Thursday, August 22, 2019

And there goes another one.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan's top aide and spokesperson is resigning amid frustration in the White House over the Department of Homeland Security's handling of major policy rollouts and White House distrust of McAleenan and his inner circle, sources familiar with his resignation tell Axios.

Andrew Meehan's departure comes amid broader internal tensions between the White House and DHS leadership. President Trump is wary of McAleenan, whom he associates with the Obama administration, and his top aides, several current and former administration officials tell us.

[...]

These growing tensions were exacerbated by what some White House officials saw as DHS’ botched rollout of a new proposal that would reverse the Flores agreement, a decades-old court decision that prevents the government from holding minors in detention for longer than 20 days with their parents, per sources with direct knowledge.

White House press and communications officials were frustrated with McAleenan for holding a press conference about the new proposal at the Ronald Reagan building, which houses U.S. Customs and Border Patrol's D.C. office, rather than at a location like the White House that would have attracted more media attention, according to senior administration officials.


  Axios
Jesus.
Trump was also dissatisfied with the coverage of the July ICE raids. Stories from Breitbart and the New York Times that stated that only 35 of the roughly 2,000 migrants ICE targeted were detained angered the president, a source with direct knowledge said. Not long after the raids, Carol Danko, the spokesperson for ICE, was pushed out, White House officials tell us. Danko says she resigned.

[...]

McAleenan's position at DHS has been fraught for weeks, and it's an open secret within the White House and DHS that Trump prefers acting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director Ken Cuccinelli and acting Customs and Border Protection director Mark Morgan, who have fiercely defended his immigration policies on TV.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

No comments: