Trump is out of control. Thank you so much GOP Senators for empowering a vicious, vengeful, paranoid dictator who is attacking the good people who have upheld the law and defended the Constitution. It had been my impression that we fought The War of Independence to rid ourselves of a dictator/king and create a Republic? Or have I just been dreaming the last 70 years? And what do we have to do to stop this colossal train wreck of an administration?
The latest, following hard upon the interference of William Barr’s corrupt DOJ into the sentencing of Roger Stone, features a rant by Trump threatening not only Vindman but his brother who had nothing to do with Ukraine whatsoever.
First, though, the story of Elaine McCusker, DOD official who tried to uphold the law which of course infuriated Trump.
Two days after Senate Republicans acquitted President Trump on both counts of impeachment, the Trump administration fired a number of national-security officials: European Union ambassador Gordon Sondland and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council staffer, for voluntarily testifying before the House, as well as the latter’s twin brother, Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Vindman, for being related to Alexander. Now, the “Friday Night Massacre” is extending into this week. 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.
McCusker’s crime is quite literally having attempted to follow the law. Over the summer, the Office of Management and Budget was trying to hold up aid for Ukraine that Congress had passed into law, because it was trying to extort Ukraine to investigate Trump’s rivals. Defense Department officials, who were supposed to allocate the funds, attempted to implement the policy. Just Security obtained the email chain.
The emails show McCusker advising budget officials as to what the law said. She was not acting especially rigid about it. As Just Security’s summary notes, “The emails show officials bending over backwards to make every conceivable accommodation to keep the process moving without actually being able to obligate the funding.” One message shows McCusker writing to another official, “We need to continue to give the WH has [sic] much decision space as possible, but am concerned we have not officially documented the fact that we can not promise full execution at this point.” That is, she was trying to do everything in her power to give White House officials room to set the policy as they saw fit, without violating the law.
nymag.com/...
As for the Vindman brothers, the increasingly dangerous and sinister Trump is all but threatening them with punishment.
Trump, let us not forget, has many friends and allies in prison and who is undermining justice in the case of Roger Stone, who has pardoned war criminals and hung a Medal of Freedom around the ugly racist neck of Rush Limbaugh and pardoned the heinous Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has conspired with Russia to undermine our elections and tried to force Ukraine to do the same, is endangering the futures and the lives of brave people who honored Congressional subpoenas. How dare they? They honored a Congressional subpoena, in the case of Vindman’s brother they did nothing at all to deserve Trump’s anger, yet they are punished anyway.
Witnesses like Colonel Vindman testified under subpoena compelling them to talk, but Mr. Trump blamed them for his dilemma. In the Oval Office on Tuesday, Mr. Trump complained at length about Colonel Vindman, accusing him of misleading Congress about the president’s July 25 phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart. In fact, Colonel Vindman’s version of the call closely tracked the written record released by the White House, but he did testify that he thought it was inappropriate to ask a foreign country to tarnish the president’s domestic political opponents.
“We sent him on his way to a much different location, and the military can handle him any way they want,” Mr. Trump said. “General Milley has him now,” he added, referring to Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “I congratulate General Milley. He can have him. And his brother, also. We’ll find out. We will find out. But he reported very inaccurate things.”
Others involved in the impeachment process may also pay a price. The administration plans to withdraw the nomination for Pentagon comptroller of Elaine McCusker, a Defense Department official who questioned the aid freeze, The New York Post reported. While the Senate has not been notified of such a move, an administration official said it was likely to happen after budget hearings this week.
Then there’s this,
Another political appointee who may lose a nomination is Jessie K. Liu, who served as United States attorney for the District of Columbia when her office prosecuted Mr. Stone; Paul Manafort, the president’s former campaign chairman; and other high-profile cases.
www.nytimes.com/…
So, people, where does this end? The GOP Senators, save one, have decided that this is all fine, hunky-dory. After all they refused to even ask for witnesses and documents. They decided that America the Beautiful isn’t worth a fair trial. The GOP has decided that We the People don’t deserve our democratic republic and they have emboldened the worst threat to America’s peace, security, ideals and sovereignty since Pearl Harbor.
One of Trump’s strategies is going to be “divide and conquer,” turn Democrats against ourselves; try to turn the Sanders campaign and its supporters against the Democratic Party; ratf*ck the election in any way possible; and most of all engender despair so that we give up and don’t bother to vote.
DON’T let them get away with it.