Anybody who thinks the virus isn’t providing Donald Trump cover fire to keep doing his revenge against those who do not display allegiance to him and not the law or norms is fooling themself….
President Donald Trump has informed Congress that he is removing the inspector general who flagged the Ukraine whistleblower complaint, according to a letter obtained by NBC News.
“This is to advise you that I am exercising my power as President to remove from office the inspector general of the intelligence community,” the Trump letter to the leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees says.
The letter also says “it is vital that I have the fullest confident in the appointees serving as Inspectors General. That is no longer the case with this Inspector General.”
The firing is to take effect 30 days from Friday, according to the letter.
News of the complaint and the fact it had been withheld from Congress touched off an inquiry and testimony that resulted in Trump’s impeachment. Trump was acquitted by the Senate.
Michael Atkinson deemed the complaint an “urgent concern” that he was required by law to provide to the congressional intelligence committees.
But Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguirerefused to do so on the advice of the Justice Department, resulting in a standoff.
Trump was accused of abusing the power of his office for personal political gain and obstruction of Congress…..
Note…
Trump has systematically cleaned house in the intelligence community that did not trust him when he got elected….
Do wait around for this Chuck…
POLITICO
@politico
Sen. Chuck Grassley said President Trump’s firing of the intelligence community’s top watchdog “demands an explanation”
Oh Grassley will fold up like all the rest of the Republicans.
History says so …Yea Jack….
My questions?
If Trump LOSES in November?
How man people sing and how many book deals?
And would an income AG be allowed to go after some the malfeasance ?
APRIL 4, 2020 / 10:34 AM / UPDATED 6 HOURS AGO
‘He’s a total disgrace’: Trump defends firing U.S. intel watchdog
Jeff Mason, James Oliphant
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Saturday defended his decision to fire the top watchdog of the U.S. Intelligence Community, saying Michael Atkinson did “a terrible job” in handling the whistleblower complaint that triggered an impeachment probe of Trump last year.
“He took a fake report, and he brought it to Congress,” Trump said during a briefing on the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Late on Friday, the White House told Atkinson, the Intelligence Community’s inspector general, that he would be terminated from his position in 30 days.
He was a key figure in the run-up to impeachment, having found credible a complaint from a still-unnamed whistleblower within the administration that Trump abused his office in attempting to solicit Ukraine’s interference in the 2020 U.S. election for his political benefit.
The president complained that after receiving the complaint, Atkinson did not come and speak to him about it at the White House. “He’s a total disgrace,” Trump said.
Trump inveighed against the whistleblower as well, calling him “fake” and politically biased.
“Frankly, somebody ought to sue his ass off,” he said.
Atkinson’s firing prompted concerns among some Congressional Republicans and criticism from Democrats.
U.S. Senator Richard Burr, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, praised Atkinson, while noting Trump has the authority to fire him.
“Like any political appointee, the inspector general serves at the behest of the Executive,” Burr, a Republican from North Carolina, said in a statement on Saturday. “However, in order to be effective, the IG must be allowed to conduct his or her work independent of internal or external pressure.”
U.S. Senator Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, demanded a better explanation for Atkinson’s firing.
“Congress has been crystal clear that written reasons must be given when IGs are removed for a lack of confidence,” he said. “More details are needed from the administration.”
Trump is trying to scare the watchdog community, Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee told MSNBC Saturday morning.
“He’s decapitating the leadership of the intelligence community in the middle of a national crisis,” he said. “It’s unconscionable, and of course it sends a message throughout the federal government and particular to other inspectors general.”
Republican House Representative Jim Jordan, a staunch Trump supporter, mocked Schiff’s concern about Atkinson’s firing.
“He was Schiff’s key impeachment enabler,” Jordan wrote on Twitter.
Atkinson’s firing comes as U.S. inspectors general, who are charged with independent oversight of federal agencies, were recently tasked with broad surveillance of the government’s response to the coronavirus, including the historic $2.3 trillion fiscal package to mitigate its economic impact.
Democrats have expressed concerns about how the fiscal package will be doled out through the U.S. Treasury, headed by Steven Mnuchin.
Michael Horowitz, chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), an independent agency in the executive branch and the inspector general at the Department of Justice, defended Atkinson and vowed on Saturday to continue to conduct “aggressive” independent oversight of government programs.
“This includes CIGIE’s Pandemic Response Accountability Committee and its efforts on behalf of American taxpayers, families, businesses, patients, and health care providers to ensure that over $2 trillion dollars in emergency federal spending is being used consistently with the law’s mandate,” Horowitz said in a statement.
In bringing the whistleblower complaint to Congress, Atkinson expressed concerns that Trump potentially exposed himself to “serious national security and counter-intelligence risks” when he pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during a July 25 phone call to investigate Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden and his son, according to a Justice Department legal opinion….
Reporting By Lucia Mutikani, Jeff Mason and James Oliphant; editing by Heather Timmons and Diane Craft
Reuters
This IS PURE BULL SHIT…..
This IS Revenge…
Donald Trump as a Real Estate guy skirted the rules, or used his lawyers or money to Geta round them….
This is ANOTHER move by him to bend the world to his liking and is a disgrace to the office of the American Presidency , which he couldn’t give two shits about….
People HAVE get off their asses and VOTE come November