DEMOCRATS FEAR TRUMP'S CIA CHIEF MIKE POMPEO
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
By
NWV Senior Political News Writer, Jim Kouri
Pompeo
will dig into Obama’s suspicious intel practices
U.S.
Senate Democrats, led by New York’s Chuck Schumer, the minority
leader, argued that a CIA director are dragging their feet on confirming
Rep. Mike Pompeo. They -- Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, Sen. Richard
Blumenthal, D-Connecticut and others –claim Pompeo has “controversial
views on surveillance and other issues that need to be debated on the
floor.” But more than one observer, such as former military intelligence
officer and police commander Larry McIntire, believe they fear a CIA run
by Pompeo because of the shenanigans by President Barack Obama’s
CIA appointees and supporters.
“Democrat
lawmakers appear to be concerned – even fearful -- that one of their
fellow members of Congress will be confirmed to head of the Central Intelligence
Agency. But it will take an Obama-sized ‘skeleton in his closet’
to stop U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo’s rise to the government position
he has worked his entire life to achieve,” said the now retired
McIntire. “I’d say that Pompeo may open a new can of worms
especially when it comes to the Obama and [Secretary of State John] Kerry
nuclear weapons agreement with Iran,” he noted.
The
great fear many Democrats have is that Pompeo may attempt to finish a
probe as the Director on Central that he started while he served on the
House Intelligence Committee: the big pay-off to Iran.
But
the Democrats are having a hard time finding something to put the kibosh
on the confirmation. The Republican congressman possess quite a resume.
Pompeo
while still a teenager shined as a cadet at the United States Military
Academy at West Point. In fact, he graduated first in his class from the
academy in 1986. According to his official biography, he also graduated
from Harvard’s School of Law and easily passed the bar exam.
His
military record includes serving as a cavalry officer patrolling the Iron
Curtain before the fall of the Berlin Wall. He also served with the 2nd
Squadron, 7th Cavalry in the Fourth Infantry Division. He served his last
tour of duty in the first war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. The
7th Cavalry is considered an elite unit going back to the Indian Wars
in the 1800s.
As a
House Intelligence Committee member, Pompeo said only a few weeks ago
that he has additional evidence that the Obama administration weaseled
its way around U.S. sanctions law when it sent $1.7 billion to Iran, according
to news reports.
Rep.
Pompeo is on the record stating disclosures made to him by the Treasury
Department in a letter that the first $400 million cash payment to Iran
was wired to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and then electronically-transferred
to an account at the National Bank of Switzerland.
The
Federal Reserve followed up by "withdraw[ing] the funds from its
account as Swiss franc banknotes and the U.S. government physically transported
them to Geneva" before overseeing the handover to an Iranian central
bank official.
GOP
lawmakers have been probing the legality of the payments for months to
determine if the money was ransom for the release of American prisoners
who were held hostage in the Islamic Republic, but Pompeo says, “[This]
administration has not provided most of the information [being sought]
by the committee members. By stonewalling our inquiries, President Obama
seems to be hiding whether or not he and others broke U.S. law by sending
$1.7 billion in cash to Iran," Pompeo told the news media at the
time.
"Americans
can plainly see that the Obama administration laundered this money in
order to circumvent U.S. law and appease the Islamic Republic of Iran,"
He accused.
Other
critics of the transfer, such as the American Action Forum, say that Iran
has used tens of millions of the $1.7 billion it received from the U.S.
to bolster its worldwide terrorism operations, including giving funds
to organizations which have murdered American citizens.
As a
teenager, he enrolled at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
He graduated first in his class from West Point in 1986. According to
his official biography, he then served as a cavalry officer patrolling
the Iron Curtain before the fall of the Berlin Wall. He also served with
the 2nd Squadron, 7th Cavalry in the Fourth Infantry Division. He served
his last tour in the Gulf War under President George H.W. Bush.
The
House Intelligence Committee member says he has additional evidence that
the Obama
administration skirted U.S. sanctions law when it sent $1.7 billion to
Iran, according to reports.
Rep.
Mike Pompeo said disclosures made to him by the Treasury Department in
a letter, after he requested details of the money transfer, show that
the first $400 million cash payment to Iran was wired to the Federal Reserve
Bank of New York (FRBNY) and then moved to an account at the Swiss National
Bank.
FRBNY
then "withdrew the funds from its account as Swiss franc banknotes
and the U.S. government physically transported them to Geneva" before
overseeing the handover to an Iranian central bank official.
Congress
has been looking into the legality of the payments for months to determine
as well if they were ransom for the release of Americans who were held
in the Islamic Republic, but Pompeo says the administration has not provided
most of the information they seek.
"By
withholding critical details and stonewalling congressional inquiries,
President Obama seems to be hiding whether or not he and others broke
U.S. law by sending $1.7 billion in cash to Iran," Pompeo told the
Free Beacon.
"But
Americans can plainly see that the Obama administration laundered this
money in order to circumvent U.S. law and appease the Islamic Republic
of Iran."
Other
critics of the transfer, such as the American
Action Forum (AAF), say that Iran has used tens of millions of the
$1.7 billion it received from the U.S. to bolster its worldwide terrorism
operations, including giving funds to organizations which have murdered
American citizens.
In her
report, AAF’s Rachel Hoff wrote: When the Obama Administration
sent Iran a total of $1.7 billion in cash earlier this year, many questioned
if these payment constituted a “ransom” for the release of
American prisoners. The State Department, however, insists the payment
was only used as “leverage” to ensure the prisoners were released.
(The United States has a longstanding policy that it does not pay ransoms
for American prisoners or hostages.) The nature of the cash transfers
to Iran is an important question, but it is also worth considering the
payment itself.
Iran
recently passed a law requiring that the $1.7 billion U.S. payment be
directed to the Iranian military. Previous AAF research reported that
Iran reports spending 65 percent of its military budget on the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Iranian elite paramilitary force.
The IRGC actively supports terrorist organizations throughout the Middle
East, spending millions of dollars every year to support the Houthis in
Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Gaza. Iran also sends billions
of dollars every year to the Assad regime in Syria.
It
is unlikely that Iran accurately reports its military or paramilitary
spending, but the reported budget figures are useful as a minimum baseline.
Applying the official spending levels to the U.S. payment to Iran, the
$1.7 billion could mean $1.1 billion for the IRGC. Paying ransoms in exchange
for Americans held abroad is one bad policy—indirectly funding terrorism
is another.
