Former Department of State Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus Answers Questions on Policy

Photos taken at the London protests against war in Ukraine.

 

Live from Music Row Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed former Trump Department of State Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus in-studio to answer important questions on policy and Ukraine.

Leahy: Crom, you had some questions.

Carmichael: Yes. We were talking about her stint in the State Department, and I’m interested in the context of labor unions, government employee unions – if you had staff members that were not performing well.

Ortagus: That’s right.

Carmichael: What could you do about that under the laws that exist today?

Ortagus: Thank you so much for this question. The truth is, not a lot, and it’s something that used to frustrate me and my fellow Trump political appointees quite a bit. The civil service in D.C. is protected to where I don’t know if you could fire somebody. I think that you could try, but it is almost near impossible to get someone out of the federal government.

Yes, Every Kid

So we used to say almost every other day – a woman and I worked together who were Trump appointees. I said, when we get power in Washington again – I said this, you could call her up and ask her – almost every other day I said, we have to do civil service reform now in the military: you’re an officer, you’re up or out, right? There’s some accountability and there is some even in the foreign service as well, that sort of up-or-out status. Ric Grenell once said, and he’s a very good friend of mine, [he] recently endorsed …

Leahy: Recently endorsed you. A little controversy to endorse somebody else, and now endorse you.

Ortagus: Well, you know, he just saw the light. He wants to win. But Ric actually had a brilliant idea when we were in government. Ric and I have known each other for a long time.

He said, “Why do we have all of the power concentrated in D.C.?” And that’s really why it’s a swamp. Right? “Why don’t we take some agencies and start to move them around the country? Put something in Tennessee.”

Leahy: That’s a very good idea. We’re running out of time. We’re going to ask two questions. Let me ask one. Crom, you hit the Ukraine question. Here on your website, you say that you will fight for an immigration system rooted in the rule of law.

We have such a system now. It’s just not being implemented by Alejandro Mayorkas. If you were elected, would you introduce a bill and vote to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas?

Ortagus: Hopefully he’ll step down before then. But yeah, I mean, he has totally endangered our national security problem.

Leahy: Crom, you want to talk about Ukraine?

Carmichael: Just quickly because this is your sweet spot. What do you think is going to happen with Ukraine now? My sense of it is Ukrainians have not laid down and just given up and they’re not going to.

Ortagus: That’s right.

Carmichael: What do you think will now happen?

Ortagus: Well, don’t give me the two minutes, Michael. I need another 20 to talk about this. (Laughter)

Leahy: You can keep talking but the show will be over in two minutes.

Ortagus: (Laughter) So first of all, I have to say it is wonderful to see a country’s leader and its citizens stepping up to fight for their country. And that, I think, is beautiful. And it’s something that I hope many Americans learn a lesson from.

They believe in the country and they’re fighting for their country. Listen, they have a military superpower on their border. And Russia, specifically Putin, has no qualms about using force that should probably end up with him in a war tribunal.

So you’ve got someone with loose scruples and who has no qualms. I think the Ukrainians are going to fight back as best they can. I see that the United States and other countries, Germany and others, are talking about sending more defensive and offensive weaponry.

The problem is that I don’t know if they’re going to be able to get it in. It’s a day late and it’s a dollar short. All of the things that Europe and Biden are starting to do now, I’ve been arguing you could go back and look for the past six or eight months.

You can see me on television and open forums arguing that we should have been doing it. So I think the Ukrainians are going to continue to stand up. They’re going to continue to fight for their country. It’s a David and Goliath situation.

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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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