President Donald Trump has "very few political constraints on his behavior left" following the end of his impeachment trial, which concluded with his acquittal last week, according to a CNN analysis.
A few days after his acquittal, Trump went against the wishes of several Republican senators who supported him by firing two administration officials who testified in the impeachment inquiry: Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a Ukraine specialist on the National Security Council, and Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union. CNN recently reported that Trump is planning to make major cuts to the National Security Council in the coming weeks, with a dozen or more officials expected to leave.
CNN White House reporter Stephen Collinson notes that although Trump has the right to fire any employee in the executive branch, these dismissals "were a clear sign that those who cross him will pay a price," as are Trump's public attacks on Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, the only Republican who voted to convict Trump in his Senate impeachment trial.
Trump and his allies also continue to push for an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter and his business dealings in Ukraine. The Justice Department is currently evaluating information on Biden and his role with a Ukrainian energy company from Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
"The president's newfound political liberation is the culmination of three years of tearing at the norms of his office and of defanging competing centers of power," Collinson writes. "He has comprehensively answered the question posed at the beginning of his term: would he change to accommodate the presidency or bend the office in deference to his wild, unrestrained personality?"
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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