Sue Gordon Resigns
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We ran the numbers: There are 406 news articles covering this topic. 56% (229) are left leaning, 30% (122) center, 14% (55) right leaning.
On Thursday, President Trump announced the resignation of Sue Gordon as deputy director of national intelligence. Gordon’s last day will be August 15th, the same as the last day of her boss Dan Coats, director of national intelligence. Joseph Maguire, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, is now the acting director of national intelligence. Trump had originally intended to nominate Representative John Ratcliffe to replace Coats, but later withdrew his name from consideration amid reports that Ratcliffe had overstated his resume and intelligence bona fides.
A left-leaning article from Politico emphasizes the ongoing tension between Trump and the intelligence community, writing “The move is sure to generate more anxiety throughout the intelligence community, which the president has long been suspicious of, going back to his campaign for the Oval Office.” Further, the article notes, Democrats in Congress are likely to see these personnel changes as representing an attempt by the president to stack the intelligence and law enforcement communities with loyalists.
Centrist coverage from NPR summarizes the series of staffing changes in the national intelligence field. They also extensively quote Trump’s tweets and comments on the staffing changes, Gordon’s resignation letter, and comments from the leadership of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
A right-leaning article from the New York Post notes that Gordon intended to step down if Trump nominated anyone other than her to replace Coats as Director of National Intelligence. They also quote Trump’s comments on withdrawing Ratcliffe’s name from consideration, writing “‘Our great Republican Congressman John Ratcliffe is being treated very unfairly by the LameStream Media,’ Trump wrote. ‘Rather than going through months of slander and libel, I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people. John has therefore decided to stay in Congress where he has done such an outstanding job representing the people of Texas, and our Country.’”