The Face of the Deep State

David Holmes, a State Department staffer at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine who Democrats hope will help the effort to impeach President Donald Trump, has a history of bucking authority and was a fixture in the Obama White House.

Photos and articles featuring Holmes have surfaced in the American Foreign Service Association’s (AFSA) Foreign Service Journal and other media reports.

Holmes was featured in a photo in a meeting in the White House with Obama in a bizarre story in the New York Post about White House lawyer Avril Haines, who Obama had named as the deputy director of the CIA. The Post story explained how before her work in the Obama administration, Haines operated a bookstore in Baltimore, where she held erotica readings.

AFSA also used a photo of Holmes seated with Obama on Air Force One.

National Public Radio (NPR) wrote about Holmes and his reputation at the State Department:

“His message was so good and so influential that it went all the way to the secretary of state,” said Eric Rubin, an active duty foreign service officer and president of the American Foreign Service Association.

Rubin, who also received the award in 1994, made clear it is not about whistleblowers, but rather recognizing someone who feels strongly enough to put themselves on record for voicing views on policy that may differ from the administration.

In his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee’s impeachment hearing on Thursday, Holmes was critical of Trump’s approach to foreign policy that includes involving people who are not part of the “inter-agency” chain of command.

More