Staff members at the Library of Congress denied access on Monday to two Justice Department officials who had been tapped for top positions there as part of a shake-up initiated by President Trump, according to two people familiar with the situation
The Library of Congress is under congressional control, and Trump doesn’t have the power to replace key officials there until their term expires.
I love the fact that the first government agency to show a fucking spine is a bunch of librarians.
I work in a library, one of my best friends is a librarian, this tracks 100%
edit: Notably they didn’t wait for law enforcement to appear, they called capitol police proactively and probably saved the day in doing so. No one wants (…another…) photo op opposing capitol police.
Around 9 a.m., the two Justice Department officials arrived at the library’s James Madison Memorial Building and sought access to the U.S. Copyright Office, which is housed there. They brought a letter from the White House declaring that Mr. Blanche was the acting librarian and that he had selected the two men for top roles at the agency.
They were Paul Perkins, an associate deputy attorney general who the letter said would serve as the acting register of copyrights and the director of the Copyright Office, and Brian Nieves, a deputy chief of staff and senior policy counsel who had been designated as the acting deputy librarian. Mr. Trump also fired the previous director of the Copyright Office, Shira Perlmutter, over the weekend, one of the people said.
Staff members at the library balked and called the U.S. Capitol Police as well as their general counsel, Meg Williams, who told the two officials that they were not allowed access to the Copyright Office and asked them to leave, one of the people said.
Mr. Perkins and Mr. Nieves then left the building willingly, accompanied to the door by Ms. Williams. The library’s staff is recognizing Robert Newlen, the principal deputy librarian who was Dr. Hayden’s No. 2, as the acting librarian until it gets direction from Congress, one of the people familiar with the situation said.
Finally, someone behaved like an adult, and prevented arrogant assholes from entering their agency. If they had treated DOGE this way from the beginning, we could have avoided a lot of chaos.
The first time the DOGE Pirates showed up in an agency lobby, they should have been turned away, and if they refused, they should have been arrested. If they continued to resist, with their Blackwater security goons, they should have been shot. I think that should start happening retroactively. Kick them out, refuse to let them return.
Government employees wouldn’t need to figure out elaborate archaic rules or just Yolo if the dems in congress would just give clear and public orders on how these people need to behave in the situations they get put in daily.
Fucking seriously
Bad title. They are not officials. They were not confirmed by congress.
Unofficials
Goons. Stasi. Whatever.
Technically, one of them holds a different office, just not the one he tried to barge into unofficially.
So not officials. A university employee is not an official at a different university for example.
They ARE a govt official tho, which is really only as far as the definition differentiate iirc. It’s just the librarians at The Library of Congress actually understand the separation of powers. So the title really should read something more like this
“Overreaching Deputy AG and accompanying goons barred access to Library of Congress”
Just gotta be specific about what part of the govt these shitheads work for
Finally, actually RESISTANCE. Make them do all the things!
The magic here is that the Library of Congress has the Capitol Police backing them, and they answer to Congress, not the President.
Vanishingly little of the hordes of little hands who immediately crumbled to Trump actually answer to him. And those that do are still supposed to uphold the constitution first and foremost.
Resistance has always been an option, Americans are just almost unanimously choosing not to exercise it.
And I don’t imagine they are huge Trump fans…
A few ten people resisting among a nation of millions. Go figure.
To be fair, I think folks are trying to figure out HOW to effectively resist.
Take me for example: Private employer Red State Far from D.C. Already tried to avoid MAGAt businesses/people Have mortgage/kids/etc
What can I do to help get him out sooner? Personally I think the rallies, while good for morale, don’t bring about change. They’re too sporadic and convenient. As far as I read history, the only protests that were actually effective unfortunately came at the cost of lives. Which I keep reading will play into their hands to declare martial law. So my “acts of resistance” are largely ineffective. Best I’ve done so far, IMHO, is remain seated during the national anthem at a baseball game I went to last week. Not from a lack of caring - from a lack of knowing what to do.
Any ideas?
Once again the Christians are gearing up to burn the Library of Alexandria.
This one is key. Library of Congress is explicitly not executive branch.
Trump is to lazy to read their full title or he’s illiterate.
When he reads main kompf, as bedtime reading material, it’s the picture book version.
Thought it was the pop-up book complete with “awkward gestures” .
It’s sad that rank and file are having to do this, rather than the people actually paid to be standing up for these people.
The People aren’t beholden to bribes, blackmail and corporate interests.
"but muh job!”
The two officials, laden with gasoline and matches, were denied entry.
Tl;dr
The president named Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, as the acting librarian. But staff members refused access to two department officials he chose for key roles at Congress’s main research arm.
But how else can we remove every reference to diversity, equity and inclusion in the library?
