Earlier today, CNN’s one-man Fifth Column, former Obama apparatchik and current national security corresponedent Jim Sciutto pushed out a story that claims the CIA was forced to extract a highly placed source because it was afraid that President Trump would compromise the source through some public utterance.

In a previously undisclosed secret mission in 2017, the United States successfully extracted from Russia one of its highest-level covert sources inside the Russian government, multiple Trump administration officials with direct knowledge told CNN. A person directly involved in the discussions said that the removal of the Russian was driven, in part, by concerns that President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy. The decision to carry out the extraction occurred soon after a May 2017 meeting in the Oval Office in which Trump discussed highly classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. The intelligence, concerning ISIS in Syria, had been provided by Israel.

There is a lot in here that indicates that a credulous Sciutto is simply being duped by Resistance members inside the CIA or that Sciutto is making up a story to try to recreate the old and busted NeverTrump narrative that Trump is both too cozy with the Russians and prone to blurt out secret information at moments of high passion.

The fact is that the first mention of a highly placed Russia source came from John Brennan’s CIA when they were trying to gin up the Russia collusion narrative.

2) Trump blamed BUT: "At the end of the Obama administration, US intelligence officials had already expressed concerns about the safety of this spy and other Russian assets, given the length of their cooperation with the US, according to a former senior intelligence official." — Jeff Carlson (@themarketswork) September 9, 2019

4) CIA response directly disputes CNN: "Misguided speculation that the President's handling of our nation's most sensitive intelligence—which he has access to each and every day—drove an alleged exfiltration operation is inaccurate." — Jeff Carlson (@themarketswork) September 9, 2019

6) CNN article does bring to mind 2 other articles. "The most prominent of the C.I.A.’s sources of intelligence on Russia’s election interference was a person close to Mr. Putin who provided information about his involvement, former officials have said."https://t.co/SwHafuc8Ar — Jeff Carlson (@themarketswork) September 9, 2019

8) NYT Cont: "Long nurtured by the C.I.A., the source rose to a position that enabled the informant to provide key information in 2016 about the Russian leadership’s role in the interference campaign, the officials said." — Jeff Carlson (@themarketswork) September 9, 2019

10) But the May 2019 NYT article appears to have its origins in this June 23, 2017 WAPO article.https://t.co/oF8f60n30k — Jeff Carlson (@themarketswork) September 9, 2019

12) "Inside was an intelligence bombshell, a report drawn from sourcing deep inside the Russian government that detailed Russian President Vladi­mir Putin’s direct involvement in a cyber campaign to disrupt and discredit the U.S. presidential race." — Jeff Carlson (@themarketswork) September 9, 2019

14) WAPO: On Sept. 22, 2016 "Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Adam B. Schiff-did what they couldn’t get the White House to do. They issued a statement making clear that they had learned from intelligence briefings that Russia was directing a campaign to undermine the election." — Jeff Carlson (@themarketswork) September 9, 2019

16) On Oct. 7, the day that the Clapper-Johnson statement was released, [Susan] Rice summoned Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak to the White House and handed him a message to relay to Putin." — Jeff Carlson (@themarketswork) September 9, 2019

Mis-numbered last tweet. 18 should be 17. Apologies. — Jeff Carlson (@themarketswork) September 9, 2019

Any real fear, it seems, should not be based upon the possibility of Trump leaking it but on the actual fact that the CIA, under Brennan, was leaking information and disinformation like a sieve in order to undermine the Trump administration.

This is from a decidedly non-conservative journalist at The Nation:

Examples: WP reported in June 2017 of "sourcing deep inside the Russian government" — so deep that it purportedly "captured Putin’s specific instructions" to launch a pro-Trump influence campaign. (NSA & other intel officials later questioned this claim). https://t.co/Bwup3Zq7eE pic.twitter.com/MryxE430zQ — Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) September 9, 2019

The alleged Kremlin mole close to Putin resurfaced in 5/2019, when NYT reported on intel fears of this source being exposed. Again, the irony is lost that it's the ones who are complaining who are the ones revealing this supposed source. https://t.co/hWIq6RGF1u pic.twitter.com/FWanvOCBvj — Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) September 9, 2019

So there's a pattern here of intel leaks in order to: create a false link between Trump-Russia; to reveal supposed high-level Russian sources that advance the Russiagate narrative & then falsely blame Trump for these sources' supposed vulnerability… — Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) September 9, 2019

…the obvious question is: what is the actual agenda of the intel officials leaking false and/or misleading information, & why are some prominent journalists carrying their water, instead of asking this obvious question? — Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) September 9, 2019

The CIA had unambiguously denied the story:

Asked for comment, Brittany Bramell, the CIA director of public affairs, told CNN: “CNN’s narrative that the Central Intelligence Agency makes life-or-death decisions based on anything other than objective analysis and sound collection is simply false. Misguided speculation that the President’s handling of our nation’s most sensitive intelligence—which he has access to each and every day—drove an alleged exfiltration operation is inaccurate.” A spokesperson for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined to comment. White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said, “CNN’s reporting is not only incorrect, it has the potential to put lives in danger.”

Having worked for the CIA, I can tell you resolutely that Haspel chopped off on the response or wrote it herself. Agency directors handle stories like this with great care. Trump did not compromise a source. CNN got it wrong (again). https://t.co/BC9j9b7EKX — Bryan Dean Wright (@BryanDeanWright) September 9, 2019

What is really suspicious is this

Knowledge of the Russian covert source’s existence was highly restricted within the US government and intelligence agencies. According to one source, there was “no equal alternative” inside the Russian government, providing both insight and information on Putin. CNN is withholding several details about the spy to reduce the risk of the person’s identification.

Wait, what? A guy so tightly wired into Putin’s inner circle that he knew Putin’s thoughts disappeared two years ago and the Russians still haven’t missed him?

https://twitter.com/27khv/status/1171073534011031552

Literally nothing in this story makes any sense if it is viewed in the context of a complete story. In fact, it seems more like a scene plagiarized from The Red Sparrow Trilogy than anything in real life. If the story is true, it is not only poorly reported, but running it is one of the more irresponsible things CNN will get up to this week. Odds are, however, that the story is totally bogus. Sciutto is either a pawn in another Resistance ploy or he’s actively pushing disinformation to try to damage President Trump. And when you consider the latter possibility, you can’t ignore the fact that Trump has spent the last week making fun of CNN via video memes.

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