“President Donald Trump on Friday fired Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, who had told Congress about the whistleblower complaint that led to Trump’s impeachment,” CNN is reporting Friday night.
” … The announcement that he’s firing Atkinson late on a Friday night comes as the President is dealing with a worldwide pandemic from the novel coronavirus …. Trump has faced widespread criticism for the federal government’s response to the outbreak, and has said the impeachment trial ‘probably did’ distract him from responding to the virus’ outbreak during the trial in January and early February,” CNN said.
“Atkinson’s firing is the latest case of the Trump administration removing officials who took part in the President’s impeachment. Trump also removed Alexander Vindman, a then-National Security Council official who had testified in the House’s proceedings, along with Vindman’s twin brother, … and fired then-US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland. … Trump also fired former FBI Director James Comey in 2017 while the FBI was investigating the President,” CNN reported.
” … Top Democrats on the House and Senate Intelligence committees blasted the move,” CNN continued. “House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff of California, who led the House’s impeachment investigation, said the firing was ‘another blatant attempt by the President to … retaliate against those who dare to expose presidential wrongdoing.’ … Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said, ‘In the midst of a national emergency, it is unconscionable that the President is once again attempting to undermine the integrity of the intelligence community by firing yet another an intelligence official simply for doing his job.’
“Atkinson — a career, nonpartisan official — came under fire from the President’s allies last year for alerting lawmakers to the then-unknown whistleblower complaint, which Congress later learned was an allegation that Trump had sought dirt on his political rival former Vice President Joe Biden from Ukraine’s President while withholding US security aid from Kiev,” CNN said.
Read CNN’s story here.
Comment: Michael Atkinson is a decent and honorable man. Following the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks, he left a lucrative partner position in a D.C. law firm to join the Department of Justice, where he worked as a trial attorney and then as an assistant U.S. attorney for a total of 15 years, until Trump appointed him Inspector General of the Intelligence Community in 2018. The IG office was “dysfunctional” at the time, and he straightened it out, according to Wikipedia.
A president has broad latitude to appoint and fire certain officials; and Atkinson, as a presidential appointee, served at the pleasure of the president. Nevertheless, this presidential power, like all the powers of that office, exist to be used for public good; and there is an expectation the president will exercise his powers for legitimate purposes. After all, he too, is an employee — he works for us. But this president is corrupt, has much to hide, and has misused the powers of the office to hide it — and punish those who serve the public interest instead of his interests.
Our system of government provides two avenues to hold a president accountable for misuse of his authority: Impeachment and election. It’s ridiculous for Trump to blame his mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis on the impeachment proceedings, or on the Democrats who investigated and impeached him; he was guilty of the conduct for which he was impeached, and his impeachment must be seen as something he brought upon himself. He, and no one else, is to blame for any distraction caused by the impeachment proceedings.
Unfortunately, the Senate Republicans didn’t do their job, and abrogated the duty of holding the president accountable imposed on them by the Constitution. That leaves the election. Voting is an awesome responsibility, because our votes are the only accountability there is. In November, we have a job to do: Fire Donald Trump. He deserves it, and the country’s well-being requires it. This is our duty.Photo: Michael Atkinson (official government photo sourced from Wikipedia)
In the immortal words of Obsma,”Elections have consequences.”
So too, do attempted coups or completely partisan impeachments.
If you are going to take out a king, you better be sure you succeed. If not, expect those consequences that follow.
I look forward to more house cleaning by the President.
House cleaning is one thing, getting rid of competent people to be replaced by yes men without objective view points is not an improvement for running the country
Elections certainly do have consequences, and a consequence of the 2016 election is that a narcissistic megalomaniac got elected who fires decent and honorable public servants for doing their jobs. It’s up to the voters to fix this. Will they make the same mistake twice?