The Washington Post - USA (2020-11-13)

(Antfer) #1

A8 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13 , 2020


federal officials from campaign
activities.
By late afternoon, the White
House announced that Trump
had signed the executive order
that banned U.S. investment in
Chinese military companies that
the administration has accused
of perpetrating cyberespionage
against American companies.
But there was no public signing
ceremony, and it was White
House national security adviser
Robert C. O’Brien, not Trump,
who issued a statement on the
order.
A former Obama administra-
tion official recalled that in 2016,
after Trump’s election victory
over Hillary Clinton, then-Presi-
dent Barack Obama traveled to
the Asia-Pacific Economic Coop-
eration forum in Peru, where he
met with several foreign leaders,
including Chinese President Xi
Jinping.
“It was all business. They
talked about what they needed to
manage for the remainder of his
term,” said the former Obama
aide, who spoke on the condition
of anonymity to discuss the pri-
vate meeting. “At the end of it,
Obama closed his notebook and
said, basically, ‘I’m sure you are
aware of the news of our election
outcome. I h ope you treat Trump
fairly and continue to work with
him to develop the relation-
shi p.’ ”
On Thursday, Trump aides did
not respond to a question about
whether the president would par-
ticipate in the virtual APEC sum-
mit next week.
[email protected]

the job while ignoring many of
the public duties that come with
it.
“It seems clear Trump has
checked out,” said Norman Orn-
stein, a political scientist at the
conservative American Enter-
prise Institute who has criticized
Trump. “It’s not like this guy has
shown a great interest in govern-
ing for four years, so to expect he
will now accelerate the pace is a
little fanciful. It’s pretty clear he
feels wounded. Under those cir-
cumstances, the idea he’s going to
pay more attention to the details
of governance is ridiculous.”
White House aides disputed
the notion that Trump was reneg-
ing on his responsibilities as
president, releasing a list of exec-
utive actions he has taken since
the election. The list included an
order Thursday banning U.S. in-
vestment in Chinese military
companies, an emergency decla-
ration for Florida over the storm
damage and several presidential
proclamations, including cel-
ebrating the 245th anniversary of
the U.S. Marine Corps.
“Any suggestion that the Presi-
dent has given up on governing is
false,” White House spokesman
Judd Deere said in a statement.
“Just as he promised, President
Trump is fighting hard for a free
and fair election while at the
same time carrying out all of his
duties to put America First.”
Deere added that Trump is
continuing to work on a “mean-
ingful economic stimulus” to deal
with the pandemic, but such


TRUMP FROM A


Esper, who was fired on Monday
— and other agencies who were
viewed as insufficiently loyal to
the president.
On Thursday, the White House
forced the removal of three high-
ranking officials at the Depart-
ment of Homeland Security.
Critics have speculated that
Trump is laying the groundwork
for major policy actions in his
final days, such as bringing home
more U.S. troops from Afghani-
stan. Others interpreted his
housecleaning as an effort to
install loyalists who could ham-
per a smooth transition for
Biden, making it more difficult
for him to govern.
Answers were not forthcoming
from the White House, however.
In an interview with the Trump-
friendly “Fox & Friends” show,
host Brian Kilmeade asked White
House press secretary Kayleigh
McEnany whether Trump was
receptive to granting Biden ac-
cess to national security brief-
ings.
“I haven’t spoken to the presi-
dent about that. That would be a
question more for the White
House,” replied McEnany, who
was appearing as a campaign
surrogate, a role that has sparked
criticism that she is violating
Hatch Act regulations that bar

results and Fox News, including a
baseless conspiracy theory from
a far-right television network
that alleged votes had been im-
properly tallied in Pennsylvania.
He also found time to thank actor
Scott Baio for posting a photo of a
craft store’s candle display, w hich
had been arranged to spell out,
“Trump is still your president.”
“Thank you Scott, and stay
tuned. You are terrific!” Trump
wrote.
His tweets impugning Fox
News drew sarcastic responses
from Democrats.
“Thanks for working so hard
for us!” Rep. Eric Swalwell
(D-Cal if .) wrote. Michael McFaul,
who served as U.S. ambassador to
Russia in the Obama administra-
tion, tweeted: “Sir, COVID19 cas-
es in the US are exploding. Please
refocus your attention. After Jan-
uary 20th, you will have all the
time in the world to rant about
Fox ratings.”
Trump associates have said
privately that the president has
no grand strategy to overturn his
loss to Biden and that he has
begun to talk about running
again in 2024. His focus on his
administration since Election
Day has centered on ousting top
aides at the Pentagon — includ-
ing Defense Secretary Mark T.

administration has refused to
launch the formal transition, de-
priving President-elect Joe
Biden’s team of access to national
security information.
National Security Council
aides have grown agitated and
uncertain about the stalled trans-
fer of power, according to a for-
mer Trump administration offi-
cial who remains in touch with
colleagues. The staffers recognize
that Biden will be the next presi-
dent, but they are “not allowed to
act like that will happen,” s aid the
former official, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity because
his current job did not permit
him to speak publicly.
Meantime, national security
actions and requests for briefings
from the president are drying up,
the person said, and the team
preparing updates for Biden and
Vice President-elect Kamala D.
Harris is “very frustrated.”
It was Biden who offered the
first public condolences to the
families of the service members
who died in Egypt. “I join all
Americans in honoring their sac-
rifice, as I keep their loved ones in
my prayers,” he wrote on Twitter
in the early afternoon Thursday.
By that time, Trump had issued
nearly four dozen critical tweets
and retweets about the election

legislation appears all but dead
on Capitol Hill. The president
met privately with Vice President
Pence for lunch and with Secre-
tary of State Mike Pompeo and
Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin in the afternoon, ac-
cording to his public schedule.
At a news conference, House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
accused Trump and his GOP al-
lies of engaging “in an absurd
circus right now” over the elec-
tion results.
Republicans are “shamefully
pretending” that Trump can
overturn the outcome, “making it
even harder to address the mas-
sive health and economic crisis
that we’re facing,” Pelosi said.
Since the Nov. 3 election,
Trump has addressed reporters
twice — both times baselessly
alleging widespread fraud in the
ballot counting and promising to
pursue legal challenges in swing
states. His sole public event this
week was to spend seven minutes
at a wreath-laying event at a
Veterans Day ceremony on
Wednesday.
Over the weekend, he spent
two days at his private golf club in
Sterling, Va. But his public sched-
ule has not included the daily
presidential security briefing
since early October, even as his

As the nation grapples with c risis,


president is stewing over the election


JABIN BOTSFORD/THE WASHINGTON POST

A television is seen through a window near the entrance to the West Wing of the White House. President Trump’s sole public event this week was a wreath-laying at a Veterans Day ceremony.


BY NICK MIROFF
AND ELLEN NAKASHIMA

The White House has forced out
two top Department of Homeland
Security officials as part of a wid-
ening purge of anyone suspected
of lacking complete loyalty to
President Trump, three people fa-
miliar with the removals said
Thursday.
Valerie Boyd, the top official for
international affairs at DHS, was
asked for her resignation, as well
as Bryan Ware, a s enior policy aide
at the Cybersecurity and Infra-
structure Security Agency. The re-
quests came from the White
House’s Presidential Personnel Of-
fice, whose 30-year-old director,
John McEntee, has recently inten-
sified efforts to purge appointees
who have fail ed to demonstrate
sufficient fealty to the president.
“They’re looking for complete
loyalty, and someone with experi-
ence serving different administra-
tions is not perceived as sufficient-
ly loyal,” said one person who
spoke on the c ondition of a nonym-
ity because they were not author-
ized to discuss the moves, refer-
ring to Boyd’s previous roles in the
George W. Bush and Obama ad-


ministrations.
Boyd, in a r esignation letter ob-
tained by The Washington Post,
wrote to DHS acting secretary
Chad Wolf that she hopes govern-
ment officials will “act with hon-
or” during the transition to a new
presidency. Boyd declined to com-
ment Thursday.
“It has been my belief that peo-
ple of character should support
the institution of the Presidency
and work within it to inform and
influence policy decisions that re-
flect well on the people’s govern-
ment,” Boyd wrote. “This belief
has been tested many times these
pa st few years, and it is my fervent
prayer that I made the best possi-
ble choices. I wish you and our
colleagues across the government
the strength to act with honor in
the months ahead.”
Ware declined to comment on
the terms of his departure when
reached Thursday night, saying:
“I’m proud of the work that I did.
I’m proud of what the agency ac-
complished and proud to have had
the privilege to serve the country.”
A White House spokesman de-
cli ned to comment, as did CISA
spokeswoman Sara Sendek. DHS
did not respond to requests for

comment Thursday.
The White House pushed out
three top Pentagon officials this
week, including Defense Secre-
tary Mark T. Esper. And the latest
removals came as DHS’s top cyber-
security official, Christopher
Krebs, told colleagues he, too, ex-
pected to be fired by the White
House at any moment. As of
Thursday night it was unclear
when or if that would happen.
His agency joined state and lo-
cal election officials in a s tatement
Thursday refuting claims by the
president and his supporters that
voting systems and equipment
were compromised.
“The November 3 e lection was
the most secure in American his-
tory,” the statement read. “While
we know there are many unfound-
ed claims and opportunities for
misinformation about the process
of our elections, we can assure you
we have the utmost confidence in
the security and integrity of our
elections, and you should too.”
Krebs could not be reached for
comment Thursday.
Lawmakers have voiced sup-
port for Krebs.
“The outgoing president must
leave the leadership of CISA — and

other national security depart-
ments and agencies — intact for
the next 69 days to ensure the
security and continuity of govern-
ment operations for President-
elect Biden,” said Rep. Bennie
Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of
the House Homeland Security
Committee. “And I c all on my Re-
publican colleagues to stand up
for national security and use
whatever influence they have to
prevail upon the president not to
eviscerate our national security
infrastr ucture in the remaining
two months of his term.”
Sen. Mark R. Warner (Va.), the
ranking Democrat on the Senate
Intelligence Committee, also ex-
pressed concerns about the poten-
tial of Krebs being fired.
“Chris Krebs has done a great
job protecting our elections,” War-
ner said in a t weet. “He is one of
the few people in this Administra-
tion respected by everyone on
both sides of the aisle. There is no
possible justification to remove
him from office. None.”
[email protected]
[email protected]

Joseph Marks contributed to this
report.

Two DHS o∞cials forced out as fi rings widen


BY COLBY ITKOWITZ

A unit within the Department
of Homeland Security’s Cyberse-
curity and Infrastructure Secu-
rity Agency (CISA) that worked
on protecting U.S. voting systems
released a firmly worded state-
ment calling the Nov. 3 elections
“the most secure in American
history” and contradicting any
claims of widespread voter
fraud.
“There is no evidence that any
voting system deleted or lost
votes, changed votes, or was in
any way compromised,” the
agency members wrote. “While
we know there are many un-
founded claims and opportuni-
ties for misinformation about
the process of our elections, we
can assure you we have the

utmost confidence in the secu-
rity and integrity of our elec-
tions, and you should too. When
you have questions, turn to elec-
tions officials as trusted voices
as they administer elections.”
The release comes on the heels
of reporting earlier in the day by
Reuters that Christopher Krebs,
the head of CISA, expected to be
fired over his efforts to debunk
misinformation about voting
fraud.
After the CISA release went
out, Krebs retweeted an election
law expert who called out Presi-
dent Trump for spreading misin-
formation.
“Please don’t retweet wild and
baseless claims about voting ma-
chines, even if they’re made by
the president. These fantasies
have been debunked many
times,” wrote David Becker, exec-
utive director of the Center for
Election Innovation & Research,
with a link to a CISA website
called Rumor Control that seeks
to correct misinformation about
voting in U.S. elections.
[email protected]

CISA o∞cials rebu≠


voter fraud allegations


Election ‘most secure in
American history,’ says
cybersecurity agency
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