Morning Greatness: No Spike in Chinese Virus Cases for Places Ending Lockdowns

May 18, 2020

Good Monday morning.

Here is what’s on the president’s agenda today:

The president participates in a roundtable with Restaurant Executives and Industry Leaders
The president and first lady participate in a Governors’ Video Teleconference on COVID-19 response and ensuring the well-being of all Americans

Trump fires State Department Inspector General, freak out follows

President Trump fired the Inspector General at the State Department on Friday night. OH NO!

CNN wants you to know that it’s because the IG was investigating Secretary of State Pompeo use of staffers to conduct personal errands according to a CNN source who is a Democrat (LOL) aide. Senator Mitt Romney, a feckless schmuck chimed in with tweet that said, “The firings of multiple Inspectors General is unprecedented; doing so without good cause chills the independence essential to their purpose. It is a threat to accountable democracy and a fissure in the constitutional balance of power.”

Sit down and shut up, Mitt. The president can fire anyone he wants and he should be firing MORE people. MORE.

Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson wrote a letter to President Trump, asking for an explanation for the firing. CNN selectively quotes some of the letter and leaves out of a whole bunch of important information:

“Here again, inspectors general are crucial in correcting government failures and promoting the accountability that the American people deserve,” Grassley said on Saturday. “Although he failed to fully evaluate the State Department’s role in advancing the debunked Russian collusion investigation, those shortcomings do not waive the President’s responsibility to provide details to Congress when removing an IG. As I’ve said before, Congress requires written reasons justifying an IG’s removal. A general lack of confidence simply is not sufficient detail to satisfy Congress.”

Grassley, along with Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, sent a two-page letter to Linick in September, questioning the watchdog’s decision-making in his inquiry into a key October 2016 meeting between Steele and top State Department officials. Grassley and Johnson pointed to Linick’s failure to talk to former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Kavalec, who took notes, and former Special Envoy Jonathan Winer, who organized the meeting. Linick also did not speak with former Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, who received Steele’s meeting request and who Kavalec believed Steele wanted to meet with in his broader effort to disseminate the dossier’s findings. Kavalec knew by October 2016 that portions of Steele’s dossier were inaccurate, and Winer and Nuland were involved in spreading Steele’s information within the U.S. government.

The Republican senators said their staffs were briefed by Linick and learned the watchdog reviewed whether State Department employees violated the Hatch Act and whether Winer broke classified information protocols.

“The briefing also disclosed that the [inspector general] determined that a State Department employee may have engaged in anti-Trump political conduct in violation of the Hatch Act and referred that individual to the Office of Special Counsel for investigation,” Johnson and Grassley wrote. “Despite this recommendation, however, the [inspector general] did not publish a written report about its review.”

It sure seems like this IG didn’t do a very good job. This isn’t the first IG Trump has fired, he got rid of the very corrupt Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community IG and Christi Grimm, the acting HHS IG. Buh-bye.

OH. Obama Had No State Department Inspector General for More than Four Years

Dream on. Firing State Dept Inspector General may be a crime

No spike in Chinese virus cases for places ending lockdowns

Health and Human Services Alex Azar said on a Sunday political snuff show, “We are seeing that in places that are opening, we’re not seeing this spike in cases.” Uh oh, that’s not the ticket we were/are being sold. We were told it was asking to HUMAN SACRIFICE to open. But some states are opening up even though those states haven’t met the fedgov’s guidelines to open. “We have no idea the size of this challenge to our country because we have not sufficiently tested,” Pelosi said on a Sunday show.

Well, Nancy, we can’t test all 350+ million Americans every 5 minutes but if the hospitals start filling up, we will have some idea, won’t we? Are the hospitals filling up? We were told we all needed to stay home and pause our lives so we didn’t overwhelm our hospital system but now the terms have changed from safeguarding the hospital system to no one can get the virus. Ridiculous.

Coronavirus news:

Obama criticizes leadership on coronavirus response, gives three pieces of advice in virtual commencement addresses

Trump rips ‘grossly incompetent’ Obama following coronavirus criticism

Elon Musk stirs the pot with cryptic ‘red pill’ tweet

CDC ‘really let the country down’ on COVID-19 testing, says White House adviser Peter Navarro

Senior CDC official rebukes White House trade adviser’s criticism as tensions escalate over reopening strategy

Vaccine is possible by end of year, Johns Hopkins expert says

Trump to tour Ford ventilator assembly plant in Michigan

Federal Government Buys Riot Gear, Increases Security Funding, Citing Coronavirus Pandemic

Trump Calls Whistleblower Dr. Bright a ‘Creep’ and Lashes Out at Norah O’Donnell For 60 Minutes Interview

Obviously. Eric Trump accuses Democrats of “milking” coronavirus lockdowns to win the election

Biden campaign calls Eric Trump’s coronavirus comments ‘unbelievably reckless’