Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #Atkinson

Most recents (4)

1/We have issued formal statement from @wbaidlaw regarding removal of ICIG #Atkinson. Please share widely:

President Trump’s firing of Michael Atkinson is a direct assault on critical federal oversight mechanisms implemented in the wake of Watergate.
2/Independent inspectors general serve a crucial function in government oversight to hold officials, including the president, publicly accountable.
3/Atkinson’s firing cannot be interpreted as anything other than retaliation for his proper handling of the intelligence community whistleblower’s complaint.
Read 7 tweets
Sans doute l'INFO de la nuit US. En pleine crise du #coronavirus aux #EtatsUnis, #Trump vient de virer l'inspecteur général du renseignement Atkinson, l'autorité indépendante de contrôle qui avait transmis la plainte du lanceur d'alerte sur l'#Ukraine. eu.usatoday.com/story/news/pol…
2) Et le président #Trump a viré l'inspecteur du général du renseignement Atkinson sans même respecter les formes à suivre pour en informer le Congrès. Liquidation accélérée d'1 homme qui a seulement obéi aux obligations de son poste et à la loi.
RT
3) En 2 mois après son acquittement par le Sénat dans le procès en #impeachment, #Trump aura donc renvoyé les deux hommes- Atkinson, inspecteur général du renseignement et Maguire directeur du renseignement national- qui avaient transmis la plainte du lanceur d'alerte au Congrès
Read 15 tweets
Dangerous sign for democracy.

Trump is removing the Inspector General #Atkinson who acted with distinction and served the nation in Ukraine whistleblower complaint.

@jgeltzer and I wrote about how this would fit Trump’s “Redesign of American Democracy”:
justsecurity.org/68585/the-frid…
2. Geltzer and I wrote in February:

“In the words of Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire when testifying before Congress, ‘I have no reason to doubt that Michael Atkinson did anything but his job’—and, yet again, that’s exactly why Trump now might fire him.”
3. “As Trump’s former head of the Office of Government Ethics, Walter Shaub, warned, ‘Firing an Inspector General for processing a whistleblower complaint would be an extraordinary blow to whatever shred of government integrity remains. It would be an atom bomb.’”

cc: @waltshaub
Read 3 tweets
<THREAD>

My new piece (with the great @jgeltzer)

As we discussed with one of the authors of book, How Democracies Die, #FridayNightMassacre purges fit an ominous path followed by elected autocrats.

We trace the broader pattern in which this fits...
justsecurity.org/68585/the-frid…
2. Fits within Ukraine scheme itself.

“At the heart of the Ukraine extortion scheme was Trump and his personal lawyer’s appropriation of [formal state] mechanisms for political benefit ...”

The purges are an extension of that broader project.
3. Part of campaign against whistleblowers:

“It would be a dangerous mistake to miss the connection [with]…intimidating the original whistleblower and suggesting the death penalty was appropriate for other officials who provided info to the whistleblower and Inspector General”
Read 19 tweets

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