Former Obama official and Hillary Clinton campaign advisor Dr. Evelyn Farkas gave an interview to Vox published February 16, two weeks before her now notorious March 2 Morning Joe appearance, that contradicts her denials this week that she only knew from the media about alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Also, an interview with Brian Wiliams on MSNBC early on March 2 indicates Farkas may have been involved with an Obama administration effort to disseminate the intel gathered on the Trump team. Farkas made clear in an interview on Thursday that she coordinated with Obama officials to spread the Trump intel to Capitol Hill after the election–this despite her protestations that she was out of the government and only knew what was in the news.
Evelyn Farkas on MSNBC, March 30, screen image via Newsbusters.
FARKAS: So there’s a total distortion of what I said and what I was talking about. I was talking about the fact that I was – I was outside of government, I had no access to intelligence on this whatsoever – but I was concerned because I knew how the Russians operate and I was reading these reports about them hacking into the elections and then giving information to Wikipedia [sic] and that Trump people, Trump team people, were going to Moscow. And you know, there was a lot of reporting on this. And so, I got worried that the process wasn’t being followed with regard to Capitol Hill, with regard to Congress, because it wasn’t clear to me that the White House was keeping them in the loop. And that was really important, especially since we were about to have a transition in the government.
What’s your level of alarm after the resignation of Michael Flynn?
It’s lower than it’s been since the summer, when I was first made aware of all this stuff. I’m like, finally, everybody else sees it! Seriously.
The reason I was so upset last summer was that I was getting winks and hints from inside that there was something really wrong here. I was agitated because I knew the Clinton campaign and the world didn’t know. But I didn’t think it would happen this fast. I didn’t think Flynn would survive a year, but I thought it would be most of the year.
The fact that Flynn is gone is constructive from the perspective of US foreign policy. He was getting it wrong on combating terrorism and Russia. So I feel relieved that he will not be whispering his policy prescriptions in the president’s ear.
Farkas also spoke about her knowledge of the mindset of the intelligence community regarding Trump.
From the perspective of the intelligence community, the fundamental question is: Are you susceptible to blackmail from a foreign entity or individual? There’s the possibility of blackmail based on giving money or lending money or guaranteeing something. There could be some hanky-panky that opens the president up to blackmail.
Farkas’ February 16 statement to Vox that “the intelligence community, the bureaucracy, patriotic Americans, and some members of Congress are making it impossible for the White House to sweep whatever they are trying to hide under the rug” points to her knowledge of a conspiracy to spread intel gathered about Trump and his campaign/transition staff throughout the government and leaks to the media.
It was on March 1 that the New York Times published a blockbuster report detailing efforts by the Obama administration doing precisely what Farkas described two weeks previously to Vox. The Times’ sources are described as “Former American officials” and “More than a half-dozen current and former officials” indicating the possibility Farkas was one of the Times’ sources.
In the Obama administration’s last days, some White House officials scrambled to spread information about Russian efforts to undermine the presidential election — and about possible contacts between associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump and Russians — across the government. Former American officials say they had two aims: to ensure that such meddling isn’t duplicated in future American or European elections, and to leave a clear trail of intelligence for government investigators.
…Mr. Trump has denied that his campaign had any contact with Russian officials, and at one point he openly suggested that American spy agencies had cooked up intelligence suggesting that the Russian government had tried to meddle in the presidential election. Mr. Trump has accused the Obama administration of hyping the Russia story line as a way to discredit his new administration.
…As Inauguration Day approached, Obama White House officials grew convinced that the intelligence was damning and that they needed to ensure that as many people as possible inside government could see it, even if people without security clearances could not. Some officials began asking specific questions at intelligence briefings, knowing the answers would be archived and could be easily unearthed by investigators — including the Senate Intelligence Committee, which in early January announced an inquiry into Russian efforts to influence the election.
The Times also described what was happening behind the scenes last summer that Farkas was likely” getting winks and hints from inside” about.
In an appearance on the 11th Hour with Brian Williams the night the Times story broke (and hours before her appearance on Morning Joe) Farkas was more measured in how she describes what she knew last summer, but then reveals her knowledge of the mood inside the Obama administration as, “alarmed” that the incoming Trump administration would learn about the intel gathered on them and “block” it from the public and government oversight. Farkas says she “ran up to the Hill” knowing from her years working as a staffer there that those with proper clearances could request classified information from the Obama administration.
In an interview with WGBH-TV on Thursday, Farkas finally owned up to coordinating with the Obama administration to disseminate the Trump intel to Congress.
Farkas gave an interview with the Daily Caller Thursday in which she denied knowing anything.
Farkas issued a statemnt Thursday to Jeffrey Lord with the American Spectator in which she contradicted her other statements.