Much of the public might be unfamiliar with Michael Ellis, but as regular readers might recall, he was a rather important figure during Donald Trump’s first term. In 2017, for example, Ellis was accused of using his position in the White House counsel’s office to feed sensitive information to one of the president’s congressional allies.
Two years later, then-Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman testified under oath that Ellis was one of the officials responsible for transferring the summary of the infamous 2019 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the National Security Council’s top-secret computer server.
After Trump returned to the presidency, he rewarded Ellis with a dramatic promotion: The Republican operative and longtime Trump loyalist is now the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
On Monday, The New York Times reported:
Michael Ellis, the deputy director of the C.I.A., has abruptly demoted a career lawyer who had been serving as the agency’s acting general counsel since January and installed himself in that role, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Ellis, who played a role in a series of controversies during President Trump’s first term, is also retaining his position as the No. 2 official at the C.I.A.
I realize that bureaucratic flowcharts don’t exactly qualify as online clickbait, but take a minute to consider the significance of a move like this: According to the Times’ reporting, which has not been independently verified by MSNBC, a Trump loyalist is helping lead the CIA, and the same Trump loyalist is also in control the agency’s legal judgments.
Stephen Gillers, a New York University professor of legal ethics, told the Times that the arrangement seems “rather bizarre,” which seems more than fair. Gillers noted, however, “If the deputy director wants to do something and needs a legal opinion about whether or not he can do it, he can’t advise himself.”
Well, the CIA’s deputy director shouldn’t be able to advise himself on legal matters, but if the Times’ account is correct, that’s precisely the dynamic the Trump appointee has created at the agency. The CIA didn’t comment on the arrangement, but a spokesperson for the agency did note that the president has nominated a different person, State Department lawyer Joshua Simmons, to serve as the CIA’s new general counsel. That’s true, and at least in theory, if he’s confirmed by the Senate, Ellis will no longer serve in both capacities. That would, of course, be a big step in the right direction, though in the meantime, the problem will apparently persist. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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