By JOHN KANELIS / johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com
Presidential transitions occasionally produce parlor games out here in Voter Land, the kind that prompts some of us to wonder: Who might the new president hold over from the administration he is replacing?
Joe Biden is forming his team in fairly rapid succession, despite Donald Trump’s efforts to derail him. I do wonder, though, whether the president-elect would be inclined to ask any member of the Trump team to stay on.
Two names come to mind: FBI Director Christopher Wray and CIA Director Gina Haspel. The rest of ’em? I don’t see any keepers among them.
Wray and Haspel seem to have something in common, despite the obvious commonality, that they were both selected by Trump. They both have fallen out of favor with the current president.
Wray has fairly openly challenged Trump’s assertions about the threat that Russia posed during the election and has asserted that he can find no evidence of widespread voter fraud, the kind that Trump keeps insisting occurred during the election. Haspel has done her job professionally and has kept her spooks in line, preventing them from doing Trump’s dirty work.
They’re both competent professionals. Haspel in particular impresses me, as she was a career deep-cover agent before ascending to the top rungs of the CIA organizational structure. Meanwhile, Wray has stood up for his team of agents in the face of mounting — and unwarranted — criticism from Donald Trump.
I have not a clue whether either of them would be interested in working in a Biden administration. If they do have an interest, I would hope President Biden would consider keeping them on the job.
No need to think of keeping anyone else, all of whom deserve a hasty “b’bye.”