>Is he being smeared or is he Swamp?
It's hard to say because a couple of things could be happening.
He could be a bad actor left in place to see where the saboteurs are. This happens in a hostile turnover when the new owners want to find out who the troublemakers are.
He could also be a good guy who saboteurs already know and consider safe. Same with Nielsen. She may have been working to root out the saboteurs. Pretty sure she was on the road a lot and saw a lot
Resigning keeps their vest clean for future employment while a new hard ass is hired on to fire the saboteurs the resigning employee just rooted out. Hatchet man AKA Scaramucci model.
This is common in private business, so Trump's business tactics would most likely be very effective against gov employees who aren't experienced with it.
My guess is they're good guys who's jobs are finished. Article saying Nielsen didn't want to fire people leads me to think that. Not her role. Hatchet man's role.