When Sean Hannity says “jump”
So now Fox News is not only the chief source for Trump’s wild assertions, it’s also giving Trump instructions on what to do. Fox News.
The Trump administration moved on Friday to sweep away most of the remaining vestiges of Obama administration prosecutors at the Justice Department, ordering 46 holdover United States attorneys to tender their resignations immediately — including Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan.
…
The abrupt order came after two weeks of increasing calls from Mr. Trump’s allies outside the government to oust appointees from President Barack Obama’s administration. Mr. Trump has been angered by a series of reports based on leaked information from a sprawling bureaucracy, as well as from his own West Wing.
Several officials said the firings had been planned before Friday.
But the calls from the acting deputy attorney general arose a day after Sean Hannity, the Fox News commentator who is a strong supporter of President Trump, said on his evening show that Mr. Trump needed to “purge” Obama holdovers from the federal government. Mr. Hannity portrayed them as “saboteurs” from the “deep state” who were leaking secrets to hurt Mr. Trump.
Sean Hannity is telling Trump what to do now.
Several Democratic members of Congress said they only heard that the United States attorneys from their states were being immediately let go shortly before the Friday afternoon statement from the Justice Department. One senator, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect the identity of the United States attorney in that state, said that an Obama-appointed prosecutor had been instructed to vacate the office by the end of the day.
Although it was not clear whether all were given the same instructions, that United States attorney was not the only one told to clear out by the close of business. The abrupt nature of the dismissals distinguished Mr. Trump’s mass firing from Mr. Clinton’s, because the prosecutors in 1993 were not summarily told to clear out their offices.
There’s a difference between saying “Hi, we’re a new administration, we’re replacing all of you, thank you for your service” and saying “Get out by the end of today.”
It is not unusual for a new president to replace United States attorneys appointed by a predecessor, especially when there has been a change in which party controls the White House.
Still, other presidents have done it gradually in order to minimize disruption, giving those asked to resign more time to make the transition while keeping some inherited prosecutors in place, as it had appeared Mr. Trump would do with Mr. Bharara. Mr. Obama, for example, kept Mr. Rosenstein, who had been appointed by George W. Bush.
The abrupt mass firing appeared to be a change in plans for the administration, according to a statement by Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“In January, I met with Vice President Pence and White House Counsel Donald McGahn and asked specifically whether all U.S. attorneys would be fired at once,” she said. “Mr. McGahn told me that the transition would be done in an orderly fashion to preserve continuity. Clearly this is not the case. I’m very concerned about the effect of this sudden and unexpected decision on federal law enforcement.”
Trump doesn’t understand concepts like “orderly” and “continuity.” Only libbruls care about things like that.
And while I was reading that article, the Times flashed a breaking story – one of the lawyers told to quit isn’t quitting:
Preet Bharara, the Manhattan federal prosecutor who was told to submit his resignation along with 45 others on Friday, has no plans to do so — forcing a potential showdown with President Trump and the Department of Justice.
Mr. Bharara, whose office is overseeing a case against a top aide to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and an investigation into people close to Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City, has told several people that he did not hand in a resignation on Friday, as he was ordered to do by the acting deputy attorney general, Dana Boente.
He also does not intend to do so over the weekend, he said in conversations with associates, a move that could force the hand of the Trump administration.
Meaning what? Trump will send in the National Guard to escort him out? I don’t see that happening.
Mr. Bharara was asked by Mr. Trump to remain in his current post in a meeting in late November, a few weeks after the presidential election. Mr. Bharara met with Mr. Trump at Trump Tower, and then addressed reporters afterward, saying that he had been asked to remain and had given the president his promise to do so.
But Mr. Bharara was one of the 46 holdovers from the Obama administration who abruptly received a call on Friday telling him to vacate.
So Trump personally asked him to stay, and then included him on a list of people abruptly ordered to gtfo. Trump or Sessions or whoever could just say oops, Bharara was on the list by mistake, he stays. Trump or Sessions or whoever could even apologize, which would be the right thing to do, since Trump personally asked him to stay.
But I guess with Sean Hannity issuing instructions it’s a little silly to expect reasonable behavior.
When you are a dictator, what do you need with Attorneys General? All you need is your own self, your own gut instinct, and a handy pad of paper to write orders for who you want fired, destroyed by Twitter-storm, or assassinated. (I realize we haven’t seen any evidence of that last year; I am merely detailing the progress of a dictatorship, which traditionally has not included the Twitter-storm, so I’m winging it a bit).
Bharara has just been fired…
And at the top of the FOX food chain sits Rupert Murdoch. Goddamn.
I wonder how much transition and administration work has been and is done with Pence either kept out of the loop or deliberately misinformed, just so he can encourage other people, sincerely, that they’re doing anything within conventional norms. (I’m not doubting he’s about as willing to lie for Trump as for Jesus; I’m just not sure that the rest of the loons aren’t happy to use him as a kind of condom to prevent unsafe intercourse with reality.)
Thanks, Jeff. Have you any idea of the price of brain bleach these days. I am never going to be able to unsee that sentence.
Trump does a pretty good job of hurting Trump without leaks. His words and actions by themselves condemn his administration as a continuous train-wreck and clusterfuck.. Leaks just extend the realm of the terribleness to behind the scenes as well. In any case, continuity, convenience and smooth functioning of government institutions aren’t part of Bannon’s mission to burn everything down.