I was just watching America at a Crossroads | David Frum with Larry Mantle and David Frum indicates that Wray's resignation potentially prevents Trump from making Patel the FBI director via a recess appointment since he is not currently a government employee. I have not confirmed David Frum's statement but there may well be (and probably is) a method to the madness.
I was just watching America at a Crossroads | David Frum with Larry Mantle and David Frum indicates that Wray's resignation potentially prevents Trump from making Patel the FBI director via a recess appointment since he is not currently a government employee. I have not confirmed David Frum's statement but there may well be (and probably is) a method to the madness.
You and Frum could be right, but the optics are bad bad bad. Obeying in advance, whatever the reasons and regardless of nuance, makes Trump look more powerful than he is. Of course, millions of Americans have never heard of Christopher Wray and couldn't care less. Until Trump and right-wing bloviators tell them to care.
I am with you, LaurieOregon. Trump isn't really the strongman that he projects himself to be and he can be successfully opposed and proven not to have the chops that a real strongman can wield. But to oppose Trump one must have a spine, a certain amount of grit and determination. Wray's spine has been surgically replaced by an over-cooked strand of angel hair spaghetti.
I think Wray should have made Trump use up some political rope and fire him although he (Wray) has done nothing wrong and he was Trump's appointment in the first place. I don't think there is any reason to suppose that the Republican majority Senate will not bend the knee and approve Trump's picks. Especially with this new method of having Bannon and the execrable Charlie Kirk sic their most flammable MAGA listeners onto targeted (and election vulnerable) Senators.
By stepping down now, as the conservative writer Erick Erickson observed, Wray has created a тАЬlegal obstacle to Trump trying to bypass the Senate confirmation process.тАЭ
HereтАЩs why. According to the Vacancies Reform Act, if a vacancy occurs in a Senate-confirmed position, the president can temporarily replace that appointee (such as the F.B.I. director) only with a person who has already received Senate confirmation or with a person whoтАЩs served in a senior capacity in the agency (at the GS-15 pay scale) for at least 90 days in the year before the resignation.
Kash Patel, Donald TrumpтАЩs chosen successor at the F.B.I., meets neither of these criteria. HeтАЩs not in a Senate-confirmed position, and heтАЩs not been a senior federal employee in the Department of Justice in the last year. That means he canтАЩt walk into the job on Day 1. Trump will have to select someone else to lead the F.B.I. immediately, or the position will default to the тАЬfirst assistant to the office.тАЭ
Paula, thanks for sharing this. Since the Senate will be dominated by Republicans will this make a difference when it sounds like they will be sure to do whatever he wants.
It might just confuse things, when one is understanding and expecting the laws to be followed, but then they are not. My family was cleaved by the Berlin wall, and I remember hearing about life in the DDR and that is what I am preparing for now, only I live in Germany on the other side of the Berlin wall. The free side. However, I did read tonight that Elon Musk is messing with the German elections and helping the AfD. I hope Germany does to Musk what they did to Walmart!
I'm just thinking that an understanding of the law can help a person figure out how to exploit it if necessary. As for Musk, how can he be everywhere at once? He can't. We need to drive a stake through his shriveled little heart.
It feels, today, as if superstition is alll we have left. The rule of law is undermined, voting rights are undermined, separation of Church and State is undermined, and Homan, the new border Czar, is open to the idea of using vigilantes against migrants. Crossing fingers feels like our only recourse.
I was just watching America at a Crossroads | David Frum with Larry Mantle and David Frum indicates that Wray's resignation potentially prevents Trump from making Patel the FBI director via a recess appointment since he is not currently a government employee. I have not confirmed David Frum's statement but there may well be (and probably is) a method to the madness.
You and Frum could be right, but the optics are bad bad bad. Obeying in advance, whatever the reasons and regardless of nuance, makes Trump look more powerful than he is. Of course, millions of Americans have never heard of Christopher Wray and couldn't care less. Until Trump and right-wing bloviators tell them to care.
I am with you, LaurieOregon. Trump isn't really the strongman that he projects himself to be and he can be successfully opposed and proven not to have the chops that a real strongman can wield. But to oppose Trump one must have a spine, a certain amount of grit and determination. Wray's spine has been surgically replaced by an over-cooked strand of angel hair spaghetti.
I think Wray should have made Trump use up some political rope and fire him although he (Wray) has done nothing wrong and he was Trump's appointment in the first place. I don't think there is any reason to suppose that the Republican majority Senate will not bend the knee and approve Trump's picks. Especially with this new method of having Bannon and the execrable Charlie Kirk sic their most flammable MAGA listeners onto targeted (and election vulnerable) Senators.
David French in the NYT explains it:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/12/04/opinion/thepoint/chris-wray-fbi-trump-step-down?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Here's an excerpt:
By stepping down now, as the conservative writer Erick Erickson observed, Wray has created a тАЬlegal obstacle to Trump trying to bypass the Senate confirmation process.тАЭ
HereтАЩs why. According to the Vacancies Reform Act, if a vacancy occurs in a Senate-confirmed position, the president can temporarily replace that appointee (such as the F.B.I. director) only with a person who has already received Senate confirmation or with a person whoтАЩs served in a senior capacity in the agency (at the GS-15 pay scale) for at least 90 days in the year before the resignation.
Kash Patel, Donald TrumpтАЩs chosen successor at the F.B.I., meets neither of these criteria. HeтАЩs not in a Senate-confirmed position, and heтАЩs not been a senior federal employee in the Department of Justice in the last year. That means he canтАЩt walk into the job on Day 1. Trump will have to select someone else to lead the F.B.I. immediately, or the position will default to the тАЬfirst assistant to the office.тАЭ
Paula, thanks for sharing this. Since the Senate will be dominated by Republicans will this make a difference when it sounds like they will be sure to do whatever he wants.
I don't know, Linda. There are so many times recently that I wish I'd gone to law school.
It might just confuse things, when one is understanding and expecting the laws to be followed, but then they are not. My family was cleaved by the Berlin wall, and I remember hearing about life in the DDR and that is what I am preparing for now, only I live in Germany on the other side of the Berlin wall. The free side. However, I did read tonight that Elon Musk is messing with the German elections and helping the AfD. I hope Germany does to Musk what they did to Walmart!
I'm just thinking that an understanding of the law can help a person figure out how to exploit it if necessary. As for Musk, how can he be everywhere at once? He can't. We need to drive a stake through his shriveled little heart.
Absolutely
Thank you
Fingers crossed.
How sad it is that we have to cross our fingers to save ourselves.
It feels, today, as if superstition is alll we have left. The rule of law is undermined, voting rights are undermined, separation of Church and State is undermined, and Homan, the new border Czar, is open to the idea of using vigilantes against migrants. Crossing fingers feels like our only recourse.
Hope you are right!