Power & Security, United States Trump’s NSC rocked by Ukraine scandal

Perry World House Director of Communications and Research, John Gans, is quoted in this article on how the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump is impacting the National Security Council. 

John Gans, author of “White House Warriors,” a book about the NSC, said that, like the Iran-Contra scandal, the Ukraine-related impeachment inquiry has the potential to “rip open the sausage of national security policymaking,” and that the impact on the institution and its people could be serious...Gans noted that over the past two weeks, there have been indications that the president may have asked governments beyond Ukraine’s to investigate the Bidens or otherwise act in ways that benefit him personally. On Thursday, for instance, Trump publicly called on China to look into the Bidens, leading to even more hand-wringing in Washington.

Depending on how far Democrats want to take their inquiry, it could drag in other pieces of the NSC, not to mention the State Department and other agencies making national security policy. Based on what happened under Iran-Contra, Gans recommended that NSC staffers who have any ties to the Ukraine controversy, at least, get lawyers.

“On Iran-Contra it became every man for themselves,” Gans said, predicting that under Trump: “It will be very dark. And I think anarchic. Your career prospects might be dimmed. This was supposed to be the highlight of your career and now it’s going to be a lowlight.”

Read more in Politico >>