The Daily Signal - New Russiagate Files Cause CNN Panic, Obama Judge's ICE Block Fails, Sen. Ron Johnson | July 24, 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard releases additional files on Obamagate that are so scandalous, CNN cut away mid-sentence. An Obama-appointed judge in Maryland tries to free MS-13 member Kilmar-Abrego-Garcia in Tennessee, and we sit down with Senator Ron Johnson for the latest in hundreds of Trump appointment fights. I'm Tony Kennett, host of the Daily Signals Tony Kenned cast, syndicated nationally at 7 p.m. Eastern. It is Thursday, July 24th, 2025. This is the Daily Signals, top news in 10. Yesterday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard went before the American people again to disclose additional documents showing FBI director James Comey and CIA director John Brennan under the Obama administration

Starting point is 00:00:49 collaborated to manufacture an intelligence report suggesting that Russia had specifically acted in favor of Donald Trump to win the 2016 election. Not only was this collaboration very direct, not only did it ignore, existing intelligence data that suggested something quite different, but showed new emails and recently declassified documents showing that the Russian Federation wasn't interested in a particular candidate winning in 2016, just ensuring that there was as much political chaos as possible, even going as far as not releasing certain information about, for example, Hillary Clinton and possible tranquilizer use. On December 9th, 2016, a National Security Council meeting was called to gather

Starting point is 00:01:31 President Obama's senior national security officials, which included CIA director Brennan, then Obama DNI James Clapper, Susan Rice, and others. Following that secret meeting, DNI Clapper's assistant sent an email to the intelligence community with the subject line, POTUS tasking on Russia election meddling, tasking ODNI leaders to create a new assessment per the president's request. The House Intelligence Committee Oversight report that we released today reveals that, quote, Unlike routine intelligence community analysis, the intelligence community assessment was a high-profile product ordered by the president, President Obama. It directed senior intelligence community agency heads and created an intelligence community assessment limited to just five analysts using one principal drafter.

Starting point is 00:02:23 This is not something that occurs in the normal path of producing an intelligence community assessment that reflects the view. across the intelligence community. The production of this intelligence community assessment was subject to unusual directives, directly from the president and senior political appointees, especially the former director of the CIA, John Brennan. The House Intelligence Committee Oversight Report also shows how later that same day on December 9th,

Starting point is 00:02:51 Brennan ordered the publication of quote-unquote substandard reporting on Russian activities, which had previously been withheld from publication of prior assessments, because the information was judged, quote, to have not met longstanding publication standards. Some of the information later used in the Obama-ordered assessment over the objections of veteran CIA officers was, quote-unquote, unclear or from unknown sources. The Intelligence Committee's oversight report reveals that CIA Director Brennan overruled senior CIA officers who challenged the Obama-ordered intelligence assessment, stating, quote, we don't have direct information that Putin wanted to get Trump elected. Yet, the Obama-directed assessment was published on January 6, 2017, which explicitly stated,

Starting point is 00:03:39 quote, we assess Putin and the Russian government aspired to help President elect Trump's election chances, when possible, by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him. end of quote. The CIA and FBI then led by John Brennan and James Comey expressed high confidence in this judgment while the NSA expressed moderate confidence. Yet as the report we released today shows the ICA, the intelligence community assessment, did not cite any report where Putin indicated helping Trump win was an objective. The opposite is true. There were high-level DNC emails that detailed evidence of Hillary's quote psycho-emotional problems, uncontrolled fits of anger, aggression, and cheerfulness, and that then Secretary Clinton was allegedly on a daily

Starting point is 00:04:33 regimen of heavy tranquilizers. As soon as Director Gabbard started listing a series of events and assertions based on new declassified materials from the intelligence reports, CNN hurriedly cut the audio, replacing it with the anchor of the segment trying to re-contextextualize Gabbard's statements as extreme. Check it out. Multiple intelligence community assessments released in the months leading up to the November 2016 election concluded that Russia had neither the intent nor capability to impact the outcome of the U.S. election. On December 5th, we've been listening there to the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, continuing on what has now been a multi-day effort, not only

Starting point is 00:05:14 with public statements like this, but release of documents, to attempt to back up the quite extreme allegation that President Obama is guilty of treason and that he worked in some sort of conspiracy with Hillary Clinton, et cetera, in the assessment by the intelligence community at the time that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. Judge Paula Zinnis, federal judge of Maryland, also appointed by former President Barack Obama, issued an order yesterday afternoon trying to block immigration customs enforcement from arresting supposed Maryland man, Kilmar Abrago-Gargeo Garcia, upon his release on bail in Tennessee before his federal human trafficking charges. Judge Zinnis also attempted to order a 72-hour

Starting point is 00:06:01 pause on any effort to deport him to a third-party country without, she said, sufficient notice in due process. Abrago Garcia, a El Salvadorian illegal alien and alleged MS-13 gang member, an alleged repeat wife-beater, is facing federal human smuggling charges in Tennessee. However, despite Judge Zinnis rather unconstitutionally and very much outside of her authority, attempting to block the Trump administration from taking Garcia into ICE custody upon his release, Magistrate Judge Crenshaw out of Tennessee essentially denied Judge Zinnis order and suggested he really wasn't convinced by the arguments made by Judge Zinnis and extended Kilmer Obrego-Garcia's detention for another 30 days.

Starting point is 00:06:44 And lastly, with the U.S. Senate practically on fire over expected additional. rescission packages, as well as a series of Trump appointments that the Senate has rather uncharacteristically been unable to complete, like in prior administrations, we sat down with Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin to talk a little bit about why this is, what's being done about it, and where things are expected to go in the future. Check it out. I really wish the media were honest, not so biased, so they could be really talking about how outrageous the Democrat obstruction is in terms of confirming.

Starting point is 00:07:18 members of the administration. You know, elections matter. I think Republicans generally respect that. I mean, we'll hold up a nomination or two, but frequently at this stage where you're confirming deputies and assistant secretaries, that type of thing, oftentimes these things go in block or they're, you know, approved by unanimous consent. You don't, what we call run the clock on all these. Democrats are making us run the clock on every nominee, every company, a, a comment. So, you know, we've got a backlog.

Starting point is 00:07:51 Last time I heard something like 136 individuals just waiting to be confirmed. And when you recognize it, in order to fill up an administration to staff them, you need to confirm something like over a thousand people. Now, I personally think that is way out of control as well. I can see maybe a couple hundred Senate confirmations. Let us do our advice and consent. I think elections do matter. But again, unfortunately, the Democrats are obstructing this.

Starting point is 00:08:15 And I don't see any end in sight. we're going to have to break this logjam either by just voting continuously overnight, possibly recess appointments, whatever it takes. I'm willing to do it. So, I mean, I'm sure that you don't have to tell us that the second assistant secretary to the deputy of the postmaster is probably not something that should require a full two weeks worth of debate and then a full Senate vote on. I don't know if that's the deepest, most important view of the American people that that particular position and positions of that level are. again, deserving of that whole running out the clock approach. Well, it's not two weeks. I mean, for certain judges, I think it's 30 hours. Otherwise, it's a couple hours.

Starting point is 00:08:56 But that all takes time. And you can't do them unless you get consent to, you know, all combined. So it's just one at a time. You grind it out. You know, move, you know, closer on one nominee while you vote confirmation of another. And you just can kind of, you know, rinse and repeat. But again, it's a Democrat obstruction. They're going to do everything they can to sabotage.

Starting point is 00:09:17 the second Trump administration, just like they did everything they could to sabotage the first Trump administration. The easiest way out of this is literally going to recess and have President Trump do recess appointments. Once he's done that, when we come back in, we can just do those confirmations in the normal course of business, but we would get these people in place. They can serve for a year. that would be pretty significant versus leading these agencies without their political appointees. And the problem with all these departments and agencies, they are by and large populated by liberal bureaucrats. Not all hard partisans, but enough hard partisans to do everything possible to frustrate and sabotage the Trump administration. I mean, we're seeing this cross the board.

Starting point is 00:10:02 I know Bobby Kennedy, for example, wants radical transparency. We issued a friendly subpoena to get all the information on COVID and our miserable response. to it. We were getting dribs and drabs. You know, Bobby finally broke the log jam last week, and we got a massive data damage. So we're sifting through that. Department of Justice, I know that a bunch of liberals just simply couldn't serve under President Trump, so they quit. Others were terminated. So there's a pretty big hole of a couple hundred attorneys that the Department of Justice need those personnel. The problem is, because of lawfare, because the Democrats are so vicious, they'll destroy the careers of people who had just,

Starting point is 00:10:41 just, for example, represent President Trump in Wisconsin. Judge Troops is a prime example. They're out to destroy him. And so that's a huge return for other people stepping out of the plate to serve this President Department of Justice. So Democrats, radical leftists, it's the same thing. They are relentless. They are vicious.

Starting point is 00:10:59 They play politics. It's a blood sport to them because it's all about power. And they will pull out all the stops. They break every president. They destroy every norm. and of course they've got the media that doesn't say a word. I mean, if this were reversed and Republicans were engaged this level of obstruction, we would hear no end to it.

Starting point is 00:11:19 There'd be all kinds of pressure for us to stop. Before you go, head down to the description and make sure you're subscribed to the Tony Kinnett cast. And join us tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern for a little roundup of the day's news and nonsense and a little something special just for our viewers this evening. I'm Tony Kinnett, and this has been The Daily Signals, Top News in 10. Take care.

The Daily Signal - New Russiagate Files Cause CNN Panic, Obama Judge's ICE Block Fails, Sen. Ron Johnson | July 24, 2025

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