Trump's Favorite Spot for Agency IG's
SECOND UPDATE TO THE ORIGINAL STORY BELOW:
Pompeo Woes Keep Piling Up with Major News Coverage:
2. Pompeo declined interview with IG over “emergency” Saudi arms sales before Trump fired him at Pompeo’s
Then Add This: Trump’s senior advisers are increasingly moving to install people in key positions who are seen as loyal to him. For example, earlier this year, Trump named a trusted aide, John McEntee, as the head of the White House’s personnel office. He has been instructed to seek out and identify political appointees at agencies who are thought to be opposed to Trump or his agenda.
FYI: What do we call that, oh, yeah just like in Trump’s own words: “A Witch Hunt,” or way back to Nixon days: “An Enemies List.”
GOP blind loyalty - no matter the subject:
Case in point: Trump fired State Department IG Steve Linick (4th such firing of an Agency IG in three months).
Acting on Pompeo’s recommendation, Trump abruptly terminated Steve Linick late Friday (May 15) night, again challenging established norms of American governance in his push to rid the federal bureaucracy of officials he considers insufficiently loyal to or protective of him and his administration.
I note: In true Trump style a few days
later he said he didn't know Linick well, didn't think he ever met him, and to
ask Mike about the firing request. Oops - Mr. President you approved a firing
without knowing why - then
later made excuses and fun for the dog walking - shame on you, sir.
The crony part: Trump replaced Linick with Stephen Akard, a trusted ally of VP Mike Pence, who is the diplomat who directs the Office of Foreign Missions, plus Akard also replaced the acting IG at DOT.
Linick had served as IG since 2013, when he was appointed by President Barack Obama. He is former assistant U.S. attorney and career government official who also served in the DOJ a senior anti-fraud official and as IG of the Federal Housing Finance Agency before his appointment to State Department IG.
Background (possibly why Trump dumped him): Some of Linick’s recent investigations have been critical of the State Department’s management and caused consternation among Trump’s political appointees there. He also has been perceived as a persistent thorn in the side of the administration under Pompeo.
This case: Linick recently had launched an investigation into the use of a Schedule C employee by Pompeo and his wife to conduct personal activities according to a few lawmakers and people familiar with the IG office.
(FYI: Schedule C employees are non-career officials working directly for a presidential appointee.)
Linick’s firing had been designed to protect Pompeo from personal accountability, it may have been “an illegal act of retaliation.”
A spokesman for Pompeo did not respond to a request for comment.
My 2 cents: If it is true that the insider who reported on this was a “democrat” – so what. It only under underscores the idea of why did Republicans stand by and not say anything – assuming Pompeo and his wife were misusing personnel for their favors.
This is a very sad chapter in American presidential history and will in my view be the #1 absolute worst ever.
In a word: Trump has to go – he hopefully will lose in November, but know this even with a clear cut loss, he will not go quietly from office … we may see the end of this country at that point with Civil War II starting on his terms … he just cannot lose or be labeled a one-term president … wait and see.
More closing follows.
More closing follows.
As way of introduction is the historical reminder video clip below of exactly who Trump is or more so, who he wants to be and what he wants to achieve, or thinks he can - be a one-man show, or King, or absolute Ruler of America: One nation, One People, One set of laws, rules, and regulations designed by and run by him for only him and all under the label: “Trump Empire, Inc.”
ORIGINAL POST STARTS HERE:
His statement below proves this point w/o any doubt as seen and hear in this short video and in his own words that he can do anything he wants even as he once said in January 2016 in Iowa while campaigning: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK? It's, like, incredible.”
What total arrogance that ties into his statement in this video clip:
What total arrogance that ties into his statement in this video clip:
This post reinforces his latest actions: He has now ordered a total of four various Agency IG’s be fired in a three-month period. Why? They are doing their assigned constitutional duties, but apparently some if not most of them are getting too close to Trump and is crony’s corruption.
BACKGROUND ON INSPECTOR GENERALS: They are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. They work within a government agency and are charged with reporting on government malfeasance and corruption.
DOJ IG Steven Linick Fired:
WASHINGTON (USA Today vis MSN)– Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's decision (May 15) to fire his IG marks the fourth time within the last three months that an internal agency watchdog has been removed by Trump and his administration. Linick was appointed in 2013 during the Obama administration after serving other senior roles in the U.S. government. A State Department official declined to say why Linick was fired, and the White House did not explain the move in a letter informing lawmakers.
A democratic aide not authorized to speak on the record said the IG was probing allegations that Pompeo used a political appointee at the State Department “…to perform personal tasks for himself and Mrs. Pompeo.”
Linick also oversaw the contentious investigation of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server and criticized her actions in a 2016 report.
HHS IG Christi Grimm Fired:
On May 1, Trump fired HHS Principal Deputy Inspector General Christi A. Grimm, three weeks after the release of a report from her office that hospitals nationwide were struggling to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
The April 3 report, based on a survey of more than 300 hospitals, described “severe shortages of testing supplies and extended waits for test results as well as widespread shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) that put staff and patients at risk” at a time when Trump was touting the federal response to the crisis.
The day after he was asked about the report during a press briefing, Trump tweeted that the report was a “Fake Dossier written by someone with political motivations.”
Grimm first joined the IG's office in 1999, serving in both Republican and Democratic administrations.
DOD IG Glenn Fine Fired:
Trump replaced acting Defense Department Inspector General Glenn Fine on April 6, removing not only the Pentagon's top internal watchdog but also a key figure overseeing the trillions being spent by Washington to mitigate the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Fine had been selected by fellow IG’s to chair the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, created after Congress passed a roughly $2 trillion stimulus bill known as the CARES Act in late March.
That bill was designed to help large industries, small businesses and health care providers weather the crisis. The House recently passed a new bill that could add another $3 trillion to the effort.
Trump signaled displeasure with the oversight provision when he
issued a relatively rare signing statement. He said he would
ignore portions of the law demanded by Democrats to give Congress additional visibility into the stimulus spending, arguing that those requirements would infringe on the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution.
Intelligence Agency IG Michael Atkinson Fired:
On April 3, President Donald Trump announced he had fired the intelligence committee watchdog who handled a whistleblower's complaint involving Trump's pressure campaign against the Ukranian president that triggered Trump’s impeachment.
Atkinson reviewed the complaint that alleged Trump “used the power of his office to solicit foreign help in the 2020 election, and that the complaint appeared credible.”
The Acting DNI. Joseph Maguire, then prevented Atkinson from passing the complaint to Congress within seven days, which is typically required for all national security whistleblower complaints, and he did so after consulting with the White House and DOJ.
My 2 cents: Sadly, due to this virus pandemic, Congress can’t meet like they normally are supposed to meet and debate laws and such or even have full committees in session for constitutional oversight duties – that plays right into Trump’s hands making Congress look weak and ineffective while he seeks total and complete control – his long term goal.
This truly is a very bad state of affairs which we have never faced before in our 244 year-history and Trump is playing it like a fiddle.
Time will tell what happens next. But, with him, we never know so stay tuned.
Thanks for stopping by.
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