I am going to go out on a limb here and say that Trump actually invoking the Defense Product Act to help manufacture vital PPE and other supplies has a slim chance of happening or succeeding given that the Trump regime just quietly fired Jennifer Santos, the Pentagon’s industrial policy chief s point person FOR the Defense Production Act.
Another removal of an IG, but Acting one Mitchell Behm, who had replaced someone who retired at the Dept of Transportation. Mrs. Mitch McConnell aka Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao has been under investigation for her family connections and dealings.
Rep. Peter DeFazio and two other senior House Democrats on Tuesday demanded that the Trump administration reinstate Mitchell Behm, who had been the acting Transportation Department inspector general until he was ousted from the position over the weekend and replaced with the head of another agency.
Behm, a longtime deputy inspector general who had been acting in the lead position since Calvin Scovell retired in January, was replaced Saturday by Skip Elliott, who is also administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
In two letters, one addressed to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and one to Elliott, the chairs of the House Oversight and Transportation committees protested Behm’s removal, saying it’s the “latest in a series of politically motivated firings of Inspectors General” and calling Behm a devoted public servant.
Behm, who is not a political appointee, was pushed out of the job one day after Trump fired the State Department inspector general, a move which is now under investigation by House Democrats.
This happened on Friday, the same day as the other IG Linick was removed.
And another comment from Walter Schaub, former Ethics adminstrator who resigned at the beginning of T’s administration, suggesting that there had been a proposed bill to prevent T from firing IG’s that Sen Susan Collins could have seen to.
You wonder what’s up with this…
A top banking regulator, Joseph Otting, announced Thursday that he will step down, a day after finalizing a sweeping overhaul of a 40-year anti-redlining law widely criticized by Democrats as potentially harmful to minority and low-income communities.
Otting did not offer a reason for his departure, which comes halfway through his five-year term as comptroller of the currency and during a global pandemic that is testing the resiliency of the U.S. financial system. His last day will be May 29.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin appointed Otting’s deputy, Brian P. Brooks, to take over the Office of Comptroller of the Currency on an acting basis. Brooks was once a top executive at OneWest Bank, which Mnuchin owned and where Otting served as chief executive. Brooks “recognizes the importance of a robust federal banking system to the health and strength of the nation’s economy and has the skills and experience to succeed in this important role,” Mnuchin said in a statement.
Otting often cited his decades of banking industry experience while leading an agency that plays a critical role in regulating massive financial institutions, such as Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase. In a statement, Otting said he was “extremely proud” of his efforts at the OCC to “eliminate unnecessary regulatory burden.”
Cross-posting 
White House Coronavirus Testing Czar To Stand Down
The Trump administration’s testing czar announced Monday that he will be leaving that position in mid-June.
Adm. Brett Giroir told a meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS that he will be “demobilized” from his role overseeing coronavirus testing at FEMA in a few weeks and going back to his regular post at the Department of Health and Human Services.
An HHS spokesperson confirmed the plan for Giroir to stand down from his role and indicated that there are no plans to appoint a new “head of efforts” for coronavirus testing.
“While Adm. Giroir will remain engaged with the COVID-19 testing and related efforts, many of the day-to-day management and operations of testing are being transitioned to HHS operating divisions,” the spokesperson said in a statement to NPR. This will allow Giroir “to return to the key public health responsibilities of the Assistant Secretary for Health.”
Giroir was appointed to the testing position in March at a time when the U.S. was struggling to ramp up testing capacity as coronavirus was spreading. When Giroir took charge, on March 12, there were only 5,247 tests done per day nationally.
By the end of May, there were around 400,000 tests done daily according to The COVID Tracking Project. While that’s a significant increase, some public health experts say that in order to safely reopen, as many as 900,000 daily tests may be needed.
“Week after week, things do look a little bit better,” says Scott Becker, CEO of the Association of Public Health Laboratories. “But we’re working to continue to expand because we really believe much more testing is needed through through the summer and certainly into the fall.”
Becker says Giroir was responsive and forthright about the testing issues, and that he appreciated him in the “command and control kind of role.” The move by HHS away from that model is understandable, Becker says, adding that it also makes him “a little bit anxious.”
“The testing supplies are still not perfect — the supply chain still isn’t fully operational,” he says. “So I want to make sure that we’re still getting the attention that we need.”
Becker takes some comfort in the fact that Giroir should still be accessible and responsive on testing issues from his usual post as assistant secretary for health at HHS, noting, “I still know where to find him.”
Trump clearly no longer needs testing now that he has a wall of soldiers to protect him from us sickos.
A former top policy official at the Pentagon, James Miller, resigned from his role on the Defense Advisory Board due to what he said was Secretary of Defense Mark Esper’s visible support for law enforcement officers’ clearing of protesters from Lafayette Square on Monday.
Miller called what he saw as Esper’s support for suppressing the protest a violation of Esper’s oath of office. Miller served as the Pentagon’s undersecretary of defense for policy during the Obama administration.
"When I joined the Board in early 2014, after leaving government service as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, I again swore an oath of office, one familiar to you, that includes the commitment to ‘support and defend the Constitution of the United States . . . and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same,’ " Miller wrote in a resignation letter addressed to Esper, which was published Tuesday in The Washington Post.
“You recited that same oath on July 23, 2019, when you were sworn in as Secretary of Defense. On Monday, June 1, 2020, I believe that you violated that oath,” Miller wrote.
“You may not have been able to stop President Trump from directing this appalling use of force, but you could have chosen to oppose it. Instead, you visibly supported it,” Miller added.
On Monday, roughly a half hour before a curfew went into effect for Washington, following a weekend of unrest over the death of George Floyd, law enforcement began pushing back the crowd of peaceful protesters gathered outside the White House with tear gas, flash grenades and rubber bullets.
After they were cleared, President Donald Trump and an entourage of administration officials and security personnel walked to nearby St. John’s Episcopal Church, a historic house of worship, where the President posed for photos, some of which included Esper and several other top officials. The exterior of the church had been defaced during protests outside the White House on Sunday and there had been a small fire in the parish house basement, but church leaders said in a statement that the structure was largely “untouched.”
Esper told NBC on Tuesday that he thought the trip out of the White House was “to see some damage and to talk to the troops.”
“I didn’t know where I was going,” Esper told the network. “I wanted to see how much damage actually happened.”
The secretary also addressed the widespread protests in an internal department-wide memo on Tuesday, saying, “I, like you, am steadfast in my belief that Americans who are frustrated, angry, and seeking to be heard must be ensured that opportunity.”
Protesters who have taken to the streets in recent days to draw attention to Floyd’s case and police violence across America say they want to see charges for all four police officers involved in his death. So far, officials have only charged the officer who was seen in a video with his knee on Floyd’s neck with third-degree murder and manslaughter – charges the protesters believe aren’t harsh enough.
The Defense Advisory Board, which was established in the 1950s during the height of the Cold War, comprises nearly 50 retired senior military, government, and industry leaders, and has advised the Pentagon on issues such as acquisition, cyber and communication technology, and weapons of mass destruction.
The Pentagon did not immediately return a request for comment on Miller’s resignation.
This statement is equally scary. He’s supposed to be in charge!
yes…they are always looking for ways to CYA - cover you A#%…include some plausible deniability so that he can avoid owning it should it come to bite him.
Weak…sounds very weak, right?!
Scoop: White House Chief Digital Officer departs to launch tech firm
White House Chief Digital Officer Ory Rinat is leaving the Trump administration later this month to launch a new technology company focused on influencer marketing, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Rinat was instrumental in crafting the White House’s digital strategy and policy over the past three years. He has been with the White House since 2017.
Details: People familiar with the plans say the departure is amicable and that Rinat, who previously worked with the Heritage Foundation and Atlantic Media Strategies, is leaving because he wanted to start his own company.
- At the White House, Rinat helped build out digital assets including WhiteHouse.gov and all of the White House’s social media handles.
- They include CrisisNextDoor.gov and Coronavirus.gov websites dealing with the opioid and coronavirus public health crises, as well as PSAs around those crises.
Rinat’s new company, to be based in D.C., will close a seed round of investment this month, including some venture capital investment, per a source familiar with the funding. Engineers, designers, and a creator services team to be hired within the next month.
- It will power a technology platform for performance-based influencer and affiliate marketing.
- The platform will be available in the public affairs, food and cooking, parenting, and financial services verticals before expanding to others.
- It will only allow certain influencers to sign up to participate, so that it can vet those influencers as being brand-safe for advertisers.
The big picture: Currently, advertisers hire influencers to hawk products or ideas to their massive followings online, but it’s hard to measure influencers’ direct impacts on purchases or engagement.
- Rather than pay influencers a lump sum of money, Rinat’s platform will allow advertisers to pay out influencers based on a fixed cost-per-conversion rate.
Be smart: The public affairs sector lags when it comes to accountability and metrics-driven marketing. Rinat hopes to use his background in media and public affairs to differentiate the platform from other influencer marketing companies.
Ethics watchdog asks FBI to investigate Pompeo over inspector general’s firing - Axios
An ethics watchdog asked the FBI to investigate Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday, in the wake of the State Department inspector general being ousted on his recommendation.
Driving the news: Former agency watchdog Steve Linick told Congress he was conducting five investigations into Pompeo and the department before he was fired, a transcript released Wednesday shows. His investigations included a special immigrant visa program audit and a prove “involving individuals in the Office of the Protocol.”
Catch up quick: Pompeo told the Washington Post in May that, when he asked President Trump to fire Linick, he did not know the IG was investigating allegations that he had a staffer run personal errands for him and his wife.
- Linick alleged in his testimony to Congress that a senior State Department official, who assisted Pompeo in bypassing a congressional freeze on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, pressured him to drop an investigation into the matter, Axios’ Ursula Perano and Rebecca Falconer report.
- Linick told Congress that he was never influenced by State Department leadership on any investigation and no one obstructed him on the Saudi arms sale probe.
What they’re saying: " Secretary Pompeo may have obstructed an investigation by the State Department Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) in violation of a criminal obstruction of justice statute" by recommending that Linick be fired, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) Executive Director Noah Bookbinder wrote in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Friday.
- “Removing independent inspectors general — particularly when it appears intended to undercut investigations into powerful political figures — poses a serious threat to the stability and future of an ethical government in our country,” Bookbinder said in a Friday press release.
The other side: Pompeo has called the claims leveled against him “unsubstantiated,” and told the Post: “The president obviously has the right to have an inspector general. Just like every presidentially confirmed position, I can terminate them. They serve at his pleasure for any reason or no reason.”
- In response an investigation launched by House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Pompeo wrote in a June 11 letter obtained by Axios that his recommendation for Linick’s ouster was based on the IG’s “failure to properly perform his duties over a series of many months.”
- Stephen Biegun, deputy secretary of state, told Engel in a separate June 11 letter obtained by Axios that it is “entirely false” to say that Pompeo was aware of Linick’s investigation into allegations of misuse of government resources by Pompeo and his wife
Voice of America top officials resign as Trump-appointed CEO takes over international network
Two top officials at Voice of America resigned on Monday as an appointee of President Trump prepares to take control of the international network and other US federally-funded media operations. The resignations were long in the making.
The Trump administration had been trying to get its nominee, Michael Pack, through the Senate confirmation process for two years.
Earlier this month, after Trump applied additional pressure, the Republican-controlled Senate voted Pack through, adding to a sense of apprehension at Voice of America, VOA for short, about what comes next.
Michael Flynn Writes Column Confirming He Is Definitely Insane
For several years, the national-security community has been wondering what the hell happened to Michael Flynn. Once a well-regarded director of the Defense Intelligence Agency for the Obama administration, Flynn appeared, according to his critics, to snap. He grew paranoid and obsessed with expanding a war against radical Islam into a Manichaean civilizational conflict. The rest (his work for Donald Trump, a handful of federal crimes) is history.
Flynn has written an op-ed, headlined “Forces of Evil Want to Steal Our Freedom in the Dark of Night, But God Stands With Us,” that resolves the question.
If you haven’t heard of Western Journal, don’t feel bad. I haven’t either, and I work in opinion journalism professionally. Presumably, Flynn shopped his column to several outlets before WJ (as its readers call it, probably) agreed to run it.
How to judge this op-ed? It is difficult to evaluate without knowing whether Flynn’s objective was to advance a policy agenda or to help his legal team plant an insanity defense. On the plus side, his prose is — well, distinctive. And his argument is difficult to rebut.
On the negative side, his main contention regarding the forces of evil and their alleged goals of stealing freedom is lacking in concrete evidence. The column is easier to understand if you read it in the voice of Colonel Jack D. Ripper, the deranged right-wing general in Dr. Strangelove. If I had edited the column, I would have urged Flynn to periodically address the reader as “Mandrake.”
A few passages give the Ripper-esque flavor of his analysis:
Once again, tyranny and treachery are in our midst, and although we feel we’ve descended into a hellish state of existence, we must never forget, hell is conquerable.
And:
The idea or notion of a heaven on Earth is the very real sense of being free. Freedom is oxygen. Like the air we breathe that keeps our lungs full and our hearts beating, the celestial feeling of freedom brings a sense of peace to our souls.
And:
As long as we accept God in the lifeblood of our nation, we will be OK. If we don’t, we will face a hellish existence.
And:
God willing, we will prevail in peace and freedom from fear and in true health through the purity and essence of our natural fluids. God bless you all.
Wait, sorry; that last bit is from Dr. Strangelove. The rest are real Flynn quotes, though.
The Ripper character is defined by his superficially responsible and accomplished mien, which gradually reveals a military man who has been driven into dangerous monomaniacal aggression by right-wing paranoia. This is an almost eerily perfect description of Flynn. Except Flynn, unlike Ripper, is also a crook.
Bannon Ally in Charge of U.S. Media Agency Dismisses Heads of News Organizations
A conservative filmmaker who recently took over a United States global media agency removed the chiefs of four news organizations under its purview on Wednesday night, according to people with knowledge of the decision, in an action that raises questions about their editorial independence.
The filmmaker, Michael Pack, also dismissed the head of a technology group and disbanded the bipartisan board that helps oversee and advise those five organizations. He replaced its members largely with Trump administration political appointees, including himself as chairman. One board member works for a conservative advocacy organization, Liberty Counsel Action.
The moves were criticized by congressional officials, including a leading Democratic senator, and former diplomats as an effort to turn the news organizations under the United States Agency for Global Media into partisan outlets. The organizations receive funding from the American government but operate independently.
Mr. Pack is a close ally of Stephen K. Bannon, the former campaign strategist and White House adviser to President Trump who has urged Mr. Trump to take charge of the news organizations and reshape them to his purposes. Democrats in the Senate held up Mr. Pack’s nomination for years, but Mr. Trump urged Republicans in recent weeks to push through the confirmation.
[…]
The organizational heads dismissed Wednesday night were Bay Fang of Radio Free Asia; Jamie Fly of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Alberto M. Fernandez of Middle East Broadcasting Networks; Emilio Vazquez of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting; and Libby Liu of the Open Technology Fund.
Just cleaning house over here, gotta give everything a good white down.
Top State Department official resigns in protest of Trump’s response to racial tensions in the country
Mary Elizabeth Taylor, assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, submitted her resignation Thursday. Taylor’s five-paragraph resignation letter, obtained by The Washington Post, serves as an indictment of Trump’s stewardship at a time of national unrest from one of the administration’s highest-ranking African Americans and an aide who was viewed as loyal and effective in serving his presidency.
“Moments of upheaval can change you, shift the trajectory of your life, and mold your character. The President’s comments and actions surrounding racial injustice and Black Americans cut sharply against my core values and convictions,” Taylor wrote in her resignation letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “I must follow the dictates of my conscience and resign as Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs.”