Good-bye John Bolton, aka Walrus of Doom.
We will not miss thee.
Not at all.
#anotheronebitesthedust #BestPeople #JohnBolton
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This is the problem with trying to keep track of the comings and goings of every high level official that leaves the administration, there are also deputies and support staff that go with them. It’s not always clear who and how many are leaving. 
There should more transparency for the taxpayers. 
Three top aides to former national security adviser John Bolton submitted their resignations on Wednesday a day after Bolton and President Donald Trump parted ways.
Garrett Marquis, Bolton’s top spokesman, Sarah Tinsley, his communications director, and scheduler Christine Samuelian all resigned in what a source called an amicable fashion.
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The greatest hits…l o n g. L i s t…
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William Happer, the White House architect of a stalled plan to attack the established science of climate change, is leaving the Trump administration on Friday, according to three people familiar with his plans.
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The White House on Tuesday fired John Mitnick, the general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, after months of shake-up at an agency responsible for carrying out President Trump’s immigration agenda.
“We thank John for this service, and we wish him well,” a department spokeswoman said Tuesday night.
The White House this year has turned the Department of Homeland Security — which oversees securing the country’s borders, disaster relief efforts and addressing domestic terrorism and cybersecurity threats — into a revolving door of officials, creating a void of permanent leadership.
A Trump administration official said Tuesday evening that Chad Mizelle, an associate counsel to the president, would replace Mr. Mitnick. But a Department of Homeland Security official said later that Joseph B. Maher, the department’s principal deputy general counsel, would be taking over.
In April, the White House purged multiple senior homeland security officials, including the secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen and the acting deputy secretary, Claire Grady.
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Out
Gilbert Kaplan - Undersecretary for International Trade/Commerce Dept
John Mitnick - Dept Homeland Security (already reported)
@rusticgorilla spreadsheet
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Wow! This is huge. Really huge. Resigning under these circumstances strongly implies a consciousness of guilt. It’s now more important than ever for both Volker and Giuliani to testify.
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OH yes. I’ve been struggling all day to stay on top of these developments and piece them together. It’s no longer a snowball. It’s an avalanche.
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Up next most probably for an exit US Energy Secretary - Rick Perry, the least likely appointee
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Trump appointee guts anti-terrorism programs (including forcing out 100 scientists who helped detect WMDs) then leaves
I like to think that I follow the news pretty closely, but I had no idea this was happening. How many other programs crucial to our security and to the health of our nation have been gutted by Trump while we are distracted by his daily dumpster fires?
James F. McDonnell, a presidential appointee who over the last two years downsized the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to prevent terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction, has agreed to resign.
McDonnell’s resignation, department sources said, comes at the request of acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan and would become effective at noon on Thursday, according to an email McDonnell sent his staff … on Wednesday.
…
President Trump appointed McDonnell to posts in 2017 and 2018 at Homeland Security, where he has led the department’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office and its predecessor, the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office.McDonnell has faced scrutiny from Republicans and Democrats in Congress in response to reports this year by the Los Angeles Times that brought to light his decisions — including his promotion of a scientifically disputed system for detecting airborne anthrax and other infectious agents that could be wielded in a biological attack.
McDonnell announced in November 2018 that he was aiming to install the new detection system nationwide within two years, even though the fluorescent “trigger” technology underlying it had failed repeatedly in testing sponsored by Homeland Security’s scientific staff.
On July 18, The Times also reported that McDonnell had directed the scaling back or elimination of multiple anti-terrorism programs at Homeland Security, which has primary domestic responsibility for helping authorities detect and block WMD-related threats. The article described the gutting of training and drills, including “red team” efforts to instruct federal, state and local officials on how to detect suitcase-sized nuclear devices or radioactive “dirty bombs” hidden on cargo ships.
Among other programs affected was a unit that had helped lead up to 20 WMD-related training exercises each year with state and local authorities. The unit participated in fewer than 10 such exercises last year, and even fewer so far this year, according to internal Homeland Security documents.
The department’s International Cooperation Division also has been disbanded by McDonnell. It had worked closely with foreign counterparts and the United Nations-affiliated International Atomic Energy Agency to track and stop the smuggling of dangerous nuclear materials overseas.
…
McDonnell’s decision-making has sparked widespread upheaval among Homeland Security staff specialists. As of mid-2019, more than 100 scientists and policy experts specializing in radiological and nuclear threats had been reassigned or left to take jobs unrelated to their expertise, The Times found, undermining the department’s ability to protect the nation from devastating attacks.The rock-bottom morale within the offices that McDonnell has led may also have influenced McAleenan’s decision to seek his ouster.
The annual government-wide Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, or “FEVS,” sponsored by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, found last year that the McDonnell-led Domestic Nuclear Detection Office ranked last – No. 415 – among similar “subcomponent” offices. …
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Trump Orders Cut to National Security Staff After Whistle-Blower
President Donald Trump has ordered a substantial reduction in the staff of the National Security Council, according to five people familiar with the plans, as the White House confronts an impeachment inquiry touched off by a whistle-blower complaint related to the agency’s work.
Some of the people described the staff cuts as part of a White House effort to make its foreign policy arm leaner under new National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien.
The request to limit the size of the NSC staff was conveyed to senior agency officials by acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and O’Brien this week. The whistle-blower complaint, focused on Trump’s conduct in a July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has been followed by damaging reports on the president’s private conversations with other world leaders.
The New York Times has reported that the whistle-blower was a CIA officer who was at one point detailed to the White House. The complaint has become the driving motivation behind House Democrats’ impeachment effort, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi began last week.
Two of the people familiar with the decision to shrink the NSC insisted it was largely rooted in both the transition to O’Brien’s leadership as well as Trump’s desire to increase efficiency at the agency, which grew under former President Barack Obama. About 310 people currently work at the NSC.
All of the people asked not to be identified because the plan to reduce the NSC’s size hasn’t been made public.
Late Friday, Trump re-tweeted an allegation that the whistle-blower was a CIA official who had been assigned to the NSC under President Barack Obama. Bloomberg News has not verified that assertion.
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Resignation of Michael McKinley, tonight Senior Career Diplomat in protest of Pompeo’s actions.
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Acting homeland security secretary resigns
Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary of homeland security since April and the fourth person to serve in that post since the Trump presidency began, submitted his resignation to the White House on Friday, President Donald Trump announced Friday.
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Can we believe him this time? Or does he still have one foot on the boat and one foot on the dock? Psst, Rick, that boat is sinking.
Secretary of Energy Rick Perry plans to leave his position at the end of the year, President Trump confirmed to reporters Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas. Trump praised Perry and said he already has a replacement in mind.
Perry, 69, is one of Trump’s original Cabinet members and recently has emerged as a central figure in the impeachment inquiry of Trump.
Perry was part of what was dubbed “the three amigos” — in addition to Gordon Sondland, ambassador to the European Union, and Kurt Volker, former envoy to Ukraine — charged with managing the U.S.-Ukraine relationship after the White House removed the core of its Ukraine policy team last spring.
Trump reportedly blamed Perry earlier this month for that now-famous call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which Trump pressed Zelenskiy to investigate his potential political rival former Vice President Joe Biden and Biden’s son.
Perry says he wanted Trump and Zelenskiy to talk strengthening energy business ties between the two countries. Regarding the Biden issue, Perry told the Christian Broadcasting Network, “As God as my witness not once was a Biden name — not the former vice president, not his son — ever mentioned.”
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These are the acting Cabinet positions as of October 21:
Department of Homeland Security secretary
Director of National Intelligence
Chief of staff
Small Business Administrator
Here is Trump’s current Cabinet:
Vice President Mike Pence
Commerce: Wilbur Ross
Defense: Mark Esper
White House Chief of Staff: Mick Mulvaney ( acting )
State: Mike Pompeo
Education: Betsy DeVos
Energy: Rick Perry
Central Intelligence Agency: Gina Haspel
Health and Human Services: Alex Azar
Homeland Security: Kevin McAleenan ( acting )
Housing and Urban Development: Ben Carson
Agriculture: Sonny Perdue
Interior: David Bernhardt
Labor: Eugene Scalia
Transportation: Elaine Chao
Treasury: Steven Mnuchin
Veterans Affairs: Robert Wilkie
Attorney General: William Barr
Environmental Protection Agency: Andrew Wheeler
Office of Management and Budget: Russell Vought ( acting – Mulvaney technically stills holds the director position )
United States Trade Representative: Robert Lighthizer
Director of National Intelligence: Joseph Maguire ( acting )
Administrator of the Small Business Administration: Chris Pilkerton ( acting )
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that US Ambassador to the UN is no longer a Cabinet-level position in the Trump administration.
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This is beautiful. Thank you for posting this article!
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Trump administration official plans to resign — with a call to cancel billions in student loan debts
One of the Trump administration’s top education officials has announced his intention to quit, and endorsed the cancellation of $925 billion in existing students loans, according to the Wall Street Journal. A. Wayne Johnson was appointed chief operating officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid in 2017, and later became chief strategy and transformation officer in the department. Johnson reportedly called the student loan system “fundamentally broken,” and added: “We run through the process of putting this debt burden on somebody… but it rides on their credit files—it rides on their back—for decades … The time has come for us to end and stop the insanity.”
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