Ex-CIA Director Reveals Internal Division at Spy Agency Over Trump-Russia Intelligence

Former CIA Director John Brennan reveals in a forthcoming book and interview that there was internal division at the spy agency over the level of confidence in an intelligence assessment that Vladimir Putin directed Russia’s election interference in the U.S. specifically to help Donald Trump.

According to The New York Times, Brennan describes in his memoir and in an unaired interview that two senior CIA officials pushed back in early 2017 against analysts’ assessment that they had a high level of confidence about Putin’s motives.

The officials lobbied Brennan for a medium-level confidence rating for the intelligence.

“They came up and talked to me about it and I listened to them because I wanted to make sure I understood exactly what their concerns were,” Brennan told C-SPAN in an interview yet to be aired. “And I encouraged them to talk to the authors of the assessment and determine if the judgment should stay at high confidence or medium confidence.”

An Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) released on Jan. 6, 2017, said that the CIA and FBI had a high level of confidence that the Russian government and Putin directed the election activities in order to help Trump by smearing Hillary Clinton. The National Security Agency had a medium-level confidence rating in the intelligence. (Read more from “Ex-CIA Director Reveals Internal Division at Spy Agency Over Trump-Russia Intelligence” HERE)

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New Poll Bucks Media Narrative, Shows Trump Closing the Gap After COVID Diagnosis

A new poll released on Saturday showed that President Trump has not lost favor or popularity with the American people after a raucous debate night on Tuesday and hospitalization for COVID-19 on Friday.

The poll came from John Zogby Strategies and shows that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden now leads the president by only two points, well within the margin of error. The new numbers show a reduction of five full points after their previous July sampling.

Our July 8th poll showed Biden leading Trump 49% to 42% and the previous poll released on August 29th had Biden leading by six points (48% to 42%).

The former VP is leading among Democrats 91%-8%, voters 18-29 years of age (60%-35%) and those 30-49 (50%-45%), as well as among women (56%-41%), Progressives (85%-15%), Liberals (85%-14%) and Moderates (58%-36%). He also leads among Hispanics is 61%-34% and Blacks (87%-11%).

The President, who was hospitalized before the poll was launched, leads among fellow Republicans (94%-6%), voters 50-64 (53%-45%) and those over 65 (50%-47%). As of now, Mr. Trump is capturing a slight majority of Catholic voters (51%-46%), Evangelicals (68%-32%), Conservatives (78%-18%), and Very Conservative voters (92%-8%). He also is ahead among Whites (56%-40%) and parents of children under 17 living at home (54%-40%).

(Read more from “New Poll Bucks Media Narrative, Shows Trump Closing the Gap After COVID Diagnosis” HERE)

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MSNBC Host Believes Trump Is Faking COVID Diagnosis

MSNBC’s Joy Reid is pushing the idea that President Donald Trump’s Wuhan coronavirus is a hoax. The so-called “motivation” for the ruse would be to get out of the next presidential debate, which is scheduled for Oct. 15. It was a clear nod to the Presidential Debate Commission contemplating whether or not debate moderators should have the ability to cut off the microphones of disruptive candidates.

Reid posted her conspiracy theory on Twitter on Friday:

If someone on the right posted these kind of conspiracy theories if the roles were reversed and Joe and Jill Biden had the coronavirus, the left would trash them. They would say the right is being mean and cruel. Why is it that decorum goes out the window when it comes to President Trump? (Read more from “MSNBC Host Believes Trump Is Faking COVID Diagnosis” HERE)

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Man Busted for Requesting Absentee Ballot for Dead Wife

Florida authorities nabbed a registered Democrat after he attempted to “test the system” by requesting an absentee ballot for his late wife, officials said.

Manatee County Sheriff’s Office began investigating Larry Wiggins, 62, after the mail-in ballot was requested for his wife who had been dead for two years, the Bradenton Herald reported.

“As soon as they pulled up the file it showed that she is dead,” Manatee County Supervisor of Elections Mike Bennett said. . .

Deputies then interviewed Wiggins, who is a registered Democrat, and he confessed that he was trying to “test the system,” the newspaper reported. (Read. more from “Man Busted for Requesting Absentee Ballot for Dead Wife” HERE)

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Tom Cotton: Sick GOP Senators Will Be ‘Wheeled in’ to Personally Cast SCOTUS Vote; Senate Democrats Demand Delay in Amy Coney Barrett Hearing

By Breitbart. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) said that Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court confirmation would move forward despite three Republican senators having tested positive for coronavirus during this week’s broadcast of Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” . .

Cotton remarked, “No doubt about it, Maria. Several of the senators who are in isolation right now would come out of isolation before those hearings begin. But the Senate Judiciary Committee has also conducted 20 hearings this year, that have either been in part or in whole virtual. Many Senate Democrats say couldn’t possibly do a virtual hearing or demanding throughout this year going back to March that all committees be conducted over Zoom or Webex or some other virtual hearing. So the hearing is going forward, no doubt in my mind starting a week from tomorrow, Maria and then on the Senate floor later this month. First off, I think every senator who currently tested positive or is in isolation will be back to work under normal conditions, as other senators have been as well, like Rand Paul or Tim Kane. But if that’s not the case, Maria, there is a long and venerable tradition of ill or medically infirmed senators being wheeled in to cast critical votes on the Senate floor.” (Read more from “Tom Cotton: Sick GOP Senators Will Be ‘Wheeled in’ to Personally Cast SCOTUS Vote (VIDEO)” HERE)

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Senate Democrats Demand Delay in Amy Coney Barrett Hearing Due to COVID-19

By New York Post. Senate Democrats on Sunday continued to press for postponing a hearing on President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett — insisting the chamber is now too unsafe after three GOP senators tested positive for the coronavirus.

Addressing the infections of Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Mike Lee of Utah, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the “full exposure” of the Senate or Capitol Hill staff is still unknown.

“As we continue to learn of additional colleagues testing positive for COVID-19, it is increasingly clear that rushing Amy Coney Barrett’s hearing forward in the midst of a COVID outbreak in the White House and Senate would turn an illegitimate process into a reckless and dangerous one,” the New York Democrat said during a news conference in Manhattan.

McConnell has moved to delay Senate business until Oct. 19, but Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham said his panel will begin hearings on Barrett by video on Oct. 12. (Read more from “Senate Democrats Demand Delay in Amy Coney Barrett Hearing Due to COVID-19” HERE)

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WATCH: White House Physician Says Trump Likely to Be Discharged Within Days

President Trump’s medical team said the president’s health continues to improve following his coronavirus diagnosis, and he may be discharged from the hospital as early as Monday.

During a press conference late Sunday morning at Walter Reed National Military Medical Hospital, Dr. Sean Conley confirmed that Trump was given supplemental oxygen on Friday out of concern of “possible rapid progression of the illness,” which the president was adamantly against. Conley said the president had a “high fever,” and his oxygen saturation was dipping below 94%.

“Today he feels well. He’s been up and around. Our plan for today is to have him to eat and drink, be up out of bed as much as possible, to be mobile. And if he continues to look and feel as well as he does today, our hope is that we can plan for a discharge as early as tomorrow to the White House where he can continue his treatment course,” said Dr. Brian Garibaldi. . .

Conley said Trump “experienced two transient drops in his oxygen saturation,” one experienced Friday and the other on Saturday. He said he was unable to state whether Trump was given supplemental oxygen on Saturday, adding that he’d “have to check with the nursing staff.”

(Read more from “WATCH: White House Physician Says Trump Likely to Be Discharged Within Days” HERE)

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‘Jerusalem Is Our City,’ Turkey’s Erdogan Declares

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday implied that Jerusalem belongs to Turkey, referring to the Ottoman Empire’s control over the city for much of the modern era.

“In this city that we had to leave in tears during the First World War, it is still possible to come across traces of the Ottoman resistance. So Jerusalem is our city, a city from us,” he told Turkish lawmakers during a major policy speech in Ankara. “Our first qibla [direction of prayer in Islam] al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem are the symbolic mosques of our faith. In addition, this city is home to the holy places of Christianity and Judaism.”

The Ottoman Empire ruled over Jerusalem from 1516 to 1917. Modern Turkey, its successor state, has long stressed its enduring connection to the holy city, regularly condemning Israel’s alleged efforts to “judaize” it and the US administration’s December 2017 recognition of it as Israel’s capital.

Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel since the country’s founding, and the Jewish people have thousands of years of history in the city, backed up by extensive archaeological finds.

During a lengthy speech at the opening of the Turkish parliament’s new legislative session, Erdoğan spent several minutes lamenting the fate of Jerusalem and the Palestinians’ plight. (Read more from “‘Jerusalem Is Our City,’ Turkey’s Erdogan Declares” HERE)

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U.S. Marshals Announce Rescue of More Than 1,000 Missing and Child Sex Trafficking Victims

The number of missing children rescued annually has more than doubled since 2016, according to data from the U.S. Marshals Service.

In 2016, the U.S. Marshals Service rescued 172 missing children. The following years, the number of rescued children rose to 192, 253 and 292. And as of September 24th, the U.S. Marshals Service had rescued 375 children in fiscal year 2020.

This brings the total to “about 1,300,” according to U.S. Marshals Service Director Donald Washington.

Speaking on Fox Business Network’s “The Evening Edit” this Thursday, he said most of the country’s missing children are tied up in dangerous circumstances involving violence and drugs.

“[T]hese are kids that are in particular danger as a result of either being victims of violent crime or because of who they are. For example, some of them may be in the middle of gang affiliations or in the midst of drug abusers or in the middle of some bad situations involving people who have violent tendencies and things of that sort,” he said. (Read more from “U.S. Marshals Announce Rescue of More Than 1,000 Missing and Child Sex Trafficking Victims” HERE)

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Trump Vows to Overturn ‘Ridiculous’ Gender-Neutral Language for Navy SEALs

President Donald Trump on Thursday vowed to get rid of new U.S. Navy gender-neutral language to be included in elite SEAL training guidelines, calling them “ridiculous.”

The president, who announced Friday that both he and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, was responding to changes in the Navy SEAL ethos and Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewman (SWCC) creed.

The changes were designed to ditch male-centric terms like “brotherhood” in response to U.S. law that now allows women to apply for and serve in elite and previously male-only military roles. . .

Navy officials have couched the decision to change the ethos on making SEAL training more inclusive.

“Naval Special Warfare continues to deliberately develop a culture of tactical and ethical excellence that reflects the nation we represent, and that draws upon the talents of the all-volunteer force who meet the standards of qualification as a SEAL or SWCC,” Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Stroup, a spokesman for Naval Special Warfare told American Military News. (Read more from “Trump Vows to Overturn ‘Ridiculous’ Gender-Neutral Language for Navy SEALs” HERE)

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New Study Debunks This Belief About Face Masks

Breathe easy. A new study suggests that surgical face masks don’t cause a buildup of carbon dioxide or restrict oxygen, despite opposing claims.

The study, on the “Effect of Face Masks on Gas Exchange in Healthy Persons and Patients with COPD,” which was published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society on Friday, was conducted after a group of Florida residents challenged Florida’s mask-wearing mandate in June, arguing that wearing the protective face coverings could result in the buildup of too much carbon dioxide.

Researchers led by Dr. Michael Campos, a pulmonologist with the Miami VA Medical Center and the University of Miami Hospital and Clinics, looked at problems with changes in oxygen levels or carbon dioxide levels in healthy individuals and those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) before and while wearing surgical masks.

The small study included 15 military veterans with severe COPD, each with lung function under 50%, and 15 healthy participants. All participants wore masks for 30 minutes and were told to walk for six minutes while wearing the surgical masks. Researchers then gave each participant a blood test and discovered there were no differences in levels of oxygen or carbon dioxide.

“This data find that gas exchange is not significantly affected by the use of surgical mask, even in subjects with severe lung impairment,” Campos said in the study. (Read more from “New Study Debunks This Belief About Face Masks” HERE)

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