New recruits looking for jobs inside FBI and CIA were quizzed with a series of leading questions that essentially demanded job-seekers agree with Donald Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election.
As Washington Post‘s Ellen Nakashima and Warren P. Strobel reported, the “loyalty litmus test” in prescreening questions involved two, specific sets of criminal conspiracies for which Trump was (and is) responsible:
Questions asked of several current and former officials up for top intelligence agency and law enforcement posts revolved around two events that have become Donald Trump’s litmus test to distinguish friend from foe: the result of the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, according to the people, who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity. These people said that two individuals, both former officials who were being considered for positions within the intelligence community, were asked to give ‘yes’ or ‘no’ responses to the questions: Was Jan. 6 ‘an inside job?’ And was the 2020 presidential election ‘stolen?’
The applicants were rejected if they did not answer the way Trump wanted, the report added.
Political fealty has been a prerequisite for positions at all levels of the new administration, including for current civil servants seeking new assignments. But former national security and other officials said it is especially important for the nation’s security that intelligence professionals be able to give the president accurate information, even if it does not align with his policy or political preferences.
One candidate interviewed anonymously by the Post said he could not in good conscience answer “yes” to something he knew wasn’t true: “He was not willing to compromise his integrity by saying things he knew weren’t true. He’s not losing any sleep over his decision.”
AUTHOR FOOTNOTE
There’s actually significant evidence that Donald hysterically demanded this type of authoritarian/corrupt loyalty mere weeks after the (hideous) 2024 election. From Steve Benen at MaddowBlog:
About a month after Election Day 2024, there was evidence suggesting the incoming Trump administration’s hiring practices were not at all normal. The New York Times, for example, reportedly spoke to several people involved in the hiring process for high-ranking positions who were asked whether they believed the 2020 election was stolen. ‘The sense they got was that there was only one right answer,’ the article added.
These “pledge fealty to Derp Führer” questions are part-and-parcel with administration’s efforts of “cleanse” government of “disloyal” people, much like the firing of FBI agents who investigated Trump.
The effect of prescreening with loaded, and false, questions (as illustrated by the quote cited in the Post) is not just that loyalists are hired—but that truly competent civil servants are kept out. And that might be the point: During Regime No. 1, according to reports, more than half of 600 jobs requiring presidential nomination went unfilled. He also demanded loyalty from Jim Comey, and we know how that whole thing turned out.
In other words, Donald was “operating” government with a Skeleton Crew in his first go-round and that might be the ultimate goal here, too.
