Trump’s Team Is Grilling Civil Servants About Who They Voted For: Report

Donald Trump’s incoming administration officials have begun interrogating White House national security staff about their potential loyalty — or disloyalty — to the president-elect, according to a Monday report from the Associated Press.

One U.S. official familiar with the questioning said that staff members affiliated with the White House National Security Council (NSC) have been questioned regarding who they voted for in November’s election, their social media use, and their history of political donations.

The official added that some staff — despite having been assured they would remain in their roles under the incoming administration — have begun preparing to depart the White House in the aftermath of the questioning.

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Trump has made no secret of his desire to purge the federal government of anyone he and his inner circle consider to be less than die-hard loyalists to his agenda. During his first term, Trump attempted to make it easier to fire government employees in the executive branch, and has vowed to see the failed crusade to fruition upon resuming office. The administration’s principal targets will be so-called “deep state” obstructionists who placed roadblocks to Trump’s machinations during his first term, or criticized him upon leaving office. One of his primary attack dogs figures to be FBI Director nominee Kash Patel, who has promised to not only stuff his department with Trump loyalists, but weaponize his powers to exact revenge on the president-elect’s blacklist. Trump has also tasked Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy with dismantling the “deep state.”

Earlier this month, Trump’s incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz stated that he plans to clean house among the nation’s national security staff.

“Everybody is going to resign at 12:01 on January 20,” Waltz told the right-wing outlet Breitbart. “We’re working through our process to get everybody their clearances and through the transition process now. Our folks know who we want out in the agencies, we’re putting those requests in, and in terms of the detailees they’re all going to go back.”

“The folks that we’re bringing in are 100 percent aligned with the president’s agenda,” he added. “It’s also going to be incumbent upon the Cabinet heads to one, I think, cut what is a bloated bureaucracy and then two make sure it’s in line with executing what the president wants to pull together. We’ll be pulling folks together at a working level, at a deputy level, and at a Cabinet level and then when it makes sense getting the president himself involved.”

Current White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has argued against the wholesale dismissal of large swaths of NSC staff, many of whom hold apolitical roles. “Given everything going on in the world, making sure you have in place a team that is up to speed, and, you know, ready to continue serving at 12:01, 12:02, 12:03 p.m. on the 20th is really important,” he said on Friday.

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