More Winning? WH Counsel And DNI Version

Two developments late today. CTH has pretty good coverage of both, but I'd like to offer a few additional comments.

First, President Trump got a nice victory in court. A three judge panel of the DC Circuit--the most influential in the country--held 2-1 that former White House Counsel Don McGahn did not have to testify for the Impeachment Theater. It's true that the Dem House can appeal to the full Circuit as a next step. I found the panel ruling to be pretty much a no-brainer, and so I regard further appeals as ultimately more losing for Nadler, Pelosi, and Schiff. I just don't see the federal judiciary as about to put the House in charge of the US Government--which would be the strong tendency if the courts should rule in favor of the Dem House's various legal initiatives. As I've said before, Pelosi has openly stated that her Dem House is superior to the Senate, and it doesn't take a legal genius to figure out that she also thinks her Dem House is superior to the Executive Branch and the Judicial Branch.

The opinion notes some of those raminfications--from Politico:

Friday's majority opinion, written by GOP appointee Thomas Griffith, goes to the heart of long-running battles over the power balance between Congress and the White House that have played out during Trump’s tenure. 

Echoing arguments Justice Department attorneys had made in the case, Griffith warned that allowing the House to use the courts to enforce the subpoena against McGahn would lead to a flood of hard-to-resolve suits pitting congressional imperatives against executive branch interests. 

“The walk from the Capitol to our courthouse is a short one, and if we resolve this case today, we can expect Congress’s lawyers to make the trip often,” wrote Griffith, an appointee of President George W. Bush. 

Griffith said opening the courts to that kind of litigation would also discourage lawmakers and the executive branch from the more traditional method of resolving such subpoena fights: negotiation. Congress has long used several tools — cutting off funding, holding up presidential nominees, even impeachment — to help persuade the executive branch. 

“Adjudicating these disputes would displace this flexible system of negotiation, accommodation, and (sometimes) political retaliation with a zero-sum game decided by judicial diktat,” Griffith wrote.

Now That Sue Gordon Is Gone ...

Trump ‘In No Rush’ to Select Permanent Intelligence Chief

President offered no clarity on how long Joseph Maguire would serve as acting national-intelligence director

And why should he be? He likes the acting guy just fine: Joseph Maguire. Was this a brilliant finesse?

“I’m in no rush because we have a great acting [director],” Mr. Trump said. 

Mr. Trump on Thursday ousted Sue Gordon, the No. 2 intelligence official, after his allies urged her removal to block her ascension to acting director of national intelligence following the departure of Dan Coats next week. Mr. Trump announced Mr. Coats’s planned departure last month. 

I find this misuse of the word "ascension" deeply annoying. We're not talking about Jesus here--it's just Sue Gordon. And yet I see this misuse regularly, including not only by journalists but by actually highly educated people. The word they want is accession.

The president initially said he would nominate Rep. John Ratcliffe (R., Texas), a staunch ally who sharply criticized former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, as his permanent successor, but Mr. Ratcliffe withdrew less than a week later amid scrutiny of his résumé and opposition from key senators. 

Mr. Trump’s critics have warned him against politicizing an intelligence community ...

We'll pause briefly here to laugh our hooha off.

Joseph Maguire: Acting DNI

Joseph Maguire is career Navy and career intelligence. He's been Director of the National Counterterrorism Center since December, 2018, so I have to assume that that appointment was made by Trump after careful consideration and that Trump has confidence in Maguire based on the past eight or nine months. Here is his bio from Wikipedia:

Joseph Maguire (born 1952) is the current Director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He retired from the United States Navy as a Vice Admiral in 2010 after 36 years of military service. Prior to retiring from active duty, he was the Deputy Director for Strategic Operational Planning at National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). NCTC's mission is to lead the U.S. Government in strategic operational planning and counter-terrorism intelligence in order to combat terrorist threats to the U.S. and its interests. Previously, Vice Admiral Maguire was Commander, Naval Special Warfare Command, Navy's component of the U.S. Special Operations Command and the Special Operations Component of the U.S. Navy. His first flag assignment was in United States Special Operations Command as the Director of Strategic Assessments and Resources. 

Maguire is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, a foundation which provides scholarship grants as well as educational counseling to the children of fallen Special Operations troops. The foundation also provides immediate financial assistance to severely wounded warriors and their families. In June 2018, he was nominated to be the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center by President Donald Trump. This nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2018. He was sworn in on December 27, 2018.

Maguire is highly revered as a leader in the U.S. Navy SEAL community.
On August 8, 2019, President Donald Trump announced that Maguire would become Acting Director of National Intelligence on August 15, 2019.

Susan Collins: Ratcliffe Too Hard On Mueller

That's what Maria Bartiromo says her sources are telling her. Susan Collins said: "He [Ratcliffe] was awful hard on Mueller." And McConnell and Burr wouldn't even meet with Ratcliffe.

I won't claim to know everything that might be behind this. Perhaps Trump--and VP Pence--didn't do the necessary preparation? I don't know. But the story seems to be that GOPer senators want Deep State creature Sue Gordon--a close protege of John Brennan--to be DNI.

One thing seems very clear. While the Republican base tends to view this country as remaining in a state of crisis in the aftermath of a coup attempt that is far from over, the GOPe has a different view and a different set of priorities.

Does this tell you something about what Barr has to deal with? Nothing will be easy.