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Brian Murphy demoted to the Homeland Security Department’s management division

Chad Fredrick Wolf
Brian Murphy
Brian Murphy

Brian Murphy, the former head of the Homeland Security Department’s intelligence branch, said in the complaint that he was ordered this spring by Chad F. Wolf, the acting secretary of the department, to stop producing assessments on Russian interference and focus instead on Iran and China. That request, Mr. Murphy said, was routed through Mr. Wolf from Robert C. O’Brien, the White House national security adviser.

Robert C. O’Brien

Wolf later told him not to disseminate a report on a Russian disinformation campaign to denigrate Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s mental health because it “made the president look bad,” said Murphy, who warned that the actions in their totality threatened national security.

Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II

In other instances, the department’s second-highest ranked official, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, ordered Murphy to modify intelligence assessments to make the threat of white supremacy “appear less severe” and include information on violent “left-wing” groups and antifa, according to the complaint, which was filed on Tuesday but released Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee.

Murphy was demoted from his post in August to the Homeland Security Department’s management division after his office compiled intelligence reports on protesters and journalists in Portland, Ore. But he asserted in the complaint that his real offense was raising concerns to superiors about the directions he was given and for cooperating with the department’s inspector general. He asked the inspector general to investigate and reinstate him as the intelligence chief..

9-12-20 The House Homeland Security Committee has issued a subpoena to acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf for a hearing next week as he faces whistleblower allegations that he urged department officials to alter intelligence.”From the coronavirus pandemic to the rise of right-wing extremism to ongoing election interference, there are urgent threats requiring our attention,” Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, said in a statement Friday. “Mr. Wolf’s refusal to testify — thereby evading congressional oversight at this critical time — is especially troubling given the serious matters facing the Department and the Nation.”

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Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Just weeks after helping to broker peace between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), President Trump has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.

The nomination submitted by Christian Tybring-Gjedde, a member of the Norwegian Parliament, lauded Trump for his efforts toward resolving protracted conflicts worldwide.

Tybring-Gjedde:
An idiot? Repeated offender.
Tybring-Gjedde was one of two Norwegian lawmakers who nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for efforts to bring reconciliation between North and South Korea. Any lawmaker serving in a national legislature can nominate someone for the Nobel Peace Prize.
  • Magnus Jacobsson, a member of the Swedish Parliament, submitted the second nomination. He announced on Friday that he was nominating the Trump administration along with Serbia and Kosovo “for their joint work for peace and economic development, through the cooperation agreement signed in the White House,” adding that “trade and communications are important building blocks for peace.”
Magnus Jacobsson
  • 9-29-20

Joe Biden has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, joining President Donald Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in names put forward. British lawmaker Chris Bryant, a Labour Party member of the U.K. Parliament, told the Evening Standard he put forward the Democrat on Monday.

Chris Bryant, a Labour Party member of the U.K. Parliament
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Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’

When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true.

Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.

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LA sheriff’s deputies kill Black man

Two deputies fatally shot a black man who scuffled with them after they tried to stop him for riding a bicycle in an unlawful manner, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said. A crowd gathered and marched to the sheriff’s station after the Monday afternoon shooting, demanding justice.

Sheriff’s Lt. Brandon Dean said two deputies from the South Los Angeles station were driving when the saw a man Dijon Kizzee, 29, riding his bicycle in violation of vehicle codes, according to the Los Angeles Times. It was not known which codes the man allegedly broke, Dean said.

When deputies tried to stop the man, he dropped his bike and ran, with deputies in pursuit, Dean said. Deputies again tried to make contact with the man, and Dean said he punched a deputy in the face. The man then dropped a bundle of clothes he’d been carrying and they spotted a black handgun in the bundle, at which point both deputies opened fire, Dean said.