Would Trump And His Cronies Really Sell Nuclear Technology To The Saudis?

Michael Flynn by Nancy Ohanian

The Republicans put Gym Jordan in as ranking member of the House Oversight and Reford Committee, basically to obstruct oversight and reform. He has 17 GOP members behind him, although two of his members, Justin Amassh (R-MI) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) are know to sometimes weigh things from a patriotic, rather than a partisan perspective. Not that it matters that much. Chairman Elijah Cummings is backed by 23 Democrats. And it's not just the number disparity that favors the Dems. Look who's on the committee: Ro Khanna (D-CA), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), Jackie Speier (D-CA), John Sarbanes (D-MD)... FIRE. CRACKERS. And the committee is about to come front and center.

If there's a group who can confound the fascist-oriented new "legal" theory by crackpot wing nuts David Rivkin and Elizabeth Price Foley that Congress can't investigate Trump because there are too many crimes, Cummings has the team. And, like the House Judiciary Committee, they're taking one crime at a time. I'm particularly interested in something that has caught Ro Khanna's attention: a plot my Trump insiders to subvert the law by transferring nuclear technology to the Saudis.

Flynn may be headed to prison and I've been predicting that eventually Trump crooked billionaire crony Tom Barrack would eventually follow him. But now the two of them appear to be at the heart of this scheme to sell the Saudis and other Middle East players nuclear technology as Trump was being sworn in to his illegitimate "presidency." NBC has been reporting the story for 3 days and it's being picked up widely now. But there are still some important at the center of this that will have to be answered by Cummings and Khanna, if not Mueller. Were the whistleblowers encouraged by Netanyahu-- or someone else within the Israeli establishment-- for example?

This morning Ro Khanna told me that "It’s is deeply concerning given the financial interests Tom Barrack has that he was driving our policy in selling nuclear secrets to the Saudis. For context, Barrack has defended the murder of Khashoggi as legitimate. He raised $100 million plus for Trump’s inaugural and he would stand to gain millions from the sale of nuclear technology to the Saudis."

What Ken Dilanian reported for NBC News is that "whistleblowers" from within Trump's National Security Council have told the Oversight Committee that "efforts by former national security adviser Michael Flynn to transfer sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia may have violated the law, and investigators fear Trump is still considering it."

The House Oversight Committee has formally opened an investigation into the matter, releasing an interim staff report that adds new details to previous public accounts of how Flynn sought to push through the nuclear proposal on behalf of a group he had once advised. Tom Barrack, a prominent Trump backer with business ties to the Middle East, also became involved in the project, the report says.

Just days after Trump's inauguration, backers of the project sent documents to Flynn for Trump to approve, including a draft Cabinet memo stating that the president had appointed Barrack as a special representative to implement the plan and directing agencies to support Barrack's efforts, the report says.

Career national security officials objected to the plan, citing what they deemed Flynn's conflict of interest, and also that the proposal sought to bypass a policy review that is required whenever nuclear technology is transferred to another country, the report says.

The proposal, which involved enlisting the U.S. nuclear power industry to build nuclear plants across the Middle East, was backed by a group of retired generals who formed a firm called IP3. Flynn described himself in financial disclosure filings as an "advisor" to a subsidiary of IP3, IronBridge Group Inc., from June 2016 to December 2016 — at the same time he was serving as Trump's national security adviser during the presidential campaign and the presidential transition, the report says.

The report quotes one senior Trump official as saying that the proposal was "not a business plan," but rather "a scheme for these generals to make some money," and added, "OK, you know we cannot do this."

"The whistleblowers who came forward have expressed significant concerns about the potential procedural and legal violations connected with rushing through a plan to transfer nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia," the report says.

"They have warned of conflicts of interest among top White House advisers that could implicate federal criminal statutes. They have also warned about a working environment inside the White House marked by chaos, dysfunction, and backbiting."

The Oversight Committee, led by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said its investigation of the plan "is particularly critical because the administration's efforts to transfer sensitive U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia appear to be ongoing."

On Feb. 12, the report notes, Trump met with nuclear power developers at the White House about sharing nuclear technology with countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia. Next week Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner is set to embark on a tour of Middle Eastern capitals-- including Riyadh-- to discuss the economic portion of the administration's Middle East peace plan.

"Experts worry that transferring sensitive U.S. nuclear technology could allow Saudi Arabia to produce nuclear weapons that contribute to the proliferation of nuclear arms throughout an already unstable Middle East," the report says.

Khanna has been reminding people that "the Saudis have a track record of providing weapons to America’s enemies-- such as Al Qaeda In Yemen. We should be very concerned about the threat of nuclear proliferation if the Saudis were to acquire sensitive nuclear technology." He added when we spoke that he "will work on the Oversight Committee to get to the bottom of the financial interests that are driving the Administration’s policy to sell nuclear technology to the Saudis. I also will work to make sure Congress opposes under the Atomic Energy Act any such sale to the Saudis."

In a press release from Cummings office Tuesday, there were two highlighted sections:

and, ominously...

Aside from a letter to Señor Trumpanzee's clownish Chief of Staff, Cummings sent letters to multiple entities involved with promoting this plan, including the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy, State, and Treasury; the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Central Intelligence Agency; Flynn Intel Group; IP3; ACU Strategies; Colony NorthStar; and Mr. Barrack.