#9: Firing whistleblowers and truth-tellers
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
Trump fires FBI director James Comey
Lawyer for Ukraine whistleblower sends White House cease and desist letter to stop Trump’s attacks
Amid coronavirus, Trump seizes chance to carry out a long-desired purge of government watchdogs
Trump fires director of Homeland Security agency who had rejected President’s election conspiracy theories
“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.
Trump also removed inspectors general that uncovered wrongdoing by his administration, and fired Chris Krebs, the top election security official who publicly debunked his voter fraud conspiracies.
He also relentlessly attacked whistleblowers who spoke out against him, including the anonymous intelligence official whose complaint triggered his impeachment, as well as Dr. Rick Bright, the former public health official who publicly criticized Trump’s failed pandemic response in early 2020.
“There has been real damage to expertise across the government. The civil servants have to be able to speak honestly without fear of being fired unless they’ve done something wrong,” said Kim Scheppele, a professor at Princeton University whose research focuses on the collapse of constitutional governments. “Why would anyone want to go into the public sector anymore?”
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
Trump fires FBI director James Comey
Lawyer for Ukraine whistleblower sends White House cease and desist letter to stop Trump’s attacks
Amid coronavirus, Trump seizes chance to carry out a long-desired purge of government watchdogs
Trump fires director of Homeland Security agency who had rejected President’s election conspiracy theories
“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.
Trump also removed inspectors general that uncovered wrongdoing by his administration, and fired Chris Krebs, the top election security official who publicly debunked his voter fraud conspiracies.
He also relentlessly attacked whistleblowers who spoke out against him, including the anonymous intelligence official whose complaint triggered his impeachment, as well as Dr. Rick Bright, the former public health official who publicly criticized Trump’s failed pandemic response in early 2020.
“There has been real damage to expertise across the government. The civil servants have to be able to speak honestly without fear of being fired unless they’ve done something wrong,” said Kim Scheppele, a professor at Princeton University whose research focuses on the collapse of constitutional governments. “Why would anyone want to go into the public sector anymore?”
