CUTTING ROOM FLOOR COMEY: You may have heard that former FBI Director James Comey has a book out. Titled “A Higher Loyalty,” Comey makes no effort to hide the minimal regard in which he holds the current president. He could have called his book, “Fired and Furious.” But lost in the noise about Comey v. Trump were some comments about events in past administrations. One example caught the eye of the folks at Vox, which noted that in a portion of Comey’s ABC News interview, which did not make it into the one-hour special, the former FBI director disagreed with the Obama Justice Department’s handling of ex-CIA Director David Petraeus’s case involving mishandling of classified information. Comey told George Stephanopoulos: “It was not a close call. In fact, I thought David Petraeus should’ve been prosecuted not just for the mishandling of the classified information, but also for lying to the FBI because lying is — strikes at the heart of our rule of law in this country. And in the end, the attorney general at the time, Eric Holder, decided he would be charged only with the misdemeanor mishandling of classified information.”
BITTER NOT SWEETS: If you think watching TV news in the U.S. can be scary these days, cast an eye overseas. President Donald Trump recently tweeted that Russia should “Get ready” because the U.S. would be sending “nice and new and ‘smart!’” missiles at targets in Syria. According to Vice News, Russian state TV “Vesti 24” then started advising citizens what to stockpile in case of nuclear war. Just in case the audience didn’t get the message, the newscaster stood in front of a photo of a mushroom cloud and ticked off the necessities, advising folks to stow away “fewer sweets and more water.” As far as we can tell, there was no mention of vodka – which would seem to be a top priority.
TGI DJT: For his Showtime series The Circus, John Heilemann engaged in a fascinating (and combative) interview with Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova. At one point, Zakharova said “Thank God” Donald Trump is president of the United States. It was a little unclear if her meaning was that this was a good thing overall – or whether she meant “as opposed to his being president of Russia.” Later in the interview, Heilemann asked her if Vladimir Putin was “laughing his ass off” at the United States. In response, she laughed heartily.
HOME ALONE: Ever since Amb. John Bolton has taken up his duties as National Security Advisor, the White House revolving door has swept out several high-profile staffers. We told you about the sudden departure of Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert on April 10, just after NSC spokesman Michael Anton also made a rapid exit. Now we hear that Rob Joyce, the White House Cybersecurity Coordinator for the last 14 months, will be returning to his home agency, the NSA. No word on who his replacement will be. Back in August, Joyce sat down with Cipher Brief CEO and publisher Suzanne Kelly for a 15-Minutes podcast.
POCKET LITTER: Bits and pieces of interesting /weird stuff we discovered:
NETWORK NEWS: Not a day goes by when members of The Cipher Brief Network aren’t making news. Here are just a few examples:
WHAT’S ON THEIR NIGHTSTAND? (Our contributors tell us about what they’re currently reading)
“The ‘Alexander Hamilton’ biography by Ron Chernow. While the country is certainly in a different place than in was just after the Revolutionary War, I still find it comforting that there have been other times in our history when there has been bitter political partisanship. Somehow, we manage to survive and hopefully emerge stronger.”
— Steve Hall, former member, CIA’s Senior Intelligence Service
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING: Got any tips for your friendly neighborhood Dead Drop? Shoot us a note at [email protected] or [email protected].
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