By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-22 20:11:40 | Updated at 2025-01-22 23:05:41
3 hours ago
The 'anti-woke' reckoning rages on.
On Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump's administration ordered all government DEI offices shuttered no later than Wednesday at 5 pm. The employees of these federal departments and agencies are to be put on paid leave with the expectation that many will eventually be let go.
It's all part of a Trump Team assault on former President Joe Biden's diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, branded 'forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs' in Trump's executive order signed Monday.
White House staffers are now 'in the process of identifying and removing' over 1,000 presidential appointees from the Biden administration, who Trump views as obstacles to his DEI reforms and others. And the culling hasn't stopped with only 'the woke.' Trump insiders say this is just the start of a renewed mission to 'drain the swamp.'
Here, the Daily Mail rounds up the top current and former officials fired, forced out, or punished by the new administration...
Admiral Linda Fagan - Fired
Among the first to go under the new regime was Admiral Linda Lee Fagan, 61, commandant of the Coast Guard, relieved of her duties two years into her four-year term.
Fagan was reportedly sacked for her 'excessive focus' on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and 'non-mission-critical' efforts, while neglecting key responsibilities and even allegedly covering up for sexual predators in the Coast Guard.
President Donald Trump's administration has ordered all government DEI offices be shut down. The employees of these federal departments and agencies are to be put on paid leave with the expectation that many will eventually be let go.
Among the first to go under the new regime was Admiral Linda Lee Fagan (pictured), 61, commandant of the Coast Guard, relieved of her duties two years into her four-year term.
Fagan is the first woman to ever lead a U.S. military service. Praised during her 2022 Senate confirmation for inspiring, 'generations of American women to strive to serve at the highest level in the Armed Force,' Fagan leaves under a cloud.
In June 2024, she was admonished by a bipartisan chorus of senators for her mishandling of an investigation into sexual assaults and misconduct at the Coast Guard Academy from the late 1980s through until 2006.
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal accused her of fostering a deep moral rot' and 'culture of concealment' in the Coast Guard that prioritized, 'cronyism over accountability, silence over survivors.'
50 Ex-Intel Officials – Punished
Trump signed an executive order Monday to strip access to sensitive government information for more than four dozen former intelligence officials, who signed a letter suggesting Hunter Biden's infamous 'Laptop From Hell' was Russian propaganda.
In October 2020, reports first emerged that Hunter had abandoned several devices at a Delaware computer repair shop. The hard drives contained proof of his drug-addled debauchery, evidence of inappropriate foreign business connections and more.
The letter's signatories, including ex-Obama Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and ex-Obama CIA Director John Brennan, wrote that the laptop's contents had 'all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.'
Amid hysteria over possible Russian interference in the 2020 election and reported FBI warnings, Facebook and other social media platforms censored reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop. A 2022 poll showed that 67 percent of adults believe the intelligence community misled them about the provenance of the laptop.
Trump signed an executive order to strip access to sensitive government information for more than four dozen former intelligence officials, who signed a letter suggesting Hunter Biden's infamous 'Laptop From Hell' was Russian propaganda. (Pictured: Hunter Biden).
General Mark Milley – Fired
Next on the chopping block: General Mark Milley former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Within two hours of Trump taking office on Monday, the White House reportedly ordered the Pentagon to remove Milley's official portrait from its walls.
Milley, 66, had served on President Biden's National Infrastructure Advisory Council, which advises the chief executive on risk to critical public networks and systems, like electricity grids.
Ironically, it was Trump who nominated Milley to lead the Joint Chiefs in 2019. But in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd in 2020, Milley controversially split with then-President Trump to decry 'manifestations or symbols of racism, bias or discrimination' in the military.
Against Trump's wishes, Milley proposed changing the names of US military bases associated with Confederate officers. Milley also defended the teaching of critical race theory (which has been criticized for casting white people as oppressors and black as victims) at West Point Military Academy.
The final nail in the coffin for Milley came in September 2021, when it emerged, that he had communicated with his Chinese military counterpart in the aftermath of the Jan 6 riots to reassure them that the 'American government is stable' and was not planning to invade China.
Trump claimed he wasn't informed of the call and the breach of protocol was 'so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH.'
Next on the chopping block: General Mark Milley former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (pictured).
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms - Fired
Trump claimed on Tuesday to have sacked former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms from her role on the President's Export Council, which advises the White House on international trade, but Bottoms, 55, said she beat the president to the punch.
'A day late and a dollar short…' Bottoms posted on Instgram on Tuesday. 'My resignation from the President's Export Council was submitted January 4, effective yesterday. You can't fire someone who has already resigned.'
Perhaps, she read the writing on the wall. Bottoms was one of the nation's most vocal DEI advocates among city leaders, who once described Trump as 'a madman in the White House.'
She established Atlanta's first-ever Mayor's Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and once declared 'equity is at the core of our Administration's vision and priorities' and that Atlanta's economic development be 'facilitated through the lens of equality for all Atlantans.'
Bottoms was harshly criticized for a COVID-era crime wave in the city that saw homicides spike 58 percent in 2020. Democratic political opponents accused her of spending too much time focused on national political aspirations and not city issues.
Bottoms decided not to run for re-election as mayor in 2021 and was helpfully gifted a role in the Biden administration as senior advisor and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, from June 2022 to February 2023, before she was then appointed to the Export Council in July 2023.
Trump claimed to have sacked former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (pictured) from her role on the President's Export Council, which advises the White House on international trade, but Bottoms, 55, said she beat the president to the punch.
Transgender troops - Barred
On Monday, Trump rescinded 78 executive actions implemented by Biden. Among them was the order which was signed in 2021.
The Biden-era measure allowed transgender individuals to serve openly in the US military. Today, there are an estimated 9,000 to 14,000 transgender service members.
On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to reinstate a ban on transgender troops that he signed during his first term.
The president also said that under his administration the federal government will only formally recognize two genders: male and female.
It's unclear what all the implications of that move will be, but it's expected to impact the ability of the federal government to allocate taxpayers monies to so-called 'transgender care' treatment and surgeries.
Chef José Andrés - Quit
Celebrity chef José Andrés had served as co-chair of the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition for two years after he was appointed by Biden to lead the group in March 2022.
Trump and Andrés were once friendly, but the pair fell out after Trump announced his 2016 presidential run in a speech saying that some illegal immigrants are, 'bringing drugs [into the United States]. They're bringing crime. They're rapists.'
In retaliation, Andrés pulled out of deal to build a restaurant in one of Trump's buildings. Trump sued Andrés for $10 million claiming breach of contract and Andrés counter-sued for $8 million, sparking a two-year legal battle. They settled the case in 2017 for undisclosed terms.
Andrés also pointed out that he had quit his position before Trump fired him early Tuesday, writing on X: 'I submitted my resignation last week… my 2 year term was already up.'
Three weeks ago, Andrés was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, by President Biden.
Celebrity chef José Andrés (pictured) had served as co-chair of the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition for two years after he was appointed by Biden to lead the group in March 2022.
The most perplexing firing was of Brian Hook (pictured), the former special envoy for Iran during Trump's first term.
Envoy Brian Hook – Fired
The most perplexing firing on Tuesday was of Brian Hook, the former special envoy for Iran during Trump's first term. Hook was also reportedly leading Trump's transition team in the State Department.
It's not entirely clear why Trump fired Hook, but in a Trump Social missive posted Tuesday the president claimed that Hook was 'not aligned with our vision to Make America Great Again'.
Hook had previously backed Trump's the 'maximum pressure' campaign on Iran that introduced new sanctions on the regime in an effort to force Tehran to end its nuclear weapons program.
Several individuals close with the incoming national security team told Daily Mail that they do not understand why Hook was targeted.
