communicate with Hutchinson through Farah Griffin,” the subcommittee said.
“It is unusual — and potentially unethical — for a Member of Congress conducting an investigation to contact a witness if the Member knows that the individual is represented by legal counsel,” the report states. “This appears to be precisely what Representative Cheney did at this time, and within a matter of days of these secret conversations, Hutchinson would go on to recant her previous testimony and introduce her most outlandish claims.”
“What other information was communicated during these phone calls may never be known, but what is known is that Representative Cheney consciously attempted to minimize her contact with Hutchinson in her book, and the most likely reason to try to bury that information would be if Representative Cheney knew that it was improper and unethical to communicate with Hutchinson without her counsel present,” the report states.
“It must be emphasized that Representative Cheney would likely have known her communications without the knowledge of Hutchinson’s attorney were illicit and unethical at that time,” the report said. Farah Griffin indicated as much … in her … message to Hutchinson … when she wrote that Representative Cheney’s “one concern” was that as long as Hutchinson was represented by counsel, “she [Cheney] can’t really ethically talk to you [Hutchinson] without him [Passantino].”
Despite Representative Cheney’s initial hesitation, the Subcommittee uncovered evidence of frequent, direct conversations between Hutchinson and Representative Cheney without Passantino’s knowledge, and also through their intermediary Farah Griffin.”Cheney responded in a statement stressing the testimony “was painstakingly” presented in thousands of pages of transcripts, made public along with a “highly detailed and meticulously sourced 800-page report.”
“Chairman Loudermilk’s ‘Interim Report’ intentionally disregards the truth and the Select Committee’s tremendous weigh of evidence, and instead fabricates lies and defamatory allegations in an attempt to cover up what Donald Trump did,” Cheney wrote. “Their allegations do not reflect a review of the actual evidence, and are a malicious and cowardly assault on the truth.”
Cheney also did not back off her role and the committee’s findings.
“January 6th showed Donald Trump for who [he] really is – a cruel and vindictive man who allowed violent attacks to continue against our Capitol and law enforcement officers while he watched television and refused for hours to instruct his supporters to stand down and leave,” she noted. “The January 6th Committee’s hearings and report featured scores of Republican witnesses, including many of the most senior officials from Trump’s own White House, campaign and Administration.”
Farah Griffin also disputed the GOP report’s conclusions.
“This report is full of inaccuracies and innuendo,” she said in a statement. “The report wrongly states – and without any evidence – that I acted as an intermediary between Cassidy Hutchinson and Liz Cheney for “a month.” That is not true, and these messages demonstrate the full extent of my involvement. Further, these messages weren’t ‘obtained’ by the Committee – they were requested by the Committee and voluntarily handed over to the Committee. I believe in Congressional oversight, whether it be the January 6th investigation or this inquiry.”
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Jan. 6.
(WASHINGTON) — Tributes are pouring in for former President Jimmy Carter, who died Sunday at the age of 100. His life and legacy will be celebrated in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and in Carter’s hometown of Plains, Georgia, over the coming days.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Ernie Suggs covered Carter and the work of the Carter Center — which Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter founded after his defeat in the 1980 election — in advancing human rights and alleviating human suffering.
On Monday, ABC News’ Stephanie Ramos spoke to Suggs about the former president’s work, his character and his relationship with the people of Georgia.
ABC NEWS: Now we want to turn to someone who knew Carter well. Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Ernie Suggs covered Carter and developed a close personal relationship with the former president. Sir, thank you so much for speaking with us as we bid farewell today. What are some of your personal memories that you’re remembering the most?
SUGGS: Well, thank you for having me, for one. Personally, he was the person that I have always looked up to. I always told a story about, in 1976, my mother voted for Jimmy Carter. She campaigned for him in Brooklyn, New York. And we voted in PS 241 in Brooklyn, New York. And I always told him that story.
So one of the last times we talked, I didn’t mention it, you know. For some reason, I just didn’t mention it, I don’t know what we were talking about. And he mentioned it. He said “How’s your mother doing? How’s she doing?” And I said — at the time my mother wasn’t doing too well — “She’s sick.” She had been battling dementia.
And he told me about, you know, he reiterated the work that Rosalynn Carter was doing with mental health. And he asked me if my mother could talk on the phone. And I said, sure, you know, she could talk. And he called my mother and he called my mother out of the blue to talk to her, just to kind of give her some words of encouragement as she was dealing with this illness and an illness that eventually his wife Rosalynn had.
So I think that’s the kind of example of a person who’s compassionate, who loves humanity, who loves people. And I tell that story as if it’s unique, but it’s not because he has done that kind of work and he’s done those kind of things for so many people, for so many, for 100 years. And for that I’m proud.
ABC NEWS: Absolutely. Such a wonderful example of what type of man he was and what type of life he led. You touched on this a bit, that in the decades after he left office, Jimmy Carter continued to carry so much influence around the world and he continued to do so much work.
As you covered him in those years, what else stood out to you from that work that he was able to do over, over really decades?
SUGGS: One of the things that he said he wanted to see before he died was the eradication of the Guinea worm disease. And that disease is down to about four people now. And when he started this, thousands of people were suffering from this horrible disease. Now it’s down to four, about four people. So it’s going to be eradicated in a couple of years. So this is the kind of work that Jimmy Carter did post-presidency.
The first line of his obituary that I wrote says that he was the 39th president of the United States. I’m sure that’s the first line that you wrote in your obituary. But I think that if you ask him, his most enduring legacy is what he did after the presidency and what he continued to do up until his 100th birthday to kind of promote humanity and to promote decency and to give to others.
ABC NEWS: And on that list of achievements, and you’ve written about some of those achievements, you’ve written that Carter grew up or grew into a politician who shaped race relations, but before that, he was shaped by, by then growing up in the Jim Crow South.
So how do you think those early experiences shaped his worldview and his approach to others throughout his life?
SUGGS: I think that had a tremendous effect. He was born in 1924. We have to understand that. So he was born prior to the Great Depression. He was born in the segregated South.
One perfect example was in 1954 when he left the Navy to return to Plains to take over his father’s business. He was the only white businessman in Plains, Georgia, who was not a member of the Citizens’ Council. We know what the Citizens’ Council is — it’s basically the Ku Klux Klan.
They came to his store and said, “Hey, we’re going to boycott you unless you join the Citizens’ Council. We will even pay your $5.” And he said, “I’d rather throw my $5 down the toilet then give you $5 to join this racist organization.”
So even in 1954, even owning a business in that rural, tiny Plains, Georgia, he rebuked the temptation to join basically the klan or the Citizens’ Council because of who he was and how he grew up and the people who was around him when he grew up.
ABC NEWS: And after a hundred years, we’re hearing so many stories, so many new stories in the last 24 hours about his life — that’s a story I hadn’t heard before. So thank you for sharing that. Since news of his passing last night, you’ve been speaking with people in Plains, Georgia, where Jimmy Carter is from and in other parts of Georgia. What are you hearing from them? What are they sharing with you?
SUGGS: People in Plains, Georgia, if you come by this town, they love him. If you go to anyone’s house in Plains, Georgia, they have a story about Jimmy Carter or “Mr. Jimmy,” as they called him.
Everyone’s house you go to has a photograph of Jimmy Carter, and it’s not a photograph of him from the White House or it’s not a standard portrait. It’s a photograph that they’ve taken with their Polaroid cameras or their selfies of him on their porch, eating peanuts and laughing and joking around, shucking corn.
So that’s who he was. He was Mr. Jimmy. He was truly a man of the people, who happened to one day have served as the 39th president of the United States.
ABC NEWS: He really was a man of the people. What a remarkable life and what an impact Jimmy Carter had on this country and those who had the pleasure of meeting him and knowing him. Ernie Suggs, thank you so much for speaking with us today. Thank you so much for your insights.
