Washington (AP) – A former internal security official at the first administration of President Donald Trump who wrote an anonymous editorial who strongly criticized the president calls for independent government’s guard dogs to investigate after Trump has ordered the ministry to examine his government service.
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Miles Taylor, formerly chief of staff to the Ministry of Internal Security, warned in an interview with the Associated Press of the large -scale implications of the Memorandum of Trump on April 9, “attacking the risks associated with a flagrant leak and the disseminator of lies”, when it comes to deleting criticism from the president. This memo accused Taylor of having concocted stories to sell his book and directed the Secretary of Internal Security and other government agencies to examine Taylor and strip him of any security authorization.
Taylor sent a letter by e-mail to the general inspectors of the departments of justice and internal security on Tuesday.
Coming on the same April day that Trump also ordered an investigation into Chris Krebs, a former senior cybersecurity official, the double memoranda illustrated how Trump sought to use the powers of the presidency against his opponents. Addressing the AP, Taylor said that the targeting order establishes a “scary precedent” and that is why he decided to call the general inspectors to investigate.
“I have not committed any crime, and that is what is extraordinary on this subject. I cannot think of any case where someone knows that he is the subject of an investigation, but has absolutely no idea of the crime he would have committed. And it is because I did not do it,” said Taylor. He described this as “really, really, really scary, a precedent that has been put in place is that the President of the United States can now sign an order investigating in any citizen he wants, any critic, any enemy, anyone.”
Trump has targeted opponents since he took office
Since his return in January, Trump has stripped the security authorizations of a number of his opponents. But Trump’s order for an investigation into Taylor, as well as Krebs, marked an escalation of his reprisals campaign during his second term.
Trump shot KrebsWho directed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in November 2020 after Krebs challenged the unfounded allegations of the republican president of voting fraud and guaranteed against the integrity of the 2020 elections, which Trump lost against Democrat Joe Biden.
Taylor left the first Trump administration in 2019. In the anonymous New York Times, published in 2018, he described himself as part of a secret “resistance” to counter Trump’s “erroneous impulses”. OP-ED’s publication discussed a flight investigation into Trump’s first white house.
Taylor later published a book of the same name as the OP-ED, then another book under his own name entitled “Blowback”, which warned against Trump’s return to his functions.
After signing the memorandum on April 9, Trump said Taylor was probably “guilty of betrayal”.
Taylor’s lawyer’s letter to inspectors general calls for Trump’s actions “unprecedented in American history”.
“The memorandum does not identify any specific reprehensible act. He rather targets obviously Mr. Taylor for one reason: he dared to express themselves to criticize the president,” said the letter.
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Taylor’s lawyer Abbe Lowell said the request to inspectors general was an attempt to “make the administration do the right thing”. Lowell said that depending on the outcome of their complaint, they will explore other options, including a possible trial. Lowell, a Washington lawyer veteran, announced earlier this year that he opened his own legal practice and would represent Trump’s retribution.
Violation of the rights of the first alleged amendment
In the letter, Lowell calls on inspectors general to do their job to “resolve and prevent abuse of power”.
The letter indicates that Trump’s memo on April 9 seems to violate the rights of Taylor’s first amendment by pursuing Taylor for his criticisms of the president, describing him as a “definition of political retribution and supporting proceedings”. And, according to the letter, the note of Trump’s note also seems to violate the rights of the regular procedure of Taylor.
The letter highlights the “honorable and exemplary” work service from Taylor, including the reception of the distinguished service medal by leaving the department, and this details the balance sheet of April 9, took on Taylor’s personal life. His family was threatened and harassed, and former colleagues have lost their job from the government because of their link with him, according to the letter.
Taylor told AP that since order, there has been an “implosion in our lives”. He said he had started a fund to pay legal fees, he had to get away from work and that his wife returned to work to help pay the family’s bills. The place of their house was published on the internet in a Doxxing.
Taylor said that by fileing these complaints from the general inspectors, he provides that the pressure on him and his family will increase. He said that they had spent the last few weeks to debate what to do after the April 9 memorandum and decided to retaliate.
“The alternative is to remain silent, curled up and capitulating and sends the message that, yes, there is no consequence for this president and this administration by abusing their powers in a way that my legal team believes and many legal researchers tell me unconstitutional and illegal,” said Taylor.
