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Trump Officials Tried To Rush Nuclear Technology To Saudis, House Panel Finds

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Via: dulay • 5 years ago • 10 comments

Trump Officials Tried To Rush Nuclear Technology To Saudis, House Panel Finds

For about seven months in 2016, including during the presidential transition, Flynn served as an adviser to IP3 International, a private company seeking to build nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia.

S E E D E D C O N T E N T

The Trump administration sought to rush the transfer of American nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia in potential violation of the law, a new report from the House Oversight and Reform Committee alleges.

Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings' staff issued an "interim staff" report Tuesday, citing "multiple whistleblowers" who raised ethical and legal concerns about the process.

"They have warned about political appointees ignoring directives from top ethics advisers at the White House who repeatedly and unsuccessfully ordered senior Trump administration officials to halt their efforts," the report states. "They have also warned of conflicts of interest among top White House advisers that could implicate federal criminal statutes."

The committee's report alleges that the major drivers behind the effort to transfer U.S. nuclear technology were retired Gen. Michael Flynn, who served as the president's national security adviser, and Thomas Barrack, who chaired Trump's inauguration committee. Flynn was fired in February 2017 for lying about conversations with the Russian ambassador to Vice President Pence and the FBI.

For about seven months in 2016, including during the presidential transition, Flynn served as an adviser to IP3 International, a private company seeking to build nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia.

The whistleblowers told the committee that Flynn continued to advocate for IP3's plan even after he joined the White House as the president's national security adviser in 2017.

The Atomic Energy Act requires that Congress approve any transfer of nuclear technology to a foreign country. The committee's report states that a senior director at the National Security Council (NSC), Derek Harvey, "reportedly ignored ... warnings and insisted that the decision to transfer nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia had already been made."

The NSC's lawyers realized that Flynn had a possible conflict of interest that could violate the law, the whistleblowers said, and told NSC staff to stop working on the nuclear technology transfer plan. Despite Flynn's firing in February 2017, the plan appeared to continue to progress with Barrack's support.

The committee announced that it intends to launch an investigation into this matter "to determine whether the actions being pursued by the Trump administration are in the national security interests of the United States, or, rather, serve those who stand to gain financially as a result of this potential change in U.S. foreign policy."
Shortly after the release of the report, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., announced that his panel would be coordinating with Cummings' staff to explore these allegations.

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Professor Guide

1 seeder Dulay 5 years ago

From the report:

January 28, 2017:
o General Flynn and Deputy National Security Advisor K.T. McFarland received two documents in their official White House email accounts in a message entitled, “Launching the Marshall Plan for the Middle East” from Mr. McFarlane, a cofounder and Director of IP3 and a former national security advisor to President Reagan who pleaded guilty to participating in the Iran-Contra cover-up in 1988.
o Mr. McFarlane was not a member of the Trump Administration, and he apparently sent the email in his role as an IP3 official. The email included: (1) a draft cover memorandum written from General Flynn to President Trump; and (2) a draft memorandum “for the President to sign” directing agency heads to lend support to Thomas Barrack for the implementation of the IP3 plan. Mr. McFarlane also wrote that the IP3 team and Thomas Barrack, the President’s personal friend and Chairman of the Inaugural Committee, concurred with both memos.

o The first document was formatted as a Memorandum for the President authored by General Flynn. The Memorandum stated, “Tom Barrack has been thoroughly briefed on this strategy and wants to run it for you. He’s perfect for the job. Rex and Jim are supportive of Tom’s focus on this also.”7 It also stated, “In the enclosed memo you would call upon the relevant cabinet officers to lend their support to this historic program. I recommend that you sign it.”8

The second document was formatted as a Cabinet Memorandum from the President to the Secretaries of State, Defense, Treasury, and Energy; the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency; and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It stated that President Trump had assigned Mr. Barrack as a special representative to oversee implementation of the Middle East Marshall Plan: “I have assigned a special representative, Tom Barrack, to lead this important initiative and I am requesting him to engage each of you over the next 30 days to gain your input and support for our Middle East Marshal [sic] Plan.”9

o General Flynn forwarded Mr. McFarlane’s email and its attachments to White House staff and directed them: “Prep a staff packet to go to the POTUS.”

o Mr. Harvey and others were instructed to finalize the decision memorandum by January 30, 2017.
o That evening, NSC staff tasked with carrying out General Flynn’s instructions discussed the latest direction with other senior NSC appointees who outranked Mr. Harvey. They raised a concern that the directive created significant conflicts of interest since General Flynn’s former business colleagues stood to benefit from the plan and because the plan could generate improper benefit for private parties, including Mr. Barrack, the President’s personal friend. These officials agreed with the NSC staff’s concerns and said they planned to contact the NSC Legal Advisor

Professor Principal

2 Ender 5 years ago

I heard about this earlier.

They were told to stop several times by lawyers yet they still kept pressing and continuing.

I didn't understand this push and need to give the Saudis nuclear technology.

Professor Guide

2.1 seeder Dulay replied to Ender @2 5 years ago

Follow the money...

The report is scathing.

Professor Principal

2.1.1 Ender replied to Dulay @2.1 5 years ago

I keep thinking that somehow little Jared is involved. The Saudi prince is his buddy.

Masters Quiet

3 Enoch 5 years ago

Dear Friend Dulay: Its all about the Benjamin's.

Now it's our turn to say it.

P&AB.

Enoch.

Professor Principal

3.1 Ender replied to Enoch @3 5 years ago

You might be called something for saying that. haha

Masters Quiet

3.1.1 Enoch replied to Ender @3.1 5 years ago

Laughs and nods.

Professor Principal

4 Kavika 5 years ago

Well that was one interesting read....I'm sure some will jump to the defense of Flynn. (he pleaded guilty to protect his son) song and dance.

Follow the money it could lead to some interesting places.

Professor Guide

5 Split Personality 5 years ago

Trump to Christie "where's my efffing money"?

We don't need transition training- your stealing my money !!!

Ethics training? We don't need no stinking ethics training.....your wasting my money!!!!

(Former OGE Director) Shaub also clashed with the White House over whether lobbyists working in the Trump administration should have to disclose ethics waivers, and over aide Kellyanne Conway’s controversial suggestion that Americans should buy products sold by Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter.
In his resignation letter, he also took one more opportunity to goad Trump on his approach to government ethics policies, putting in italics “public service is a public trust” – the first of 14 principles of public service promulgated by George HW Bush in a 1989 executive order .

OGE staff, he wrote, were “committed to protecting the principle that public service is a public trust , requiring employees to place loyalty to the constitution, the laws, and ethical principles above private gains”.

Shaub’s departure leaves vacant the position of OGE director. The agency has traditionally helped government officials avoid any potential conflicts of interest. Trump’s election has put the agency and its leader into the public spotlight.

Upon Straubs resignation, Mr Trump assigned the lead OGE Counsel, David Apol as Acting Director of OGE, in July of 2017. He is still acting in this role.

No permanent Director has been nominated or confirmed by the Senate.

The OGE has also faded from the news as have complaints of conflicts of interest by Ivanka, Jared, and current WH staff who were lobbyist who do not have waivers, or staffers who have left the WH to become lobbyists.

Professor Principal

6 JBB 5 years ago

What did we expect when Trump & Kushner owe billions to foreign interests?

The malfeasance and corruption of this administration are unprecedented...

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