CIA Director Gina Haspel threatened to resign in early December after President Trump cooked up a hasty plan to install loyalist Kash Patel, a former aide to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), as her deputy, according to three senior administration officials with direct knowledge of the matter.
Why it matters: The revelation stunned national security officials and almost blew up the leadership of the world’s most powerful spy agency. Only a series of coincidences — and last minute interventions from Vice President Mike Pence and White House counsel Pat Cipollone — stopped it.
Behind the scenes: Trump had spent his last year in office ruminating over Haspel. Some of the president’s hardcore allies, including Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, were publicly raising doubts in his mind about Haspel.
– He grew to distrust her, and instead wanted a loyal ally at the top of the CIA. But she wasn’t the only national security official the president wanted out. Six days after the election, he fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
– He replaced Esper with counterterrorism chief Chris Miller — and then stunned long-time national security hands by installing Patel as Miller’s chief of staff. Patel had no military experience, and was widely seen as a political mercenary bent on punishing the president’s perceived “Deep State” foes.
– But Trump told confidants he had bigger plans for Patel: He’d force out CIA Deputy Director Vaughn Bishop, replace him with Patel, and if Haspel quit in protest, then Patel or another loyalist would lead the CIA.
……..
Trump planned to name Patel deputy director of the CIA on Dec. 11 — in fact, the paperwork had already been drafted to formalize Patel’s appointment. That same day, Haspel decided for the first time in weeks to attend the president’s daily intelligence briefing.
– Reports that she was on the ropes had been swirling for weeks and she’d been steering clear of the West Wing — a COVID hotzone. During the briefing that day, Haspel deftly reminded Trump of what had initially impressed him about her: As Trump often put it, she was tough, and good at killing terrorists.
– After the briefing ended and Haspel had left the room, Trump asked a small group of his senior aides what they thought about Haspel. Pence delivered a full-throated defense, calling the CIA director a patriot, praising her job performance and trying to reassure Trump that she had his back. Cipollone had also repeatedly defended Haspel to the president.
Trump abruptly switched course, deciding to call off the plan to install Patel. But there was one glitch: Just down the hall in the chief of staff’s office, Meadows had already told Haspel that Patel would be taking Bishop’s job.
– Haspel responded with the flinty aggression she was renowned for. She said she wouldn’t stand for it, and that she would resign before allowing Patel to assume a position as her deputy.
– Meadows had presented it as a fait accompli, but this was not a decision Haspel would take lying down. And now Trump had changed his mind. Meadows had to swallow his pride and reverse the order.
Driving the news: On Friday, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a prominent election-overturning conspiracy theorist and lawyer Sidney Powell, visited Trump for his final Friday afternoon in the Oval Office.
– Washington Post photographer Jabin Botsford caught a picture of Lindell’s notes before he entered the West Wing.
– Among the pillow entrepreneur’s prescriptions for the president was the eye-catching line: “Move Kash Patel to CIA Acting.”
What they’re saying: Patel declined to comment on the president’s early-December plan, but told Axios, “I do want to say on the record that I have never met, spoken to, seen, texted, or communicated with Mike Lindell.”
- Discussion
-
SCOOP: Gina Haspel almost resigned over plan to install Trump loyalist Kash Patel as CIA deputy .. a crazy backstory https://t.co/J48nDiUeC0
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) January 16, 2021
Aside from Kushner, has anyone in this administration had more jobs they’re completely unqualified for than Kash? https://t.co/T0dbrcWQZE
— Bianna Golodryga (@biannagolodryga) January 16, 2021
I guess I can get a little bit more mileage out of reminding everyone one last time that I took a raft of shit for suggesting that maybe this guy wasn’t just an amiable Christian who wanted to donate masks. https://t.co/LYaABw9VYy
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 16, 2021
How will ever explain to the future that it's 5 pm on the last Friday of Trump's presidency, and he is in the White House meeting with the MyPillow guy to discuss martial law while an actual army is deployed to the capital Green Zone to protect against Trump's violent supporters?
— Susan Glasser (@sbg1) January 15, 2021
A guy who makes pillows giving advice on martial law, elections, and homeland security. 20 January cannot come fast enough. https://t.co/REMOiGf48N
— Mark Hertling (@MarkHertling) January 15, 2021
For generations we've heard that the industrialists rule our nation from the shadows. First it was the Railroads. Then Big Steel. Then Big Oil and Big Pharma. Most recently Big Tech.
But it was Big Pillow all along.
And now it's too late.
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) January 16, 2021
MyPillow CEO photographed holding notes after Trump meeting https://t.co/ja8UdaiP82 pic.twitter.com/ecoI39ftjS
— The Hill (@thehill) January 16, 2021
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.