This is just another example of the many ways that the Trump Administration has undermined the transition and is going to make it much harder for Biden to come in. In general it outgoing Administrations during the lame duck period have refrained from making major moves or appointing new people but we've seen Trump make several new appointments of loyalist in key position and we see Pompeo burning bridges tying the hands of the incoming administration. Whether you like Trump's policies or not this isn't just about cementing in the those policies but about making sure the hand off is smooth for the interest of the country. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/opinion/mike-pompeo-state-department.html Secretary of State Pompeo Leaves No Bridges Unburned On the way out the door, the Trump administration is trying its utmost to make things difficult for Joe Biden. While his boss approaches an infamous exit, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been busily and noisily scorching the earth behind them. Apart from a brief, boilerplate condemnation of the violence on Capitol Hill last week, Mr. Pompeo has shown little remorse or distress over it, and certainly no recognition that President Trump had a central role in inciting the mob. But Mr. Pompeo has not been idle. Over the past week, he unleashed a series of actions whose only real purpose appears to be to make life as difficult as possible for his successor at the State Department. He put Cuba back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, he plans to designate the Houthi rebels in Yemen as a foreign terrorist organization, he eased restrictions on contacts between American diplomats and Taiwan officials and he claimed that Iran is a “home base” for Al Qaeda. All the while, Mr. Pompeo has been hyperactive on social media, issuing scores of tweets since the start of the year touting the administration’s “accomplishments” abroad. Most of these are regarded by American allies and many State Department professionals as terrible, like withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the Paris agreement on climate change and the Iran nuclear deal. Some of the actions Mr. Pompeo took over the past week might be defensible, were they taken in the context of a coherent foreign policy. But coming days before a change in administration, their sole identifiable purpose is to maliciously plant obstacles — some commentators have called them time bombs or booby traps — before the incoming administration and President-elect Joe Biden’s choice for Mr. Pompeo’s successor at State, Antony Blinken, are in place. Returning Cuba to the state-sponsor-of-terrorism list does nothing except complicate Mr. Biden’s intention to return to the search for better relations initiated by President Barack Obama and throw a sop to Trump-backing Cuban exiles in Florida. Sanctioning the Houthis in Yemen is a transparent favor to Saudi Arabia, which has sought to defeat the rebels with a systematic bombing campaign with American support that has inflicted untold suffering to civilians. The Houthis, supported by Iran, no doubt have committed their share of crimes, but they are critical to any peaceful resolution of the brutal six-year war and, more immediately, to the delivery of food and medical supplies to a region described by the United Nations as suffering the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Easing the longstanding restrictions on contacts between American diplomats and Taiwanese officials might be construed as a strong gesture of support for the democratic government in Taipei. But the United States has demonstrated its support in many other ways, and Mr. Biden does not need an added irritant as he assumes responsibility for the fraught and complex relationship with Beijing. On Tuesday Mr. Pompeo declared that Al Qaeda, the terrorist organization behind the Sept. 11 attacks, had found a new home base in Iran. “They are partners in terrorism, partners in hate,” he declared without offering any evidence. Current and former officials were quick to temper and even contradict the claim, which provided Mr. Pompeo with a pretext for further demonizing Iran, a leitmotif of the administration, and made any effort by Mr. Biden to resuscitate the Iran nuclear deal more difficult. Mr. Pompeo’s effort to leave no bridge unburned might stand him in good stead with primary voters, should he — as has been widely expected — seek higher office in the coming years. But selfishness at the expense of the national interest isn’t the mark of an honorable diplomat or a patriot. That sentiment appears to be shared in Mr. Pompeo’s State Department, where some officials are said to be keeping discreet clocks counting down the minutes until Secretary Pompeo is a private citizen once again.
I mean, once you're this close to "worst ever" by every measure, I can understand doing what you can to nail it down with extra destruction and pettiness. It's the "no lead is too safe" philosophy -- Trump lofting 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter when he's already up 11 points on tired-looking Andrew Johnson.
Wouldn't surprise me if Trump orders a military strike on Iran just before he leaves office. Pass the problem to Biden.
Natl Sec Advisor OBrien:. Just dribble and throw into the post, I'll work some clock. SoS Pompeii, big fat idiot: Nah I'mma shoot this corner 3 at 32 seconds and go 2 for 1. Efficiency bro.
No surprise. More petty BS from the Trump admin. Most of what Fats Pompeo did can easily be undone with a stroke of a pen.
The list of shitty things these creeps will do in the next few days I'm sure is going to be astounding and we probably won't find out about much of it for weeks or months. There's this as well...
It's obvious that they are rushing to execute people because they are worried that the Biden Admin. might do away with the Federal death penalty.
The Lisa Montgomery case is one of the most horrific and sad things you'll ever read about, from the beginning of her life to the end.
oh, just the evangelical-trump soul explosion stuff. blah blah blah. thou shalt not kill... unless thou feelst rushed.
Pompeo proved himself to be one of the worst of the bunch. He's dangerous because, unlike most of Trump's lackeys, he's not just an opportunist but a true believer. I think he's happy to set these fires to sabotage the next administration (though he wouldn't see it as sabotage). And maybe he's delusional enough that he thinks these moves help him to win support for his big push for the White House in 2024. Or maybe he just likes setting fires out of spite.
Also this to. Appointments like this can't just be reversed with the stroke of a pen due to civil service rules. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/17/us/politics/nsa-michael-ellis-trump.html N.S.A. Installs Trump Loyalist as Top Lawyer Days Before Biden Takes Office The acting defense secretary ordered the spy agency to appoint Michael Ellis, who has been accused of having a hand in one of the Trump administration’s most contentious legal decisions. WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency is moving forward with hiring a Trump administration loyalist, the agency said on Sunday, after the acting defense secretary ordered he be made the spy agency’s top lawyer. Christopher C. Miller, the acting defense secretary, gave Gen. Paul M. Nakasone, the spy agency’s director, until 6 p.m. on Saturday to install Michael Ellis as its general counsel. The deadline came and went with the National Security Agency remaining silent. But the agency said in a statement on Sunday that “Mr. Ellis accepted his final job offer yesterday afternoon. N.S.A. is moving forward with his employment.” He has not been formally sworn in, and it is not clear when that would happen. Mr. Ellis has been accused of having a hand in one of the more contentious legal decisions the Trump administration made: the attempt to stop John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, from publishing a damning book about the president. Mr. Ellis’s allies had pushed for him to be installed before President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is inaugurated. While it will be difficult to fire Mr. Ellis under Civil Service rules, the Biden administration could easily reassign him to another, less important post. The Biden transition team declined to comment. A senior official at the National Security Council and a former top lawyer to Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, Mr. Ellis applied months ago to be the National Security Agency’s general counsel. He was one of three finalists, although he did not receive the highest score from the panel evaluating the candidates, according to people familiar with the hiring process. Nevertheless, White House officials told the Defense Department general counsel that the administration favored Mr. Ellis for the job. Positioning a political appointee in a Civil Service job is a complex procedure requiring various approvals to prevent favoritism in the hiring process. With Mr. Ellis, the Office of Personnel Management eventually determined that the general counsel position was exempt from a policy requiring special approval, though those deliberations slowed the process. Mr. Ellis also had to seek a new security clearance. Although General Nakasone was not pleased that Mr. Ellis was chosen over career officials at the National Security Agency, he did not actively block or slow the process of installing Mr. Ellis, according to two people familiar with the matter. He did, however, insist that all procedures were followed and all approvals were put in writing. At the Pentagon, Mr. Miller was angry that the agency’s leadership had slow-rolled Mr. Ellis’s installment for months despite his going through the standard hiring process and being selected for the position, a senior U.S. official said. So Mr. Miller ordered the agency to swear Mr. Ellis in, a move The Washington Post reported on Saturday. In a statement, the Pentagon defended Mr. Ellis’s hiring, saying he was properly selected by the Defense Department general counsel. “To be clear, congressional or media interest in a particular hiring action are not justification under the merit system principles and process to delay placing a selected qualified individual in a position,” the statement said. Mr. Ellis is seen as a smart lawyer. But the push to install him in a permanent government job puzzled some. According to former officials, he is likely to enter the general counsel’s office under a good deal of suspicion and will have an uphill battle to win the confidence of General Nakasone. Mr. Ellis will be a member of the Senior Executive Service, a Civil Service job that has strong protections against firing. However, civil servants can be easily moved in the Defense Department, so he could be given a legal job elsewhere in the sprawling department — overseeing compliance with environmental regulations at a remote military base, for example. When he was on the Intelligence Committee, Mr. Ellis was a trusted adviser to Representative Devin Nunes, Republican of California. Mr. Ellis held various roles in the Trump administration, including serving as a lawyer for the National Security Council and then the White House’s senior director for intelligence. At the White House, Mr. Ellis overruled the decision by a career official to clear Mr. Bolton’s book for publication, even though he had no formal training in the classification of national security information. The Justice Department, under pressure from President Trump, sued Mr. Bolton to recoup his profits from the book. A judge overseeing the case issued a ruling on Thursday that makes it highly likely that Mr. Bolton’s lawyer, Charles J. Cooper, can question White House officials like Mr. Ellis about whether the classification decisions were made in bad faith. Should Mr. Ellis take over as general counsel, at least for a time, he may be able to stall that testimony. Mr. Ellis is also being investigated by the Defense Department inspector general examining accusations that he retaliated against Yevgeny Vindman, who goes by Eugene and worked with Mr. Ellis as a lawyer for the National Security Council. Mr. Vindman is the twin the brother of Alexander S. Vindman, the former Army lieutenant colonel who testified against Mr. Trump in his first impeachment trial. Early in Mr. Trump’s term, Mr. Ellis provided Mr. Nunes intelligence reports that associates of Mr. Trump were swept up in foreign surveillance by American intelligence agencies. The material is at the heart of Mr. Trump’s frequent accusation that the Obama administration spied on his campaign. Allies of Mr. Trump have pushed to declassify documents that some conservatives believe would buttress those claims, including last-minute pressure in recent days. But in reality, Mr. Ellis will have little direct power to declassify those documents or overcome General Nakasone’s objections to their release. It is not clear precisely what led the Pentagon to push General Nakasone to speed Mr. Ellis’s hiring. However, Mr. Trump met with Mr. Miller on Friday to discuss various issues, according to the senior U.S. official.
