Oh, I Like This! Trump's Post Election Execution List!
Nope, there are no surprises on Axios' list of likely heads on the chopping block. It's headed (!) by Chris Wray at FBI, Gina Haspel at CIA, and with Mike Esper anchoring the third spot: Scoop: Trump's post-election execution list . Pretty much every patriot's dream list. If you're standing, don't bother sitting down for this next bit:
Wray and Haspel are despised and distrusted almost universally in Trump's inner circle. He would have fired both already, one official said, if not for the political headaches of acting before Nov. 3.
Let me count the reasons!
How does AG Bill Barr figure in all this? This is an article that you really have to filter carefully. Wray and Haspel seem like no brainers. However, here's what the article says about Barr:
Be smart: While Trump has also privately vented about Attorney General Bill Barr, he hasn't made any formal plans to replace him, an official said.
Trump is furious that Barr isn't releasing before the election what Trump hoped would be a bombshell report by U.S. Attorney John Durham on the Obama administration's handling of the Trump-Russia investigation.
Durham's investigation has yet to produce any high-profile indictments of Obama-era officials as Trump had hoped.
"The attorney general wants to finish the work that he's been involved in since day one," a senior administration official told Axios.
I'll make no secret of it. I think removing Barr before Barr is ready to go would be a major misstep--an own goal. Barr wants to stay on and finish the job and Trump would be well advised to leave well enough alone. Maybe the result of Durham's investigation haven't come in on Trump's schedule, but Barr has a list of significant accomplishments that would be the envy of any AG--starting with his masterful handling of Team Mueller, and continuing from there. I know of no one else who could do that job and handle the political heat like Barr has--and I'm quite certain that there is a long list of GOP senators ready to tell Trump the same thing. Nor can I think of anyone else with comparable stature and credibility, and who has the temperament to handle the heat in DC and in a Trump administration.
Read the rest. It's entertaining and overall encouraging.
UPDATE: And admit it--who else would have the moxy to go in front of Congress and pull this off?
My politics in 2020: pic.twitter.com/W0umd6Qiv5
— Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) October 26, 2020