Biden Fires Capitol Architect After Inspection Revealed Abuses

Authored by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

President Joe Biden has removed Capitol architect Brett Blanton from his post in the aftermath of an inspection which revealed Blanton had abused his position.

Blanton will cease to serve as the architect of the Capitol at 5:00 PM EST, the White House announced.

Biden removed the architect, who serves at the president’s pleasure, after Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said he had lost confidence in Blanton’s ability to perform his job.

“The Architect of the Capitol, Brett Blanton, no longer has my confidence to continue in his job,” McCarthy wrote in a Feb. 13 Twitter post. “He should resign or President Biden should remove him immediately.”

Blanton was “terminated at the President’s direction,” the White House said on Monday.

Concerns about Blanton center around an Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report finished last year that found “administrative, ethical, and policy violations.” These included abuse of his government vehicle and misrepresentation of himself as a law enforcement officer (pdf).

At the top of the document, the OIG report concludes:  “J. Brett Blanton, Architect of the Capitol, Abused His Authority, Misused Government Property and Wasted Taxpayer Money, Among Other Substantiated Violations.”

“Prior to and throughout the OIG investigation, Blanton consistently contradicted his vehicle-use authority,” the report reads.

The report relays an ethics tip describing an encounter with Blanton’s vehicle.

The complainant spotted Blanton’s government-issue black Ford Explorer. At the time, the vehicle was reportedly “driving extremely reckless[ly]” through a parking garage. The driver, a female, was going an estimated 65 miles per hour or faster in an area with a speed limit of 30.

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