Two Important Points the Obama Administration Needs to Clear Up

President Obama and his administration are leaving office in a  most petulant way not befitting a president. Obama, for his part, is attempting to pass as many executive actions as possible before he leaves office-actions that Donald Trump will have to rescind. One action Trump would be unable to rescind is for Obama to empty Gitmo of the remaining terrorists, many of whom will simply return to the battlefield. There are two other pressing issues that I think Obama and his underlings owe it to the American public to clear up before January 20. First is the question of Russian hacking and exactly what forms it took, and second is the report coming out of Egypt that Kerry and Susan Rice secretly met with Palestinian officials to craft the wording of a UN Security Council resolution that condemned Israeli settlements.

To say that Russia hacked the US is to state what should be obvious. It’s called espionage, and its what adversarial nations do to each other. Safe to say our intelligence agencies do the same thing. Hacking is a relatively new thing that comes with new technology.

There is disagreement as to what exactly the Russians did. Our intelligence agencies are saying that the Russians were hacking into the emails of the DNC and the Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. They say that it was the Russians who gave the  hacked emails to Wikileaks. There are also claims that the Russian hacking extended into our voting system though there is no proof that our voting machines and the counting were compromised. Congress has attempted to bring in the intelligence officials to lay it out for them, but they have resisted.

In addition, Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, has told interviewer Sean Hannity in no uncertain terms that they did not receive the DNC-Podesta emails from the Russians or any other state party.

Certainly, it behooves us to know the truth no matter whom it may have helped or who is president. I say that CIA Director John Brennan and National Intelligence chief James Clapper need to come before Congress (behind closed doors) and lay it out. You can’t make the accusation and let it sit there without providing proof at least to the proper Congressional committees.

Secondly, there is the matter of the Egyptian press report (obtained through Egyptian intelligence sources) that John Kerry and Susan Rice met secretly in Washington with Palestinian officials in the days leading up to the UN Security Council resolution against Israel, in which the US abstained. Supposedly, the purpose of the meetings was to agree on language with which the US could abstain. Kerry has denied it. If so, let Kerry and Rice come before Congress-again behind closed doors testify under oath.

At the very least, the proper Congressional committees should be able to hear the truth behind closed doors. As to the Russian hacking issue, of course, sources and methods must be protected. That is why testimony can be obtained in closed session. Kerry apparently thinks the Palestinian meetings should be classified “top secret”. Why? So the Israelis and American public won;t know what a back-stabbing “friend” the Obama administration has been to Israel?

In a sane world, I would be comfortable saying that the reputations of Kerry and Rice are on the line here. Then again, as far as I know, Congress never forced then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify about her closed-door meetings in Istanbul and Washington  with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in their (OIC) efforts to have UN member nations criminalize criticism of Islam.