US Elections: Fears Outgoing President Donald Trump May Fire Several Officials Before January 20

Outgoing US President Donald Trump has surprised the nation by abruptly firing his defense secretary in a tweet, but there are fears that this is just the beginning of things to come.

Early Tuesday morning New Zealand time, the 74-year-old took to Twitter to reveal that Mark Esper had been fired.

The shocking announcement comes just days after Trump’s humiliating electoral defeat and a few weeks before the baton is to be passed to Democratic victor Joe Biden on January 20, 2021.

“Mark Esper has been fired. I would like to thank him for his service,” Trump posted on Twitter this morning.

The layoff has sparked fears that Trump is planning a final wave of layoffs before leaving the top job, with recent media reports indicating that he wanted to ditch a number of people.

The day before the election, Trump joked that he would fire Dr. Anthony Fauci, the United States government’s top infectious disease expert leading the fight against coronavirus, if he won.

At the time, Trump was at a pre-election rally in Florida, where the crowd began chanting “Fire Fauci.”

“Don’t tell anyone, but let me wait until a little after the election,” Trump responded to cheers from the crowd.

“He has been wrong in many things. However, he is a good man.”

Another man in the potential slash is FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Last month, Trump openly criticized Wray during an interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, calling him “disappointing.”

Trump’s comments came after Wray stated that there was no evidence of organized voter fraud prior to the election, testifying before Congress that the FBI “has not, historically, seen any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in an election. important, whether by mail or otherwise. “

“It has been disappointing,” Trump said during the interview. “He doesn’t see the ballot papers as a problem.”

According to the Washington Post, Trump may also be targeting Attorney General William Barr.

The publication reported in October that Trump was increasingly frustrated that Barr had not “indicated that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden or other Biden associates are under investigation.”

Sources claimed that Trump expected a similar repeat of the 2016 election, when former FBI Director James Comey announced that he had relaunched an investigation into the emails of opponent Hillary Clinton.

That month, Axios also reported that the president hoped to fire CIA Director Gina Haspel, claiming that she and Wray were almost unanimously “looked down upon and mistrusted” by Trump’s inner circle.

Meanwhile, CNN claimed that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz could also be a target.

Horowitz was appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2012, and last year he issued a report claiming that the FBI investigation into Russia’s role in Trump’s 2016 election victory was justified.

Meanwhile, Trump still refuses to accept the results of the election, in which he lost the popular vote to Biden by more than 4.5 million votes so far.

More importantly, Trump has received only 214 votes from the electoral college compared to 290 for the Democratic Party candidate, Biden.

To win an election in the US, a candidate must secure 270 crucial votes in the electoral college to claim victory, and while three states – Alaska, Georgia and North Carolina – still count, they would not make a difference in the bottom line. .

Trump has repeatedly insisted, and without evidence, that his rivals were trying to “steal” the election and has made unsubstantiated accusations of election fraud.