Opinion
House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) issued a statement on Wednesday that his panel had “made available to all Members of Congress information concerning a serious national security threat.”
The revelation was alarming enough that the Republican Representative requested President Joe Biden “declassify all information relating 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 caused concern in the public sphere and several lawmakers tried to allay fears caused by the statement.
“We are going to work together to address this matter, as we do all sensitive matters that are classified,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters at the Capitol. “But we just want to assure everyone steady hands are at the wheel.”
ABC News would later reveal that the threat in question concerns “Russia wanting to put a nuclear weapon into space” to disrupt satellites.
BREAKING: The national security threat brought forward by House Intel Committee Chair Mike Turner is reportedly a breakthrough with Russia’s space technology.
What “convenient” timing.
The discovery was revealed by Fox News.
“This has to do with a threat related 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 seemed skeptical of Turner’s push to make the Russian “national security threat” known to the public. Not the least of those concerns involved the timing of his announcement.
The New York Times reports that any launch of a nuclear anti-satellite weapon by Russia “did not appear imminent, but that there was a limited window of time, which they did not define, to prevent its deployment.”
So, why the dire urgency? The House is currently considering a move to pass the $95.3 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine and other foreign war efforts.
Pundits were quick to note the correlation.
“I don’t have any idea if this ‘national security threat’ is real,” wrote talk radio host Jesse Kelly. “What I do know is the people telling me it’s real have lied about everything for as long as I can remember.”
Byron York, chief political correspondent for the Washington Examiner, found Turner’s warning of a “national security threat” to be “odd.”
“Big, sensational warning about alleged Russian threat comes just as House is struggling with giant Ukraine funding bill. Gotta wonder about an agenda here,” he wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “Was threat previously known? Why warning right at this moment?”
“Wow. Amazing,” wrote Matt Walsh. “A day after the Senate passed a massively unpopular 95 billion dollar foreign aid package with billions for Ukraine, and a week after Putin gave one of the most widely viewed interviews of all time to Tucker Carlson, there is now a ‘serious national security threat’ related to Russia.”
Donald Trump’s White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney also speculated that the timing was suspect and Turner’s ploy was to push funding for Ukraine forward.
Mulvaney said he was “absolutely stunned” by the announcement.
“There’s no reason for Mike Turner to do this. If it was really serious and it’s 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 make this [statement] to declassify this.”
“That’s the only thing that seems to tie up with the facts so far, that Mike Turner wants more money for Ukraine, and he’s decided to do this to scare people into voting for it,” Mulvaney continued. “And that is a stunning development, if it’s true, from the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.”
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Turner Is A Pro-Ukraine Hawk
It isn’t simply the timing of the Ukraine funding bill itself. It also involves the timing of Rep. 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 “U.S. stands in full support of Ukraine and is working diligently” to secure the funding necessary to continue the war against “Russian aggression.”
The Ohio lawmaker had promised Zelensky that military aid to Ukraine has “overwhelming support in the House of Representatives.”
Turner returned from that trip pleading his case to send more taxpayer money to Ukraine.
“We have to get this done,” he said. “This is no longer an issue of, ‘When do we support Ukraine?’ If we do not move, this will be abandoning Ukraine.”
Imagine thinking, having already sent upward of $100 billion to a foreign country and being their largest single donor, that not wanting to send more equates to “abandoning” them.
Carlson eviscerated Turner two years ago during a heated exchange in which the former Fox News host called him out by suggesting the lawmaker wanted to send troops to Ukraine.
“I wonder if you could explain to them why it is in America’s interest that their kids risk their lives in Ukraine,” Carlson challenged, diving head-first into the dispute.
“I know from a Ukrainian perspective it’s incredibly important, but why is it important enough to risk American lives to preserve the territorial integrity of Ukraine when – by the way, our own territorial integrity has been flagrantly violated by a million foreign nationals coming in over the past 10 months,” Carlson added.
“I wonder why the emphasis on Ukraine’s borders and not ours,” he concluded.
Turner responded that “everyone has emphasis on our borders.”
“Have you called for American troops to our borders?” Carlson replied.
Tucker Carlson’s Debate With Neo-Con Congressman @RepMikeTurner Over Ukraine
Tucker: “Why the emphasis on Ukraine’s border and not ours?” pic.twitter.com/Ud0rP5A3OM
— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) November 11, 2021
As far as we know, Turner still hasn’t called for troops, nor has he created a “national security threat” warning to try and spur funding to secure the American border.
This past June, Turner joined his Democrat colleagues in voting down a measure to censure Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) for his role in promoting the Trump-Russia collusion hoax.
He also helped initially kill an effort to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in November, before it was recently passed.
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