Truthout Thursday

Last week, Donald Trump had Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman — who had testified before Congress about his Ukraine phone call — fired and frog-marched out of the White House. Not content with this act of revenge against Vindman, the president fired his brother, an administration legal counsel, as well. Later that day, Trump also announced the firing of Gordon Sondland, his ambassador to the European Union who had likewise testified about the pressure campaign on the Ukraine.

There’s a pattern here: When then-FBI Director James Comey couldn’t bring himself to swear a loyalty oath to Trump and refused to stop investigating the Republican campaign’s Russia ties, Trump fired him and tweeted out a series of insults to boot. He ordered the FBI to fire Deputy Director Andy McCabe, who had aroused Trump’s particular ire for his role in the Russia probe, hours before he was due to retire; the firing put McCabe’s retirement in jeopardy. When then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from oversight of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, Trump launched an extraordinarily vindictive intimidation campaign against his own attorney general. He did the same against Sessions’s deputy, Rod Rosenstein.

Sasha Abramsky @ Truthout