Is secretive right-wing operative Ezra Cohen-Watnick actually paid by Russia?
This morning, David Sanger and Eric Schmitt reported for the NY Times that Trump is stuffing the Pentagon and the intel agencies with political hacks loyal to himself. To what end? they asked. "Trump," they wrote, "made the appointments of four top Pentagon officials, including a new acting defense secretary, this week, leaving civilian and military officials to interpret whether this indicated a change in approach in the final two months of his presidency." Ignoring the objections of General Paul Nakasone, director of the National Security Agency, Trump also installed Michael Ellis, a crackpot extremist, document leaker and former Devin Nunes aide, as a general counsel.
Officials and former officials interviewed by The Times yesterday "agreed that there was a large element of score-settling and attention-grabbing" by Señor Trumpanzee and his inner circle. The worst of the garbage Trump has put into position are Kashyap Patel [another lunatic Nunes aide], Anthony Tata and Ezra Cohen-Watnick, all "highly ideological Trump foot soldiers. Mr. Patel has a long history of trying to discredit the investigations into Russian interference, Mr. Tata’s nomination was withdrawn over the summer in part because he had called President Barack Obama a 'terrorist leader,' and Mr. Cohen-Watnick [almost surely a Putin spy] was quietly eased out of the National Security Council in 2017 after clashes with Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, then the national security adviser."
Related, Politico's Nancy Cook and Gabby Orr wrote early this morning, that "On Monday, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows gathered senior aides on a call. One of his goals: to plot the conservative policy moves they could push through in their final 10 weeks on immigration, trade, health care, China and school choice... Meadows was asking aides on the call to give him three goals by the end of the week that could be accomplished by Biden’s inauguration, according to two people briefed on the conversation. Since then, staffers have compiled a list of roughly 15 moves they could make through executive orders, executive actions or finalizing agency rules that they plan to pursue in the coming days, according to interviews with three administration officials." Trump is rarin' to go and hopes to start issuing "as soon as possible."
In addition to rolling out executive orders and actions, Trump’s plans for the next several weeks include firing Cabinet officials who have irked him or refused to follow his lead on investigations. He kicked off the axings Monday by tweet-firing Defense Secretary Mark Esper. In the coming weeks, Trump may also fire CIA Director Gina Haspel and FBI Director Christopher Wray. Haspel was spotted in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office on Tuesday afternoon.
Senator James Lankford (R-OK) has threatened Trump that if he doesn't stop the monkey business by tomorrow he will step in. Specifically, he is demanding that President-elect Biden be given the same intel briefings all presidents-elect get: access to presidential daily intelligence briefings.
"There's nothing wrong with Vice President Biden getting the briefings to be able to prepare himself and so that he can be ready-- the President's already getting those," Lankford said, adding that Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, a Democratic senator from California, also has the appropriate clearances to begin receiving briefings because she serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, also called for Biden to receive the briefings.
"As has been done in every other transition, the President should order that Biden and his team receive the PDB, as has been done in the past, even during the contested election of 2000," Warner said Wednesday. "It's simply irresponsible to withhold this in these uncertain times."