It’s purely ironic, as well as completely in character, that Donald Trump, the man who cries Witch Hunt! constantly, was in fact the perpetrator of a witch hunt of his own. The New York Times is reporting that Jack Smith has subpoenaed a number of individuals with knowledge of Trump’s abrupt termination of his own cybersecurity expert, Christopher Krebs, for doing his job and signing off on the 2020 election as “the most secure in American history.” Trump fired Krebs and it was obvious at the time that Krebs refused to play ball with Trump and report what he wanted Krebs to report and not what the facts actually were. Now Jack Smith is getting to the bottom of things.
The team led by the special counsel, Jack Smith, has been asking witnesses about the events surrounding the firing of Christopher Krebs, who was the Trump administration’s top cybersecurity official during the 2020 election. Mr. Krebs’s assessment that the election was secure was at odds with Mr. Trump’s baseless assertions that it was a “fraud on the American public.”
Mr. Smith’s team is also seeking information about how White House officials, including in the Presidential Personnel Office, approached the Justice Department, which Mr. Trump turned to after his election loss as a way to try to stay in power, people familiar with the questions said.
Where this gets interesting is that Trump soon became laser focused on Krebs’ “loyalty to the president” which Krebs testified about before the January 6 Committee. That’s intriguing for a couple of reasons: First, Krebs’ primary loyalty should have been to doing his job, which in fact it was, luckily for us. Had he thrown in with Trump the result could have been devastating. Secondly, Trump is already making noises about how he’ll eliminate Civil Service and fill the administration with Trump loyalists should be ever regain the Oval Office. This is part of the “retribution” Trump promised MAGAs at CPAC.
Mr. Krebs later testified to the House special committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol that before his firing, he was aware of “skepticism” among Trump allies about his “loyalty to the president.”
It was far more than skepticism. Within the Presidential Personnel Office, a small group of Trump loyalists, led by Mr. Trump’s former personal aide, John McEntee, were on a mission to find and fire people perceived as disloyal to Mr. Trump within the federal bureaucracy. And they had fingered the outspoken Mr. Krebs, who had been appointed by Mr. Trump himself, as among the ranks of the disloyal. […]
Mr. Smith’s team is asking witnesses about broader efforts made by Mr. Trump’s personnel officials to test the loyalty of federal officials and potential hires, the people briefed on the matter said. Mr. McEntee was seen going into the grand jury in recent months.
Months before the 2020 election, Mr. McEntee, now the head of a dating app for conservatives, and a deputy sought to overhaul the government’s hiring process. They developed what became known by some officials as “the loyalty test” — a new questionnaire for government hires that asked such questions as “What part of Candidate Trump’s campaign message most appealed to you and why?”
And don’t forget. Before McEntee went into the dating app business, he carried Trump’s bags and originally met Trump when he delivered a turkey sandwich to Trump Tower, according to Jonathan Karl’s book. This is pure Trump and therefore pure madness.
The Times goes on to elaborate how one of Stephen Miller’s moles attempted to get information she was not entitled to from the Department of Justice and how Jeffrey Clark then came into the ascendancy. You recall how Trump was thinking of making Clark the Acting Attorney General after Bill Barr resigned and Jeffrey Rosen took over.
Trump was performing a coup d’etat. The actual, physical coup d’etat was January 6, in the streets of the Capitol. But make no mistake, all the inside work for a coup d’etat was also in the works. With any luck, Jack Smith will release a treasure trove of information. I have no doubt that it’s there.
I won’t lie. I’d toss back more than a couple of shots of Jack Daniels if Trump just up and died. Still, like you and many others I want him to live on for a while so he can spend time in prison. I want him to die THERE. Haunted by the fact that he COULD have, however bitterly accepted his loss in 2020 and gone down to FL to sulk. (I wouldn’t have minded a bit if he’d stayed there instead of coming back for Biden’s inauguration) He’d skated on all his crimes as President, and was in a great position to fundraise (GRIFT) for another run. Bilk the MAGA goobers out of hundreds of millions of small dollar donations and hamstring the GOP’s efforts to catch up with Democrats in that area. Payback/retribution for them not getting him over the finish line into a second term. But he let his ego override his common sense, and he does usually have tons of savvy when it comes to grifting! Two paths in front of him and instead of choosing the one that would lead to easy money with little effort he chose instead to go down the path of his Big Lie. And in the process commit crimes that could wind up with him being a convicted felon, and never taking a breath of free air or eating burnt steak and “beautiful” chocolate cake again! I for one love the thought of him experiencing that kind of mental anguish.
I actually don’t agree on WHY he chose the big lie over the easy grift. He needed to stay in power to avoid prosecution, maybe he was also thinking he could keep Deutschbank from collecting. Bottom line, why face potential prosecution & spend your grifted money when you can grift & have tax payers pay? And we have NO IDEA the many ways in which he has been putting federal dollars in his own pocket. Ie having the military planes land & fuel at that tiny airport by his hotel in Scotland forcing personnel to pay to stay in the hotel & eat there rather than going to an American base in theUK. I’m wagering he was getting a cut of the fuel dollars. All of the PPE’s the FBI seized while being delivered to hospitals. Where did those go? One can only imagine how much money he drained out of the federal coffers. But still, I think he was worried about prosecution. I think that’s why he wanted to stay in power. Not to mention his insecurities are massive. His brittle tissue paper ego can’t accept that he lost. He’s a loser and he lost to Biden. All the shit he spouts he’s spouting about fraud to convince people of fraud, first and foremost, it’s to convice himself.
Charge him. Book him. Either force an acceptable plea deal, like you prosecutors do ALL THE TIME with poor folks, even if you don’t have the evidence, (remember the central park boys Trump wanted executed?), or give him a trial. Once convicted, give him a sentence, LIKE YOU WOULD IF HE WAS POOR AND BLACK. Or Jewish, like the Rosenbergs, executed for FAR FAR LESS. Arrest any magat who either threatens or does some type of violence. Until the LAW attempts to live up to the motto on the building which harbors the Supreme Court, it deserves no respect. You just become what Cary Grant said in one of his early movies, “the law is just a gun against someone’s head.” Yep.
Dude, CALM DOWN. That’s what Jack Smith is working toward.
Dude…until he’s charged, which you cannot defend the FACT he’s been treated with more deference than ANY average citizen would receive, we don’t know what Merrick will do. It’s not up to Jack. Merrick is plain gilfiltifish without the horseradish. Sorry only Jews would know that one. Let’s hope Jack boxes him in so badly, he’ll have NO CHOICE but to charge him. It’s only been 2 1/2 YEARS since his attempted coup…and how long has he been phucking around hiding TOP SECRET documents? Yeah…I’m SO impatient. I guess you’ve never encountered the wrong side of the law and how it ACTUALLY operates for us poor folks. Lucky you. Until charges ACTUALLY GET FILED all you apologists look like you live in ivory towers, you know like Trump tower.
Gefilte fish, Scott….and I never could figure out how Mom could enjoy the stuff!
Thanks janet…wasn’t sure about the spelling. I am sure you need good horseradish. ha.