On today’s podcast, I’m joined by Olivia Troye, who worked as a counterterrorism aide to Mike Pence, but has emerged as a fearless critic of Trumpism. Notably, her outspokenness has earned her the wrath of Trump’s pick to run the FBI, Kash Patel, who threatened to sue her after she called him a “delusional liar.” 1
After a lawyer for Patel sent a letter to Troye demanding that she retract her “defamatory statements,” her lawyer, Mark Zaid, responded, noting that Troye’s statements have been echoed “by a wide swath of the knowledgeable population.”
And then he addressed Patel’s demand that she retract her comments: “I think Monty Python expresses it best,” Zaid wrote — inserting this iconic picture of the Taunting French Knight:
Chef’s kiss. A great moment in legal history.
On today’s podcast, I asked Troye why she was standing her ground, especially when so many others were running for the tall grass.
You can listen/watch right here, or: Watch on YouTube / Listen (and subscribe) on Apple/ Spotify / iHeart / RSS Feed
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Some clips from our discussion
On her bad blood with Kash Patel:
Kash Patel’s threats against her:
On Trump’s admiration for strongmen and authoritarians:
Hot for Mama: A surreal moment at Homeland Security:
Trump throws JD under the bus…
Snow dog
This is what she said:
"Kash Patel is a delusional liar," she said. "Let me just be very clear about that. And he would lie about intelligence. He would like about making things up on operations. I think Mark Esper has talked about that as well, where he put the lives of Navy Seals at risk in an operation when it came to Nigeria. …
At some point I realized I needed to check Kash's work to make sure that I wasn't misinforming Mike Pence by relying on is word. So, I had to go around him. And this is a guy who openly has contempt for people in national security - for people especially at DOJ and the FBI."
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