Epstein Secrets

the decision and a debate over whether the delay was legal, according to three people familiar with the records. Josh Dawsey, Carol D. Leonnig and Tom Hamburger scoop: "The research by the White House Counsel's Office ... includes early Ai mi Ist email pyrhpnnpc Nal-NA/pen prtinn rhipf of staff Mirk Kilt il

ent of the reasoning or legal justification ... Emails show Vought and OMB staffers arguing that withholding aid was legal, while officials at the National Security Council and State Department protested. OMB lawyers said that it was legal to withhold the aid, as long as they deemed it a 'temporary' hold ... "Mulvaney

ation officials to dump Trump's nominee for ambassador to Qatar and replace her with someone else in late 2018. Josh Dawsey, Rosalind S. Helderman, Tom Hamburger and Devlin Barrett scoop: "Trump had nominated a career Foreign Service officer to ... a key post in a Middle Eastern country with tricky regional

was massive resentment among the Afghan people. And we were the most corrupt here, so had no credibility on the corruption issue." 3. From a former National Security Council staffer: "In the beginning, the military kept saying that corruption was an unfortunate short-term side effect then toward the end the feeling was

rivate company named: Julie Creswell, “The Private Equity Firm That Grew Too Fast,” New York Times, April 24, 2015. 214 USIS had prematurely closed: Tom Hamburger and Debbi Wilgoren, “Justice Department Says USIS Submitted 665,000 Incomplete Background Checks,” Washington Post, Jan. 23, 2014. 214 USIS was al

ties”: Chris Strohm and Gopal Ratnam, “NSA Leader Seeks Openness on Secret Surveillance Orders,” Bloomberg News, June 13, 2013. Also, staff member of National Security Council who requested anonymity, interview with author. CHAPTER 18 The Unheeded Warning 185 “The NSA—the world’s”: Morell, Great War of Our Time, 287. 185