Trump actions brought up a lot questions at the time.
When he lost the election do you remember the Pentagon firings?
More Top Pentagon Officials Out After Trump Sacks EsperThen there is this…
“It’s embarrassing for the United States,” a former senior intelligence officer who served under Trump said of the recent spate of firings.
Foreign Policy
By Jack Detsch, Robbie Gramer
November 10, 2020
Anthony Tata, a Trump loyalist, conspiracy theorist, and former Fox News contributor was appointed to serve in an interim role as the No. 2 official in the Pentagon’s powerful policy shop after his nomination to the undersecretary role was withdrawn over conspiratorial and Islamophobic comments. With Anderson’s ouster, Tata is now performing the duties of the top policy job, current and former officials said. Officials feared Tata’s elevation could put him in a position to demand more resignations across the department.
The rapid-fire personnel changes at the Pentagon are emblematic of overall confusion and unease at the president’s refusal to accept the election results, officials said. Trump insists the election results are not final, alleging baseless claims of voter fraud. Even as President-elect Joe Biden fields congratulatory calls and messages from foreign leaders around the world, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stuck by the president’s claims, saying in a press conference on Tuesday: “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.”
Do you remember during the Portland riots, uprisings in other cities around the country and then for Washington DC that Trump threated to declare martial law?
Trump's talk of martial law sends White House staffers rushing to the pressSo there is talk going around in the White House about martial law and now he is stirring up his rabble.
CNN Business
By Jazmin Goodwin
December 21, 2020
New York (CNN Business) A meeting President Donald Trump held to discuss overturning the election result alarmed some White House staffers -- people who are used to Trump's inflammatory and anti-democratic rhetoric.
With only a month remaining until President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn into office, Trump has been ramping up his efforts to remain president, while also trying to convince millions of Americans that election fraud is to blame for his presidential loss.
That's nothing new. But a heated Oval Office meeting Friday in which Trump heard arguments about invoking martial law to stay in office had some Trump officials sounding the alarm to the press.
Michael Flynn, Trump's pardoned former national security adviser, discussed the martial law plan on right-wing television network Newsmax last week and was invited to the White House Friday.
Trump's desire for 'wild' protest sparks fear among US officialsThe stage was set for the Capitol insurrection.
One observer noted that Trump will fail in Congress, but the greater danger "is on the streets, where pro-Trump forces are already threatening chaos."
MSNBC
By Steve Benen
December 28, 2020
It was nine days ago when Donald Trump announced via Twitter that there would be a "wild" protest in the nation's capital on Jan. 6, the day Congress will formally certify President-elect Joe Biden's victory. The Republican has referenced the gathering while insisting he won the election he lost, and Trump has returned to the subject several times since, including in a weekend tweet in which the outgoing president declared, "Never give up. See everyone in D.C. on January 6th."
And what, pray tell, does Trump expect to happen on Jan. 6, as lawmakers certify his successor's victory? He hasn't said, but the Washington Post's David Ignatius' latest column noted that even some Republican officials are concerned the outgoing president may try to "overstep the constitutional limits on his power."Trump's last-ditch campaign will almost certainly fail in Congress. The greater danger is on the streets, where pro-Trump forces are already threatening chaos.... Government officials fear that if violence spreads, Trump could invoke the Insurrection Act to mobilize the military. Then Trump might use "military capabilities" to rerun the Nov. 3 election in swing states, as suggested by Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser. Trump "could take military capabilities and he could place them in those states and basically rerun an election," Flynn told Newsmax in a Dec. 17 interview.If I'd seen this on a random person's blog or Twitter feed, I'd be inclined to dismiss it as an alarmist and unrealistic nightmare. But David Ignatius isn't some obscure observer or a columnist with a reputation for hysterics. On the contrary, he's an accomplished and award-winning journalist with sources at the highest levels of government.
And here is where the Trump loyalists the he placed in the Pentagon come in.
Pentagon restricted commander of D.C. Guard ahead of Capitol riotBut not that day could the guard take immediate action, I believe that Trump wanted the riot to get out of hand so that he could declare martial law. He hamstrung the National Guard, fired up the mob on the National Mall and then sent them off to the Capitol to take away the will of the voters by seizing it so that he could still be president.
Washington Post
By Paul Sonne
January 26, 2021
The commander of the D.C. National Guard said the Pentagon restricted his authority ahead of the riot at the U.S. Capitol, requiring higher-level sign-off to respond that cost time as the events that day spiraled out of control.
Local commanders typically have the power to take military action on their own to save lives or prevent significant property damage in an urgent situation when there isn’t enough time to obtain approval from headquarters.
But Maj. Gen. William J. Walker, the commanding general of the District of Columbia National Guard, said the Pentagon essentially took that power and other authorities away from him ahead of a pro-Trump protest on Jan. 6. That meant he couldn’t immediately roll out troops when he received a panicked phone call from the Capitol Police chief warning that rioters were about to enter the U.S. Capitol.
“All military commanders normally have immediate response authority to protect property, life, and in my case, federal functions — federal property and life,” Walker said in an interview. “But in this instance I did not have that authority.”
All because he couldn’t stand to be a loser, his narcissism wouldn’t let him do otherwise. Do you remember on his reality TV show the glee he took in calling someone a “Loser” he just couldn’t become one.
CNNBy Annie GrayerJanuary 26, 2021Members of Congress were left stunned during a briefing from law enforcement about their failure to prepare for the insurrection at the US Capitol earlier this month, two members who attended a House Appropriations Committee briefing told CNN on Tuesday, with one saying it was "dumb luck" more people didn't die.House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat, said in a phone call with CNN that members were "shaking their heads in disbelief" throughout the briefing about the security breakdown in the lead up to January 6. During that briefing, acting US Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman admitted her department knew there was a "strong potential for violence" targeting Congress, but did not take appropriate steps to prevent it.DeLauro said the revelation left her stunned and multiple federal law enforcement agencies failed by not acting on the intelligence they had."They had the information. They did not act on it. And a question that I have, and one that I think we need to get to the bottom of, is who made the decision not to act?" DeLauro told CNN.