KIM ZIGFELD: HOUSE INTEL CHAIRMAN MIKE ROGERS (R-MICHIGAN)-“SNOWDEN HAD ASSISTANCE FROM RUSSIAN SPIES”
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2014/01/19/homeland-security-chair-echoes-rogers-on-snowden/?singlepage=true
In a jaw-dropping revelation on NBC’s Meet the Press, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Michigan) has stated that he believes the fugitive Edward Snowden had assistance from Russian spies when he stole vast amounts of sensitive U.S. security data and fled to Russia.
Rogers told MTP host David Gregory: “Let me just say this: I believe there’s a reason he [Snowden] ended up in the hands, the loving arms, of an FSB [successor to the KGB] agent in Moscow. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.” Rogers added that some of the methods Snowden used in lifting National Security Agency secrets were “beyond his technical capabilities.”
Amazingly, at the same time Rogers was speaking to Gregory, over on ABC’s This Week a taped interview with Snowden’s benefactor Vladimir Putin himself was being played. The interview had taken place with George Stephanopoulos earlier in the week, in the host city for the 2014 Olympics next month, Sochi. It was almost as if Rogers was deliberately torpedoing ABC’s much-ballyhooed coup in landing Putin, since Stephanopoulos would have no chance to question Putin about the statement Rogers had made, leaving him with egg on his face.
Indeed, Stephanopoulos didn’t grill Putin on Snowden at all, merely lobbing a single lame-question softball at him about whether Snowden was invited to Sochi and allowing Putin to respond that Snowden is free to do whatever he likes in Russia.
On the panel discussion afterwards, Stephanopoulos spoke to Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who echoed Rogers and stated: “Hey, listen, I don’t think Snowden — Mr. Snowden woke up one day and had the wherewithal to do this all by himself. I think he was helped by others. I personally believe that he was cultivated by a foreign power to do what he did.”
The irony is, of course, breathtaking. House Republicans are on the same page with the Obama administration as to Snowden being a virulent traitor, yet because of his craven “reset” policy towards Russia Obama won’t come forth with damning evidence against Snowden which shows he acted in concert with Russia. To do so, of course, would blow his entire foreign policy to smithereens. Obama is caught between a rock and a hard place.
With breathtaking chutzpah, Putin told a credulous Stephanopoulos: “I would very much like during the Olympics for the athletes, visitors, reporters and those who will follow the Olympics on TV through the media for people to see a new Russia.” This “new Russia” will play the national anthem of the USSR when its athletes win medals. It is run by a proud KGB spy who has jailed both of his main political rivals and has launched a furious new arms race while supplying aid to America’s worst enemies around the world, particularly in the Middle East.
Putin stated: “With respect to athletes, I’d recommend and advise them not to think about the political differences. Politics should not interfere with sports. And sports should impact politics.” Would Putin say a U.S. Olympiad should be depoliticized if it were learned that the U.S. government were giving aid to Doku Umarev, the separatist rebel who engages in terrorism? Of course not. Yet Putin demands the U.S. ignore waves of Russian aid flowing to Hezbollah, Syria and Iran.
In perhaps one of the greatest whoppers ever uttered by a national ruler on television, Putin had the gall to assert that “[s]o far, we are not seeing any major large-scale manifestations of corruption as part of the implementation of the Sochi project.” In fact, both in Russia and abroad experts agree that at least a third of the funds spent on the Sochi games have been stolen. Some put the figure at well over half. There’s no other explanation for why it would cost Russia as much to host these Winter Games as it will cost Brazil to stage both the Summer Olympics and the World Cup combined.
Putin refused to give a direct answer when Stephanopoulos asked him to define the standard for Russian success in Sochi, and he refused to comment on the Obama administration’s Sochi boycott.
But he was eager to renew his slanderous view that homosexuals have a natural inclination to pedophilia, which he begged them to control while visiting Sochi. He also claimed that many American states make homosexuality a crime, and when informed that the Supreme Court had struck down such laws he ignored reality and asked:
How are they in a position to criticize us for what is a much softer, liberal approach to these issues than in their own country? I know that this isn’t something that can be easily done. This is so because there are a lot of folks in the U.S. who share the view that the legislation in their state or in their nation is appropriate, well grounded, and is in sync with the sentiment of the vast majority of the population.
Despite polls clearly showing a majority of Americans not only have a tolerant view towards homosexuality but actually favor gay marriage, Putin aggressively and dishonestly sought to divide Americans by claiming himself to be more representative of their views than their own leaders. He ignored the fact that those like Pat Buchanan and Ron Paul who have openly expressed sympathy for Putin have been soundly repudiated at the polls.
In the end, all the viewers could think about was that a golden opportunity to grill Putin in regard to Snowden had been missed. Two of the most well-informed and important figures in the American intelligence establishment have openly declared it is likely Russia assisted Snowden in hijacking sensitive U.S. security data, which have now been turned over to them.
If that is so, then the current public relations campaign in which Snowden is involved, which has included recruiting the likes of Daniel Ellsberg to lobby for a pardon on his behalf, would also have to be seen as state-sponsored. Snowden may well have turned to Russia knowing that Obama’s “reset” policy meant he would have great difficulty attacking him while ensconced there. If so, Snowden’s attack on his country may well turn out to be one of the most malignant in its history.
Follow Kim Zigfeld on Twitter @larussophobe.
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