I had a different episode of Al Franken's podcast planned, but given the news this week of Trump's firing of the Director of National Intelligence over him doing his job and telling the truth about Russian efforts to impact the 2020 election, I thought this interview is more apt. So, this week’s podcast is with counter-terrorism expert Malcom Nance, and it's one of the most fascinating Franken has done, keeping your interest for over an hour with detailed stories backing up Nance’s extensive books. As Franken notes, “Career Intel Officer Malcolm Nance, who first disclosed that Russia hacked the 2016 election [publishing his book about this before the election], makes the case that Donald Trump has been a Russian asset for decades. Scary, but fun!
“With a cast of characters that include such lowlifes as Roger Stone and Paul Manafort, Nance tells us how Putin, Russian Intelligence, and Billionaire Oligarchs captured Donald Trump and warns that this may be our nation’s last election.” The bulk of the conversation is about Russian hacking the 2016 election, filled – as I said – with Nance giving meticulously details based on his Naval intelligence background to support his assertions. And then, when you think it’s all covered, Franken asks a question about 50 minutes in about what Russia has on Trump, and it sets off Nance to explain the background. And much of it confirms (in detail) an assumption I’ve made and written about here. Not that there’s “One Thing” Russia has on him, but that Trump has been going to Russia for over 40 years, and they’ve been gathering information on him since then – starting with the fact that his first wife Ivana was a Czech citizen when the country was under Russian domination, and so the Russians began recording all the communications between Trump, Ivana and her family in Czechoslovakia…for which we have records of that (starting in 1977) which were discovered a few years ago. Not supposition, but actual records. Including word of Trump saying back then that he’d like to be president. And so he was on the radar of Russia and specifically Putin, who was a case officer at that point, profiling him, gathering Kompromat and figuring out ways to make him an asset, knowing or otherwise. A great episode.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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