List of Trump administration dismissals and resignations

This article is part of a series about Donald Trump
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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 in the first year of the Trump Administration has been noted in various publications.^[1][2][3] Several Trump appointees, including National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price have had the shortest service tenures in the history of their respective offices.^[a]

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."^[4]

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,^[5] 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, 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[]

Office	Name	Took office	Left office	Notes
Secretary of Veterans Affairs	Robert Snyder	January 20, 2017	February 14, 2017
	David Shulkin	February 14, 2017	March 28, 2018	On March 28, 2018, Trump announced on Twitter that Shulkin had been fired.[6][7] Following his dismissal, controversy erupted about efforts by the White House to privatize VA healthcare[8] and Shulkin's allegedly inappropriate taxpayer-funded foreign trips.[9]
	Robert Wilkie	March 28, 2018	May 29, 2018
	Peter O'Rourke	May 29, 2018	July 30, 2018
Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs		January 20, 2017	February 25, 2017
		February 26, 2017	August 9, 2017
	Thomas G. Bowman	August 10, 2017	June 15, 2018	Retired.[10]
	James Byrne	September 16, 2019	February 3, 2020	[11]
General Counsel of Veterans Affairs		August 8, 2017	September 16, 2019	[11]
Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Health)		May 2017	September 25, 2017	[12]
Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Human Resources and Administration)		February 24, 2018	Summer 2018	Retired.
Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Operations, Security and Preparedness)

Intelligence community[]

Office	Name	Took office	Left office	Notes
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency	Meroe Park	January 20, 2017	January 23, 2017
	Mike Pompeo	January 23, 2017	April 26, 2018	Became Secretary of State.
Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency	Gina Haspel	February 2, 2017	May 21, 2018	Became Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Director of National Intelligence	Dan Coats	March 16, 2017	August 15, 2019	[13]
	Joseph Maguire	August 16, 2019	February 21, 2020	[14]
Director of the National Counterterrorism Center		December 27, 2018	August 16, 2019
	Russell Travers	December 24, 2017	December 27, 2018
		August 16, 2019	March 18, 2020	[15]
Deputy Director of the National Counterterrorism Center		November 13, 2017	March 18, 2020
Director of National Intelligence	Richard Grenell	February 20, 2020	May 26, 2020	Grenell was also Ambassador to Germany.
Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence	Susan M. Gordon	September 5, 2017	August 15, 2019	Gordon leaving along with Coats cleared the way for Trump to appoint Maguire as acting DNI.[b]
	Andrew P. Hallman	October 30, 2019	February 21, 2020	[16]
Chief Operating Officer of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence	Deirdre Walsh	February 2018	May 8, 2020	[17]
General Counsel of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence		August 6, 2018	March 2020	[18]
Inspector General of the Intelligence Community	Michael Atkinson	May 17, 2018	April 2020	Fired by Trump after raising concerns from a whistleblower that led to Trump's impeachment[19]

Independent agencies[]

Office	Name	Took office	Left office	Notes
Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission	Jay Clayton	May 4, 2017	December 31, 2020	[20]
Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission	J. Christopher Giancarlo	August 3, 2017	April 13, 2019
Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau	Richard Cordray	January 4, 2012	November 24, 2017	After President Trump was inaugurated, he and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney worked to undermine Cordray and the CFPB.[21]
	Mick Mulvaney	November 25, 2017	December 11, 2018
Deputy Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau	David Silberman	January 11, 2016	November 24, 2017
	Leandra English	November 24, 2017	July 9, 2018
Chief of External Affairs for the Corporation for National and Community Service	Carl Higbie	August 2017	January 19, 2018	Resigned in January 2018 after racist, sexist, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBT comments, and comments about fellow veterans with PTSD, came to light.[22][23]
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency	Scott Pruitt	February 17, 2017	July 9, 2018	Resignation tendered July 5, to be effective Friday, July 6, when the Deputy Administrator became Acting Administrator.[24][25]
Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency	Andrew R. Wheeler	April 20, 2018	February 28, 2019	Became EPA Administrator.[26]
Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency for Air and Radiation	William Wehrum	November 20, 2017	June 30, 2019
General Counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency	Matthew Leopold	January 8, 2018	October 5, 2020	[27]
Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission	Mignon Clyburn	August 3, 2009	June 2018	Retired.
Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board	Philip A. Miscimarra	January 23, 2017	April 23, 2017
		April 24, 2017	December 16, 2017
Member of the National Mediation Board	Linda Puchala	November 2, 2017	July 1, 2018
Director of the Office of Government Ethics	Walter Shaub	January 9, 2013	July 19, 2017	Shaub was outspoken with concerns about the Trump Administration during the transition period and after Trump's inauguration.[28][29][30][31][32] Shaub resigned six months before the end of his term, saying that ethics rules should be tighter.[33][34]
Director of the Office of Personnel Management	Jeff Tien Han Pon	March 9, 2018	October 5, 2018
	Margaret Weichert	October 5, 2018	September 16, 2019
		September 16, 2019	March 17, 2020	[35]
President and CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation	Ray Washburne	September 5, 2017	March 1, 2019
Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency	Mel Watt	January 6, 2014	January 6, 2019
Administrator of the Small Business Administration	Joseph Loddo	January 20, 2017	February 14, 2017
	Linda McMahon	February 14, 2017	April 12, 2019	In March 2019, the former WWE executive announced she was leaving the SBA to work for the America First Action SuperPAC.[36]
	Chris Pilkerton	April 13, 2019	January 13, 2020	Pilkerton was also the General Counsel of the SBA from June 2017 to March 2020.
Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration	Althea Coetzee	August 3, 2017	April 15, 2018	[37]
Commissioner of the Federal Election Commission	Ann M. Ravel	October 25, 2013	March 1, 2017
	Lee E. Goodman	October 22, 2013	February 16, 2018
	Matthew S. Petersen	June 24, 2008	August 31, 2019
	Caroline C. Hunter	June 24, 2008	July 3, 2020	[38]
United States Postmaster General	Megan Brennan	February 1, 2015	June 15, 2020	[39]
Deputy United States Postmaster General		March 2011	June 1, 2020	[40]
Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development	Mark Green	August 7, 2017	April 10, 2020	[41]
Deputy Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development	Bonnie Glick	January 2019	November 6, 2020	Terminated without cause by the Trump Administration hours before acting Administrator John Barsa reached the maximum amount of time allowed to serve in that position without Senate confirmation under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998.[42][43][44]
Deputy White House Liaison of the United States Agency for International Development	Merritt Corrigan	June 2020	August 3, 2020	Forced out after a history of anti-LGBTQ comments soon after starting in the role.[45]
NASA Associate Administrator (Human Exploration and Operations)	William Gerstenmaier	August 12, 2005	July 10, 2019
	Ken Bowersox	July 10, 2019	October 16, 2019
	Doug Loverro	October 16, 2019	May 19, 2020	Bowersox returned as Acting Associate Administrator.[46]
Director of the Voice of America	Amanda Bennett	March 2016	June 15, 2020	[47]
Director of Middle East Broadcasting Networks	Alberto Fernandez	July 2017	June 17, 2020	Fired by Michael Pack, the new CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media[48]
President of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty	Jamie Fly	August 1, 2019
President of Radio Free Asia	Bay Fang	November 20, 2019
Chairman of Tennessee Valley Authority	James "Skip" Thompson	May 2019	August 3, 2020	Fired after TVA announced that 200 American workers would be replaced with cheaper foreign workers. That decision was reversed on August 6.[49]

Banks[]

Office	Name	Took office	Left office	Notes
Governor of the African Development Bank	Geoffrey Okamoto[50]	March 2018
Governor of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

In the aftermath of the 2021 Capitol attack[]

2021 United States Capitol attack
Protesters gathered outside the Capitol on January 6, 2021
Timeline of events
Background
2020 presidential election and other causes 2020–21 presidential election protests 2021 Electoral College vote count Attempts to overturn the election QAnon Republican reactions to claims of election fraud Social media use by Donald Trump Trumpism
Related groups and persons Ali Alexander Nick Fuentes Rudy Giuliani Jericho March Alex Jones Sedition Caucus Donald Trump Donald Trump Jr.
Participants
List Notable people Jake Angeli Joe Biggs Derrick Evans Tim "Baked Alaska" Gionet Simone Gold Klete Keller Ethan Nordean Rick Saccone Jon Schaffer John Earle Sullivan‎‎ Organizations Oath Keepers Proud Boys Three Percenters
Law enforcement response Capitol Police Eugene Goodman Brian Sicknick Howard Liebengood Steven Sund Dept. of Defense Michael C. Stenger Paul D. Irving Christopher C. Miller Ryan D. McCarthy Walter E. Piatt Charles A. Flynn Daniel Hokanson William J. Walker DC National Guard D.C. Muriel Bowser Robert Contee Jeffrey L. Smith Virginia Ralph Northam Brian Moran
Aftermath
Biden inauguration 2021 U.S. inauguration week protests Security preparations for the inauguration
Investigations and charges Criminal charges list January 6 commission Select Committee
Corporate actions Companies that halted political contributions Social media suspensions of Donald Trump permanent suspension Suspensions of other social media accounts shutdown of Parler
Reactions Domestic Antifa culpability conspiracy theory H.R. 3325 International
Impeachment Second impeachment of Donald Trump trial
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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.^[51]

1. Stephanie Grisham, the chief of staff for First Lady Melania Trump
2. Sarah Matthews, the White House Deputy Press Secretary
3. Anna Cristina Niceta Lloyd "Rickie", White House Social Secretary resigned in protest on the day of the storming of the Capitol.^[52][53][54]
4. Chris Liddell, White House Deputy Chief of Staff^[55]
5. Elaine Chao, United States Secretary of Transportation became the first cabinet member to announce her resignation, effective January 11.^[56]
6. Betsy DeVos, United States Secretary of Education also cited the Capitol Hill incident.^[57] US Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) criticized DeVos and Chao for resigning rather than voting to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.^[58]
7. Elinore F. McCance-Katz, Assistant Secretary of HHS for Mental health and Substance Use
8. 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."^[59]
9. Eric Dreiband, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division^[59][60]
10. Chad Wolf, 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.^[61]
11. 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.^[62]
12. Jason Schmid, Senior GOP aide on the House Armed Services Committee^[63]
13. Tyler B. Goodspeed, Acting Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors
14. John Costello, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Security in the Commerce Department

Three members of the National Security Council resigned prematurely.

1. Robert C. O'Brien, National Security Advisor (United States)^[64]
2. Matthew Pottinger, Deputy National Security Advisor (United States)^[65]
3. Ryan Tully, Senior Director on Russian and European Affairs for the National Security Council^[66]

Five senior officials at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) resigned in protest.^[67]

1. Arjun Garg, Acting Deputy Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administrator,
2. Brianna Manzelli, assistant administrator for communications;
3. Kirk Shaffer, associate administrator for airports;
4. Bailey Edwards, assistant administrator for policy, international affairs and environment
5. 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