Top aides to President Donald Trump faced calls from critics to resign after the U.S. leader publicly sided with Russian President Vladimir Putin and against the U.S. intelligence community over charges that Moscow interfered in the 2016 election.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary James Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and national security adviser John Bolton were among the officials who political commentators and lawmakers said should quit their posts over the president’s seeming submission to Putin during a joint news conference Monday.
Even some on the right jumped into the fray, largely via social media, to suggest that Cabinet officials or other top members of Trump’s team should look for the exits.
“After today the principals who think they’re indispensable should draw straws and one should go,” Ross Douthat, a prominent conservative columnist with The New York Times, wrote on Twitter.
There was no sign that any Trump aides would be quitting; a Pentagon spokesman said Mattis is not considering it, while a National Security Council staffer declined to comment when asked about Bolton’s future. The State Department did not respond to a question on Pompeo’s plans.
Others called on U.S. ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman, White House chief of staff John Kelly, and Fiona Hill, a top Russia hand on the National Security Council, to call it quits.
…….
- Discussion
-
Top Trump aides faced calls to resign after the U.S. leader publicly sided with Putin and against the U.S. intelligence community over charges that Moscow interfered in the 2016 election https://t.co/jEvQugRVJJ
— POLITICO (@politico) July 17, 2018
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.