Then he came for Andy McCabe and I said nothing because there was this inspector general report that said McCabe lacked candor.— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) February 9, 2020
Then he came for @NatSecLisa and @petestrzok and I said nothing because they sent text messages and the president and Fox News kept reminding me that they had an affair.— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) February 9, 2020
Then he came for Jeff Sessions and I said nothing because, shit, he was Jeff Fucking Sessions and it actually took Donald Trump to discover the one or two honorable bones in his body.— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) February 9, 2020
Then he came for Masha Yovanovich and I said nothing because ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president and he can remove ambassadors for any reason or no reason at all.— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) February 9, 2020
And then he came for Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and his brother, Evgeny Vindman, and I said nothing—because I was used to it.— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) February 9, 2020
The fact that I could, in composing this list, have mentally blocked out these incidents shows how normalized this sort of thing has become in all of our minds—especially because I discussed @PreetBharara’s firing with him literally the other day in public.— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) February 9, 2020
First he came for @SallyQYates and I said nothing because she refused to defend his policy and was a holdover from the prior administration just waiting for senate confirmation of the president’s choice for the AG slot anyway.— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) February 9, 2020