Heads roll as Trump launches post-election purge
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President Trump is stepping up his war on the federal government after losing the 2020 election, sending heads rolling across key agencies with a late push to get personnel and policies in place before he leaves the White House.
The president’s dismissal of Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other top Pentagon officials put Washington on notice and potentially paved the way for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the nation’s longest-running war in Afghanistan.
Rumors are swirling around whether CIA Director Gina Haspel might be next, as the president’s allies accuse her of obstructing efforts to declassify top-secret materials they say would expose wrongdoing in the Russia investigation.
A shake-up is underway at the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) cyber division, where top officials have disputed Trump’s baseless claims that Democrats fraudulently stole the election from him.
The president has installed loyalists at agencies responsible for overseeing the government’s environmental and energy regulations, and there is speculation that he could clean house at the FBI or Health and Human Services.
Trump has long been frustrated by what he views as entrenched government bureaucrats working behind the scenes to block his agenda.
With President-elect Joe Biden set to be sworn in on Jan. 20, Trump’s allies say the president has nothing to lose and is on the warpath against the government officials he thinks are standing in the way of the final policies he hopes to achieve.
“The deep state is on the run,” said Bryan Lanza, an adviser to Trump’s 2016 presidential transition team. “This is about closing out the things he was told he shouldn’t touch. For three years and nine months Trump was responding to the deep state. Now Trump is unleashed, and the deep state is responding to him.”
Current and former Washington officials are watching with alarm, worried about what they view as Trump’s erratic behavior and the potential for unforeseen developments that could have national security consequences at a time of deep unrest and confusion.
Trump’s refusal to concede to Biden is adding to the sense of unease. Biden has not received government intelligence briefings, as is customary. Millions of Americans believe the election was stolen from Trump.
“Causing chaos may be Trump’s highest priority,” said Dov Zakheim, an undersecretary of Defense in former President George W. Bush’s administration. “He doesn’t want anyone in position to help Biden’s transition. You need government holdovers who can assist the new people coming in. He’s causing disruption and making that transition very difficult.”
Trump’s purge at the Pentagon might be the most consequential move he makes in the lame-duck period, both for his legacy and for the U.S. presence in the Middle East.
https://thehill