#9: Firing whistleblowers and truth-tellers As so
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As someone who demanded absolute loyalty, Trump didn’t react well when officials disagreed with him, either publicly or privately. Officials often lost their jobs if Trump felt like they weren’t doing his bidding, or if they contradicted him in public, even to stand up for the truth.
There were firings, forced resignations and premature departures, which ramped up in Trump’s final year. The experts agreed Trump had the authority to take these actions, but they said he crossed a line by clearly retaliating against officials for personal reasons without good cause.
“I have a strong view of presidential power,” Paulsen said. “These are actions that are within the president’s constitutional powers. But it’s still an abuse to use those powers for corrupt personal purposes.”
Some of the most egregious examples stemmed from Trump’s impeachment. After his acquittal, he purged several officials who testified against him, like US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland as well as Lt. Col Alexander Vindman from the National Security Council.
FIRING WHISTLEBLOWERS AND TRUTH-TELLERS
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“The President can fire an ambassador, but Trump fired Gordon Sondland because Sondland was a whistleblower against him – and that’s an abuse of power. If you punish someone for exercising their rights, you are violating those rights,” said Gerhardt, who testified in favor of impeachment in 2019.