The White House’s List of Departures Keeps Growing. An Ongoing Tally…
Steve Bannon’s departure feels like business as usual in an Administration plagued by scandals. But there’s nothing normal about a White House that has seen so many departures — forced or otherwise.
One can easily lose track, so we compiled the list for our readers. The people below have either resigned, been fired or moved into reduced roles. There may be more — so we’ll keep the list up to date.
- Sally Yates was acting attorney general when fired on January 30th after refusing the enforce the Travel Ban.
- State Department Official Patrick Kennedy resigned on January 25th after being asked to do so, along with three of his deputies. They represented decades of diplomatic experience.
- Michael Flynn was the National Security Advisor when he resigned February 13th due to revelations around his relationship with Russia and Turkey.
- U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara was fired March 11th after refusing to resign.
- FBI director James Comey was fired May 9th while on a trip in Los Angeles. He learned of the news from a nearby television broadcast.
- Communications director Michael Dubke offered his resignation on May 18th after serving for three months. There have now been several communications directors, the current one — Sarah Huckabee — is pegged as “interim.”
- Walter Shaub was the Director of the Office of Government Ethics when he resigned on July 17th after reported clashes with the administration. On his way out, he accused the administration of being a “laughingstock.”
- Sean Spicer resigned on July 21st after missing out on new role as Communications Director left vacant by Dubke, and in objection to the appointment of Anthony Scaramucci, who lasted 10 days.
- Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, was moved onto a reduced role after attacking the press on July 21st.
- Press aide Michael Short quits on July 25th before he could be fired by new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci.
- Chief of Staff Reince Prebius was fired on July 28th.
- Anthony Scaramucci was let go after 10 days in the job on July 31st, shortly after a colorful interview surfaced.
- Manufacturing and Business Advisory Councils disband August 15th after a bizarre press conference where Donald Trump appears to take back his condemnation of hate groups. The dismantling of the councils happens after several members leave.
- Chief Strategist Steve Bannon is fired on August 18th. Or, as he put it, he was released to “go to war.”
- The president’s Art Council dissolves August 18th, while sending a colorful “Resist” message to the White House.
- The Digital Economy Council members dissolve their group August 18th.
- Megachurch Past A.R. Bernard steps down from the evangelical council.
- Carl Icahn steps down as a special counsel to Trump after conflict of interests on August 19th.
- On August 20th Trump Disbands the Federal Advisory Committee on climate change.
- On August 22nd, Former U.S. Chief Data Scientist DJ Patil resigns from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council citing a lack of seriousness.
- Daniel Kammen quits Trump’s science envoy with a secret message on August 23rd.
- Several members of Trump’s Cybersecurity Advisers quit the council citing “Moral” reasons on August 25th.
- On September 5th, Javier Palomares resigned from Trump’s diversity coalition after the President announced the end of DACA protection for those who immigrated as Children.
- September 29th saw the resignation of health secretary, Tom Price, amid allegations of uncontrolled travel expenses.