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Trump has gotten a LOT of mileage out of his statements that: “Only 4 Intelligence Agencies concluded Russia was involved — not 17 Agencies has been widely reported.”
Indeed he is still getting inexplicable cred-mileage from repeating this asinine statement.
If as if the assessment of the 4 is somehow “tainted” — because of the Press “overstatement” about the 17. Poltifact argues that this is NOT the case. And gives the origins of the 17 number in the process. And some untarnished credibility to the Four Agencies, that Donald so easily dismissed.
17 intelligence organizations or 4? Either way, Russia conclusion still valid
by Lauren Carroll, PolitiFact.com, July 6th, 2017
[...]
Four out of the 17 were involved in the January assessment about Russia: CIA, FBI, NSA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which is an umbrella agency that oversees all 17 organizations.
This doesn’t mean the remaining 13 intelligence organizations disagree with the January assessment, nor does it mean the report was insufficient, according to multiple national security experts.
The 17 organizations differ on their missions and scope, so they wouldn’t all be expected to contribute to every intelligence assessment, including one of this import.
[...]
"The ones that participated are the ones you’d expect on this," Pillar said. "It’s hard to see any of the others having something to contribute."
"That does not vitiate the conclusions. It does not mean the jury is still out," he added.
If a mobster were under scrutiny of the CIA, the FBI, the NSA and the DNI — and that “Jury of Four” unanimously said “He’s guilty” — you’d think the mobster and his Lawyer would take notice, and would be looking for the best “plead deal” they could get.
But no in Trumpworld, the indictments of those Four Powerhouse Agencies — equates to “He’s Innocent” — and the mobster gets a hug and a handshake, and nods of Respect. And then he’s given the keys to the infrastructure warehouses he’s been trying to shakedown for years.
Un-Trumpin-Believeable!
Only in Bizarro Trumpland, where left is right, up is down, and the Wise-guys who hacked our Election process, are now our very best friends.
Indictments of the “Only Four Agencies” — it was just “locker room talk” ... IOW, It.Meant.Nothing.
Only in Trumpland … does Guilty pass for Innocent, both in Tweets, and in our so-called Foreign Policy.
IOW, Fugget about it! Water, bridge, time to "move constructively FORWARD" ...
That is how 4 != 17 Math works in Trump’s America.
That Number 4, you know that's really 'Next to Nothing' … when you stop and think about it.
(Don’t think about it too long though.)