Deep state? What deep state?

Former NY Fed president urges Central Bank to bring on recession to oust Trump

“I understand and support Fed officials’ desire to remain apolitical. But Trump’s ongoing attacks on [Fed Chairman Jay Powell] and on the institution have made that untenable,” Bill Dudley writes this week.

He adds, “Central bank officials face a choice: enable the Trump administration to continue down a disastrous path of trade war escalation, or send a clear signal that if the administration does so, the president, not the Fed, will bear the risks — including the risk of losing the next election.”

Remember: Dudley served as the president of the New York Fed for almost a decade (2009 to 2018, to be exact).

“There’s even an argument that the election itself falls within the Fed’s purview,” his op-ed concludes. “After all, Trump’s reelection arguably presents a threat to the U.S. and global economy, to the Fed’s independence and its ability to achieve its employment and inflation objectives.”

He adds, “If the goal of monetary policy is to achieve the best long-term economic outcome, then Fed officials should consider how their decisions will affect the political outcome in 2020.”

Intelligence services waiting out Trump

More than three months after President Trump granted his attorney general unprecedented power to declassify intelligence files, key U.S. intelligence agencies are still withholding documents related to the Trump-Russia affair, say people with direct knowledge of White House discussions on the subject.

The source of the logjam: the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which Trump is in the process of shaking up after the resignations last month of its director, Dan Coats, and principal deputy, Sue Gordon. “Establishment” officials in that agency are still dragging their feet, say the sources, who spoke on condition that they not be further identified.