Here We Go: Schumer Calls on 74 Inspectors General to Investigate Trump for Retaliation Against Whistleblowers

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March, 14, 2017. The White House and Republican leaders in Congress are scrambling to shore up support for their health care bill after findings from the Congressional Budget Office estimated that 14 million people would lose insurance coverage in the first year alone under the GOP replacement for Obamacare. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March, 14, 2017. The White House and Republican leaders in Congress are scrambling to shore up support for their health care bill after findings from the Congressional Budget Office estimated that 14 million people would lose insurance coverage in the first year alone under the GOP replacement for Obamacare. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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It’s odd the way each failed Democratic investigation into President Trump seems to seque into the next. A mere five days after President Trump’s acquittal, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) has called upon 74 inspectors general for “immediate action to investigate any and all instances of retaliation against whistleblowers.”

Specifically, Schumer is concerned over Trump’s decision to fire Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman in “retaliation” for his hostile testimony during the House impeachment inquiry. Vindman and his twin brother, who was also on staff at the NSC, were escorted out of the White House last Friday. Their attorney, David Pressman, referred to the President’s decision as “revenge.”

Pressman told the BBC, “There is no question in the mind of any American why this man’s job is over, why this country now has one less soldier serving it at the White House. The most powerful man in the world – buoyed by the silent, the pliable, and the complicit – has decided to exact revenge.”

The NSC exists to aid the President as he makes decisions on foreign policy. It is the President who sets the policy which is why elections matter.

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Vindman testified that he considered the call “improper.” The reality is that Vindman disagreed with Trump’s foreign policy. It is believed that one of the individuals he shared the readout of the call with was the alleged whistleblower, Eric Ciaramella, whose “complaint” to the Intelligence Community’s Inspector General, Michael Atkinson, triggered the impeachment inquiry.

If it is proven that Vindman was actually involved in an attempt to remove the President from office, his dismissal from the White House will be the least of his problems.

Shortly after the Vindman twins were launched on Friday, it was Gordon Sondland’s turn. Sondland is now the former U.S. ambassador to the EU. Although Schiff had considered him to be one of his strongest witnesses against the President, upon cross-examination by House Republicans, Sondland admitted he had “presumed” it was a quid pro quo. The President had actually told Sondland “I want no quid pro quo.”

In a letter sent to the acting inspector general of the Department of Defense, Glenn A Fine, on Monday, Schumer wrote, “These attacks are part of a dangerous, growing pattern of retaliation against those who report wrongdoing only to find themselves targeted by the President and subject to his wrath and vindictiveness.” This letter can be viewed on Scribd below.

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We knew the Democrats would continue to seek ways to remove President Trump after his acquittal. And as far as strategies to snare a president are concerned, Schumer’s is weak tea. A president is authorized to reassign or even to dismiss political appointees. After three years of repeated attempts to destroy Trump, most Americans will greet Schumer latest efforts – and the many more that will surely follow – with a yawn.

The left had better brace themselves for what’s to come. My colleague, Mike Ford, wrote an excellent post over the weekend: “As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “When you strike at a king, you must kill him.””

 

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