Who May Be Fired Right After Trump Victory

Oct. 26, 2020 (EIRNS)—Axios news service reported from sources yesterday that if President Donald Trump wins the Nov. 3 election, he will immediately fire FBI Director Christopher Wray, replace CIA Director Gina Haspel, and also likely Defense Secretary Mark Esper. Axios identifies its sources as two people who have discussed these personnel matters with the President. Axios conveys the assessment that these officials would have been fired much sooner, but for the complications of acting before the Nov. 3 election.

The list of people to be replaced may be much longer, Axios said, expressing concern that President Trump signed an executive order last week that “set off alarm bells” for people fearing a means to politicize the civil service (i.e., have the executive run the administration); Axios linked to an attack on the EO by Government Executive, published by Government Executive Media Group, that also puts out Defense One, which on Aug. 24 published an open letter by two retired Colonels to Gen. Mark Milley, demanding he remove Trump from the White House on Jan. 21, if Trump refuses to leave! A Trump Administration official said that order “is a really big deal” that would make it easier for Presidents to get rid of career government officials, and raises the possibility of big shake-ups in other departments. The possible departure of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is raised, but with nowhere near the urgency of getting rid of Wray and Haspel. Trump is reported to be particularly angry with Haspel for opposing the declassification of documents that would help the Justice Department’s long-awaited Durham report. And Wray, whose firing had first been mooted by the Daily Beast, refused to both launch an investigation into Hunter Biden’s foreign business connections, and to fire more FBI officials whom Trump believes abused power to investigate his campaign’s alleged ties to Russia.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper may be on the list, Axios said, because he opposed Trump’s idea of sending active-duty military into the streets to deal with violent protests in front of the White House May 29.