In recent days, President Donald Trump announced the appointment of then-U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell as the new Acting Director of National Intelligence. Grenell simply does not have the kind of intelligence work experience that one might expect from a leader of the U.S. intelligence community, but he has proven his loyalty to Trump, and that was apparently enough for the president. On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) denounced Grenell’s appointment as a political power grab that put the people of the intelligence community only further on the brink.
She bluntly insisted:
‘Our troops, the patriots of our intelligence community and the American people deserve a smart, strong national security policy. Sadly, President Trump has once again put his political interests ahead of America’s national security interests by appointing an Acting Director of National Intelligence whose sole qualification is his absolute loyalty to the President.’
President Trump has once again put his political interests ahead of America’s national security interests by appointing an Acting Director of National Intelligence whose sole qualification is his absolute loyalty to the President. https://t.co/EZpWYX3f7a
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) February 20, 2020
It’s not the first time that Trump has delivered an appointment to a close ally, and it certainly won’t be the last. Pelosi also pointed out that Trump’s selection of yet another “Acting” official in place of a formally nominated and Senate-confirmed intelligence director constitutes yet another apparent Trump attempt to seize more power for himself. Currently, so-called “acting” officials serve across the administration, including at the head of the Department of Homeland Security!
These are allies of the president who’ve been placed in temporary roles with an eye for keeping them there as long as possible.
Pelosi commented:
‘Once again, the President has shown his contempt for our Constitution’s system of checks and balances by sidestepping the Senate’s constitutional authority of confirmation with the installation of another Acting official that he knows cannot be confirmed even in a Republican-controlled Senate.’
The appointment and concurrent refusal to engage the Senate with the process prove deeply ironic considering the self-righteous bombast with which the president and his allies routinely denounce Democrats’ supposed “abuse of power.” They’re not the ones deciding to sidestep duly legally laid out processes to protect national security! Trump is the one doing that.
Check out Twitter’s response…
