All The President’s Men
If there is one constant in the Trump administration, it is that the President thrives off of deflection and chaos, which manifests itself in the media spotlight and constant staff turnover. Two glaring instances of these tactics showed up after President Trump’s historic impeachment trials and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Post-impeachment involved a cleansing of employees that testified against the President or had an active role in the procedures. Only 48 hours after being acquitted by the Senate, Trump fired two of the most prominent witnesses of the House inquiry: Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, and National Security Council staff, Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman. Col. Vindman’s brother, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, was also removed from his post at the White House.
President Trump made sure to make an extensive list of those he saw as traitors and unloyal to him. The chief diplomat to Ukraine and another subpoenaed impeachment witness, Ambassador William Taylor, was ordered to surrender his post early. John Rood, the under secretary of defense at the Pentagon who warned about withholding military aid to Ukraine was forced out, along with throwing out Elaine McMusker’s nomination to become comptroller of the Department of Defense for questioning the legality of holding up the aid.
Trump recently replaced acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, with a fierce loyalist, for allowing an aide to brief the House Intelligence Committee on Russian election meddling. He feared that, “Democrats would use the information against him.”
Other instances of political retaliation from Trump include removing the nomination of Jesse Lui for a top job at the US Treasury Department. She was involved in criminal cases produced by the Mueller investigation, such as the prosecution of Trump ally, Roger Stone. Even Trump’s own loyal associates like Mick Mulvaney could not dodge the post-acquittal chopping block after his admittance of guilt regarding the quid pro quo at a White House press briefing.
At the beginning of April, with the pandemic in full-swing, Trump took another swing at the “Deep State” by removing intelligence community Inspector General, Michael Atkinson, for his independent and impartial duty of delivering the Ukraine whistleblower complaint to Congress. Trump called Atkinson a total disgrace and said, “I thought he did a terrible job, absolutely terrible...He took a fake report and he brought it to Congress.”
Right now, a bipartisan effort led by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), is demanding an explanation of why Atkinson was fired. Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee has said, “Atkinson essentially was fired for doing his job,” while Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) pointed out that, “In the midst of a national emergency, it is unconscionable that the president is once again attempting to undermine the integrity of the intelligence community by firing yet another intelligence official simply for doing his job.” Warner was referring to the aforementioned removal of the director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, in mid February.
Attorney General, Bill Barr, who backed Trump in his decisions to remove these key actors in the impeachment inquiry, has indicated that retribution for impeachment is long from over. In a recent interview with Fox News host, Laura Ingram, Barr stated, “We are going to get to the bottom of it. And if people broke the law and we can establish that with the evidence, they will be prosecuted,” talking about the FBI’s initiation of the Russia investigation that consumed the first two years of Trump’s presidency.
Besides Atkinson, Trump also decided to replace Glenn Fine, the acting Pentagon IG for the past four years, in his role as the coronavirus relief watchdog. He had been tasked to oversee the $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package. Although it is common for presidents not to get along with inspectors general for their constant independent oversight, it is clear that many in Congress, like Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) believes Trump is trying to “undermine oversight of his chaotic and deficient response to the coronavirus crisis.”
In regards to controversial firings over the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, Navy Captain, Brett Crozier was recently removed from command of his aircraft carrier. Capt. Crozier penned a letter to his superiors, pleading for help concerning an outbreak of the virus amongst his 5,000 crew members. The letter was leaked to the press, ultimately leading to the captain’s removal, which Trump fully endorsed by saying, “I thought it was terrible, what he did, to write a letter. I mean, this isn't a class on literature.”
The latest speculation has been around Trump’s desire to remove Dr. Fauci after he retweeted a post that ended with #FireFauci. Although the White House has indicated that Dr. Fauci’s job is safe, Ed Markey (D-MA) has introduced legislation to protect Dr. Fauci and other National Institute of Health directors from being improperly fired by President Trump.
Right now, the administration is under fire for cutting funding to the World Health Organization in the midst of a global pandemic. The given reason for halting the funds is to investigate WHO “severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.” We do know, however, that the U.S. was aware of the coronavirus threat from China as early as Jan. 3.
And in a move that seamlessly connects Trump’s impeachment retribution with his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the White House released the names for the bipartisan task force on reopening the economy. Every Republican member of the Senate is included, except for Sen. Mitt Romney, who voted to convict the president on a charge of abuse of power in his impeachment trial.