December 12-18, 2016:
"Alongside our outstanding military work, we have to draw upon the strength of our diplomacy. Terrorists would love to see us walk away from the type of work that builds international coalitions, and ends conflicts, and stops the spread of deadly weapons. It would make life easier for them; it would be a tragic mistake for us. " - President Obama, December 6, 2016
“You know, I'm, like, a smart person. I don't have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years. Could be eight years — but eight years. I don't need that. But I do say, ‘If something should change, let us know.’” - President-Elect Donald Trump, in dismissing daily intelligence briefings
"[The African American community] came through, big league. Big league. And frankly if they had any doubt, they didn’t vote, and that was almost as good because a lot of people didn’t show up, because they felt good about me.” - President-Elect Donald Trump in Michigan, December 9, 2016
President Obama in an interview late Monday stressed the importance of daily intelligence briefings after President-elect Donald Trump pushed back against criticism that he receives the briefings only once a week.
"It doesn't matter how smart you are. You have to have the best information possible to make the best decisions possible. [The Intelligence community is] not perfect. But they are full of extraordinarily hardworking, patriotic and knowledgeable experts. And if you're not getting their perspective, their detailed perspective, then you are flying blind." - President Obama, December 12, 2016
Rethinking National Security 
Here is confirmation that the effort to impede justice in the Russian probe by Mueller is real from Senator McCain as reported by CNN 2/2/18: Worth reading,:Harry Blaney
CNN: John McCain blasts memo controversy, Trump for ‘doing Putin’s job’ By Devan Cole
Updated 8:40 PM ET, Fri February 2, 2018
(CNN)Sen. John McCain blasted President Donald Trump on Friday for approving the release of the highly controversial GOP-Nunes memo, saying “if we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing Putin’s job for him.”
McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Forces Committee, called on Trump and other elected officials to stop looking at special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation through “the warped lens of politics.”
“In 2016, the Russian government engaged in an elaborate plot to interfere in an American election and undermine our democracy,” McCain said. “… While we have no evidence that these efforts affected the outcome of our election, I fear they succeeded in fueling political discord and dividing us from one another.”
In a written statement released around the same time the memo was declassified, the Arizona Republican characterized the memo and its release as “partisan attacks” on the FBI and the Department of Justice.
The so-called attacks “serve no American interests,” he added — “no party’s, no president’s, only Putin’s.” “Our nation’s elected officials, including the President, must stop looking at this investigation through the warped lens of politics and manufacturing partisan sideshows,” McCain said. “If we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing Putin’s job for him.”
The release of the memo — spearheaded by Devin Nunes, R-California, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee — sent shockwaves through Washington on Friday as congressional Democrats and a smattering of Republicans decried it as a GOP-led effort to undermine the FBI’s investigation into Trump and Russia.
The memo alleges that the FBI abused its surveillance authority during an investigation into Carter Page, the President’s former foreign policy adviser.
Following the memo’s release, congressional Democrats called on the House Intelligence Committee to release their own party’s memo on the matter, which was produced by California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on that committee
In the 1/9/18 New York Times op-ed with the title ” The Worst and the Dumbest,” writer and Nobel prize winner, Paul Krugman has written wisely: ” In other words, even as much of the world is questing Trump’s fitness for office, the only people who could constrain him [Trump] are doing their best to place him above the law.” …
He added:”…his party doesn’t want you to know if he is a foreign agent.” Well put!