Opinion
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) released a statement Wednesday that his panel has “made information regarding a serious threat to national security available to all members of Congress.”
The revelation was alarming enough to prompt the Republican representative to ask President Joe Biden to “declassify all information related to this threat so that Congress, the Administration and our allies can openly discuss the actions necessary to respond to this threat ”.
Turner’s comments initially sparked concern in the public sphere, and several lawmakers sought to allay fears raised by the statement.
“We will work together to address this issue, as we do with all sensitive issues that are classified,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill. “But we just want to assure everyone that there is a steady hand at the wheel.”
ABC News would later reveal that the threat in question was “Russia wanting to put a nuclear weapon in space” to destroy satellites.
BREAKING: The national security threat brought forth by House Intel Committee Chairman Mike Turner is reportedly a breakthrough in Russian space technology.
What “convenient” timing.
The discovery was revealed by Fox News.
“This is a threat linked to… pic.twitter.com/kgmFxac6La
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 14, 2024
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Many are skeptical of the urgency of the national security threat
Several political observers appeared skeptical of Turner’s initiative to make the Russian “national security threat” known to the public. Not the least of these concerns concerned the timing of his announcement.
The New York Times reports that any launch of an anti-satellite nuclear weapon by Russia “did not appear imminent, but that there was a limited window of time, which had not been defined, to prevent its deployment.”
So, why this terrible urgency? The House is currently considering a move to pass the $95.3 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine and other foreign war efforts.
Experts were quick to note the correlation.
“I have no idea if this ‘national security threat’ is real,” radio host Jesse Kelly wrote. “What I know is that the people who tell me it’s real have been lying about everything for as long as I can remember.”
Byron York, chief political correspondent of the Washington Examiner, found Turner’s warning of a “national security threat” “odd.”
“The big, sensational warning about the supposed Russian threat comes just as the House grapples with the giant Ukraine funding bill. I have to wonder what the agenda is here,” he wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “Was the threat known previously? Why warn at this time?”
“Oh. Amazing,” wrote Matt Walsh. “One day after the Senate approved an unpopular $95 billion foreign aid package, including billions for Ukraine, and a week after Putin gave one of the most viewed interviews of all time to Tucker Carlson, there is now a “serious threat to national security.” ‘ related to Russia.”
Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, also speculated that the timing was suspicious and that Turner’s ploy was to push forward funding for Ukraine.
Mulvaney said he was “absolutely stunned” by the announcement.
“There’s no reason for Mike Turner to do that. If it was really serious and posed a clear and present danger, to use a legal term, then you certainly wouldn’t want it to be public,” he said. “There’s no reason to do that [statement] to declassify it.”
“This is the only thing that seems to fit the facts so far, that Mike Turner wants more money for Ukraine, and he decided to do it to scare people into voting for it,” Mulvaney continued. “And that’s a surprising development, if it’s true, from the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.”
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Turner is a pro-Ukrainian hawk
It is not simply about the timing of the Ukraine financing bill itself. It also involves the timing of Congresswoman Turner’s recent actions and statements.
This new “national security threat” ploy, as some suggest, comes as Turner visited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this month and assured him that “the United States fully supports Ukraine and is working diligently” to secure the funding needed to continue the operation. war against “Russian aggression”.
The Ohio congressman promised Zelensky that military aid to Ukraine has “overwhelming support in the House of Representatives.”
Turner returned from that trip pleading his case for sending more taxpayer money to Ukraine.
“We have to get this thing done,” he said. “The question is no longer: ‘When will we support Ukraine?’ If we don’t move, this will mean abandoning Ukraine.”
Imagine thinking, having already sent more than 100 billion dollars to a foreign country and being their main donor, that you don’t want to send Moreover is equivalent to “abandoning them”.
Carlson eviscerated Turner two years ago during a heated exchange in which the former Fox News host denounced him for suggesting the lawmaker wanted to send troops to Ukraine.
“I wonder if you could explain to them why it is in America’s interest for their children to risk their lives in Ukraine,” Carlson challenged, diving headlong into the dispute.
“I know that from the Ukrainian perspective it is incredibly important, but why is it so important to risk American lives to preserve the territorial integrity of Ukraine when, among other things, our own territorial integrity has been blatantly violated by a million citizens foreigners arriving in the last 10 months,” Carlson added.
“I wonder why the emphasis is on Ukraine’s borders and not on ours,” he concluded.
Turner responded that “everyone emphasizes our borders.”
“Have you called American troops to our borders?” Carlson responded.
Tucker Carlson’s debate with the neo-conservative congressman @RepMikeTurner About Ukraine
Tucker: “Why the emphasis on Ukraine’s border and not ours?” pic.twitter.com/Ud0rP5A3OM
— Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) November 11, 2021
As far as we know, Turner has not yet requested troops, nor created a “national security threat” warning to try to spur funding to secure the American border.
Last June, Turner joined his Democratic colleagues in voting against a measure to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) for his role in promoting the Trump-Russia collusion hoax.
He also helped initially stop the effort to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in November, before it was recently approved.
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