The White House reached out to several ex-Trump administration officials to request their resignations from the various advisory boards that they were appointed by Trump at the end of his term.
Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, confirmed to reporters that Trump officials resign from advisory boards for West Point, the Naval Academy, and the Air Force Academy. These positions have multi-year terms that often span across administrations.
In his last weeks of office, Trump stocked the advisory boards by loyalists like Kellyanne Conway (ex-counsel), Sean Spicer (ex-press secretary), and Russell Vought (ex-budget director).
“The president’s objective is what any president’s objective is, which is to ensure you have nominees and people serving on these boards who are qualified to serve on them and who are aligned with your values,” Psaki said. “And so yes that was an ask that was made.”
“I will let others evaluate whether they think Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer and others were qualified, or not political, to service on these boards, but the president’s qualification requirements are not your party registration,” she continued. “They are whether you’re qualified to serve and whether you’re aligned with the values of this administration.”
Vought was appointed to the Naval Academy advisory panel. He tweeted Cathy Russell’s Wednesday letter asking him to resign or to have his position terminated.
“No,” Vought responded in a tweet. “It’s a three year term.”
Conway, who was one of Trump’s most visible aides throughout his presidency and was appointed to the Air Force Academy advisory board, wrote in response to the White House’s request that efforts to remove numerous Trump appointees were “petty and political, if not personal.”
“I’m not resigning, but you should,” Conway wrote.
President Biden, I'm not resigning, but you should. pic.twitter.com/HuRYM4bLYP
— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) September 8, 2021
Meaghan Mobbs is a Trump appointee for the West Point board and an Afghanistan veteran, sher tweeted that every individual previously tapped for that board was asked to resign, a move she called “unconscionable and not all in the spirit by which this Administration promised to govern.”
This latest attempt by the Biden administration is to remove Trump officials from advisory positions.
Lloyd Austin, Biden’s Defense Secretary, was fired in February by hundreds of members of the Pentagon’s advisory boards. This resulted in the Trump administration removing Lewandowski’s former campaign advisor David Bossie and a number of other last-minute appointees.
