Is Trump Creating a Deep State?
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 18 November 2020
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the waning days of his administration, the president has attempted to install a political loyalist as General Counsel of the National Security Agency, a position that is traditionally a merits position, not a political position. He has also issued an executive order that gives the executive branch greater control over the civil service, making it easier to hire and fire people in agencies. It all raises the question: Is Donald Trump attempting to create the very deep state that he has spent the last four years denouncing? To talk over this question in its various permutations, Benjamin Wittes sat down with Susan Hennessey, who recently wrote an article about the NSA General Counsel appointment; Scott Anderson, Lawfare senior editor; and Rudy Mehrbani, senior advisor at Democracy Fund Voice, senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, and former assistant to the president and director of presidential personnel and former associate White House counsel in the Obama administration.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising to access an ad-free version of the LawFair |
| 0:07.2 | podcast become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash LawFair. |
| 0:14.7 | That's patreon.com slash LawFair. |
| 0:18.2 | Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, rational security, chatter, LawFair |
| 0:25.6 | no bull and the aftermath. |
| 0:34.1 | If the Trump administration moves forward with burrowing by putting political appointees |
| 0:39.2 | into schedule F positions, this will be a headache for the Biden team. |
| 0:45.0 | It could result in litigation by any of those schedule F appointees who try to make a claim |
| 0:54.0 | that their removal is not justified and that litigation does not move swiftly. |
| 1:01.0 | I'm Benjamin Widis and this is the LawFair podcast November 18, 2020. |
| 1:08.5 | The president in the waning days of his administration has attempted to install a political loyalist |
| 1:16.7 | as general counsel of the national security agency, a position that is traditionally a |
| 1:24.1 | merits position, not a political position. |
| 1:28.2 | He has also issued an executive order that gives the executive branch greater control over |
| 1:34.0 | the civil service, making it easier to hire and fire people in agencies. |
| 1:40.6 | It all raises the question, is Donald Trump attempting to create the very deep state that |
| 1:47.0 | he has spent the last four years denouncing to talk over this question in its various permutations? |
| 1:54.4 | We got together in the virtual jungle studio Susan Hennessy, who's recent article about |
| 2:00.6 | the NSA general counsel appointment has been getting a lot of attention. |
| 2:06.0 | Scott Anderson, LawFair senior editor and Rudy Merbani, senior advisor at Democracy Fund |
| 2:14.4 | Voice, senior fellow at the Brennan Center and former director of the Office of Presidential |
| 2:20.7 | Personnel and Associate Counsel to the President in the Obama White House. |
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