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

[KaraBulut]

More of "the best people":

The White House is pushing a conspiracy theorist fired from the NSC for a top Pentagon position [CNN]

The White House is pushing the Department of Defense to hire a former National Security Council staffer who has repeatedly pushed fringe conspiracy theories on Twitter and in media appearances.
Rich Higgins, a former aide who says he was fired from the National Security Council in 2017 for sending a conspiratorial memo, is currently being considered to serve as chief of staff to retired Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata, the White House's nominee for the under secretary of defense for policy at the Pentagon.

A source familiar with the internal discussions told CNN the White House has pushed the Pentagon to hire Higgins and he is under consideration to be chief of staff for Tata, if Tata is confirmed by the Senate. Foreign Policy and the Washington Post first reported on the push to hire Higgins...

Higgins, who served in the Army and later in the Pentagon as a career official in the Bush and Obama administrations, according to his biography, was fired from the NSC in 2017 after authoring a memo claiming that a "deep state" band of officials and movements were opposing President Donald Trump. He defined the opposition as the media, Islamists, Black Lives Matter, the ACLU, the United Nations and cultural Marxists leading a coordinated effort to delegitimize and subvert the President.

Since Higgins left the NSC in 2017, he has continued to promote and spread conspiracy theories, according to a CNN KFile review of his media appearances. Higgins said that former Obama administration officials were communists, that the Black Lives Matter movement is "Marxist" and "an agent" of China, and that "left wing" organizations invented the term Islamophobia only 15 years ago.

The push to hire Higgins, a conspiracy theorist, and Tata, a frequent and ardent defender of the President on Fox News, to senior positions at the Pentagon comes as the White House seeks to install loyalists, many of whom hold extremist views, throughout the administration.

 

[gsdx]

If Trump hires and appoints only the best people, who does he consider the worst? **

** Rhetorical question. Everybody knows that the worst people are the ones who refuse to kiss Trump's ass.

 

[rareboy]

Merritt Corrigan, only appointed by Trump a few months ago to bring her total lack of experience to ruining USAID has been fired for making a string of rabidly anti LGBTQ statements on social media.

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/08/...d-trump-white-house-same-sex-marriage-usaid/?

 

[KaraBulut]

Unlike previous administrations, the Trump Administration finds ways to get rejected nominees into positions- either through "Acting" designations or by waiting and resubmitting the nomination later. Generally, the Senate Republicans just rubber stamp any horrible, disgusting and unqualified candidate that the Administration nominates.

This nominee was so bad that Jim Inhofe wouldn't allow him to get a vote in committee. The Trump Administration just put him into a different position as an "Acting" administrator in order to bypass Congress. Trump saw him auditioning on Fox News, of course.

Controversial nominee Tata appointed to a top defense job, bypassing Congress [Defense News]

The Defense Department announced Sunday evening that controversial nominee Anthony Tata has been appointed to fill the Pentagon’s No. 2 policy job, in a move that some members of Congress see as circumventing the Senate’s confirmation process.

The move came just days after the Senate Armed Services Committee scrapped a confirmation hearing for Tata, a retired Army brigadier general and Fox News guest who has been a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, after there was not enough support among Republican senators to push his nomination through.

Tata was originally nominated as undersecretary of defense for policy, the top foreign relations and policy job in the building. Now, he will be performing the duties of the deputy undersecretary for policy...

In addition, Tata retired from the military in 2009 after an Army inquiry found that he conducted “at least two” adulterous affairs while serving, considered a crime by the military...

Of the 60 Senate-confirmed roles at the Pentagon, at least 18 are being filled by officials in an acting capacity. Tata becomes the second official to be appointed to an acting role, bypassing the need for Senate confirmation, from outside the department this month. On July 13, White House Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios was named acting undersecretary of defense for research and engineering.

Tata's nomination stalled because of Islamophobic Tweets, statements Tata promoting conspiracy theories and insulting statements made about Democratic politicians.

Democrats on key Senate committee oppose top Pentagon pick as more inflammatory tweets emerge [CNN]

Several Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee said Monday that they would oppose the nomination of retired Army Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata to oversee the Pentagon's policy shop.

CNN's KFile reported on Friday that Tata had a history of making Islamophobic and inflammatory remarks against prominent Democratic politicians, including falsely calling former President Barack Obama a Muslim.

 

[rareboy]

Merritt Corrigan, only appointed by Trump a few months ago to bring her total lack of experience to ruining USAID has been fired for making a string of rabidly anti LGBTQ statements on social media.

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/08/...d-trump-white-house-same-sex-marriage-usaid/?

So...eventually there is ususally an intersection between this thread about Deplorables and these Deplorables

Cue Wohl and Burkham to step in and most likely try to fabricate a smear campaign against someone to grab their own 15 minutes of attention.

These three pieces of shit deserve to float in the same bowl.

https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post...P7B23OASu1dEga6YCQCXlouCkGeQvC9EGHhl6fIn16SwI

 

[rareboy]

The State Department’s Acting Inspector General Stephen Akard is resigning from his role after less than three months on the job.

Do they even bother sitting down at their new desk before they jump ship at this point?

https://thehill.com/homenews/admini...dgEP0--8a3Ei24nIV4UoS2_QF1DYq6EZlKuB2LI-vt_2c

And still there are months to go with Pompeo likely to still do more lasting damage to the State Department.

 

[KaraBulut]

...erritt Corrigan, only appointed by Trump a few months ago to bring her total lack of experience to ruining USAID has been fired for making a string of rabidly anti LGBTQ statements on social media.

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/08/...d-trump-white-house-same-sex-marriage-usaid/?

OK- this is fucked up, even by Trump Administration standards...

In episode 1 of this drama, Merritt Corrigan was fired for making ant-LGBTQ statements on social media.
In episode 2, Corrigan started dating Jacob Wohl.
In episode 3, Corrigan accused Rep Elliot Engel of NY of hiring prostitutes.
In episode 4, Corrigan sent Tweets saying she would be holding press conferences with Wohl and his co-lunatic, Jack Burkman.
In this week's episode, Corrigan has said that Wohl forced her to send out tweets against her will and she would not be holding press conferences.

This May Be the Most Absurd, Trumpian Drama Ever [Baily Beast]

Accusations of stalking, prostitution, and racism are merely the appetizer. The main course features Jacob Wohl and claims of falsified tweets and stolen phones.

The federal agency primarily responsible for the distribution of foreign aid has been roiled in recent days by the most Trumpian of dramas, one involving an anti-LGBT political appointee, blundering conservative operative Jacob Wohl, accusations of stalking, prostitution, and the potential hiring of a young conservative with past racist writings...

On Monday a political appointee and deputy White House liaison there, Merritt Corrigan, took to Twitter to accuse her employer of “anti-Christian” bias.

Corrigan’s appointment at USAID has been under fire for months over anti-gay tweets she made in 2019 and 2020, including accusing the United States of being a “homo-empire” devoted to a “tyrannical LGBT agenda,” tweeting that “female empowerment is a civilizational calamity,” and advocating for the creation of a “Christian patriarchy.” ..

Corrigan, who is/was apparently dating Wohl, announced that she’d be appearing Thursday in front of Wohl associate Jack Burkman’s Northern Virginia house—a site that has previously hosted farcical attempts to smear Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) with lurid sexual allegations. There, she would further denounce USAID, accuse a Politico reporter who covered her resignation of stalking her...”

Corrigan is far from the first Wohl associate to bail on one of his press conferences. But she does appear to be the first to have formally held such a high post at a government agency. And her drama illustrates the degree to which the once-staid USAID has become a stomping grounds for a twisted, absurdist circus involving Trumpian figures who despise one another and are notorious for trying to conduct botched operations against their political foes.

 

[rareboy]

They are all horrible creatures. And should be locked in one cell together.

But this is at least the second time that Wohl has been accused of forcing someone to issue statements against their will.

 

[KaraBulut]

They are all horrible creatures. And should be locked in one cell together.

But this is at least the second time that Wohl has been accused of forcing someone to issue statements against their will.

I still don't get why Wohl isn't in jail.

 

[KaraBulut]

Hmm... well, we probably didn't need a watchdog to tells us that Cuccinelli and Wolf weren't qualified for their acting positions.

Government watchdog finds top Trump DHS officials are ineligible for their positions [The Hill]

The appointments of two top Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials, including the acting secretary, violated federal law, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report issued Friday.

The GAO found that acting Secretary Chad Wolf and acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli are technically ineligible to serve based on their improper appointment. The office did not review the legality of their orders while serving in their positions improperly.

The issue with the two officials' appointments stems from when former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned in April 2019 and was replaced by Kevin McAleenan, who had previously been leading Customs and Border Protection.

McAleenan had not been designated in the order of succession to replace Nielsen, the GAO found, and therefore could not legally alter the order of succession at DHS.

 

[gsdx]

^ Only the best people.

 

[KaraBulut]

^ Only the best people.

The interesting thing is what happens now. Schumer called for them to resign. Fat chance of that.

If this goes to court and the courts uphold that they are not properly in their positions, what happens to all the actions and policies that they have put in place since their being named as "Acting" administrators?

 

[KaraBulut]

More of the best people...

Steve Bannon, three others charged with fraud in border wall fundraising campaign [CNN]

New York federal prosecutors on Thursday charged President Donald Trump's former campaign adviser Steve Bannon and three others with defrauding donors of hundreds of thousands of dollars as part of a fundraising campaign purportedly aimed at supporting Trump's border wall.

Bannon was arrested Thursday morning, according to a spokesman for the US attorney's office. Bannon's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bannon will make his initial court appearance in New York later Thursday, according to the US attorney's office.

The four men are indicted for allegedly taking hundreds of thousands of dollars donated to a group called We Build the Wall and using the funds for personal expenses, among other things.

According to prosecutors, Bannon, through a non-profit identified as Non-Profit-1, used more than $1 million from We Build the Wall to "secretly" pay another defendant, Brian Kolfage, and cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in Bannon's personal expenses.

 

[Kulindahr]

^
Change the names and that reads like the old union corruption.

 

[smokeshadow]

many people are pointing out the delicious irony that he was arrested by United States Postal Service agents

https://www.thenewcivilrightsmoveme...n-being-arrested-by-us-postal-service-agents/

 

[rareboy]

And Trump Jr. is now scrambling to get away from the stench.

President Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., is seeking to distance himself from the “We Build the Wall” crowdfunding campaign after former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon and three others were arrested and charged with defrauding donors.

A spokesperson for Trump Jr., whose name is listed on the organization's website as having endorsed it, said he had minimal involvement with the We Build the Wall group.

https://thehill.com/homenews/admini...m-bannon-group-says-he-attended-single-event?


The stench follows Trumps wherever they go.

By tomorrow, Trump will say he never met Bannon.

 

[Sausy]

Bannon will never give up Trump if Trump remembers to stay equally loya, no matter what Trump Jr does. If Trump throws him under the bus, all bets are off.

 

[KaraBulut]

^
Change the names and that reads like the old union corruption.

Or the Frank Tassone scandal: fake invoices, personal expenses run through as professional expenses, plastic surgeries, etc. All we're missing is the gay lover living in an Manhattan apartment and the "exotic dancer" living in a house in Vegas.

 

[rareboy]

And Bannon one of the re asons why Barr forced out Geoffrey Berman some weeks ago...It was the Acting DA who ended up laying the charges.

In June, Attorney General William Barr—now d.b.a. the president's Cellino & Barnes—announced that the man who was then the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, Geoffrey Berman, had resigned. Except Berman then went public and denied he'd resigned. Then Barr said Trump had fired Berman anyway. Then Berman testified before Congress and made it clear Barr had been trying to force him out the whole time.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politi...1OPR2Uo_Tl50EGlZDnCUT8NC5_Vi54bwMOmYJzKTtGhao

By the way, this means that all three of Trump's campaign Capos have been arrested...although Lewandowski was only charged with assault.

 

[rareboy]

And...she's finally getting out of the West Wing.

But Kellyanne, maybe more than anyone else helped create the monster Trump and probably helped save his ass so many times over the last 3.5 years.

It might almost seem that she is bailing because she thinks he will be defeated....

The Sunday evening announcement marks an abrupt end to Kellyanne Conway's high-profile time in the White House where she earned a reputation as one of the President's fiercest -- and most controversial -- defenders. She landed her position in 2016 after becoming the first female campaign manager to win a presidential race.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/23/poli...diRONo5KbRQOzeejSlMa4y6Dkprz3TWGpanikiMbEN5RE