True Americans in the Government Continue to Stand Against Trump
You’ve probably heard about Trump politicizing the U.S. Agency for Global Media which manages Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia by installing loyalist Michael Pack. Pack has packed the board of the agency, as well as senior staff with other Trumpists, ideologues, and conservative activists. Biden has already signaled a housecleaning and fumigation of the agency when he takes over in a few weeks, but Pack is not planning on going quietly.
In secret, Pack has unilaterally attempted to execute binding employment contracts with said Trumpists intended to block any Biden firings for two years. When the career staff found out what Pack was doing, they said not no, but hell no, and blew the whistle. Day before yesterday, they sent a four page letter to McConnell, Pelosi, and Senate and House leaders, the Inspector General, and the presidential transition team. The letter was signed by over two dozen staffers including the editorial board, the editor in chief, and all the heads of the global regional operations. In the letter, they made this statement:
“These actions include your recent distribution of a revised grant agreement with RFE/RL that has been unilaterally prepared by your office and is intended to revoke RFE/RL’s financial autonomy and embed your appointees within both RFE/RL and its Board of Directors for a period of two years – an unprecedented departure from RFE/RL’s tradition of working in a bipartisan manner with changing U.S. administrations. This conflicts with the appointment process enshrined in law and in our bylaws, and is precisely the kind of political power maneuver that RFE/RL regularly witnesses in places like Russia, Hungary, Belarus, and Tajikistan. We never thought we’d see it from our own oversight agency.”
When Pack took over last June (after a two year Senate confirmation battle), he made sweeping changes to the agency including dissolving all of the boards of the agencies under his authority and packing the boards and staff with a rogue’s gallery of religious fanatics, activists, ideologues and weirdos. What’s particularly galling is that in October a Superior Court Judge in DC ruled that Pack had acted illegally in dissolving the board and seizing control of the Open Technology Fund which was established to help areas of the world access to open and secure internet access. Pack has ignored the court order and to reestablish the boards he dissolved.
Pack is a bad guy who represents all that is truly odious about Trump who is continually trying to destroy our democracy. Many thanks to those career staffers and true Americans who stood up to Pack and said NO.
They are the only thing right now standing between democracy and the Trump abyss.