Now comes the heads on pikes portion of our show...

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

Another "liberal" rag (looking at you Stars and Stripes), Military Times, reported a group of veterans condemns Trump's actions against LTC Vindman.  Although not expressed in the letter, I'll explain it to you, by extension those veteran's are also condemning the Republican response towards LTC Vindman which we have witnessed in this very thread.

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2020/02/18/veterans-coalition-condemns-trumps-continued-attacks-on-army-officer-who-testified-against-him/

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ndVhRw0utMyLayMaMaPvGakVaUCMJxAe_-nvls9BgiQ/edit

Quote:As military veterans, we have worn the uniform proudly, representing hundreds of years of collective experience and all five branches of the military. We have served Commanders-in-Chief of both parties on whose orders some of us have deployed into battle. We have all served our country; some of us have bled, while all of us recall friends who made the ultimate sacrifice.

For many of us, it is not often that we inject our voices into the national dialogue, but this is a moment that demands it. That is because we consider President Trump’s sustained attacks on an active duty Army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, to be an affront to the Constitution that we have all sworn to uphold. We are speaking out precisely because neither LTC Vindman nor his fellow active-duty service members can.

The President’s actions and insults towards LTC Vindman are not only wrong, they carry dangerous implications. The dismissal of LTC Vindman and his brother, also an Army Lieutenant Colonel, from the National Security Council staff appears to be motivated by nothing more than political retribution and deprives the White House of expertise necessary to defend our collective national security. The manner of these dismissals suggests that the Commander-in-Chief has prioritized a personal vendetta over our national security.

The President’s slander of LTC Vindman, moreover, further undermines military discipline and public trust in an institution for which there are few more precious commodities. The President’s attacks and suggestion that the Defense Department should investigate him take aim at the long-standing military code of conduct that demands that service members report wrongdoing and illegal acts through proper channels. LTC Vindman did just this. That these attacks come on the heels of President Trump’s pardoning of — and campaigning with — war criminals, his public threats of war crimes, and his minimization of Traumatic Brain Injury, a debilitating scourge on so many veterans, only compounds the implications.

President Trump believes that he can assail LTC Vindman with impunity, knowing that the latter is, by law, barred from speaking out. The President should know, however, that, despite taking aim at one Army officer, he has targeted anyone who currently wears — or has worn — the uniform. Our service members and veterans deserve the confidence of knowing that our elected leaders will come to their defense, just as they remain vigilant for ours.

LTC Vindman and all of his colleagues should know that we stand with them even when their Commander-in-Chief does not. For all of us, right still matters, just as we know it does for them, too.

[Belsnickel]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/after-a-congressional-briefing-on-election-threats-trump-soured-on-acting-spy-chief/2020/02/20/1ed2b4ec-53f1-11ea-b119-4faabac6674f_story.html

Quote:A senior U.S. intelligence official told lawmakers last week that Russia wants to see President Trump reelected, viewing his administration as more favorable to the Kremlin’s interests, according to people who were briefed on the comments.

After learning of that analysis, which was provided to House lawmakers in a classified hearing, Trump grew angry at his acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, in the Oval Office, seeing Maguire and his staff as disloyal for speaking to Congress about Russia’s perceived preference. The intelligence official’s analysis and Trump’s furious response ­ruined Maguire’s chances of becoming the permanent intelligence chief, according to people familiar with the matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

Well, now we know why there is a new acting DNI.

[GMDino]

(02-21-2020, 09:29 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/after-a-congressional-briefing-on-election-threats-trump-soured-on-acting-spy-chief/2020/02/20/1ed2b4ec-53f1-11ea-b119-4faabac6674f_story.html


Well, now we know why there is a new acting DNI.

I shared this in the Election 2020 thread too:  The Acting DNI will ALSO be part-time as he will still be the Ambass. to Berlin.

But Trump *promised* to name someone full time...soon.

[jj22]

Whatever happens in 2020, I stand with Americans who like their Presidents to win without the help of enemy foreign countries interference and attacks on Americans and our Democracy.

[GMDino]

Please remember that your job in this administration is to do what the POTUS says...not what is right or legal.

Late on a Friday night in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis, Trump has fired Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community inspector general who insisted on telling lawmakers about the Ukraine scandal whistleblower complaints. w/ @maggieNYT @npfandos https://t.co/fyCCs2QRsu

— Charlie Savage (@charlie_savage) April 4, 2020

 

Susan Collins in February: “I believe that the president has learned from this case. The president has been impeached. That's a pretty big lesson."

When you retaliate against an IG during a national emergency, it’s a pretty good sign that absolutely no lesson has been learned.

— Chris Lu (@ChrisLu44) April 4, 2020

 

[GMDino]

I'm sure Susan Collins is VERY concerned....

https://apnews.com/57def4c165e6f2ea1d4bf1b0091e4101

Quote:Trump suggests firing watchdog was payback for impeachment


[/url]WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump suggested that he fired the inspector general for the intelligence community in retaliation for impeachment, saying the official was wrong to provide an anonymous whistleblower complaint to Congress as the law requires.



Trump called Michael Atkinson a “disgrace” after informing Congress late Friday night that he intended to fire him. In letters to the House and Senate intelligence committees, Trump wrote that he had lost confidence in Atkinson but gave little detail.


Full Coverage: [url=https://apnews.com/tag/TrumpInvestigations]Trump Investigations


A day later, Trump was more blunt, telling reporters at the White House: “I thought he did a terrible job, absolutely terrible.” The president added: “He took a fake report and he took it to Congress with an emergency, OK? Not a big Trump fan, that I can tell you.”

The whistleblower report was not fake, but a detailed complaint written by an anonymous intelligence official who described Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to investigate Democrat Joe Biden and his son. Atkinson determined the complaint was urgent and credible and therefore was required by law to disclose it to Congress, but he was overruled for weeks by the acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire.

After a firestorm sparked by media reports of the complaint, it was turned over and made public. A congressional inquiry led to Trump’s impeachment by the House in December. The GOP-led Senate acquitted Trump in February.

On Saturday, Trump questioned why Atkinson didn’t speak to him about the complaint, though Atkinson’s role is to provide independent oversight.

“Never came in to see me, never requested to see me,” Trump said. He added: “That man is a disgrace to IGs.”

Atkinson’s removal is part of a larger shakeup of the intelligence community under Trump, who has always viewed intelligence professionals with skepticism. His ouster came under immediate fire from Democrats and a handful of Republicans.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who leads the Finance Committee, said that Congress has been “crystal clear” that written reasons must be given when inspectors general are removed for a lack of confidence.

“More details are needed from the administration,” Grassley said.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a GOP member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she didn’t find Trump’s reasoning in his Friday letter to be persuasive, and said Atkinson’s removal “was not warranted.” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., said an inspector general “must be allowed to conduct his or her work independent of internal or external pressure.”


Trump’s criticism Saturday came after Atkinson’s peers had rushed to his defense. Michael Horowitz, the inspector general at the Justice Department, said Atkinson was known for his “integrity, professionalism, and commitment to the rule of law and independent oversight.” He said that included Atkinson’s actions in handling the Ukraine whistleblower complaint.


Asked during his daily coronavirus briefing about firing Atkinson, Trump returned to his attacks on the Democratic-led impeachment investigation and trial and his defense that his phone call with Ukraine’s president was “perfect” but had been inaccurately described in the whistleblower’s account. In fact, the partial transcript later released by the president largely supported the whistleblower’s account.


Atkinson is at least the seventh intelligence official to be fired, ousted or moved aside since last summer. In his letters to the intelligence committees informing them of the firing, which were obtained by The Associated Press, Trump said that it is “vital” that he has confidence in the appointees serving as inspectors general, and “that is no longer the case with regard to this inspector general.”


Trump said Atkinson would be removed from office in 30 days, the required amount of time he must wait after informing Congress. He wrote that he would nominate an individual “who has my full confidence” at a later date.


According to two congressional officials, Atkinson has been placed on administrative leave, meaning he will not serve out the 30 days. One of the officials said Atkinson was only informed of his removal on Friday night. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Atkinson’s administrative leave had not been announced.


Atkinson’s firing thrusts the president’s impeachment back into the spotlight as his administration deals with the deadly spread of the coronavirus. As Trump was removing Atkinson, the number of U.S. deaths due to the virus topped 7,000. By the time of his remarks Saturday, it was over 8,100.


The top Democrat on the Senate intelligence panel, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, said it was unconscionable that Trump would fire Atkinson in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.


“We should all be deeply disturbed by ongoing attempts to politicize the nation’s intelligence agencies,” Warner said.


House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who led the House impeachment inquiry, said “the president’s dead of night decision puts our country and national security at even greater risk.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the firing “threatens to have a chilling effect against all willing to speak truth to power.” And Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Trump “fires people for telling the truth.”


Tom Monheim, a career intelligence professional, will become the acting inspector general for the intelligence community, according to an intelligence official who was not authorized to discuss personnel changes and spoke only on condition of anonymity. Monheim is currently the general counsel of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.


Atkinson had hinted of frustration on the job in a March letter to Schumer, in which he said “the past six months have been a searing time for whistleblowers.” Atkinson was responding to a letter Schumer had sent to agency inspectors general asking them to document and investigate any instances of retaliation after Trump had threatened the anonymous whistleblower.


In the letter to Schumer, obtained by the AP, Atkinson said support for whistleblowers would be rendered meaningless if “whistleblowers actually come forward in good faith with information concerning an extraordinary matter and are allowed to be vilified, threatened, publicly ridiculed, or — perhaps even worse, utterly abandoned by fair weather whistleblower champions.”


Late Saturday, Schumer tweeted that he had spoken to Atkinson and thanked him for his service. Schumer said he told Atkinson that “history will remember him as a hero and those who retaliated against him as scoundrels.”