Pelosi calls on acting Pentagon chief to end NSA order to install Trump loyalist as general counsel

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“I ask you to immediately cease plans to improperly install Michael Ellis as the new NSA legal counsel,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to Miller on Sunday. The California Democrat also said she was calling for an investigation “into the circumstances of the NSA general counsel selection process” by the department’s acting inspector general.

“The circumstances and timing – immediately after President (Donald) Trump’s defeat in the election – of Mr. Ellis’ selection, and this eleventh-hour effort to push that placement over the last three days of this administration are highly suspect. , “read the letter.

“Moreover, the efforts to install or ‘dig’ him into a highly sensitive intelligence position 72 hours before a new administration begins demonstrates a worrying disregard for our national security. Therefore, this placement should not advance.

In last-minute move, NSA installing Trump loyalist as general counsel

Ellis, who worked for Republican Devin Nunes of California, one of Trump’s staunchest supporters, before joining the National Security Council, was already facing opposition from Democrats Mark Warner and Jack Reed. The two had also called for an investigation into the agency’s selection process in the days following Ellis’ selection for the job last November.

The agency’s selection of Ellis is important because the role of Advocate General for the country’s largest intelligence agency is a public service position, not a political role, which means it could be difficult for the Biden administration to impeach Ellis.

Pelosi, who wrote that there were “irregularities” in the selection process, noted in his letter that Ellis is “a relatively recent law graduate with a limited curriculum vitae, was selected due to the interference from the White House, and was chosen out of many more qualified candidates. ”

“If Mr. Ellis went through the traditional public service hiring process, I ask for a detailed account of that process, to understand how someone with his qualifications was chosen over other qualified candidates.” , wrote Pelosi.

“The General Counsel of the Department of Defense is the sole selection authority for the post of General Counsel of the National Security Agency – as well as all other positions of Senior Counsel General Counsel of the DoD”, according to a statement from the Department of Defense Sunday. “The NSA Director does not select or approve applicants for the post of NSA Legal Director.”

“To be clear, congressional or media interest in a particular hiring action is not a justification under the principles of the merit system and process for delaying the placement of a selected qualified person in a position. “, adds the press release.

CNN’s Manu Raju, Zachary Cohen, Jeremy Herb, Oren Liebermann and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.

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