President Donald Trump is facing a serious crisis when it comes to finding someone to head the Office of National Intelligence, with his latest choice to lead the agency refusing to take the job during an interview on Fox Business.
Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) was asked about Trump’s floating of his name Thursday evening to replace current Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Richard Maguire, who has fallen out of favor with the president for allowing a member of his staff to brief the House Intelligence Committee on Russian efforts to help Trump in the 2020 election much the same way they did in 2016.
Collins was being interviewed by Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo Friday morning and had this to say about being the next DNI:
“It is humbling. It’s amazing to have the president think that much of you, to mention my name among others to be this position. Let me tell you right now, I know the problems in the intelligence committee. It’s not a job they that would interest me, not one that I would accept.”
According to Axios reporter Jonathan Swan, this latest embarrassment for Trump is yet another sign that the administration is in complete disarray:
How does your team not check with the guy you’re floating before you float him?! Now President gets publicly rebuffed on live television. Smacks of a half baked idea that seems politically smart in a vacuum but that apparently nobody bothered on the WH staff thought to check. https://t.co/hWStvpqcqu
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) February 21, 2020
Others then joined the mockery parade taking place on Twitter:
This is how Trump keeps repeating this blunder. The Presidential Personnel Office, one of the most important offices in government, is run by young frat boys. The last one aged out, and now John McEntee—who was once escorted off WH grounds—is running it.https://t.co/1WtpqDeSar
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) February 21, 2020
Do you think he even told anyone that he was going to float Collins’s name publicly before he did it? Or was it just another impulsive blurting-out of something randomly floating around in his addled and confused mind?
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) February 21, 2020
Amateur hour at the White House!
— John Clarke (@hcougar82) February 21, 2020
Perhaps getting wind of the beating he was taking on social media, Trump tweeted out that he has “four great candidates” under consideration:
Four great candidates are under consideration at DNI. Decision within next few weeks!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2020
No word yet if three of those four “great” candidates are named Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, or Goofy.
Featured Image Via CNN
