Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigns as Trump rage continues

By artappraiser on Sun, 04/07/2019 - 8:08pm |

Reading @DLind’s overview of the Nielsen Era at DHS and her ouster, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Trump fired her because he’s looking for someone who’ll not just be hardline but actually break the law. https://t.co/jYyLoCptrA
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) April 7, 2019

URL:

https://www.vox.com/2019/4/7/18299585/kirstjen-nielsen-trump-dhs-homeland-security-resign-secretary-new

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Hill Republicans have been told Jared Kushner (who did not impress during shutdown) will play a bigger role on all things immigration -- with Mike Pence being tasked last week to work on closing loopholes in current immigration law.https://t.co/gwugUMCg9W
— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) April 8, 2019

by artappraiser on Sun, 04/07/2019 - 9:25pm

This is why it would have been useful for the press to report what kind of company Trump Inc was instead of implying it was some massive corporation like Chrysler or Bear Stearns - it's like 5 people in a box spinning deals. And that's what our government has devolved into - the acting Secretary of State, Defense and Some Other Stuff did this today, the acting Secretary of Treasury, Homeland Defense and Building the Wall did the other stuff, while the Secretary of Pissing Offf Schools is out at a conference pissing off schools.

by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 04/08/2019 - 1:15am

I warned them. #ETTD https://t.co/qw0popXMOv
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) April 8, 2019

by artappraiser on Mon, 04/08/2019 - 5:43am

More Top Homeland Security Officials Set to Leave in Trump Purge

Randolph D. Alles, the director of the Secret Service, received instructions 10 days ago to come up with an exit plan and was expected to leave on his own timeline.

By Eileen Sullivan & Maggie Haberman @ NYTimes.com, April 8

WASHINGTON — President Trump moved to sweep out the top ranks of the Department of Homeland Security on Monday, a day after pushing out its secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, accelerating a purge of the nation’s immigration and security leadership.

Government officials said three more top department leaders were expected to leave soon: L. Francis Cissna, the head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; Randolph D. Alles, the Secret Service director; and John Mitnik, the agency’s general counsel.

The White House confirmed the departure of Mr. Alles in a statement but made no immediate comment on the other pending moves. The White House statement said that the president has selected James M. Murray, a career Secret Service official, to take over as director in May [....]

by artappraiser on Mon, 04/08/2019 - 2:54pm

When you fire the head of the Secret Service because he exposed a gaping hole in US national security at your emolument factory. https://t.co/cxd0R9usen
— Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) April 8, 2019

by artappraiser on Mon, 04/08/2019 - 2:58pm

Trump’s Cabinet Is Increasingly Bare

Kirstjen Nielsen is out at Homeland Security. Don’t expect a replacement any time soon.

Op-ed by Jonathan Bernstein @ Bloomberg.com,

President Donald Trump has lost yet another cabinet secretary. On Sunday, he forced out his second secretary of homeland security, Kirstjen Nielsen, without naming a successor. In fact, the official he announced as the acting secretary, Kevin McAleenan, isn’t legally entitled to that position, which instead should go to Claire Grady. Who is that? She’s currently the acting deputy secretary – because that position, too, is vacant and has been for a year. (Trump will presumably need to fire her to make way for McAleenan.)

At least there’s a nominee for Homeland Security’s chief financial officer. Granted, his name was only put forward in March, after the previous nominee was withdrawn 10 months ago.

FEMA? Trump named Jeffrey Byard on Feb. 15 after the last administrator resigned, but don’t expect Senate action any time soon: The president hasn’t gotten around to formally submitting the nomination yet, almost two months later. As for the assistant secretary for policy, Trump hasn’t nominated anyone at all – after almost 27 months in office.

All in all, of the 18 most important positions in the department subject to presidential nomination and Senate confirmation, Nielsen’s departure will leave only nine filled. This is almost entirely Trump’s fault: He has failed to select any nominees for some positions, caused other personnel to leave at unprecedented rates by making impossible demands, and done such a poor job of picking people that many have withdrawn before they could get confirmed.

One reason that Trump is constantly frustrated by the failure of Homeland Security to do what he wants is that some of what he wants is illegal. Another reason is that he’s inept at bargaining with members of Congress, so he can’t get them to advance his priorities. Yet another reason is Trump’s well-known pattern of issuing threats and then caving, as he did last week over shutting down the border. But a final and crucial reason, which Trump doesn’t seem to appreciate, is that it’s easy for permanent civil servants to resist a president who doesn’t have confirmed nominees in place. Meanwhile, there’s still no nominee for secretary of defense

[....]

.It’s not clear why the president is so negligent in this regard. Trump himself has suggested that he likes “actings” because he can bully them more easily than Senate-confirmed nominees – not seeming to realize that the same weakness those officials display to him makes them incapable of carrying out his instructions when they return to their departments. An alternate explanation is that Trump doesn’t have a firm grasp of how the federal government works or what his own job is supposed to entail

by artappraiser on Mon, 04/08/2019 - 3:21pm

Grassley warns White House not to oust any more top immigration officials

By Seung Min Kim @ WaPo, April 8

The most senior Senate Republican is warning the White House not to oust another top immigration official, making appeals to the administration against dismissing Lee Francis Cissna, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, amid a purge of Homeland Security leaders.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said he was “very, very concerned” regarding reports that Cissna could be next in a series of rapid-fire DHS dismissals that began late last week when the White House suddenly pulled the nomination of Ronald Vitiello, who had been tapped as director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“One, those are good public servants,” Grassley said Monday evening, after rumors of Cissna’s potential exit percolated all day. “Secondly, besides the personal connection I have with them and the qualifications they have, they are the intellectual basis for what the president wants to accomplish in immigration.”

[....]

Grassley had already worked closely with Cissna, who had been detailed from the administration to work on the Senate Judiciary Committee when the Iowa Republican served as its chairman. Other Grassley alumni hold senior positions at the citizenship agency, including Kathy Nuebel Kovarik, who is the chief of USCIS’s Office of Policy and Strategy.

“The president has to have some stability and particularly with the number one issue that he’s made for his campaign, throughout his two and a half years of presidency,” Grassley said. “He’s pulling the rug out from the very people that are trying to help him accomplish his goal.” [....]

GOP fears Trump return to family separations

By Alexander Bolton @ TheHill.com - 04/08/19 06:56 PM EDT

[....] Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), a member of the Republican leadership team, said “one thing we all agree on now is families ought to be kept together as much as possible.”

He said the outcome of a Senate confirmation process to replace Nielsen would depend on whom Trump nominates.

“Depends on who it is but it’s going to take some oxygen,” Cornyn said when asked whether GOP leaders would be able to coalesce 50 votes around any nominee.

Trump may also have a battle on his hands with Republicans over the confirmation of Herman Cain to the Federal Reserve. Cain was accused of sexual misconduct while he served as a board member and president of the National Restaurant Association. His confirmation battle could reopen a conversation for Republicans about sexual harassment months after the nasty battle over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

Senate Republicans gained seats in the midterm elections, largely because of a favorable map that left Democrats defending more than two dozen seats — including in states that were easily won by Trump in 2016.

But the party faces a more difficult map in 2020 [....]

by artappraiser on Tue, 04/09/2019 - 1:05am

Trump’s DHS purge floors Republicans

Even GOP allies of the president are distressed by the chaos unleashed on federal immigration policy.

By BURGESS EVERETT, JOHN BRESNAHAN and MELANIE ZANONA @ Politico.com, 04/08/2019 07:44 PM EDT

[....] “It’s a mess,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said, summing up the dynamic on the border and in Washington.

Republicans note that the president has the right to fire whoever he wants, but few offered an explicit defense of his decisions to oust DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, pull the top Immigration and Customs Enforcement pick, remove the Secret Service director and threaten more terminations.

“Strikes me as just a frustration of not being able to solve a problem. Honestly, it wasn’t Secretary Nielsen’s fault. It wasn’t for lack of effort on her part. I don’t know if there’s anybody who’s going to be able to do more,” said Cornyn, who spoke to Nielsen on Monday and planned to speak to her interim replacement, Kevin McAleenan, later in the day.

Cornyn said he has no idea what Miller’s “agenda” is in determining immigration policy because he isn’t Senate-confirmed and doesn’t correspond with the Hill.

“I thought that Nielsen was doing a fantastic job,” added Joni Ernst of Iowa, the No. 5 Senate GOP leader. “I would love to see some continuity. I think that’s important." [.....]

by artappraiser on Tue, 04/09/2019 - 1:12am

Federal judge blocks Trump from forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico

By Stef W. Knight @ Axios.com, 8 hrs. ago

A federal judge in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction on Monday afternoon blocking the Trump administration from forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico until their cases have been finalized starting this weekend.

The big picture: The injunction, which will come into effect this weekend, marks yet another attempt by the Trump administration to curb immigration that has been shut down by the courts. The decision comes one day after the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen — who just last week ordered that the remain-in-Mexico policy be expanded — [.....]

by artappraiser on Tue, 04/09/2019 - 1:14am

Senator Ron Johnson-R (Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee & the Subcommittee on Europe & Regional Security Cooperation) does an "don't worry, we're in charge here" kinda Al Haig impersonation

Statement regarding the crisis at the border and DHS leadership. pic.twitter.com/OfJGUnJBbf
— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) April 8, 2019

Tomorrow we'll hold another hearing on the crisis at the southern border. Will hear from people on the frontlines of Border Patrol, @CBP, @DHSgov, and the Drug Enforcement Agency. Tune in here at 10am ET: https://t.co/ZXGbDkK5e7
— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) April 8, 2019

We've held dozens of hearing on border security. Tomorrow is another one. We are dealing with a humanitarian and security crisis at the border. pic.twitter.com/zTUiFEot8O
— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) April 9, 2019

Laura Rozen and friend speculate this is the evil Stephen Miller stoking chaos with the Trumpian brain:

I think Miller wants this, yes. https://t.co/ziTsXHY9n0
— Barbara Smith (@nanaslugdiva) April 9, 2019

And I see Eric Lutz at Vanity Fair's The Hive is already on that meme:

WITH NIELSEN OUT, STEPHEN MILLER IS POISED TO REMAKE D.H.S. IN HIS IMAGE

Miller has waged a covert war of influence to weed out administration officials he believes are too soft on immigration.

Whatever he's planning, won't fly with the GOP Senators up for re-election. Nor the judiciary. Nor even the military who are already known to have kvetched a lot about being sent to the border.

by artappraiser on Tue, 04/09/2019 - 1:51am

Fascinating, Lutz @ Vanity Fair predicted a Miller vs. Jared power struggle over immigration last week (I always suspected Vanity Fair got lots of their leaks from Jvanka and that they were strategic leaks. Don't forget Jared used to own The Observer which was always known as leak central even before he owned it.) The amping up of legal immigration temp worker visas, that was Jared:

STEPHEN MILLER’S POWER OVER TRUMP IS ABOUT TO BE TESTED

Jared Kushner is taking over efforts to increase legal immigration, putting him on a collision course with the West Wing’s most hardline anti-immigration extremist.

BY ERIC LUTZ APRIL 3, 2019 1:23 PM

by artappraiser on Tue, 04/09/2019 - 2:13am

Mar-a-Lago Chinese hack feed - follow Shimon - yes this is tied to the brothels and lay-for-access and Trump is playing "shoot the messenger" reather than investigate a whacko security problem.

https://mobile.twitter.com/ShimonPro

by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 04/09/2019 - 5:31am

I was thinking that if the NYPost puts it on the cover, surely Fox News won't ignore the story:

Quite the cover. I was in court today. Fascinating case! https://t.co/sPJXXpwI68
— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) April 8, 2019

but they are playing it down, have only this under "Editor's Picks": Woman arrested at Mar-A-Lago had cash, signal detector in hotel room, prosecutors say

by artappraiser on Tue, 04/09/2019 - 6:53am

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigns as Trump rage continues

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