Thread by @EpochTimes

The @FBI General Counsel @DanaBoente has proven to be a key player in the Trump Admin.

Few, however, are aware of the many crucial positions he has held—and why he may have held them. (Thread 👇) theepochtimes.com/dana-boentes-m…

During President Trump’s first 2 years in office, Boente served as the Acting #AttorneyGeneral, Acting Deputy Attorney General, Acting Head of @TheJusticeDept's #NationalSecurity Division, and currently serves as the @FBI’s General Counsel.

To more fully understand Boente’s role, we need to go back to Jan. 13, 2017, when President @BarackObama issued a last-minute #ExecutiveOrder that altered the line of succession within #DOJ.

#Obama’s #ExecutiveOrder placed the US attorney for #WashingtonDC next in line behind the dep't’s senior leadership.

Obama’s order removed Boente, the US Attorney for the EDVA, from the AG succession list and replaced him with Channing Phillips.

Obama provided no rationale for his last-minute executive order, which placed the US attorneys in #WashingtonDC, the Northern District of #Illinois, then the Central District of #California as next, respectively, in the AG succession line.

It appears that Obama was hoping the #Russia investigation would default to Channing in the event that Trump’s pick for #AttorneyGeneral, @JeffSessions, was forced to recuse himself.

#Sessions—whose confirmation hearings began 3 days before the order—was under intense scrutiny.

Trump ignored the revised succession order, as he is legally allowed to do, and instead appointed Boente, who was still the US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, as acting #AttorneyGeneral on Jan. 30, 2017, the same day Sally Yates was fired.

Although @JeffSessions was charged by Trump to carry out the firings, it was actually Boente as acting deputy AG who was making the phone calls, including the one to Bharara, who initially resisted by refusing to hand in his resignation, forcing Trump to actually fire him.

On March 20, 2017, @Comey was scheduled to testify before Congress. Boente authorized #Comey to confirm the existence of the #Russia investigation as Sessions had recused himself on March 2.

Boente agreed that Comey should decline to discuss who was under investigation.

On March 31, 2017, Trump changed the #DOJ succession order one final time, swapping out US attorneys for the Northern District of #Illinois and Western District of #Missouri for US attorneys of the Eastern District of #NorthCarolina and Northern District of #Texas.