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Fire in the Hole: More Chaos in Trump National Security Team
Laura Loomer, a far right activist who has called 9/11 an “inside job,” got an Oval Office audience with President Trump on Wednesday, following which six National Security Council officials were fired (ABC)
UPDATED: If you’re looking for job security, don’t apply for the job on the White House National Security Council in a Trump administration. Michael Waltz is learning that the hard way.
Every one of Donald Trump’s national security advisers has lasted less than 18 months in office, with Michael Flynn, the president’s first NSA in 2017, setting the brevity record of three weeks in the West Wing following the discovery of his backchannel contacts with Russia’s ambassador in Washington. John Bolton lasted the longest—17 months in 2018-2019.
Now, with every day’s drip, drip, drip of new revelations of astounding security lapses by top Trump administration national security officials, Waltz, too, seems to have one foot out the door.
The asp in Waltz’s pants leg was delivered Wednesday by Laura Loomer, a far right lunatic who has won Trump’s favor even though she’s been judged too extreme by fellow conspiracy mongers. Loomer actually got an invite to the Oval Office, once a privileged sanctuary of statecraft, from the president himself. There, according to a detailed account by the New York Times, Loomer “excoriated” various National Security Council officials as Trump, Vice President JD Vance, chief of staff Susie Wiles, Sergio Gor, the director of the Presidential Personnel Office and Waltz himself looked on. Today, six of the aides were fired, the Times said, but Waltz was spared, not because Trump had confidence in him, but because Trump wanted to avoid the “bad publicity” of multiple firings “that plagued his first term,” officials said.
Three of the fired, according to CNN, were Brian Walsh, the NSC’s senior director for intelligence; Thomas Boodry, senior director for legislative affairs; and David Feith, another senior director. The Times said Maggie Dougherty, the senior director for international organizations, was also shown the door. One of Loomer’s top targets, Deputy National Security Adviser Alex Wong, survived the bloodletting, according to reports.
Loomer, who has called the 9/11 terrorist attack “an inside job,” among other hallucinations, took indirect credit.
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Laura Loomer, a far right activist who has called 9/11 an “inside job,” got an Oval Office audience with President Trump on Wednesday, following which six National Security Council officials were fired (ABC)
UPDATED: If you’re looking for job security, don’t apply for the job on the White House National Security Council in a Trump administration. Michael Waltz is learning that the hard way.
Every one of Donald Trump’s national security advisers has lasted less than 18 months in office, with Michael Flynn, the president’s first NSA in 2017, setting the brevity record of three weeks in the West Wing following the discovery of his backchannel contacts with Russia’s ambassador in Washington. John Bolton lasted the longest—17 months in 2018-2019.
Now, with every day’s drip, drip, drip of new revelations of astounding security lapses by top Trump administration national security officials, Waltz, too, seems to have one foot out the door.
The asp in Waltz’s pants leg was delivered Wednesday by Laura Loomer, a far right lunatic who has won Trump’s favor even though she’s been judged too extreme by fellow conspiracy mongers. Loomer actually got an invite to the Oval Office, once a privileged sanctuary of statecraft, from the president himself. There, according to a detailed account by the New York Times, Loomer “excoriated” various National Security Council officials as Trump, Vice President JD Vance, chief of staff Susie Wiles, Sergio Gor, the director of the Presidential Personnel Office and Waltz himself looked on. Today, six of the aides were fired, the Times said, but Waltz was spared, not because Trump had confidence in him, but because Trump wanted to avoid the “bad publicity” of multiple firings “that plagued his first term,” officials said.
Three of the fired, according to CNN, were Brian Walsh, the NSC’s senior director for intelligence; Thomas Boodry, senior director for legislative affairs; and David Feith, another senior director. The Times said Maggie Dougherty, the senior director for international organizations, was also shown the door. One of Loomer’s top targets, Deputy National Security Adviser Alex Wong, survived the bloodletting, according to reports.
Loomer, who has called the 9/11 terrorist attack “an inside job,” among other hallucinations, took indirect credit.
Read more