"There is a powerful reason nearly all federal employees with access to classified information turn over deeply personal details about their lives and finances to security experts: Debts and other vulnerabilities can create weaknesses that our nation’s adversaries could exploit.
Multiple studies have shown that, while betrayal of one’s country is a crime that has complex psychological underpinnings, money is a leading motivator. And paying off large, unsustainable debts is often a driver of an interest in money. [snip]
As former national security officials of the government, we have no special insight into President Trump’s financial condition, but if the recent news accounts are correct, his financial situation presents a significant counterintelligence risk — because the millions of dollars he owes over the next few years put his very financial solvency at risk. If he can’t pay these debts, he may face severe business, political and social consequences." (our emphasis) -- Former CIA Acting Director Mike Morrell and former Assistant Attorney General for National Security David Kris in today's Washington Post.
The relatively short shrift that national security risk and Putin asset Donald "Tovarich" Trump's tax and financial records have been given is a scandal in itself. Trump, who once styled himself as the "King of Debt," owes payment on at least $400 million in near term loans from foreign entities, including the money laundering institution of Deutsche Bank and Putin-controlled Russian oligarchs. While amplifying his fraudulent tax deductions and his deadbeat tax evasion which saw him paying only $750 per year in Federal income taxes, the story of his indebtedness to shady foreign operators is a story that helps explain his sycophantic and anti-American behavior with the likes of Vladimir Putin and murderous Saudi despots. It can't be ignored, despite the justified focus on his monumental failure on the COVID-19 pandemic. He is a threat to this country in more ways than that.
(photo: Well, someone looks happy.)
