“By stepping down now, as the conservative writer Erick Erickson observed, Wray has created a “legal obstacle to Trump trying to bypass the Senate confirmation process.”
Here’s why. According to the Vacancies Reform Act, if a vacancy occurs in a Senate-confirmed position, the president can temporarily repl…
“By stepping down now, as the conservative writer Erick Erickson observed, Wray has created a “legal obstacle to Trump trying to bypass the Senate confirmation process.”
Here’s why. According to the Vacancies Reform Act, if a vacancy occurs in a Senate-confirmed position, the president can temporarily replace that appointee (such as the F.B.I. director) only with a person who has already received Senate confirmation or with a person who’s served in a senior capacity in the agency (at the GS-15 pay scale) for at least 90 days in the year before the resignation.
Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s chosen successor at the F.B.I., meets neither of these criteria. He’s not in a Senate-confirmed position, and he’s not been a senior federal employee in the Department of Justice in the last year. That means he can’t walk into the job on Day 1. Trump will have to select someone else to lead the F.B.I. immediately, or the position will default to the “first assistant to the office.”
I'd like to think it more noble for Wray to be fired if for no other reason than the principle of the thing. If we've learned nothing, the strength of the Constitution and our democratic principles are nothing more an our own willingness to stand up for them.
I would like to think his ego could take the firing (especially as it is no surprise). Surely, he's well to do and without a doubt he will land gig work that will pay more later, so his lifestyle isn't at risk. If this, somehow, prevents a quick end run on Trump's part, then great. Otherwise, I see it as weak kneed capitulation on Wray's part.
Trump does not need to have Ka$h in place on day one. the "first assistant to the office" will suffice as a placeholder until Pam Bondi is confirmed at DoJ. "First assistant" can't act independently. In fact I am more interested whether Lisa Monaco will run the DoJ until Pam Bondi is confirmed.
I guess what I don't understand is why it makes a difference whether Wray resigned or was fired. I don't see how he would have walked into the job on day one if Wray insisted on being fired.
I love David but I don't think this resignation makes Patel's ascension at FBI one iota less likely. As I note, it doesn't really make it *more* likely either. Trump will just have to brush some other person out of the way in advance of Republicans confirming Patel.
Sparing the Bureau an immediate shock-and-awe invasion by a deranged clown with all the maga cameras rolling is not nothing. No Day 1 end-zone victory dance for Kash. The scenario described by French may not change the final outcome, but the timing and process could matter. The longer it takes for something to happen in trumpworld, the likelier it is that the effort will succumb to chaos.
Agreed. Regardless of whether it actually impacts Patel's nomination, it helps offer a plausible explanation for Wray's resignation other than pure cowardice. Historically at least, this stuff matters and helps color our perceptions of past events.
See David French in today’s NYTs:
“By stepping down now, as the conservative writer Erick Erickson observed, Wray has created a “legal obstacle to Trump trying to bypass the Senate confirmation process.”
Here’s why. According to the Vacancies Reform Act, if a vacancy occurs in a Senate-confirmed position, the president can temporarily replace that appointee (such as the F.B.I. director) only with a person who has already received Senate confirmation or with a person who’s served in a senior capacity in the agency (at the GS-15 pay scale) for at least 90 days in the year before the resignation.
Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s chosen successor at the F.B.I., meets neither of these criteria. He’s not in a Senate-confirmed position, and he’s not been a senior federal employee in the Department of Justice in the last year. That means he can’t walk into the job on Day 1. Trump will have to select someone else to lead the F.B.I. immediately, or the position will default to the “first assistant to the office.”
“
I'd like to think it more noble for Wray to be fired if for no other reason than the principle of the thing. If we've learned nothing, the strength of the Constitution and our democratic principles are nothing more an our own willingness to stand up for them.
I would like to think his ego could take the firing (especially as it is no surprise). Surely, he's well to do and without a doubt he will land gig work that will pay more later, so his lifestyle isn't at risk. If this, somehow, prevents a quick end run on Trump's part, then great. Otherwise, I see it as weak kneed capitulation on Wray's part.
Trump will do it anyway. What are they gonna do? Impeach him? BWAHAHAHAHA
Trump does not need to have Ka$h in place on day one. the "first assistant to the office" will suffice as a placeholder until Pam Bondi is confirmed at DoJ. "First assistant" can't act independently. In fact I am more interested whether Lisa Monaco will run the DoJ until Pam Bondi is confirmed.
I think the point is that Patel will need to go before the Senate to be confirmed.
I guess what I don't understand is why it makes a difference whether Wray resigned or was fired. I don't see how he would have walked into the job on day one if Wray insisted on being fired.
I love David but I don't think this resignation makes Patel's ascension at FBI one iota less likely. As I note, it doesn't really make it *more* likely either. Trump will just have to brush some other person out of the way in advance of Republicans confirming Patel.
Sparing the Bureau an immediate shock-and-awe invasion by a deranged clown with all the maga cameras rolling is not nothing. No Day 1 end-zone victory dance for Kash. The scenario described by French may not change the final outcome, but the timing and process could matter. The longer it takes for something to happen in trumpworld, the likelier it is that the effort will succumb to chaos.
Still, it puts Wray's resignation in a different light from "just another tragic cop-out" (not to imply that Andrew's take was that simplistic).
Agreed. Regardless of whether it actually impacts Patel's nomination, it helps offer a plausible explanation for Wray's resignation other than pure cowardice. Historically at least, this stuff matters and helps color our perceptions of past events.
It’s hard to stop a runaway tank on a rampage.
We apparently read and reported on the same column. You beat me to it, however.