President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order targeting a former official in his first administration by stripping him of security clearances and ordering the Department of Justice to investigate his conduct, an unprecedented step that erodes decades of separation between the president and the exercise of criminal investigatory power by the federal government.
Trump’s order targets Miles Taylor, a veteran of multiple Republican administrations who served as chief of staff to then-Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.
Taylor infamously penned an anonymous New York Times op-ed — and later a book — describing efforts by Trump administration personnel to shield the government from Trump’s worst instincts.
Speaking in the Oval Office as he presented the document for Trump’s signature, White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf said the order strips Taylor “of any active clearance that he has in light of his past activities involving classified information” even though Taylor’s writings aren’t alleged to include anything classified at all.
“It's also going to order the Department of Justice to investigate his activities, to see what else might come up in that context, given his egregious behavior during your previous administration,” Scharf added.
Trump described Taylor’s best-selling book, A Warning, as “a work of fiction” and complained about the former DHS official being hired by CNN as a contributor after he outed himself as the anonymous book’s author after leaving government service.
“You can't have that happen. If that happens to other presidents, it wouldn't, it wouldn't be sustainable for other presidents. I seem to be able to sustain. But if that happened to other presidents, and it's just unfair, and if it was a Democrat president, I'd say that's a terrible thing. A thing like that can happen. That's a terrible thing, and it's time to find out whether or not somebody can do that,” he said.
“I think it's a very important case, and I think he's guilty of treason if you want to know the truth, but we'll find out,” he added.
Taylor, who authored a second book last year warning that Trump would use his position to target his perceived enemies if returned to power, told The Independent in a text message that he’d predicted that Trump would go after him.
“Dissent isn’t unlawful. It certainly isn’t treasonous. America is headed down a dark path,” he said.
He added of Trump’s latest action: “Never has a man so inelegantly proved another man’s point.”
