Trump Staff Picks, Co-Conspirators and the Revolving Door of Departures

[KaraBulut]

Yesterday during Trump's latest verbal diarrhea episode, he ranted about "Colonel Viiiiman". Not surprisingly, it was announced that Col. Alexander Vindman, who testified about the call with the Ukrainian President, will be leaving his job at the White House.

Key impeachment witness Alexander Vindman expects to leave White House post in coming weeks, source says [CNN]

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a key witness in President Donald Trump's impeachment inquiry, has told colleagues he expects to leave the White House's National Security Council in the coming weeks to return to the Defense Department, a source tells CNN.

Vindman said his departure from the council could come as soon as this month, the source said. That would be well ahead of the scheduled end of his time at the White House, which was originally slated to last until July. Vindman was appointed to his post in July 2018 and was asked to stay for two years...

Trump has continued to fume about Vindman's presence at the National Security Council since he testified, according to people familiar with the matter. Vindman's duties were significantly curtailed after he testified -- as were his those of his brother, an attorney for the council, according to sources familiar with the situation.

 

[TX-Beau]

The White House on Friday dismissed Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, whose testimony in the House impeachment hearings infuriated President Trump and his allies, escorting him out of the complex just days after the Senate trial ended in acquittal, his lawyer said...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...om-the-white-house/ar-BBZLmMx?ocid=spartanntp

So long Alex, at least CNN didn't know before you.

 

[KaraBulut]

And the guy who gave a million dollars to Trump's inaugural and was awarded an ambassadorship has been fired. Sondland released a proper statement (below) after being fired.

Trump Fires Gordon Sondland Hours After Dismissing Impeachment Witness Alexander Vindman [NY Times]

President Trump and his aides wasted little time opening a campaign of retribution against those he blames for his impeachment, firing on Friday two of the most prominent witnesses in the inquiry against him barely 48 hours after the Senate acquitted the president.

Emboldened by his victory and determined to strike back, Mr. Trump fired Gordon D. Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, within hours of the White House dismissing Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, a decorated Iraq war veteran who was a Ukraine expert on the National Security Council. Both officials testified to a House committee about the president’s efforts to pressure Ukraine to help him against his domestic political rivals.

“I was advised today that the president intends to recall me effective immediately as United States Ambassador to the European Union,” Mr. Sondland said in a statement just hours after Colonel Vindman’s dismissal. He expressed gratitude to Mr. Trump “for having given me the opportunity to serve.”

 

[smokeshadow]

^^experts are commenting that these firings might be a criminal offense

https://www.thenewcivilrightsmoveme...ing-sondland-and-vindman-is-criminal-offense/

 

[KaraBulut]

Let's see what the explanation is for firing Vindman's twin brother, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, who also worked in the White House.

Trump fires two major impeachment figures -- Alexander Vindman and Gordon Sondland [CNN]

His twin brother, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, a National Security Council attorney, was also fired, "suddenly and with no explanation, despite over two decades of loyal service to this country," Pressman said, and walked off the White House grounds alongside Alex Vindman.
Yevgeny Vindman had never testified or spoke publicly about the Ukraine saga. "He deeply regrets that he will not be able to continue his service at the White House," Pressman said in a statement.

 

[gsdx]

^ Just another Trump tantrum. At least he's not having them shot in public yet.

 

[rareboy]

Ironic that the Vindmans fled a corrupt tyrannical regime....and ended up being fired because of trying to expose corruption and abuse of power by a tyrannical president.

 

[frankfrank]

^ Just another Trump tantrum. At least he's not having them shot in public yet.

The key word is YET.

 

[KaraBulut]

Barr "promoted" Jessie Lieu so that he could put his own aide into the DC Attorney General position. This gave Barr the ability to tinker with the Stone, Manafort and Flynn investigations that Lieu had been overseeing.

Now Lieu's "promotion" nomination has been withdrawn, leaving her high and dry.

Barr needs to be removed.

Trump withdraws Treasury nomination of ex-US attorney who oversaw Stone prosecution [CNN]

President Donald Trump on Tuesday abruptly withdrew the nomination for Jessie Liu, the former US attorney who headed the office that oversaw Roger Stone's prosecution, to serve in a top Treasury Department position, three sources told CNN.

Liu's nomination was pulled the same day that the four federal prosecutors who had successfully taken Stone's case to trial withdrew their involvement after top Justice Department officials intervened by reducing the government's recommended sentence against Stone.

Liu had been nominated in December to serve as the Treasury Department's under secretary for terrorism and financial crimes. Previously she headed the US attorney's office that oversaw the prosecution and conviction of Trump's longtime political adviser until Attorney General William Barr replaced her last month

 

[rareboy]

This is Trump unchained. I wonder if she feels used at all?

 

[KaraBulut]

And another public servant being punished for following the law. I bet there's a bunch of employment attorneys after these cases.

Trump Fires Defense Official for Refusing to Break the Law on His Behalf [New Yorker]

The New York Post reports that the administration is retaliating against Elaine McCusker, whose nomination for Pentagon comptroller and chief financial officer has been pulled.

What’s especially chilling about this move is the reason for the retaliation. McCusker is losing her job because she attempted to follow the law. There’s no cover story to rationalize it. That is the cover story. “This administration needs people who are committed to implementing the president’s agenda, specifically on foreign policy, and not trying to thwart it,” a White House official tells the paper.

State of White House McCusker nomination in flux amid impeachment fallout [Defense News]

A top Senate Republican on Tuesday cast doubt on a report that the White House will pull its pick to take over as Pentagon comptroller and chief financial officer.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, whose committee would hold the nomination hearing for Deputy Comptroller Elaine McCusker, said he had not received any word that administration officials have had a change of heart. Inhofe believed her nomination would proceed...

The New York Post reported Tuesday that the White House planned to withdraw McCusker’s nomination after emails were obtained in January by Just Security in which McCusker questioned the legality of Trump’s directive to freeze about $250 million in U.S. military aid to Ukraine.

 

[Sausy]

He wants only those whose loyalty is to Trump himself, not the law. God damn the useless Republican enablers and apologists like Susan Collins and Lamar Alexander who said they thought he would learn his lesson and not act out any more... he now believes he has the green light to do anything, and no elected Republican in Congress except Mitt Romney does a damn thing to hold him to account. Just indulge Trump's delusions about being treated unfairly and without respect. Those who have no respect for the law or for our institutions deserves even a tiny sliver of respect or deference. Trump is a toxic, despicable man. And good people just trying to do their job and do the right thing like Elaine Mc Cusker, or Lt Colonels Alexander and Yevgeny Vindman..and ambassadors Maria Yovanivitch and Bill Taylor....and likely others in the coming days who just got in the way... they lose their jobs and are dismissed as being the problem by this out of control, bat shit insane administration.

 

[KaraBulut]

He wants only those whose loyalty is to Trump himself, not the law. God damn the useless Republican enablers and apologists like Susan Collins and Lamar Alexander who said they thought he would learn his lesson and not act out any more...

It's not just Collins and Alexander. It's the whole party and they have a long history of being enablers and followers with no spine.

As the saying goes, history doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes.

PBS' American Experience recently did an episode on Joseph McCarthy.

Everyone remembers the "Commie scare" and how McCarthy went after artists and celebrities But what goes overlooked is that McCarthy tried to undermine the State Department with his investigations looking for Communists and lesbian/gay state department officials. He also tried to disgrace the Army. McCarthy famously ran around claiming he "had a list" and lied not only about the list but constantly varied the number of people he claimed were on the list- sometimes it was 50, other times it was 250.

While all of this was going on, Eisenhower was a candidate for President and then later President. Eisenhower found the whole episode repugnant but he let McCarthy's "investigations" go on for years.

Eisenhower not only didn't stop McCarthy, he enabled it. Eisenhower signed an executive order that allowed the government to fire employees who were accused of being homosexual (it remained in effect until the 1990s when Clinton rescinded it). Eisenhower also signed legislation that allowed American citizens to be investigated for accusations of associating with Communists or members of the Communist party.

It wasn't until 1954 when McCarthy began his investigations of Eisenhower's Army colleagues that Eisenhower allowed McCarthy's destruction of government employees and private citizens to be put to an end.

There was a period in the 1970s and into the 1980s when there were some Republicans of good moral character who weren't afraid to put the Constitution and the law above demagoguery and party loyalty. That Republican Party is long gone. They've reverted back to the blindly loyal and enabling party that they were during the McCarthy years. That's not a good thing.

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to have a person like Joseph McCarthy as President... now you know.

 

[KaraBulut]

Barr "promoted" Jessie Lieu so that he could put his own aide into the DC Attorney General position. This gave Barr the ability to tinker with the Stone, Manafort and Flynn investigations that Lieu had been overseeing.

Now Lieu's "promotion" nomination has been withdrawn, leaving her high and dry.

Barr needs to be removed.

Liu has resigned.

First on CNN: Jessie Liu resigns from Treasury after pulled nomination [CNN]

The US attorney whose nomination for a top Treasury Department job was yanked because she ran the office that oversaw Roger Stone's prosecution has resigned, an administration official tells CNN.

Jessie Liu, who previously headed the US attorney's office in Washington, submitted her resignation to the Treasury Department, effective Wednesday evening. She went to the Treasury Department with the intention of filling a Senate-confirmed position, which is no longer available after her nomination was withdrawn earlier Wednesday, the official said.

These people leaving the administration are going to be doing interviews, writing books and testifying before Congress. The truth about what is going on is going to come out. Hopefully before the November election.

 

[KaraBulut]

A strange firing....

Scoop: Veterans Affairs deputy secretary James Byrne fired [Axios]

Veterans Affairs deputy secretary James Byrne was fired Monday morning, three Trump administration officials tell Axios. The White House confirmed that Byrne is no longer with the administration.

Why it matters: The VA has recently been in inner turmoil. VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said he dismissed Byrne "due to loss of confidence in Mr. Byrne’s ability to carry out his duties." Wilkie said the decision "is effective immediately," following Axios' reporting.

Between the lines: The VA has come under fire after a House staff member said she was sexually assaulted at the VA hospital in Washington. The White House was disappointed by the way Wilkie and the VA handled the situation, according to three sources close to the situation.

Earlier story:

No Charges in Assault Complaint at V.A. Hospital, and a Public Fight Erupts [NY Times]

Federal authorities have declined to file charges after a House staff member said she was sexually assaulted at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Washington, setting up a highly unusual public confrontation among a cabinet secretary, a congressional committee chairman and an inspector general.

In September, Andrea Goldstein, a Navy veteran and the senior policy adviser for the Women Veterans Task Force on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said she was assaulted on Sept. 20 while buying a snack at the medical center’s cafeteria. Ms. Goldstein, who works on the sexual assault issue for the committee, said a man slammed his body against hers below the waist and told her that “you look like you could use a good time,” Ms. Goldstein said in an interview.

 

[rareboy]

And what the holy fuck is going on?

Hope Hicks, Sean Spicer and Reince Prebus all being re-hired?

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/tr...AFt6IkLdk6ESXx-edPlpaM2wtRzYhKFIgTWIhRRNCQPXU

 

[cityboy-stl]

^ Forget about the swamp...Trump is digging up the sewage now.

 

[KaraBulut]

Dancing with the Stars: White House edition.

 

[KaraBulut]

Re: Trump Staff Picks

And also today, this guy. Who didn't even get to collect his jacket before being escorted off the premises.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-personal-assistant-is-fired-1520945928?mod=e2fb

John McEntee doesn't seem to have actually had a grown-up job in the West Wing child care centre, but he had been with Trump a long time.

He's baaaaccccckkkkk.

Ex-Trump aide John McEntee to lead White House office of personnel [Axios]

John McEntee, President Trump’s former body man who was fired by former chief of staff John Kelly over security clearance issues and recently returned to the West Wing, is expected to lead the Presidential Personnel Office, according to two sources with direct knowledge.

Why it matters: Trump has increasingly become furious with what he sees as a federal government full of "never-Trumpers." Administration officials tell Axios Trump feels he’s surrounded by snakes and wants to clear out all the disloyal people.

 

[rareboy]

It is actually frightening to see this happening....it seems to imply an incredibly high level of confidence that Trump is going to win in November and is setting up the key players for another 4 years.