José Andrés, Mark Milley, Coast Guard Commander

On By Littum

Upper line

President Donald Trump’s administration is in the process of removing more than 1,000 Biden appointees from their government roles, including several high-profile resignations already announced, though some said they resigned before Trump could fire them.

Key facts

Trump’s staff office is in the process of “identifying and removing over a thousand presidential appointees from the previous administration,” he wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday, naming four appointees and telling them “YOU ARE FIRED!” using his “apprentice” catchphrase.

Trump said he fired the celebrity chef Jose Andres of the President’s Council on Sports, retired gen. Mark Milley of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, former mayor of Atlanta Keisha Lance Bottoms from the President’s Export Council and his former Iranian envoy, Brian Hookfrom the think tank Wilson Center for Scholars.

Coast Guard Commander Linda Faganwho was two years into his four-year term and was not among the terminations Trump identified on Truth Social, was also terminated Monday by acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamin Huffman for performance reasons, according to more reports.

Andrés and Bottoms said they had already resigned before Trump’s announcement, and while Trump did not disclose his reasons for the terminations, Andrés, Bottoms and Milley have openly feuded with Trump, although it is unclear why Hook was fired.

Andrés backed out of a restaurant deal with Trump after he disparaged Mexicans, sparking a two-year legal battle, and Bottoms criticized Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric towards protesters in the wake of George Floyd’s death in 2020.

Milley — who was pardoned in advance by former President Joe Biden on Monday and whose portrait was removed from the Pentagon —Trump called “the most dangerous person to this country” and a “fascist to the core” in Bob Woodward’s “War”.

Key

Federal Advisory Council roles are typically unpaid positions with limited authority. Biden also asked some Trump-era appointees to leave their positions or be fired, including all 18 of his appointees to the boards of national military academies.

Key background

The resignations were among a series of actions Trump took on his first day in office, including signing a flurry of executive orders to implement his campaign promises on immigration, energy, TikTok and more. Other executive orders addressed federal employees, including one suspending hiring and another directing agencies to stop working from home. Trump is expected to implement broad cuts to the federal bureaucracy, likely with the help of the new Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency. Trump also pardoned all but 14 people convicted or charged in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, effectively dismissing more than 1,500 cases or convictions. The Senate is in the process of holding hearings for Trump’s nominees for cabinet-level positions, and Senate committees this week greenlighted Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Further reading

Trump’s executive orders: Here are all his big Day-1 actions on immigration, energy, TikTok and more (Forbes)

Trump Inauguration Live Updates: Trump Pardons Nearly All Rebel Defendants Jan. 6 — Targets Birthright Citizenship (Forbes)