Before she was booted, former DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen tried to bring up efforts to head off Russian meddling in the upcoming presidential election, one of her department’s primary responsibilities.
According to the New York Times, White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney warned her off, saying that it “wasn’t a great subject and should be kept below [Trump’s] level,” since the President reacted so viscerally to an issue he saw as undermining his 2016 win.
The White House was apparently so opposed to dealing with the threat that Nielsen independently brought together Cabinet members on two different occasions.
She eventually gave up as her power waned within the administration, leaving the cybersecurity unit gutted and Americans completely uninformed about Russia’s ongoing efforts to sway political opinion.
