President Trump erupted at acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Joseph Maguire in a meeting last week over concerns about Maguire’s staff’s loyalty, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.
The reported incident occurred shortly before Trump announced on Wednesday Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell would take over from Maguire as the acting intelligence chief.
Trump decided against nominating Maguire for the post on a permanent basis after learning a member of his staff, Shelby Pierson, gave a classified briefing last Thursday to the House Intelligence Committee regarding election security, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The specific contents of Pierson’s briefing are unknown, but Trump appeared to believe she had given information specifically to Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) that would be beneficial to Democrats if made public, the people familiar with the matter told the Post.
Trump was furious and held O’Brien personally responsible when the two next met, the Post reported, resulting in a “dressing down” by the president and which served as “the catalyst” for Trump ultimately opting to appoint Grenell.
A committee official told the Post the briefing concerned “election security and foreign interference in the run-up to the 2020 election,” speaking on condition of anonymity.
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Trump lashed out at acting intel chief over alleged staff disloyalty: report https://t.co/XpMvthgbiQ pic.twitter.com/7lkdRkkPZ2
— The Hill (@thehill) February 20, 2020
If reporting is accurate, the president purged his intelligence chief because Congress was informed of a foreign effort to help him politically.
How is that not a massive scandal?
— Christian Vanderbrouk (@UrbanAchievr) February 21, 2020
So the sequence here appears to be.
1. DNI gets intel that Russia is interfering again in the election
2. Acting DNI briefs lawmakers about the threat.
3. Trump finds out
4. Trump berates acting DNI
5. Trump replaces acting DNI with political stooge/ally
— Sam Stein (@samstein) February 20, 2020
We have sort of gotten used to it, but when a retired senior officer writes something like this, it's a big deal. This is not, traditionally, the U.S. civil-military culture, and when this happens it is serious. https://t.co/KwZAcU5vMA
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) February 22, 2020
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