Yesterday I suggested that it was quite possible that the story that Obama signed a Finding authorizing support for Syrian may have come from Congressional, not Executive Branch, sources.
First, this story is based on the leak of a covert Finding–precisely the kind of leak that Congress has gone on the warpath against. Hosenball attributes his reporting to US sources–an attribution that can (though doesn’t necessarily) refer to Congressional sources.
U.S. sources familiar with the matter said.
[snip]
A U.S. government source acknowledged
And while he notes–and names–the Senators who have been pressuring Obama to do precisely what he has been doing for months, Hosenball doesn’t name the members of Congress who are opposed to such an action.
Some U.S. lawmakers, such as Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, have criticized Obama for moving too slowly to assist the rebels and have suggested the U.S. government should become directly involved in arming Assad’s opponents.
Other lawmakers have suggested caution, saying too little is known about the many rebel groups.
In short, chances are not insignificant that a Congressional source leaked the contents of a Finding authorizing covert operations.
And yet … crickets!
I spoke prematurely. Peter King is on the case with a letter asking Robert Mueller to investigate that leak. He notes both the Finding and the location of the control center (close to our own airbase) are secret.
If my suspicion that this leak came from Congress is correct, it’ll be interesting to see what happens as Congress begins to eat its own.