Repost: I think it's a pretty big deal Nunes might take over Dan Coats position.

WHITE HOUSE

Trump met with Nunes to talk intel chief replacements

The president's get-together with the top House Intelligence Republican has fueled more chatter that Dan Coats may be on his way out.

President Donald Trump recently spoke to top House Intelligence Republican Devin Nunes about replacements for the country’s intelligence chief — the latest sign that Dan Coats’ tenure may be short-lived.

Nunes, who grabbed national attention with his controversial allegations of Obama administration surveillance abuses, met with Trump and other senior White House officials last week to discuss who could take over for Coats at the Office of Director of National Intelligence, according to three people familiar with the get-together.

Coats has run ODNI since early in the Trump administration, but his job security is the subject of constant speculation, especially after he gave public testimony on North Korea, Iran and Syria that diverged from Trump’s prior comments on the issues. The ODNI chief oversees the government’s intelligence agencies, coordinates the country’s global information-gathering operation and frequently briefs the president on threats each morning.

The meeting between Trump and Nunes has only fueled more chatter about Coats’ departure. The pace of Trump’s discussions with allies about potential replacements has ramped up in recent weeks, the people said.

Fred Fleitz, a former CIA analyst who served as national security adviser John Bolton’s chief of staff, has been discussed as a possible ODNI replacement. Fleitz left his White House post in October 2018 to serve as president and CEO of the Center for Security Policy, a far-right think tank that has been sharply critical of “radical Islam.”

Some within the intelligence community have also promoted the ODNI’s current No. 2, Sue Gordon, as be a logical replacement for Coats. Gordon is a career intelligence official who is generally well-liked within the organization.

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The White House and Nunes did not comment for this report. ODNI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump and Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, are closely aligned on intelligence issues. Both have pushed accusations that career officials — particularly under the Obama administration — have been misusing their power to target political enemies and manipulating intelligence findings for political purposes.

Because of these similar views, some on Capitol Hill and in the intelligence community think Nunes himself could be in the mix for an intelligence post, even if it’s not at ODNI.

“The president would certainly consider Devin Nunes for the director’s position and I eventually see him serving in some capacity in this administration,” said one member of Congress who speaks to Trump frequently. He noted, however, that he sees “all of Devin’s efforts being directed towards a reelection effort in Congress.”

Such speculation has provoked some anxiety at the top of ODNI, according to one person with direct knowledge.

Nunes, who served on Trump’s presidential transition team, made national headlines within the intelligence community in early 2017 when serving as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

Nunes made a much-discussed “midnight run” to the White House in March 2017 to obtain what he described as classified information. He later said that information bolstered accusations that the Obama administration had improperly “unmasked” the names of Trump associates whose conversations were vacuumed up by intelligence agencies monitoring foreign agents’ communications in 2016. Normally, the names of U.S. citizens who show up in intelligence reports are kept secret unless there is an overwhelming national security need to expose them.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/22/trump-nunes-intelligence-chiefs-1426698

Before the double-dealing allegations, there were red flags over $30-million DWP contract

The head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s contracting division was concerned: Top DWP executives wanted to give a $30-million, no-bid contract to a new consulting company to fix the utility’s billing system.

In a memo dated June 5, 2017, Gwendolyn Williams, the division head, wrote that the consultant’s rates — $400 a hour on average — would be significantly higher than those of other companies.

The next day, the DWP commission, appointees of Mayor Eric Garcetti, met and approved the contract with Aventador Utility Solutions, which at the time was owned by Paul Paradis, an attorney working for L.A. City Atty. Mike Feuer.

Williams’ memo and other internal DWP documents obtained by The Times show that high-level department staff had serious issues with the contract with Aventador. The documents show the agreement was questioned two years before a Superior Court judge ordered an investigation of payments to Paradis and other attorneys for their work stemming from the disastrous 2013 rollout of the DWP’s new billing program.

Paradis’ attorney didn’t respond to a request for comment. Rob Wilcox, a spokesman for Feuer, said the city attorney’s office had signed off on the contract “as to form and legality — not as to substance, as is our role and practice.”

DWP spokesman Joe Ramallo said Aventador’s rates were fair and reasonable. Asked why the DWP sought the contract after executives received Williams’ memo, he referred The Times to the utility’s letter to the board for the agreement, which cited a court mandate to fix the billing system.

The court is investigating whether attorneys worked both sides of the deal and benefited financially from the city’s settlement of a class-action lawsuit brought by ratepayers over the billing errors.

The DWP documents raise new questions about how Paradis, a 56-year-old New York litigator with a background in consumer lawsuits, was able to secure a lucrative no-bid deal with the nation’s largest public utility.

In recent months, elected officials have demanded answers about Paradis. In May, City Councilwoman Nury Martinez held a closed-door meeting with DWP General Manager David Wright and the city’s lawyers about the Aventador contract and the controversy surrounding the settlement.

City Controller Ron Galperin’s office is also investigating the contract, spokesman Ian Thompson confirmed.

Alleged conflicts of interest

The DWP launched its new billing software system in 2013, the year Garcetti became mayor. The rollout was a debacle, with hundreds of thousands of customers overcharged. The chaos prompted widespread outrage and promises by the DWP to fix the problems.

Ratepayers filed a class-action lawsuit against the utility over the incorrect bills and eventually secured a $67-million settlement. The city, in turn, sued PricewaterhouseCoopers, the consulting firm that implemented the billing software.

Feuer’s office retained Paradis to work as special counsel in the city’s lawsuit against PricewaterhouseCoopers. Paradis also attended mediations in the ratepayers’ lawsuit against the city, a city attorney’s office spokesman said.

While seeking city records to defend itself, PricewaterhouseCoopers uncovered evidence that Paradis represented the lead plaintiff who later filed the ratepayers’ class-action lawsuit — DWP customer and Van Nuys resident Antwon Jones, according to court testimony.

More: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-dwp-aventador-contract-paradis-lawsuit-20190711-story.html

>>7142092

Thank you ties in nicely…