President Trump has lashed out at a government whistleblower and ordered a large scale investigation into potential ‘treason.’
He ordered the Justice Department to thoroughly investigate Miles Taylor, a former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security who shared sensitive details about the inner workings of the last Trump administration.
Back in 2018, Taylor penned an anonymous op-ed in the New York Times titled ‘I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.’
‘I work for the president but like-minded colleagues and I have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations,’ he wrote.
The piece detailed a series of scandals and rumblings from within, and culminated in him launching an anonymous tell-all book in 2019.
He revealed his identity ahead of the 2020 election, sparking some disappointment from watchers who had hoped the author was closer to Trump’s inner circle or someone high profile.
But now Trump is seeking vengeance, ordering a far reaching investigation and suspending any security clearances for Taylor and another administration employee who defied him in 2020, Christopher Krebs.
‘I think he’s guilty of treason, if you want to know the truth, but we’ll find out… terrible guy,’ Trump said of Taylor.
‘It’s like a traitor, writing about confidential meetings, it’s like spying. He walks into the office. He’s supposed to be sitting here.’
Trump said he always thought the book was ‘terrible,’ but the investigation will now give an opportunity to once and for all ‘find out whether or not it was terrible.’
‘It was,’ Trump added. ‘It was a work of fiction and he got a lot of publicity, got himself a nice job with CNN or one of them. And I think we have to do something about it.’
Taylor hit back on X in response to the order, warning: ‘I said this would happen. Dissent isn’t unlawful. It certainly isn’t treasonous.
‘America is headed down a dark path. Never has a man so inelegantly proved another man’s point.’
Trump has issued a similar order against former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Christopher Krebs.
Krebs was fired in November 2020 after he insisted the election which Trump lost was not rigged and was in fact the ‘most secure’ in American history.
Trump said Krebs was ‘a wiseguy.’
‘We’re going to find out about this guy too, because this guy’s a wiseguy,’ he said.
In his order, Trump demanded ‘a review of Taylor’s activities as a government employee to identify any instances where his conduct appears to have been contrary to suitability standards for federal employees or involved the unauthorized dissemination of classified information.
He said he is seeking to ‘eradicate government betrayal’ and maintained ‘Taylor is a bad-faith actor who weaponized and abused his government position.’
Taylor instead ‘prioritized his own ambition, personal notoriety, and monetary gain over fidelity to his constitutional oath,’ a statement from the White House read.
‘Taylor disclosed sensitive information obtained through unauthorized methods and betrayed the confidence of those with whom he served.’
And regarding Krebs, Trump said he, too, was a ‘bad faith actor’ from his last administration.
He ‘weaponized and abused his Government authority,’ the White House said in a statement.
‘Krebs’ misconduct involved the censorship of disfavored speech implicating the 2020 election and COVID-19 pandemic.’