Ex-CIA Station Chief in Moscow Tells Fox That John Ratcliffe’s Russia Trip Was Likely About an ‘Imminent National Security Threat’

Zachary Leeman

Aug 26th, 2026, 3:48 pm

Fox News contributor and former CIA Moscow station chief Dan Hoffmanpraised President Donald Trump for “obfuscating” the real reason behind CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s mysterious visit to Russia.

Hoffman joined John Roberts on America Reports on Wednesday after Roberts reported on the story and Trump chalking up the visit to “semi-routine” despite speculation flying about the meeting. The last CIA director to visit Moscow was in 2021.

Hoffman argued the real reason for the visit was likely increased threats against NATO allies in Europe. He said Ratcliffe likely felt the situation posed an “imminent national security threat,” leading to the unusual in-person visit with intelligence officials under Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The former CIA official said:

I’ll give President Trump a lot of credit for obfuscating on what was really going on behind the scenes because what he’s doing with the president’s doing is protecting this secret clandestine channel which we have used in the past to negotiate over contentious issues and resolve issues of mutual interest to our nations, like the 2010 spy swap. It’s not subjected to any public scrutiny. You can have very frank and direct conversations, so I think that’s what’s going on.

I think that there had to be some sort of intelligence collection about an imminent national security threat or an issue that came up that led to this important trip by Director Ratcliffe. Director Ratcliffe has a lot of things going on every day,the fact that he chose to make this long trip means it’s something important. Now to get to your question about what it is exactly, that’s what the speculation is going to start.What I would say most likely is the fact that Russia has escalated threats in Europe to NATO members.(most likely vice versa)

Ratcliffe was in meetings with Russian intelligence officials on Tuesday. The CIA did not comment on the trip, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmedthe visit and said Ratcliffe did not meet with Putin.

During an interview with Glenn Beck, Trump insisted Ratcliffe’s trip to Moscow was nothing out of the ordinary.

“John Ratcliffe is a fantastic guy. He’s the head of the CIA, and he is not in there for any of the things you said,” Trump saidafter Beck noted the speculation.

The president did make reference to Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine.

“Now something may come out, you know, out of it,” he said. “Frankly, they both want to see it ended at this point.”

https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/ex-cia-station-chief-in-moscow-tells-fox-that-john-ratcliffes-russia-trip-was-likely-about-an-imminent-national-security-threat/

the BBC falsely presented a pundit as ‘Kremlin adviser’ to peddle Russia threat 1/2==

The British state broadcaster has misrepresented a Russian political commentator as a senior official, amplifying his claims of looming attacks on UK drone plants

Published 27 Aug, 2026 20:59 | Updated

British state broadcaster the BBC this week ran a major story drumming up the alleged Russia threat and supposed looming retaliatory attacks on UK drone factories supplying Ukraine. The chilly warning purportedly came from a top Russian official – except that the individual in question has not been one in over three decades.

At first glance, the piece titled “UK drone factories may face attacks from ‘unknown sources,’ says Kremlin adviser” looked legit, based on comments made on BBC Newsnight by Andrey Fedorov. The broadcaster presented the interviewee as a heavyweight Russian official, describing him as a “Kremlin adviser” and “Russia’s former deputy foreign minister.”

The latter is partially true: Fedorov was the deputy minister in the RSFSR, the Russian republic of the USSR, between October 1990 and October 1991 prior to the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union.The other claim, however, is completely false. Fedorov used to be an adviser to Russia’s vice president until late 1993, the same year the vice president position was abolished, and has not held any public office since. Over the past decade, he has been best known as a political commentator and a media personality, frequenting assorted Russian political talk shows.

BBC tries to hide fake news

The piece survived for around five hours on BBC’s website before it was quietly amended. Fedorov was ‘demoted’ to a “pro-Kremlin commentator who frequently appears on Russian television,” yet no official retraction of the initial claim was made. The description, while still debatable, given that Fedorov is known for frequently spelling doom and gloom for Moscow, citing his purported high-ranking sources at home and overseas, is not explicitly untrue.

The BBC also did not do a particularly good job of purging the fake, which survived on several of its platforms.A BBC Newsnight Facebook post on the matter still cryptically describes Fedorov as a “President Putin ally” at the moment of the publication, while its post on X claims the commentator “advises President Putin.”

https://www.rt.com/news/644743-bbc-kremlin-adviser-false/

>>24979865

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Fake spills all over British media and beyond

The BBC interview with Fedorov was spread across British media alongside his false depiction as a “Putin adviser.” Unlike the source, outlets that reprinted the fake news never bothered to amend it.

Some outlets even managed to outperform the original. The Express, for instance, described Fedorov simultaneously as a “high-ranking Kremlin official” and “high-level Kremlin insider.”

HuffPost UK also described the political commentator as a “presidential adviser” and even ‘promoted’ him to a “key ally to Vladimir Putin.”

The fake also spread beyond the UK media, making it to Al Jazeera with minimal amendments. Following the BBC, Al Jazeera falsely described Fedorov as “an adviser to the Kremlin and a former deputy foreign minister.”

It also made it to Ukrainian media, which generally takes its British counterparts at face value and attempts no independent fact-checking.

Are the fakes bound to roll on?

This was actually not the first time the BBC falsely presented the Russian political commentator. In January of this year, Fedorov made remarks to the BBC’s Radio 4 on the US military hunt for the Marinera oil tanker and was presented as a “Kremlin adviser and former Russian deputy foreign minister.”

The comments spread widely across British media at the time, apparently without any fact-checking, and remain readily available in news articles from major outlets such The Times and The Independent.

The BBC’s flagship Newsnight program is also involved in a legal case involving US President Donald Trump. The show is accused of editing a Trump speech in a way that made it appear that he had explicitly called for violence ahead of the Capitol Hill riots. A BBC documentary also featured a video of Trump spliced with remarks that had actually been made nearly an hour apart. Neither program notified viewers of the edit. Trump is reportedly suing the British state broadcaster for $10 billion for defamation.

https://www.rt.com/news/644743-bbc-kremlin-adviser-false/

Moscow slams Vienna over plans for Nazi concentration camp site

A supermarket and logistics center are set to be built at Hirtenberg, where around 400 women were imprisoned by the Third Reich

Published 27 Aug, 2026 19:11 |

Russia has condemned plans to build a supermarket and logistics centeron the site of a former Nazi women’s concentration camp in Austria, accusing Vienna of erasing the memory of its victims.

The development in Leobersdorf, around 40km south of Vienna, would cover the remains of the Hirtenberg camp, a former subcamp of the Mauthausen concentration camp complex, where at least 90,000 prisoners were murdered or died from starvation, disease, exhaustion, and abuse during World War II.

According to Austrian media, the Hirtenberg site is set to host a large refrigerated storage and logistics facility, as well as a branch of German discount retailer Lidl.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described the decision to effectively “pave over” the memory of victims of the Nazi regime despite public opposition as “hypocrisy in full view.”

“How can you advocate women’s rights and boast of your great achievements in feminism if you cannot protect the memory of 400 women who were forcibly deported and held in a concentration camp located in your country?” she said.

Hirtenberg was established in September 1944 and held around 400 female prisoners, many transferred from Auschwitz and forced to work long shifts producing munitions.

According to Mauthausen Guides, the largest group comprised 194 Russian prisoners. Other inmates came from Italy, Poland, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Croatia, Germany and Slovakia, with some as young as 16. The camp was evacuated in April 1945 as the Red Army approached and Nazi Germany neared defeat.

The project has also sparked criticism in Austria. Mauthausen Memorial director Barbara Gluck has called the destruction of the camp remains “a disgrace.” Oskar Deutsch, the head of Vienna’s Jewish community, has similarly condemned efforts to “make money from the memory of tortured and murdered women.”

Moscow has repeatedly accused European countries of erasing or desecrating World War II memorial sites, particularly those commemorating the Soviet Union’s sacrifices and role in the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Zakharova has previously described such incidents as part of a growing “terrifying pandemic of historical revanchism.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/644734-austria-concentration-camp-supermarket/

Dozens of migrant children still missing years after vanishing in UK

Nearly 500 minors disappeared from government-run asylum hotels, with 40 still unaccounted for years later, Parliament’s human rights committee says

Published 27 Aug, 2026 18:00 |

Dozens of immigrants who disappeared from UK asylum hotels as children in 2023 are still unaccounted for, a parliamentary report released on Thursday has found.

Some 472 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children – some as young as 12 – went missing from Home Office-run accommodation for migrant minors.

According to the Director of Children’s Social Care at the Department for Education, Helen Waite, 432 have since been located, leaving 40 unaccounted for. Most have since turned 18, but two remain underage.

The committee “welcomed” that most had been found but said it remains “extremely concerned” about those still missing. It urged the Home Office to detail efforts to locate them, demanding updates every three months. Angela Eagle, then border security and asylum minister, told the committee last year that some of those found were “located in exploitative situations and may have been trafficked.”

Commenting on the report, England’s Children’s Commissioner Rachel de Souza called the situation an “unacceptable failure.”

“Every child arriving in this country has the right to safely apply for asylum and to be provided with shelter and support while they do so,” she said, urging the government to prevent such disappearances from happening again.

At its peak in June 2023, more than 51,000 asylum seekers were housed in over 400 Home Office hotels across the UK. Human rights groups argued the facilities were unsuitable for children. In 2024, the High Court ruled that placement of unaccompanied minors in hotels was unlawful, and dedicated facilities were subsequently closed.

Immigration has become an increasingly contentious political issue in Britain amid continued Channel crossings, protests over asylum accommodation, high-profile migrant-linked crimes and renewed scrutiny of the country’s grooming-gangs scandal. The controversy contributed to mounting pressure on former Prime Minister Keir Starmer before his resignation earlier this summer. His successor, Andy Burnham, has pledged to stop small-boat crossings but declined to set a deadline.

Europe has faced sustained migration pressure since 2015, when more than a million people arrived, largely from the Middle East and Africa. The issue returned to the spotlight last month after more than 72,000 people crossed into Spain’s Ceuta enclave, overwhelming reception facilities and renewing calls for tighter border controls. Following the crossing, media reports said Ceuta was processing around 2,000 unaccompanied minors, many of whom were reportedly left on the streets with shelters overwhelmed. Police reportedly investigated at least five alleged rapes of minors linked to the influx.

https://www.rt.com/news/644701-uk-missing-migrant-children/

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Outlines How Canada Manufactured Political Outrage for Domestic Consumption

August 27, 2026 | sundance |

As we have all learned in the past week, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney manufactured an oppositional narrative to the U.S-Canada trade deal in order to say no.. Today, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick gave specifics about the last-minute Canadian demands that blew up the trade agreement.

Secretary Lutnick has a long-standing relationship with Prime Minister Mark Carney and during the negotiations he talked at length to both Canada’s primary trade negotiator, Dominick LeBlanc as well as Prime Minister Carney. Lutnick notes the issues Carney claimed were too much for Canada to agree to were entirely manufactured at the last minute in order to say no.

At no pointwas the French language ever mentioned in the trade discussions. At no time was the trade sector that involves U.S. tariffs against heavy-duty trucks and semi tractor trailers ever mentioned, until Friday at 4:00pm when Carney brought up that issue. The agreement was outlined and agreed by all parties prior to Friday; Howard Lutnick speaking twice to Prime Minister Carney personally. There was no issue until the last minute when Canada chose to make issues.

As Lutnick notes, this is all political on the Canadian side. Prime Minister Carney needed domestic political leverage to manipulate his constituents. This is worth watching:

'It Was Nonsense!': Howard Lutnick Slams Canada's 'Political Reasons' For Ending Trade Talks

Sec. Howard Lutnick was asked about collapsed US-Canada trade talks while speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

3:18

https://youtu.be/wR1dVWI9GjU

The full presser is below that covers other topics including the Kennedy Center. In the longer video the Canada issue comes up at 18:38.

Commerce Secretary Lutnick reacts to Kennedy Center name drama

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick spoke to the press outside of a hearing regarding adding President Trump's name to the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

24:03

https://youtu.be/ijBYz9RYNmI

Long video posted.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/08/27/commerce-secretary-howard-lutnick-outlines-how-canada-manufactured-political-outrage-for-domestic-consumption/#more-286401

US-Canada trade war rolls into bathroom

Ottawa’s upcoming retaliatory tariffs include toilet and facial tissue, paper towels and pulp, threatening to drive up consumer prices for Americans

Published 27 Aug, 2026 01:22

The US-Canada trade war is reaching the bathroom, with tariffs on paper products threatening to push up prices for toilet paper and other everyday essentials for Americans.

Trade talks between the two neighbors collapsed last Friday, with both sides accusing the other of making last-minute changes to a proposed comprehensive deal. US President Donald Trump immediately imposed 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian imports, including wine, cement, plywood, and clothing. Not to be outdone, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed to respond “dollar for dollar,”with Ottawa announcing duties of up to 50% on around 700 American products on Tuesday.

Paper products are among the hardest hit, with Canada targeting toilet paper and facial tissue with 25% duties, along with paper towels and napkins at 50%. Chemical wood pulp used to make such products also faces a 50% tariff.

Canada is the main source of US toilet paper imports, supplying $383.4 million worth in 2025 – about two-thirds of the imported total – according to US International Trade Commission data. Mexico was a distant second at $63 million. Canada is also the main foreign supplier of wood pulp to the US, including northern bleached softwood kraft pulp (NBSK), a key material in toilet paper and paper towels. Canadian pulp reportedly accounts for around 30% of US toilet paper and 50% of paper towel production.

If the tariffs take effect, US importers will bear the added cost of bringing Canadian products and pulp across the border, and given the reliance on Canadian supplies, at least some of that expense is likely to be passed on to consumers. This could prove particularly noticeable in a country that accounts for more than 20% of global tissue consumption, according to the 2019 report The Issue with Tissue by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Market research data shows the average American goes through around 141 rolls of toilet paper a year – roughly three a week – making the US the world’s top consumer, just ahead of Germany. At that rate, even a modest price hike could quickly add up.

Toilet paper is far from the only potential casualty of the trade war. Canada’s measures mirror many products targeted by Washington, with higher duties covering everything from fish, cheese, clothing, and cosmetics to steel and aluminum goods, motorcycles, smartphones, and exercise equipment. Canadian Industry Minister Melanie Joly said that the counter-tariffs were aimed primarily at protecting businesses while also applying political pressure ahead of the November 3 US midterm elections.

With Canada’s retaliatory tariffs not taking effect until September 8, however, some analysts hope that Washington and Ottawa still have time to strike a deal.

“That gives us this week. It gives us next week,” Christopher Sands, head of the Center for US-Canada Studies at Johns Hopkins University, told AP on Wednesday.“Time to take a breather and talk about how to avert an all-out trade war.”

https://www.rt.com/news/644674-canada-us-tariffs-toilet-paper/

Malaria outbreak kills two workers at Germany’s busiest airport

The Frankfurt Airport employees have died after contracting the disease from infected mosquitoes, apparently brought in from an endemic country by plane

Published 27 Aug, 2026 10:06 |

Two employees at Germany’s Frankfurt Airport have died in a rare malaria outbreak caused by infected mosquitoes believed to have been accidentally brought in by plane from a malaria-endemic country.

The outbreak began in early July, according to the Frankfurt Public Health Department. The first worker died shortly afterward, with the malaria diagnosis confirmed posthumously. Authorities traced the outbreak to the airport, where operator Fraport set traps and captured several mosquitoes, sending them for genetic analysis to determine their origin. Staff were advised to seek medical attention if symptoms developed.

In mid-July, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany’s federal disease-control agency, confirmed four cases among airport employees.

“The affected individuals fell ill between July 4 and 6, 2026,” the RKI wrote in its Epidemiological Bulletin. “It is assumed that the infection was transmitted by an infected Anopheles mosquito imported by plane.”

Citing medical sources, local media later reported that a total of six male workers, largely in jobs handling luggage, had been infected.

On Wednesday, Frankfurt health authorities announced that a second infected worker had died. They insisted, however, that “for the population of Frankfurt, the risk is considered very, very low.”

“The disease is not transmissible from person to person but is always transmitted by mosquitoes,” the authorities said in a statement to German media. They did not confirm the total number of cases but said those affected were receiving treatment.

Frankfurt health chief Peter Tinnemann similarly sought to reassure residents, telling DPA news agency that “the risk to the Frankfurt population is insignificant.”

Malaria is a potentially fatal disease caused by Plasmodium parasites spread by infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. It typically causes fever, chills, headaches and fatigue, while severe cases can lead to organ failure, seizures and coma. The most dangerous form, malaria tropica, can become life-threatening within 24 hours if undetected, though malaria is generally considered preventable and curable with early treatment.

The disease is concentrated mainly in tropical regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa. The latest WHO data shows an estimated 610,000 people died from malaria worldwide in 2024 out of roughly 282 million cases – around 9 million more infections than the previous year. More than half of the deaths occurred in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Niger.

Malaria cases in Germany normally involve travelers who were infected in endemic countries. In rare cases, however, infected mosquitoes can be carried into the country aboard aircraft, including in luggage, and then bite people on the plane or at the airport – a phenomenon known as “airport malaria.” Europe’s last documented airport-acquired case also occurred at Frankfurt Airport in 2023, according to the RKI.

https://www.rt.com/news/644697-malaria-german-airport-deaths/

Department of Education Moves to Strip ABA’s Law School Accreditation Amid DEI Criticism.1/2

Education Secretary Linda McMahon on May 14. (Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images)

The Department of Education has begun the process of removing the American Bar Association’s ability to accredit law schools, though the ABA Accreditation Council emphasizes the move represents only one step in the process.

“After reviewing the ABA’s accreditation standards, department staff found the accreditor out of compliance with the agency’s accreditation regulations and recognition standards,” a Department of Education spokesperson told the Daily Signal in a statement Friday, confirming The Wall Street Journal’searlier reporting.

“We will not comment on details as the process is ongoing and involves multiple stages of review, including by an independent, bipartisan advisory committee in September,” the spokesperson added.

The Education Department recognizes outside accrediting bodies, such as the ABA, requiring schools to obtain their approval to participate in some federal student aid programs. ABA-accredited law schools provide the standard path to bar admission in most states, giving the association a powerful gatekeeping role in America’s legal infrastructure.

President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have accused the ABA of using its accrediting authority to pressure law schools to adopt diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

When reached for comment, the ABA referred the Daily Signal to the ABA’s Accreditation Council, emphasizing that the association and the council are separate entities.

Melissa Hart, the former Colorado Supreme Court justice who chairs the ABA’s Accreditation Council, emphasized that Friday’s move represents merely the first step in a longer process and expressed confidence that the council will prevail.

“The council is confident it complies with the Higher Education Act and with the department’s requirements for accreditors,” Hart told the Daily Signal in a statement Friday. “We look forward to the opportunity to address any misconceptions and clarify the record at our upcoming hearing before the [National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity] next month.”

The Department of Education staff recommendation “represents one step in the regular recognition process that the council and other accreditors periodically complete. A hearing with NACIQI is the next step in that process, and we’re confident the council will address any concerns the department may have at that hearing.”

(

https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/08/21/department-of-education-moves-to-strip-abas-law-school-accreditation-amid-dei-criticism/

>>24980105

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While the Education Department has recognized the ABA’s accrediting power since 1952,its report recommends removing it next month when its federal recognition comes up for review, due to alleged conflicts of interest. The department last approved the association’s accreditation authority in 2021.

The department published a nearly 500-page report asserting that the ABA’s accreditation wing isn’t sufficiently independent of its profession. Accreditation entities must maintain independence in order to focus on education quality. The ABA also functions as a trade association for lawyers and judges, in addition to its role as an accreditor for law schools.

“We have said many times that accreditation, in general, operates like a cartel,” David Barker, assistant secretary of education, told the Journal. “When there’s no competition, accreditors feel free to inject their own political preferences, their own ideologies into the work that they do.”

In an April 2025 executive order, the president ordered the Department of Education to investigate and hold accountable “accreditors who fail to meet the applicable recognition criteria or otherwise violate federal law, including by requiring institutions seeking accreditation to engage in unlawful discrimination in accreditation-related activity under the guise of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ initiatives.”

The ABA’s accreditation council previously required law schools to “demonstrate by concrete action a commitment to diversity and inclusion” by committing to having a student body and faculty “that is diverse with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity.” The council moved to revise the requirements this May, replacing lists of demographic categories with commitments not to discriminate.

Critics have warned that moves to pull accreditation power will politicize the accreditation process, though Trump has claimed groups such as the ABA had already done so.

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, said the association had been “ideologically captured by radical leftists” and has “continuously pursued discriminatory DEI practices.”

https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/08/21/department-of-education-moves-to-strip-abas-law-school-accreditation-amid-dei-criticism/

Germany’s economic hangover hits historic winery

The Kloster Pforta winery has suffered multi-million-euro losses since 2020 amid a wider German wine slump driven by falling consumption and cheaper foreign imports

Published 27 Aug, 2026 09:01 |

The Landesweingut Kloster Pforta, one of Germany’s oldest wineries, faces insolvency by 2027, according to an expert report commissioned by the state government. Its troubles, from an unsustainable business model to high staffing costs, come amid a wider German wine slump driven by falling consumption and cheaper imports.

Owned by Saxony-Anhalt, Kloster Pforta is one of Europe’s oldest continuously operating wineries. Cistercian monks founded the monastery in 1137 and planted the Pfortenser Koeppelberg vineyard in 1154. The state took ownership after German reunification in 1993, but the estate still grows rare historic varieties, including Weisser Heunisch and White Elbling, alongside Riesling, Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Gris.

An independent report by auditing firm Ecovis,cited by the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung on Tuesday, found that the winery can no longer secure credit or maintain liquidity on its own.

“The current business model is not sustainable in its present state, as it is generating persistent losses,” the auditors warned, adding that “without drastic restructuring measures, these losses will lead to insolvency and over-indebtedness of the company by 2027 at the latest.”

Auditors blamed high payroll costs, inefficient vineyard use, and weak sales and marketing, compounded by a disastrous 2024 harvest and the wider wine-market slump. To avoid bankruptcy, Kloster Pforta now plans to halve its vineyards, cut staff, and receive a €2 million injection under a four-year restructuring plan.

German wine has been in decline for years. German Wine Institute (DWI) data earlier this year showed that annual consumption fell from a Covid-era peak of 24.3 liters per adult to 21.5 liters – below pre-pandemic levels.

Since the start of the Ukraine conflict, producers have faced higher energy, labor, and material costs, pushing up prices, while consumers have increasingly turned to cheaper bottles as German food prices have risen by around 30% on average.

Cheap imports add to the squeeze: Spanish bulk wine, for example, enters Germany at just €0.91 ($1.06) per liter, making it difficult for domestic producers to compete at the €1-to-€3-per-bottle end of the market.

Wine woes mirror Germany’s wider slump

The winery’s troubles come amid a broader German slump, with near-zero growth, high energy costs, and business insolvencies at a 20-year high. Since moving away from Russian energy in 2022, Germany has turned to costlier supplies, while major manufacturers have closed factories amid weaker demand.

Meanwhile, Berlin has committed €96 billion ($109 billion) to Kiev, launched a €100 billion rearmament drive, and pledged to raise core defense spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2029. Amid criticism that military spending is coming at the expense of domestic needs, Chancellor FriedrichMerz’s approval has plunged to a record-low 13%.

https://www.rt.com/news/644691-germany-historic-winery-insolvency/

A lesson for Germany, do not hire a Nazi’s colonels son from WWII, son, as your leader.

>>24980191. Bravo!

>>24980066. Who listens to her anymore?