https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/11/politics/donald-trump-joe-biden-transition/index.html
Alarm grows over Trump's 'dictator moves' as he denies election defeat
https://edition.cnn.com/profiles/stephen-collinson
After Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who had put loyalty to the Constitution ahead of his duty to the President, three other senior Pentagon officials have been fired or resigned.
They include the department's top policy official, James Anderson, who resigned and is being replaced by retired Brigadier General Anthony Tata, whose nomination for the post earlier this summer foundered after CNN's KFile reported his numerous past Islamophobic and offensive remarks.
Sources told Barbara Starr and CNN's Pentagon team that the dismissals might be motivated by pushback from Esper and his team against a withdrawal from Afghanistan that would be carried out before the required conditions on the ground were met, and other pending security issues.
"This is scary, it's very unsettling," one defense official told CNN. "These are dictator moves."
A disputed transfer of power could offer US adversaries an opening, especially if there is a belief abroad that there is disarray in the national security infrastructure. Trump may next turn his ire on CIA Director Gina Haspel and FBI Director Christopher Wray, CNN's Jake Tapper has reported. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said on CNN International Tuesday that he feared the US was entering a dangerous period.
"I think (Trump) is going to be uniquely distracted from world events and national security," Murphy said. Former national security adviser John Bolton told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that Pompeo's comments on a Trump transition were "delusional."
"I think he has eviscerated his credibility internationally because I think there are very few people even in the US government who believe that is the case," Bolton said.
Alarm grows over Trump's 'dictator moves' as he denies election defeat
https://edition.cnn.com/profiles/stephen-collinson
After Trump fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who had put loyalty to the Constitution ahead of his duty to the President, three other senior Pentagon officials have been fired or resigned.
They include the department's top policy official, James Anderson, who resigned and is being replaced by retired Brigadier General Anthony Tata, whose nomination for the post earlier this summer foundered after CNN's KFile reported his numerous past Islamophobic and offensive remarks.
Sources told Barbara Starr and CNN's Pentagon team that the dismissals might be motivated by pushback from Esper and his team against a withdrawal from Afghanistan that would be carried out before the required conditions on the ground were met, and other pending security issues.
"This is scary, it's very unsettling," one defense official told CNN. "These are dictator moves."
A disputed transfer of power could offer US adversaries an opening, especially if there is a belief abroad that there is disarray in the national security infrastructure. Trump may next turn his ire on CIA Director Gina Haspel and FBI Director Christopher Wray, CNN's Jake Tapper has reported. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said on CNN International Tuesday that he feared the US was entering a dangerous period.
"I think (Trump) is going to be uniquely distracted from world events and national security," Murphy said. Former national security adviser John Bolton told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that Pompeo's comments on a Trump transition were "delusional."
"I think he has eviscerated his credibility internationally because I think there are very few people even in the US government who believe that is the case," Bolton said.
