3 reasons why officials may keep quiet about Trump's potentially unethical behavior

If the allegations made in former National Security Adviser John Bolton's book The Room Where It Happened about President Trump's troubling approach to foreign policy are true, that means other intelligence and national security officials were likely aware of them, NBC News notes. Yet, the so-called "Deep State," has theoretically kept quiet about such malfeasance despite Trump's concerns about being undermined by unelected officials.

If Bolton's tales are true, there are reasons why very few people — including Bolton himself, who only did so after leaving his post — have come forward about incidents, NBC News reports. Back in the days of impeachment, the CIA whistleblower who first flagged Trump's infamous phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had to be protected by a security detail and was accused by Trump and his allies of being a spy, while Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a former National Security Council official who testified during the House impeachment hearing, was dismissed from his job at the White House. His promotion to colonel is now reportedly in jeopardy.

"You see what happens to the people who speak up," a former national security official told NBC News.

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It's not necessarily just fear of retribution, however. Marc Polymeropoulos, a retired CIA officer who served in senior agency roles during the early days of the Trump administration, said officials are likely making calculations about whether they're doing more good by bringing potentially scandalous matters to the public or by sticking around at their post and keeping "our institutions intact." The former national security official also said bureaucrats often defer to the president because they're in unelected positions, and that sometimes the line between a bad decision and abuse of office is murky. Read more at NBC News.