Fall out from the clearing out of VOA and former Board members are protesting Pack’s actions
and write a letter to him.
Former Board members on Maddow tonight discussing the fallout
Karen Kornbluh
Ryan Crocker - Diplomat, former Ambassador
Video Maddow
Bipartisan lawmakers are calling for answers from the new Trump-appointed chief executive at the US Agency for Global Media after a firing spree on Wednesday.
The shakeups at the taxpayer-funded agency have raised concerns that CEO Michael Pack intends to turn the agency into a political arm of the administration, prompting both Democratic lawmakers and former USAGM board members to call on him to respect the independence of its news organizations and recognize its importance in promoting democracy abroad.
Jamie Fly, the ousted head of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFERL), on Friday warned against the US falling behind authoritarian countries in the information space and called for “clear and consistent leadership, funding, and support” at the news organization.
In what a former official described as a “Wednesday night massacre,” the heads of Middle East Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and the Open Technology Fund were all ousted, multiple sources told CNN, and their respective boards were dismissed.
In a press release Thursday, USAGM described it as “Pack (effecting) a series of significant and long-overdue actions to keep assurances to restructure the agency, fully in accordance with the law.”
“Every action I carried out was – and every action I will carry out will be – geared toward rebuilding the USAGM’s reputation, boosting morale, and improving content,” Pack said in the release, which included positive anonymous quotes and was described by one staffer as akin to “North Korean” propaganda.
Bipartisan concern
The Democratic chairs of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and House Appropriations Committee wrote in a letter to Pack Friday that they were “outraged” at Wednesday’s actions.
“Now, more than ever, it is critical that the USAGM staff are enabled and empowered to do this critical work and to continue the longstanding practice of not getting entangled in politics – and especially that they are not expected to shift their practice to propagandize or mislead audiences at the Trump Administration’s whim,” wrote Reps. Eliot Engel and Nita Lowey of New York.
They called on Pack to turn over by June 29 “any and all documents relating to, referring to or regarding the performance, views, and/or potential termination or replacement of Alberto Fernandez, Jamie Fly, Bay Fang, and Libby Liu” – the individuals who were ousted on Wednesday – stretching back to the beginning of Trump’s presidency.
Rep. Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Friday that he was concerned by the removals and Pack’s failure to consult with Congress.
While every new leader has a right to bring in his or her own team, these mass terminations beyond just the USAGM executive leadership seem potentially damaging to both the operations & morale of the agency," he wrote on Twitter. “Unfortunately, I and others were not consulted before these major decisions were made. Further troubling is that in his letter to USAGM employees, he stressed the importance of consulting with Congress.”
“I hope CEO Pack will find time very soon to explain to me and my colleagues on the House Foreign Affairs Committee his reasons for making these decisions,” the Texas Republican said. He and GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee also said they were “troubled” by the removal of another top official at the Open Technology Fund “and are concerned about the future of the organization.”
“We have been impressed with the efforts of President Laura Cunningham and her team, and we look forward to hearing from CEO Pack on how he plans to continue the vital mission of OTF during this time of transition,” the Republican lawmakers wrote in a statement Friday.
From Elizabeth Warren pointing to the inherent corruption in Michael Pack’s moves.
Shady stuff…SDNY - the fiercely independent part of the Judiciary, and a T appointee Berman is let go. What is up with this…???
FRIDAY nite missile.
There will be an overseeing DA from NJ for 5 months.
The SDNY has received pressure from Wm Barr in the past.
Does not pass smell test.
NYT too
Cross-posting 
NPR reporter tells us the follow-up on T firing Berman…and the coercion/lies that AG Barr was involved with.
Excerpt from NYT above
“Unprecedented”
Trump Fires Berman After Tensions Rose Over Inquiries - The New York Times
“While there have always been turf battles between the Southern District and the Justice Department in Washington, and occasionally sharp elbows, to take someone out suddenly while they’re investigating the president’s lawyer, it is just unprecedented in modern times,” said David Massey, a defense attorney, who served as a Southern District prosecutor for nearly a decade.
A spokesman for the office said Mr. Berman would not immediately comment.
The struggle over Mr. Berman came amid a broader purge of administration officials, one that has intensified in the months since the Republican-led Senate acquitted Mr. Trump at an impeachment trial. Since the beginning of the year, the president has fired or forced out inspectors general with independent oversight over executive branch agencies and other key figures from the trial.
Kevin Hassett to leave White House [Again] this summer
White House adviser Kevin Hassett will leave the administration this summer, after returning in March to help the president respond to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, according to two administration officials.
Mike Griffin, the Pentagon’s first undersecretary of research and engineering, and his deputy, Lisa Porter, will leave July 10.
Well I totally missed this!
Over Memorial Day weekend, Attorney General William Barr removed a low-profile US attorney in Texas following the public airing of a dispute over an investigation into Walmart – a move that didn’t draw the same attention as the firing of the high-profile US attorney in Manhattan, but is now raising new questions about political interference inside the Justice Department.
Joseph Brown, the US attorney for the Eastern District of Texas and a Trump appointee, was pushed out after ProPublica published a nearly 7,000-word storyheadlined “Walmart was almost charged criminally over opioids. Trump appointees killed the indictment,” which described an internal battle over a Texas prosecutor’s efforts to bring criminal charges against Walmart, according to people familiar with the matter. Walmart has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Late last month, Brown was contacted by a Justice Department official in Washington and given an ultimatum, he could resign or it would go “differently,” according to a person familiar with the exchange.
The official didn’t explain why Washington officials wanted Brown to leave, according to the person, "but it was clear it was related to ProPublica. That’s the only explanation.”
And a twofer!
Joshua Russ, the assistant US attorney in Texas overseeing the civil investigation and the co-head of a Justice Department working group, resigned in October after the civil investigation stalled.
In his resignation letter, which was published by ProPublica, Russ wrote, “I appreciate that there are rational disagreements about how best to proceed, and I respect those divergent views. However, I deeply regret that Department leadership prevented EDTX from filing its lawsuit in 2018.”
Brown was replaced by Stephen J Cox, a Barr pick who ran the civil division in Washington. According to ProPublica, when Texas prosecutors wanted to file a civil lawsuit against Walmart Cox was among the Washington officials who said it wasn’t ready.
The Federal Election Commission is losing its short-lived quorum after Caroline Hunter, a longtime Republican commissioner of the FEC and former chair of the agency, is resigning, according to a resignation letter obtained by POLITICO.
Her departure from the agency means that the FEC will be unable to make major enforcement actions.
White House Economist Tested Positive for Covid-19
Tomas Philipson said this week he would depart as acting chairman of Council of Economic Advisers
Cross-posting
White House liaison to Hill out amid allegations of contacts with lobbyists
Chris Cox, President Donald Trump’s top liaison to the House of Representatives, has told associates he is leaving the White House, 15 hours after POLITICO raised questions about his alleged contacts with a former lobbying client while in government.
On multiple occasions, Cox suggested while working in the White House that he was collecting intelligence or doing work after speaking to representatives and lobbyists from corporate interests, multiple sources said. White House spokesman Judd Deere defended the practice in Playbook’s afternoon editionThursday. “I’m not seeing anything nefarious here,” he said.
A top terrorism fighter’s dire warning
Russell Travers, the former head of the U.S. government’s hub for analysis of counterterrorism intelligence, was so alarmed that he shared his concerns with the intelligence community’s top internal watchdog in his final weeks on the job.
“I think there are really important questions that need to be addressed, and I don’t think they have been thus far,” said Travers, who ran the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) until March of this year. “And that has me worried, because I do think we could very easily end up back where we were 20 years ago.”
Travers detailed his concerns, much of which remain highly classified, to the intelligence community’s inspector general. About a week later, he was summarily ousted, he says — and the Trump administration official who fired him didn’t explain why.
ICE chief to depart agency
Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting Director Matt Albence is retiring from the agency he has led since last year, according to a Department of Homeland Security official.
A longtime career law enforcement official, Albence has filled the top spot at the agency multiple times during the Trump administration as leadership at ICE – an agency under DHS – has shifted.
Reopened, Fire away Mr President, I’m ready.
How a veteran’s secret podcast put her in the Trump administration’s crosshairs
I did listen for a long while…Mueller She Wrote. She had excellent podcasts with very noteable people - Ex FBI Andy McCabe became a fan.
Too bad…right?!