Tag: Trump corrupts all around him

Democrats say Pompeo’s speech to RNC is unethical, hypocritical, and possibly illegal

The secretary of State last month admonished his staff not to improperly participate in politics or campaigns in this election year

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s decision to address the Republican National Convention on Tuesday elicited outrage from Democrats and former U.S. diplomats, who said the potential 2024 Republican contender was being a hypocrite and causing serious harm to longstanding State Department norms around apolitical service.

Pompeo recorded his address to the RNC on Monday in Jerusalem from the rooftop of the famous King David Hotel, where he was traveling on official business. A State Department spokesperson said the actual recording of the remarks did not involve taxpayer resources.

He will be the first modern sitting secretary of State to address a national political convention, breaking with decades of bipartisan norms that “politics stops at the water’s edge.” Continue reading.

Pompeo draws criticism for convention speech from Jerusalem

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s expected speech on Tuesday to the Republican National Convention from Jerusalem is drawing criticism for using official diplomatic travel to make a political statement in a presidential election year.

Critics say there’s little to no distinction between Pompeo delivering his remarks in a personal capacity, apart from his position as secretary, and that such an overtly political view abandons the tradition of keeping the State Department nonpartisan.

They further accuse the secretary of violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal officials from taking part in political activity while on official duty and exploiting Jerusalem, a city sacred to three of the world’s monotheistic religions, for partisan political gain. Continue reading.

EPA chief’s former lobbying clients are getting a long list of favors from agency

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At least three former lobbying clients of Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler have received favorable decisions from the EPA under his leadership.

Wheeler spent years as an energy lobbyist at the law firm Faegre Baker Daniels, where he represented companies like the coal giant Murray Energy, whose owner Robert Murray is a major Trump donor. Wheeler signed a pledge in May 2018 to recuse himself from matters related to former clients after he replaced embattled former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt. But the two-year pledge expired earlier this year and he has been repeatedly accused of violating the agreement by approving rules that he lobbied for as a lobbyist for Murray Energy and others.

At least three of Wheeler’s former clients have pushed for rules that the EPA has proposed or implemented under his leadership. Continue reading.

Former Postal Governor Tells Congress Mnuchin Politicized Postal Service

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WASHINGTON — The former vice chairman of the U.S. Postal Service’s board of governors accused Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday of trying to engineer a hostile takeover of the service, telling lawmakers that Mr. Mnuchin required members of the independent board to “kiss the ring” before they were confirmed and issued demands that agency officials believed were “illegal.”

In scathing testimony delivered before lawmakers in the Congressional Progressive Caucus, David C. Williams, a former Postal Service inspector general who resigned as vice chairman in protest in April, said the Trump administration appeared to want to turn the agency into a “political tool.” The Treasury Department, he said, was maneuvering to use its lending authority to strong-arm the agency to adopt policies that would be “ruinous,” like raising prices and cutting back crucial services.

“If this is the beginning of what the president promised, it’s the end of the Postal Service,” Mr. Williams said in his first public comments since his resignation. Continue reading.

Trump’s postmaster general caught making cash off of post office contracts: report

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CNN.com outed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy for continuing to hold a stake in a company that the United States Postal Service uses as a contractor.

Reporting Wednesday, CNN revealed that DeJoy’s investment in XPO Logistics is a serious conflict of interest.

“Outside experts who spoke to CNN were shocked that ethics officials at the postal service approved this arrangement, which allows DeJoy to keep at least $30 million in XPO holdings,” said the report. “Raising further alarms, on the same day in June that DeJoy divested large amounts of Amazon shares, he purchased stock options giving him the right to buy new shares of Amazon at a price much lower than their current market price, according to the disclosures.” Continue reading.

Interior Department Withheld Trump Nominee Docs Ahead Of Confirmation, Watchdog Finds

Democratic lawmakers are demanding a criminal investigation, saying political appointees “orchestrated a coverup to protect” Secretary David Bernhardt.

Ahead of Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s Senate confirmation hearing in March 2019, political appointees blocked the public release of documents about the nominee, the agency’s internal watchdog concluded.

The finding, detailed in a seven-page report due out Tuesday, comes approximately a year after Interior’s Office of Inspector General began investigating the department’s controversial Freedom of Information Act policy, which gives political appointees the ability to review public information requests prior to their release, and in some cases withhold material altogether.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who last year made separate requests for the inspector general to expand the probe into Interior’s so-called awareness review policy, slammed the department in a joint statement Tuesday. Continue reading.

Bill Barr and Donald Trump are trying to torch the ‘Ancient Constitution’ that governed kings

AlterNet logoWith each passing day, it seems, the Trump administration seems intent on replaying the leadup to the English Revolution.

Like King James I of England (aka James VI of Scotland), Trump believes that he, to quote James’ tract of 1598, “The True Law of Free Monarchies,” “is above the law,” accountable only to God. He asserted in a July, 2019 speech that Article II of the Constitution means “I have to the right to do whatever I want as president.” Like James’ son, Charles I, who ruled England for 11 years without a parliament, Trump is increasingly governing through executive orders rather than making laws with the House and Senate.

Attorney General William Barr, Trump’s legal theorist, has put forward the notion that the president’s powers are “undivided and absolute.” Even more astonishing, Barr wrote in his June 2018 unsolicited memo to the Trump administration that “The Constitution itself places no limit on the president’s authority to act on matters which concern him or his own conduct  . . .” Both Barr and Trump believe that the chief executive’s prerogatives are not to be questioned. It is “presumption and high contempt, “James told Parliament in 1616, “to dispute what the king may do.” Barr said pretty much the same thing in his speech to the Federalist Society in November 2019, arguing that the “presidential power has become smothered by the encroachments of the other branches.” Continue reading.

‘This doesn’t smell right’: Acting State Dept. IG abruptly resigns just months after his predecessor was fired

AlterNet logo“This doesn’t smell right.”

That was the reaction from Chris Lu, who held multiple positions in the Obama administration including White House cabinet secretary, to news Wednesday that State Department acting Inspector General Stephen Akard is leaving the post less than three months after the administration ousted the previous IG.

Akard, an ally of Vice President Mike Pence who had been simultaneously serving as Director of the Office of Foreign Missions, is returning to the private sector, department officials said. Continue reading.

Democrats subpoena top aides to Pompeo

The Hill logoHouse Democrats on Monday subpoenaed four top aides to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a sign they are pressing forward with their joint investigation into the firing of former State Department Inspector General Steve Linick.

The top Democrats on three congressional committees are seeking to hear from Brian Bulatao, a close ally to Pompeo who serves as the under secretary of State for management; Pompeo senior adviser Toni Porter; acting State Department legal adviser Marik String; and Michael Miller, who serves as deputy assistant secretary of State for political-military affairs.

“The Administration continues to cover up the real reasons for Mr. Linick’s firing by stonewalling the Committees’ investigation and refusing to engage in good faith,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel(D-N.Y.), House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), and Sen. Bob Menendez (N.J.), the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, in a joint statement. Continue reading.

Mike Pence’s office pressured Navy to reinstate controversial former Missouri governor: FOIA’d documents

AlterNet logoIn June 2018, Republican Eric Greitens — who had been battling criminal charges — resigned from his position as governor of Missouri. Greitens served as Navy SEAL before pursuing a career in politics, and according to the Kansas City Star, Vice President Mike Pence tried to pressure the U.S. Navy into reinstating the former Missouri governor in 2019. But Pence’s office, according to the Associated Press, has flatly denied that the vice president intervened in the matter.

Star reporters Tara Copp, Jason Hancock and Bryan Lowry explain that according to documents the publication has obtained, “Greitens had been charged with a felony in 2018 connected to allegations of violent sexual misconduct. Though the charge was ultimately dropped, the Navy wasn’t ready to welcome the former governor back at a time when the military was facing intense criticism over its response to sexual assault in its ranks. It was after the intervention of Vice President Mike Pence’s office that Greitens was allowed to return as a reservist, the documents show.”

In an e-mail dated May 24, 2019, the Star reporters note, Navy Vice Adm. Robert Burke wrote, “Since he was in the (individual ready reserve) at the time, we had no recourse. If he were in the AC (active component), or even RC (reserve component) on active duty, we would have gone after Art 120 (Article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, rape and sexual assault). But for a reservist not on orders, or the IRR, we have no authority; it’s like holding a civilian accountable. How could/should that have been accounted for in the administrative move from IRR to [selected reserve)?” Continue reading.