President Donald Trump moved to seize control of the nation’s entire intelligence apparatus on Wednesday by installing one of his most loyal Twitter trolls as Acting Director of National Intelligence.
Richard Grenell is the current Ambassador to Germany, and he has been drinking the Trump Kool-Aid from the beginning. So much so, that he often spouts Trump’s propaganda on Twitter.
Grenell even caused outrage in Germany after he publicly stated his goal to support the rise of right-wing political parties throughout Europe, thus violating diplomatic protocol by using his position in a non-neutral way to undermine the current liberal democracies that have dominated for decades.
He also has zero experience in the intelligence sector, yet Trump made the announcement naming him the Acting Director anyway.
I am pleased to announce that our highly respected Ambassador to Germany, @RichardGrenell, will become the Acting Director of National Intelligence. Rick has represented our Country exceedingly well and I look forward to working with him. I would like to thank Joe Maguire….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2020
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Grenell will now oversee the entire intelligence community, the same intelligence community Trump has been attacking since he took office. One of his top cronies is in charge, putting him in position to oust career intelligence officials Trump doesn’t like and possibly use the various agencies for his own political and personal gain, including the upcoming 2020 Election.
Russia is already trying to interfere with the election. But Trump will be able to help Russia by weakening any safeguards put in place since the last election. Grenell can also direct intelligence resources to aid right-wing groups overseas.
In short, this is a catastrophe. And the experts agree.
That would be a disastrous choice…so I assume Don will do it.https://t.co/AjelNk5OYU
— John Schindler (@20committee) February 19, 2020
This is a national disgrace. Grenell would be the least qualified intelligence chief in US history. https://t.co/WliTv6DHTe
— Joe Cirincione (@Cirincione) February 19, 2020
Grenell as DNI? This is crazy, even by the standards of this administration.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) February 19, 2020
Reports from Germans regarding his time as Ambassador were horrible…reports from his time as “special envoy to the Balkans” were even worse.
— Mark Hertling (@MarkHertling) February 19, 2020
This should frighten you. Not just brazen politicization of intelligence, but also someone who is utterly incompetent in an important security role. The guardrails are gone. https://t.co/c9qHn2KlyM
— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) February 19, 2020
Under the current Acting ODNI, the IC has reportedly withheld Ukraine related information from Congress and canceled their annual, public worldwide threat briefing bc they didn’t want to upset Trump ( by speaking truth )
Grenell would undoubtedly double down on all of that. https://t.co/hkuw0ZpBju
— Sam Vinograd (@sam_vinograd) February 20, 2020
These are some of the @ODNIgov ethics — how would Ambassador Grenell score on these? https://t.co/x4HJiE2l0a pic.twitter.com/yDIgtbmqqh
— Sam Vinograd (@sam_vinograd) February 20, 2020
All 17 of our nation’s intelligence agencies are now under the thumb of a Trump loyalist, and the Senate won’t be able to confirm or reject him because he has only been named “acting” director. Americans should be outraged and seriously concerned. In just the last two weeks since being acquitted by Senate Republicans in a rigged impeachment trial, Trump has retaliated against those who testified against him as witnesses to his Ukraine extortion scheme, interfered with the Justice Department and pardoned white-collar criminals. Now he has more control over our intelligence apparatus at a time when we need it most to prevent foreign interference with our democracy.
Featured image via screen capture
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