By Aaron Miller-
There is mystery and confusion among Democrats and international observers in relation to the establishment of extreme Republican partisans in key important roles in the Pentagon, following the summary dismissal of the defence secretary, Mark Esper, at a time Donald Trump is refusing to accept his election defeat.
President Trump has lodged a number of suits against the outcome of the U.S elections which saw president-elect Joe Biden declared the 46th president of the United States Of America(U.S.A). President Trump alleges fraud in the vote casting process, and claims Republican representatives were not always allowed to witness the counting process. Trump also claims people who are dead and many of those who had moved out of the state of Nevada, had been fraudulently included in the voting. The president’s claims are yet to be supported by evidence, and critics insists his claims are unfounded, and he is just being a sore looser.
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The U.S Justice Department has formerly launched an investigation into the voter fraud allegations. The Mexican and Russian president have both refused to congratulate president elect Biden until after the law suits have been fully investigated. Biden has described the president’s refusal to concede the election as an “embarrassment”, and said the presidential transition would go forward with or without Mr Trump’s cooperation: “We are already beginning the transition. We’re well underway.
Biden is said to be over 5 million votes ahead of Trump in the popular vote, with the counting not yet over.
Explanation
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Democrats have demanded explanations for the eleventh-hour personnel changes, warning of dangerous “uncharted territory” with the reshuffling of key national security roles during a presidential transition. The refusal of Trump to concede defeat and enable a smooth transitional process is feared to have the potential to develop into a political crises, but the general consensus among political experts is that Biden will eventually be inaugurated on January 20.
Anthony Tata – a retired army brigadier general, novelist and Fox News commentator has now been made in charge of the Pentagon’s policy department, following the resignation of the acting undersecretary of defence for policy, James Anderson.
Anthony Tata: Image: military.com
Meanwhile, Kash Patel – a former Republican congressional aide who played a lead role in a campaign to discredit the investigation into Russian election meddling – has been made chief of staff to the new defence secretary, Chris Miller.
Former Republican Congressional Aid Appointed as Chief Of Staff Image: Citytodaynews
The undersecretary of defence for intelligence, Vice Admiral Joseph Kernan, a retired navy Seal, also resigned on Tuesday, and was replaced by Ezra Cohen-Watnick, a former aide to Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser who pleaded guilty to perjury.
In his resignation letter, Anderson, the outgoing Pentagon policy chief, also signalled his unease with the direction the Trump White House was taking in the aftermath of the election.
“Now, as ever, our long-term success depends on adhering to the US constitution all public servants swear to support and defend,” he wrote.
Democrats raised the alarm over the wave of staff changes at the Pentagon.
“It is hard to overstate just how dangerous high-level turnover at the department of defence is during a period of presidential transition,” wrote Adam Smith, the chairman of the House armed services committee, adding that the development “should alarm all Americans”.
“If this is the beginning of a trend – the president either firing or forcing out national security professionals in order to replace them with people perceived as more loyal to him – then the next 70 days will be precarious at best and downright dangerous at worst.”
The top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, Mark Warner, said the US had entered “uncharted territory” with Esper’s firing.
“There’s never been a time when a senior official like this has been fired during a transition period between one administration to another,” Warner told MSNBC.
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