Trump Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney released a cryptic message Wednesday from Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) urging President Biden to declassify information about “grave national security threats.” As for why he did so, he said, “I’m completely surprised.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and other lawmakers reassured the public that the classified information in question was not an imminent threat to the country.
“I have seen Mr. Speaker Turner’s statement on this issue and I want to assure you that there is no need to alarm the public,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters at Parliament House on Wednesday. “We intend to work together to address this issue, just as we work on all classified matters.”
Mulvaney told NewsNation’s Blake Berman on The Hill that he doesn’t understand why Turner sent the message.
“I was really surprised by Mike Turner’s comments today and was trying to understand what he was trying to accomplish,” Mulvaney said. “There’s no reason for Mike Turner to do something like this. If it was really serious and, to use legal terminology, a clear and imminent danger, you wouldn’t want to make it public. There’s no reason to make this. [statement] This is to declassify this. ”
Rep. Byron Donald (R-Fla.) told Berman earlier Wednesday that the classified information Turner referred to in his message was not immediately dangerous.
“The information I have read does not give a clear warning to the American people,” Donald said. “I’m glad I read it and realized that. But do I feel like that’s something that’s viable today? I don’t believe that.”
Mulvaney speculated why Turner made this statement, linking it to Turner’s support for Ukraine and recent failures to raise aid funds for the country.
“The only thing that seems consistent with the facts so far is that Mike Turner wanted more money for Ukraine and took this action to scare people into voting.” said Mulvaney. “If true, this is a surprising development from the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.”
A bipartisan Senate bill to fund foreign policy initiatives, including aid to Ukraine, has hit a roadblock in the House of Representatives by conservatives including Mr. Johnson. Some Democrats have hinted at pursuing a gag petition to bring the bill to a vote without Johnson’s approval, but it remains to be seen whether the effort will gain support from enough Republicans to move forward. It’s opaque.
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