Phyllis Fong, a 22-year veteran of the department, had earlier told colleagues that she intended to stay after the White House terminated her on Friday, saying that she didn’t believe the administration had followed proper protocols, the sources said.
In an email to colleagues on Saturday, reviewed by Reuters, she said the independent council of the inspectors general on integrity and efficiency “has taken the position that these termination notices do not comply with the requirements set out in law and therefore are not effective at this time”.
I don’t see how she could have made a statement Saturday about being physically ejected from her office on Monday
Sorry, I misread or misunderstood something. She announced her intention to stay on Saturday, and was walked out Monday. The news picked it up today, Wednesday.
Like I said, there’s so much going on, and only so many journalists. They may not hear about it from someone at USDA immediately. It’s unlikely Fong would have called them up herself.
Which is where she’s making a mistake with how she’s approaching all of this. I think she’s done better than most just because she did try to resist in the first place, but she needs to stay the course and speak out, if only because she’s already done enough to land on the administration’s enemies list and it will be more difficult for them to do things to her if the entire country is watching.