List of Donald Trump dismissals and resignations
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Many political appointees of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, resigned or were dismissed. The record-setting
turnover rate Turnover or turn over may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media *'' Turn Over'', a 1988 live album by Japanese band Show-Ya *Turnover (band), an American rock band *"Turnover", a song on Fugazi's 1990 album ''Repeater'' *''Turnover'', a Japanes ...
in the first year of the Trump Administration has been noted in various publications. Several Trump appointees, including
National Security Advisor A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils. National sec ...
Michael Flynn Michael Thomas Flynn (born December 24, 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general and conspiracy theorist who was the 24th U.S. National Security Advisor for the first 22 days of the Trump administration. He resigned in light of ...
, White House Chief of Staff
Reince Priebus Reinhold Richard Priebus ( ; born March 18, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician who served as White House Chief of Staff for President Donald Trump from January 20, 2017, until July 31, 2017. He also served as the chairman of the Republ ...
, White House Communications Director
Anthony Scaramucci Anthony Scaramucci ( ; born January 6, 1964) is an American financier who briefly served as the White House Communications Director, White House Director of Communications from July 21 to July 31, 2017. Scaramucci worked at Goldman Sachs's inv ...
, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price have had the shortest service tenures in the history of their respective offices. Trump justified the instability, saying: "We have acting people. The reason they are acting is because I'm seeing how I like them, and I'm liking a lot of them very, very much. There are people who have done a bad job, and I let them go. If you call that turmoil, I don't call that turmoil. I say that is being smart. That's what we do." For comprehensiveness, the list below includes, in addition to dismissals and resignations, routine job changes such as promotions (e.g. Gina Haspel from CIA Deputy Director to Director), officials moving to a comparable position (e.g. John F. Kelly from Secretary of Homeland Security to Chief of Staff), and acting or temporary officials being replaced by permanent ones. The list does not include many lower level positions, however, such as that of executive director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, Matthew Doherty, dismissed in November 2019, without a replacement to lead the council that was created in 1987. But some less prominent officials are listed because their departure was newsworthy. Also listed are the officials who resigned in the aftermath of the
2021 United States Capitol attack On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of then-U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The mob was seeking to keep Trump in pow ...
, well into the presidential transition, when their term would have ended soon anyway.


Color key

Color key: Denotes appointees serving in an acting capacity. Denotes appointees to an office which has since been abolished


Executive Office of the President


Office of the Vice President


Department of Agriculture


Department of Commerce


Department of Defense


Department of Education


Department of Energy


Department of Health and Human Services


Department of Homeland Security


Department of Housing and Urban Development


Department of the Interior


Department of Justice


Department of Labor


Department of State


Department of Transportation


Department of the Treasury


Department of Veterans Affairs


Intelligence community


Independent agencies


Banks


In the aftermath of the 2021 Capitol attack

Dozens of Trump administration officeholders resigned in reaction to the Capitol storming, even though their terms in office would expire fourteen days later with the inauguration of President Biden. Some senior officials, however, decided against resigning in order to ensure an "orderly transition of power" to the incoming Biden administration, out of concern that Trump would replace them with loyalist lower-level staffers who they feared could carry out illegal orders given by him. #
Stephanie Grisham Stephanie Ann Grisham ( née Sommerville; born July 23, 1976) is an American former White House official who served as the 32nd White House press secretary and as White House communications director from July 2019 to April 2020. She served as Ch ...
, the chief of staff for First Lady Melania Trump #Sarah Matthews, the
White House Deputy Press Secretary The White House Office of the Press Secretary, or the Press Office, is responsible for gathering and disseminating information to three principal groups: the President, the White House staff, and the media. The Office is headed by the White House ...
# Anna Cristina Niceta Lloyd "Rickie",
White House Social Secretary The White House social secretary is responsible for the planning, coordination and execution of official social events at the White House, the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Function The social s ...
resigned in protest on the day of the storming of the Capitol. #
Chris Liddell Christopher Pell Liddell (born 24 April 1958) is a New Zealand-American businessperson who served as Chief Financial Officer of Microsoft, the Vice Chairman of General Motors, Senior Vice President and CFO of International Paper, Director and ...
, White House Deputy Chief of Staff # Elaine Chao,
United States Secretary of Transportation The United States secretary of transportation is the head of the United States Department of Transportation. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to transportation. The secre ...
became the first cabinet member to announce her resignation, effective January 11. # Betsy DeVos, United States Secretary of Education also cited the Capitol Hill incident. US Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) criticized DeVos and Chao for resigning rather than voting to invoke the
25th Amendment The Twenty-fifth Amendment (Amendment XXV) to the United States Constitution deals with presidential succession and disability. It clarifies that the vice president becomes president if the president dies, resigns, or is removed from office, a ...
to remove Trump from office. # Elinore F. McCance-Katz, Assistant Secretary of HHS for Mental health and Substance Use # Mick Mulvaney, Trump's former chief of staff and the administration's special envoy to Northern Ireland. Upon his exit, Mulvaney said, "I can't do it. I can't stay ... Those who choose to stay, and I have talked with some of them, are choosing to stay because they're worried the President might put someone worse in." He also said Trump "wasn't the same as he was eight months ago." #
Eric Dreiband Eric Stefan Dreiband (born September 23, 1963) is an American lawyer. While a partner at Jones Day, he was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. The Senate con ...
, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division #
Chad Wolf Chad Fredrick Wolf (born June 21, 1976) is a former lobbyist and former American government official who was named the acting United States secretary of homeland security in November 2019. His appointment was ruled unlawful in November 2020. Wo ...
, Acting United States Secretary of Homeland Security resigned on January 11, saying it was "warranted by recent events, including" recent court decisions ruling that Trump's appointment of Wolf as acting secretary violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. # Alex Azar, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services announced his resignation January 15, stating that it was due to the Capitol riots and stressing the need for a peaceful transfer of power. However, this resignation would only become effective starting January 20, the day President-elect Biden would be sworn in as president. #Jason Schmid, Senior GOP aide on the House Armed Services Committee # Tyler B. Goodspeed, Acting Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors #John Costello, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Security in the Commerce Department Three members of the
National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...
resigned prematurely. #
Robert C. O'Brien Robert Charles O'Brien Jr. (born June 18, 1966) is an American attorney who served as the 27th United States national security advisor from 2019 to 2021. He was the fourth and final person to hold the position during the presidency of Donald Tru ...
, National Security Advisor (United States) # Matthew Pottinger,
Deputy National Security Advisor (United States) The United States Deputy National Security Advisor is a member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and the United States National Security Council, serving under the President's National Security Advisor. Among other re ...
#Ryan Tully, Senior Director on Russian and European Affairs for the National Security Council Five senior officials at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) resigned in protest. #Arjun Garg, Acting Deputy Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administrator, #Brianna Manzelli, assistant administrator for communications; #Kirk Shaffer, associate administrator for airports; #Bailey Edwards, assistant administrator for policy, international affairs and environment #Andrew Giacini, governmental affairs adviser, performing the duties of the assistant administrator for government and industry affairs


See also

* List of Donald Trump nominees who have withdrawn * List of short-tenure Donald Trump political appointments


Notes


References


External references

* Brookings Institution
Tracking turnover in the Trump administration
* ABC News
A list of officials who have left the Trump administration
{{DEFAULTSORT:dismissals and resignations, Trump Administration Presidency of Donald Trump Donald Trump Trump administration cabinet members 2010s politics-related lists Dismissals Donald Trump-related lists Trump administration controversies Lists of resignations