Tillerson out at State
Next up: Pompeo
Via WaPo: Trump ousts Tillerson, will replace him as secretary of state with CIA chief Pompeo
Trump last Friday asked Tillerson to step aside, and the embattled diplomat cut short his trip to Africa on Monday to return to Washington.
Pompeo will replace him at the State Department, and Gina Haspel — the deputy director at the CIA — will succeed him at the CIA, becoming the first woman to run the spy agency, if confirmed.
Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State. He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 13, 2018
The BBC had a recent profile of Pompeo: Mike Pompeo: America’s Trump loyalist spymaster.
The former Tea Party representative from Kansas is seen as a Trump loyalist who has performed a delicate balancing act in managing frayed relations between the spy agency and a commander-in-chief who compared America’s intelligence services to Nazis.
He has in the past played down findings by the CIA that the Russians attempted to influence last year’s US election.
But when push comes to shove, he has shown a willingness to contradict the president on the issue.
After Mr Trump said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denials, Mr Pompeo firmly stood by US assessments of Moscow’s alleged meddling.
The CIA director is more hawkish on the Kremlin than the president, and has previously warned that President Putin is a dangerous leader.
Before joining the CIA, the 53-year-old former-three-term Republican from Wichita, Kansas, was a vehement critic of the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran.
He has previously defended the National Security Agency’s bulk data collection programme and opposes shutting the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
Here’s a NYT profile of Haspel from when she was appointed as deputy last year: New C.I.A. Deputy Director, Gina Haspel, Had Leading Role in Torture.
The elevation of Ms. Haspel, a veteran widely respected among her colleagues, to the No. 2 job at the C.I.A. was a rare public signal of how, under the Trump administration, the agency is being led by officials who appear to take a far kinder view of one of its darker chapters than their immediate predecessors.
Over the past eight years, C.I.A. leaders defended dozens of agency personnel who had taken part in the now-banned torture program, even as they vowed never to resume the same harsh interrogation methods. But President Trump has said repeatedly that he thinks torture works. And the new C.I.A. chief, Mike Pompeo, has said that waterboarding and other techniques do not even constitute torture, and praised as “patriots” those who used such methods in the early days of the fight against Al Qaeda.
Ms. Haspel, who has spent most of her career undercover, would certainly fall within Mr. Pompeo’s description. She played a direct role in the C.I.A.’s “extraordinary rendition program,” under which captured militants were handed to foreign governments and held at secret facilities, where they were tortured by agency personnel.
The C.I.A.’s first overseas detention site was in Thailand. It was run by Ms. Haspel, who oversaw the brutal interrogations of two detainees, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.
Confirmation hearings could be dramatic. They will, at a minimum, bring the torture issue back into the public discussion.
UPDATE (James Joyner): I was posting at the same time but decided to consolidate here.
While “Why now?” is the obvious question—to which we may never have a definitive answer—this was inevitable. And, frankly, Tillerson had to go. As Dan Drezner has ably documented, Tillerson is easily the worst Secretary of State in modern history. He was simply a disaster as a manager and public diplomat. At the same time, he was not only not carrying the President’s water but got caught calling him “a moron.” There was simply no way he could last.
UPDATE 2 (James Joyner): In a follow-up piece titled, “Who is Mike Pompeo?” I observe that, “While Rex Tillerson was an awful Secretary of State who simply had to go, it’s quite possible that Pompeo will be an even greater disaster.”
Not sure what to make of Tillerson vs. Pompeo. Gina Haspel, however, is a concerning choice, considering her role in the CIA’s torture program.
@Hal_10000:
The Republicans are going to love her for that.
This just may be a coincidence (from the WaPo):
In any case, this seems to be yet another case of “in retiterement veritas.” Cf. Rep. Tom Rooney (R) (who is not seeking reelection) on the House Intelligence Committee’s collusion investigation:
So…how long will Pompeo last?
@CSK: As long as Putin wants him to.
Here’s how and why Tillerson got fired:
On his way to work recently, he made a stop at the Lincoln Memorial, to draw inspiration from the great president. While pondering the challenges Lincoln had faced and how he overcame them, the statue’s head moved slightly and its lips parted.
“Rex,” Lincoln said, “bring me a horse.”
“What!” said Tillerson in amazement.
“I need a horse, Rex.” Lincoln said.
Tillerson ran back to his car and ordered the driver to get him to the white House as fast as possible. Once there, he bullied his way into Trump’s bedroom, swept away empty McDonald’s wrappers, and told Trump what had happened.
Trump was skeptical, but Tillerson sold him on the sky high approval ratings he’d get by associating himself in a miracle involving the first Republican president.
So still in his night clothes, stained with cheese and secret sauce, he sets off at all deliberate speed.
Once at the Lincoln memorial, though, the statue just sits there, still and unresponsive. No coaxing from Tillerson, no threats from Trump, can get the statue to speak again.
Angry as hell, Trump leaves and tells Tillerson not to show up for work anymore.
Left alone with the statue once again, Tillerson angrily demands, “Why didn’t you say anything?”
Lincoln again turns his head and says “I asked you for a horse, Rex, and you brought me an ass.”
So joking aside, what are the odds Pompeo will fill the many vacancies at State? Slim, none, more likely to hit the lottery every week for a million years?
@Blue Galangal: Indeed.
Trump was angry that Tillerson disagreed with him abut the Iran deal.
Please take me out of moderation. Thank you.
Tillerson called Trump a “Fwcking moron” and is not fired.
Accused Putin of assassination in London: and is fired.
Apparently trump’s personal assistant, aka ‘bodyman’, was just abruptly escorted from the white house for ”serious financial crimes”.
What, was he kiting checks from First Bank of Moscow?
@teve tory:
MAGA…Many Are Getting Arrested.
@teve tory:
They didn’t even give the guy time to grab his jacket; someone had to go get it for him. Apparently he’s beloved of the Family Trump,who’ve just assigned him to the 2020 campaign.
Honestly, everyone should know by now, everyone:
Trump brings down, humiliates, or slimes just about everyone who has in some way served him. There are only two people who Trump has not purposely diminished – Ivanka and Roy Cohn.
My goodness.
https://twitter.com/mitchellreports/status/973557338304073729
@Mikey: When one reads such things, one wonders “Who the hell is crazy enough to want to work for Trump any more?”
It’s worth remembering, then, the Terror during the French Revolution. Military commanders were habitually executed for failures at the front lines, depending almost solely on the judgment of a political officer (ie Representative on Mission). Yet the need to protect the country, or the chances for advancement, or both, kept men coming to the front to try.
People under Trump risk humiliation and damage to their reputations, but not death by guillotine. They’ll keep on coming.
@Kathy:
And their quality will increasingly diminish.
@CSK: Funny, that’s partly what happened in the French Revolution.
@Kathy:
Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.
@CSK:
Where they continue to have some leverage over what he might say.