Trump almost got away with firing the guy who was investigating Pompeo, but now it's falling apart

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/trump-fire-inspector-general-steve-linick-mike-pompeo-investigation-a9522521.html

After being questioned, the President threw Pompeo under the proverbial bus. Two dogs, some rumors about Saudi weapons and an 'UberEats with guns' later, the controversy is only getting worse

Andrew Feinberg May 19, 2020

<snip>

Trump announced the move in what DC veterans call a “Friday night news dump” last week by releasing a perfunctory letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declaring that he “no longer” has “the fullest confidence” in Linick — who has been the State Department’s top watchdog since 2013. When asked why he’d decided to start the process to end his tenure as Inspector General (which requires Congress be given 30 days’ notice), White House officials said Trump had made the decision at the recommendation of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

</snip>

But Linick’s dismissal could be much more than a matter prompted by yet another Trump cabinet secretary’s personal ethics having gone to the dogs.

On Monday, Engel said in a statement that he’d “learned that there may be another reason for Mr Linick’s firing”.

"His office was investigating — at my request — Trump’s phony declaration of an emergency so he could send weapons to Saudi Arabia,” Engel said. "We don’t have the full picture yet, but it’s troubling that Secretary Pompeo wanted Mr Linick pushed out before this work could be completed.”

And while Trump’s previous firings of Inspector Generals have not stirred much activity among even those Senate Republicans who’ve long supported such watchdogs, this latest action prompted some — including Iowa’s Chuck Grassley — to stir from their customary somnolescence.

Yet when reporters asked Trump to explain his decision, he all but threw Pompeo under the proverbial bus by confirming that Pompeo had asked him to fire Linick, adding for good measure that he’d given agency heads carte blanche to ask him to fire any Inspector General who’d been appointed by his predecessor.

</snip>

[Under The Radar]

1. He still will get away with it.

The next step is an investigation by a house committee where witnesses will be called then subpoenaed then ignored, then documents subpoenaed and also ignored, lawsuit filed which the court will grant the congress oversight but it gets appealed up the chain until the supreme court sets a hearing date after November.
There is a dead short in our laws regarding the oversight of Administrative branch that makes their own rules and ignore the rules on the books.
Legislation was passed after Watergate to remedy crooks in office but they didn’t envision corruption this deep. Perhaps we’ll get another chance.

[flibbitygiblets]

4. Watergate (which seems almost quaint now) would not be something we all remember today

Last edited Tue May 19, 2020, 06:10 PM - Edit history (1)

if we had the lapdogs in the cabinet and senate that we have now.

[yonder]

5. "dead short" is an excellent term to describe what we've been seeing.

[progressoid]

6. +1

[Midnight Writer]

9. "Second verse. Same as the first".

[uponit7771]

15. The "dead short" is the courts can take their time and not expedite the situation when dealing with

... oversight and investigations.

[NCjack]

2. Trump has a "get out of jail free": Moscow Mitch.

[yaesu]

3. He will get away with it, he is the law now. nt

[Ilsa]

7. The bodies of anyone challenging him are piling up,

but the GOPee are like rabid honeybadgers: they don't care, don't give a shit.

Still, the list of offenses is growing. More voters are noticing, I hope.

[calimary]

8. I hope there are LOTS of complications to this!

[Cha]

10. KR!

[NNadir]

11. I like this excerpt from the article, which appeals to history:

Walsh said a future Biden administration could find a useful example in the de-Nazification policy laid out by the Second World War-era Allied Powers during the occupation of Germany.


“I think the Germany model is the way to go because they've got to be held accountable. It's been three-and-a-half years now, so everybody under his command who is doing what they know is wrong, there's no excuse for it, and we cannot ever go here again,” he said.


“Department by department, in areas and arenas where this President has overstepped his bounds and abused his powers and broken and abused policies, everybody who carried out these orders is going to have to be dealt with.”

[ecstatic]

12. +1000000. nt

[crickets]

14. Yes. They've got to be held accountable or it will never stop, even after he is gone. nt

[uponit7771]

16. "everybody who carried out these orders is going to have to be dealt with." 👈🏽👈🏽👈🏽 THIS !!!

[sellitman]

13. Who is going to stop him?

We are in November.

Until then we have little say.