Trump, Russia, and CFR's Quiet Consensus

• 1:49:06Trump is out of control, doesn't trust the CIA, and fired the FBI director—he's not shaped by normal presidential deference to institutions like the CFR.
• 1:50:10CFR is a club of well-meaning, highly educated, very wealthy business people who wish they were involved in foreign policy and host dinners in Park Avenue townhouses.
• 1:51:44CFR has one official CIA liaison position and its analysis is very important to the State Department and Pentagon, which host events and dinners with them.
• 1:52:38Tim argues that the CFR creates a consensus on economic and foreign policy that then gets adopted by people in power.
• 1:53:26When you're at dinner with Henry Kissinger and Fortune 50 CEOs thinking big thoughts, you come up with a consensus that leads to White House invitations.
• 1:53:39The CIA spied on the Senate Intelligence Commission investigating Bush-era torture, and Tim asks whether they use blackmail domestically against elected leaders.
• 1:54:22A criminal investigation should have been opened against John Brennan for hacking the Senate Intelligence Committee's computers—it's a threat to democracy.
• 1:54:59Why is everybody so afraid of the CIA and unwilling to rein them in on any level?
• 1:55:14Congress does cheerleading for the CIA instead of oversight, and Dianne Feinstein has done nothing to rein in the agency's power despite her seniority.
• 1:55:41Tim asks about CIA involvement in coups during the Dulles era and raises the question of Kennedy, noting Nixon was documented as afraid of the CIA.

Donald TrumpDianne FeinsteinCIAFrank ChurchCouncil on Foreign RelationsJohn BrennanOtis PikeSenate Intelligence CommitteeHenry Kissingertrilateral commissionNixonJames BakerKennedy