U.S. President Donald Trump’s first months in office have been rocky and seen a lot of churn.
From former Obama-administration veterans to political newbies, here is a look at who has parted ways from Trump since January.
Sept. 29: Tom Price
Tom Price, the U.S. health and human services secretary, resigned on Friday Sept. 29 the White House said.
The announcement came after it was revealed Price took chartered planes instead of commercial flights for government business. Although he offered to pay over US$50,000 back to the government, but it wasn’t enough for Trump, who said the optics of Price’s situation were bad.
Price had also been seen in the White House as having been ineffective in getting Congress to pass healthcare reform legislation, an effort that has fizzled on Capitol Hill.
August 25: Sebastian Gorka
White House national security aide Sebastian Gorka said he resigned on Aug. 18, but an anonymous White House official wouldn’t confirm his resignation to the Associated Press, only saying he “no longer works at the White House.”
In his resignation letter quoted by the Federalist website, Gorka said that he left because “the individuals who most embodied and represented the policies that will ‘Make America Great Again,’ have been internally countered, systematically removed, or undermined in recent months.”
Earlier in his tenure as advisor, he called an attack on a Minneapolis mosque a “fake hate crime.”
August 18: Steve Bannon
According to White House officials, Chief of Staff John Kelly and Bannon mutually agreed that Aug. 18 “would be Steve’s last day.” Rumors surrounding Bannon’s dismissal had been circulating for weeks.
The New York Times reported that an person close to Bannon said he submitted his resignation on Aug. 7, but other officials told the newspaper that Trump decided to let him go.
Bannon joined Trump’s team part way through the election campaign as his chief strategist. When Trump took office on Jan. 20, Bannon stayed on as a top advisor to the president.
July 31: Anthony Scaramucci
After 11 days, Donald Trump removed White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, on the same day John Kelly was sworn in as Trump’s chief of staff.
According to the White House announcement, Scaramucci left because he “felt it was best to give Chief of Staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team.”
Scaramucci, a Wall Street hedge fund manager who was also called “the Mooch,” was on Trump’s team for just over a week. During his short tenure he’s made an apology for calling Trump a “hack politician” during the election campaign, deleted incriminating tweets and said he will “fire everybody” in order to stop White House leaks.
July 28: Reince Priebus
On July 28 Trump tweeted the news that General John Kelly would be taking over the role of chief of staff. Priebus was told mid-July ago that he was going to be replaced, a senior White House official said, according to Reuters.
The announcement came a day after White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci slammed Priebus in a profanity-laced rant to New Yorker magazine.
July 21: Sean Spicer
Spicer resigned as the White House spokesman Friday morning. The resignation came just after Trump appointed Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci, a longtime supporter, as his top communications official, White House officials have confirmed.
According to The New York Times, Spicer told the president that he vehemently disagreed with the appointment. The president reportedly wanted Spicer to stay on.
July 20: Marc Kasowitz
Marc Kasowitz, the head Trump’s outside legal team representing him in the Russia investigation, is stepping aside according to reports.
On Thursday, CBS News White House correspondent Major Garrett first tweeted that Kasowitz was “out” as Trump’s attorney, while New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman tweeted he was “not gone” but had a “lesser role.”
The legal team’s spokesman, Mark Corallo, has also resigned, according to Politico. Sources told the news website that Corallo had grown frustrated with how the team operated, and quit just two months after starting the job.
June 1: Elon Musk
On June 1, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced he was leaving his position on Trump’s economic advisory councils, after Trump announced the U.S. will withdraw from the landmark Paris climate agreement.
May 30: Michael Dubke
Michael Dubke, a main White House communications staffer, resigned May 30.
A Republican consultant, Dubke joined the White House team in February. The position had gone unfilled after campaign aide Jason Miller – Trump’s original choice for communications director – backed out of the job in December before the president’s inauguration.
Dubke’s hiring was intended to lighten the load on Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, who had also been handling the duties of communications director during Trump’s first month in office.
May 9: James Comey
In a letter to former FBI director James Comey, Trump explained he decided to terminate him on the recommendation of his Attorney General Jeff Sessions – but was vague on the details. He also listed Comey’s conclusion to not prosecute Hillary Clinton as well as his pre-election press conference on Clinton as reasons.
The firing came days after Comey asked the Justice Department for more resources to pursue the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s interference in last year’s presidential election.
March 30: Katie Walsh
Katie Walsh, who served as the White House deputy chief of staff, left her position in March. It was reported she left to go to work with a pro-Trump outside group to help bolster the president’s agenda.
Feb. 14: Edward Price
Experienced CIA analyst Edward Price resigned from his job on Feb 14.
In an op-ed piece for the Washington Post, Price said he quit because of Trump.
“Despite working proudly for Republican and Democratic presidents, I reluctantly concluded that I cannot in good faith serve this administration as an intelligence professional,” Price said.
Feb.14: Michael Flynn
Former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was forced to resign after it was revealed he failed to seek permission or inform the government about accepting tens of thousands of dollars from Russian organizations after a trip there in 2015.
Jan. 30: Sally Yates
Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates was fired hours after ordering the Justice Department not to defend Trump’s immigration ban from seven majority-Muslim nations. The White House said she was fired for behaviours that were “bewildering as well as defiant.”
Jan. 28: Rumana Ahmed
Rumana Ahmed joined the National Security Council under Barack Obama but decided to stay on under Trump despite deep misgivings about the incoming administration, according to an op-ed published in The Atlantic.
When Trump issued a ban on travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries and all Syrian refugees,” Ahmed wrote, “I knew I could no longer stay and work for an administration that saw me and people like me not as fellow citizens, but as a threat.”
Jan. 1: Patrick Kennedy
The State Department’s undersecretary for management, Patrick Kennedy, was one of the first departures after Trump’s inauguration.
On the same day he resigned, assistant secretary of state for administration, Joyce Anne Barr, assistant secretary of state for consular affairs, Michele Bond and director of the office of foreign missions, Gentry O. Smith all resigned as well.
*With files from Rebecca Joseph and the Associated Press
Comments