Reports: Trump Ousted Acting Intel Chief After He Warned of Russian 2020 Election Meddling

me) sometime soon,” he tweeted.

So far, there has been no word from the White House on just when such an announcement will be made, though it is facing a hard deadline.

By law, the acting director, whether it was Maguire or Grenell, will have to step down March 11, 210 days after the position was first vacated.

“The clock doesn’t restart each time the president names someone else [as acting director],” Steve Vladek, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told VOA.

“If no nominee is submitted in time, Grenell ceases to be the acting DNI, and no one can replace him,” he added. “Someone still has to ‘exercise the functions’ of the acting DNI, but that would fall to whoever the senior person at ODNI currently is.”

Whether Trump would allow a veteran of the intelligence community to take the reins, though, is questionable.

“Trump seems to want politics from the IC [intelligence community], not facts,” said Joshua Geltzer, who served on the National Security Council in the Obama White House.

“Grenell has provided politics via Twitter as ambassador,” he said. “This is a clear choice for the latter, and it seems destined to make the IC wary of speaking truth when there’s less interest in hearing it.”

In a statement Thursday, the White House expressed confidence in Grenell, for as long as he serves.

“The president has every confidence that Ambassador Grenell will perform his new duties with distinction,” press secretary Stephanie Grisham said. “He is committed to a nonpolitical, nonpartisan approach as head of the Intelligence Community, on which our safety and security depend.”

Yet despite accolades from the White House, the selection of Grenell to lead U.S. intelligence has met with silence from many Republicans, including Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr.

One of the first Republicans to speak out was Burr’s fellow Intelligence Committee member, Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri.

“If you’re ambassador for some time in a country like Germany, you have a lot of exposure to intel activities and daily briefings and other things,” he told Politico of Grenell. “He’s a very smart, capable guy.”

House Minority Leader Republican Kevin McCarthy also offered praise for Grenell, saying he “has a proven track record of fighting for our country, and now, he will work every day to make sure Americans are safe.”

Jeff Seldin is VOA news reporter. VOA White House Bureau Chief Steve Herman and correspondent Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report. This  article  is published courtesy of the Voice of America  (VOA).