patrick.net

The short version is that a raft of security officials from various alphabet agencies occupy offices in the White House under the larger umbrella of the National Security Council. They are staffers “loaned” to the NSC from other agencies like the CIA, NSA, State Department, and Pentagon, for example. One such staffer was the infamous Alexander Vindman, who sabotaged Trump’s first term by “whistleblowing” a Ukraine-related phone call that started the impeachment madness.

On Tuesday, dozens of these staffers (the precise number is unclear, but it was a bunch) were “released” from their White House duties in the NSC and ordered back to their originating agencies. It happened so suddenly that their access badges cut off before they found out, locking some of them inside the White House complex until the Secret Service could escort them out.

Trump isn’t taking any unnecessary chances this time. He’s treating the deep state as hostile right from the jump.

You’re fired.

There was nothing improper about it. The story even ended with a quote from an anonymous official, who agreed that “they have every right to have the detailees they want there,” but said, “I just wish they would have done it a different way.” In other words, he wished they would have had more time to create mischief once they found out they were fired.

The draining continues.