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The measures that followed Trump’s defeat to Biden, which the president has so far refused to accept, appear to be an effort to mold the administration to Trump’s liking on its way out, while also preventing Biden’s transition. to the power. Biden’s transition has yet to officially begin because the Government Services Administration, the shadowy agency that runs the transition process, has not formally accepted Biden as the winner.
Since the elections, more than half a dozen top officials across the government have been fired, demoted or resigned.
A defense official said of the movements: “This is scary. It is very disturbing.”
“These are dictatorial movements,” the official said.
Senior officials from agencies that oversee the security of the U.S. nuclear infrastructure, the Justice Department’s election fraud arm, U.S. foreign aid, and a key report on climate change were also removed during last week.
It is unclear whether the layoffs and resignations are part of a strategy to use the government’s levers of power in the final weeks of Trump’s presidency, or simply cases where officials deemed insufficiently loyal to Trump are forced to leave or they leave of their own accord.
On Tuesday, Trump tweeted his support for the Senate to confirm Nathan Simington as FCC commissioner, ahead of his Senate confirmation hearing. Trump has been urging the FCC to remove the protections given to social media companies like Facebook and Google over its content moderation decisions, but some legal experts dispute that the FCC has the authority to do so.
‘Burrow’ in government
At the same time, political officials who are allied with Trump are taking on new roles that place them in professional positions, which come with civil service protections.
Michael Ellis, an official with the National Security Council, went to the National Security Agency as legal adviser, removing him from a designated political office in the White House and making him a public official, two sources confirmed to CNN. This makes Ellis more difficult to fire once the Biden administration arrives, the sources said, adding that the strategy is called “digging.”
“It happens in every administration, but it is unprecedented in a position of this nature,” a Democratic aide to the Senate told CNN.
Ellis is considered to be a pro-Trump supporter and has little intelligence experience despite being elevated to the position of the White House’s top national security attorney during the presidency. Ellis was part of several controversies in the White House, including the dismissal of career officials for classified information contained in the book written by former national security adviser John Bolton.
Ellis was also in the room when Alexander Vindman reported his concerns about Trump’s 2019 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to NSC attorney John Eisenberg, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting.
CNN previously reported that Ellis came under scrutiny for his alleged indirect role in providing information to Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, then chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, showing that members of Trump’s team were included in surveillance reports. foreigners collected by US intelligence.
Another former Nunes aide, Kash Patel, will become acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller’s chief of staff, according to an administration official and a US defense official. Patel, who most recently served as senior director of counterterrorism on the White House National Security Council, has a “very close” working relationship with Miller, the administration official said.
Additionally, the week before the election, Trent Benishek was transferred from the White House attorney’s office to be the attorney general for the GSA, the agency that oversees the presidential transition. Beinishek was part of the team that defended Trump during the impeachment trial. The GSA’s legal position on Biden’s transition is now under intense scrutiny after the GSA chose not to confirm Biden’s victory and begin the transition process.
Officials Overthrown Quickly After Elections
Other removals occurred even more quickly after last week’s elections.
Lisa Gordon Hagerty, the top official who heads the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons stocks, also resigned Friday after Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette told her to do so.
Senate Armed Forces Chairman Jim Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma, criticized the measure, saying the Secretary of Energy’s demand for his resignation “shows that he doesn’t know what he’s doing in matters of national security and shows a total disrespect for the semi-autonomous nature of NNSA. “
On Thursday of last week, Trump appointed James Danly as the new chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, replacing Neil Chatterjee. Chatterjee, who is still on the commission, told CNN on Tuesday that he has not spoken with the White House about why he was replaced at the head of the commission, but said it was speculated that he was removed for two reasons: his support for the carbon pricing and why it did not stop conducting diversity trainings following a White House decision to stop them.
Chatterjee believed it was the target of “junior-level people trying to settle scores” and not a larger White House plot.
Targeting deputies from Esper
Following Esper’s firing on Monday, Anderson resigned from his position Tuesday morning. It is unclear whether Anderson was asked to resign.
Kernan, who also resigned Tuesday, said in his farewell note to colleagues that his departure was planned. He is being replaced by Ezra Cohen-Watnick, who gained notoriety in March 2017 for his alleged involvement with Ellis in supplying intelligence materials to Nunes, who later claimed that US intelligence officials.
Knowledgeable sources told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the White House now appears focused on going after Esper’s undersecretaries at the Defense Department in the wake of his impeachment.
After Esper’s impeachment, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned Trump not to fire any other national security officials, saying Trump “should not invite further volatility. by eliminating any intelligence confirmed by the Senate or national security officials during his time in office. “
In a farewell message, Anderson told his team to “remain mission-focused, apolitical and never forget your oath of office.”
This story has been updated with additional developments on Tuesday.
CNN’s Evan Perez, Barbara Starr, Ryan Browne, Jennifer Hansler, Kylie Atwood, and Jake Tapper contributed to this report.
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