'You're fired': The people Trump has sacked since taking office
2025-02-09
Category: news

President Donald Trump took over the White House less than a month ago, and in keeping with his reality television show catchphrase from The Apprentice - "You're Fired" - he has already removed more than 200 employees.Some amount of turnover is typical for a new administration, but Trump has made massive changes during his first weeks in office. He offered buyouts to millions of government workers and put a stop to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes. On Friday, Trump fired the nation's top record keeper, US Archivist Colleen Shogan. Later that night, he pledged to fire board of trustees members for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts - and to name himself as chairman. Here's a look at some of the major dismissals during Trump's first few weeks in office. 
Millions offered cash to quit
Trump's new Republican administration began with a splash when the White House began offering nearly all of the more than 2 million federal employees offers to resign, part of Trump's efforts to slash the size of the federal government. A US judge temporarily paused the plan, which had offered federal workers eight months of pay to quit by 6 February. The White House says more than 40,000 employees already accepted the offer.Trump has also targeted specific government officials, firing Democratic Federal Elections Committee (FEC) chair Ellen Weintraub, according to a letter she shared online. Weintraub alleges her firing was not legal.The FEC enforces campaign finance laws and oversees federal elections.The president also dismissed Gwynne Wilcox, the first black woman to serve on the National Labor Relations Board, who is now suing the administration. 
Trump's former allies told they are fired
Trump's former appointees have been dismissed too. "Jose Andres from the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, Brian Hook from the Wilson Center for Scholars, and Keisha Lance Bottoms from the Presidents Export Council — YOU'RE FIRED!" Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. Brian Hook, a top envoy to Iran during Trump's first term, was fired.General Mark Milley, whom Trump named as Joint Chiefs of Staff during his first administration, was also told he is no longer needed. The Pentagon revoked the security detail and clearance for Gen Milley, who has been critical of Trump in the past.In the hours after Trump's second inauguration, Trump's officials also removed a portrait of Gen Milley from the Pentagon.
Trump's DEI campaign promises
During Trump's time on the campaign trail, he pledged to terminate DEI programmes. DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) programmes aim to promote participation in workplaces by people from a range of backgrounds.Their backers say they address historical or ongoing discrimination and underrepresentation of certain groups, including racial minorities, but critics argue such programmes can themselves be discriminatory.Trump aimed to fulfill his election promise against DEI on his second day in office, telling federal agencies to terminate all staff working on those projects.The Trump administration emailed thousands of federal employees, ordering them to report any efforts to "disguise" diversity initiatives in their agencies or face "adverse consequences".
The prosecutors who went after Trump
The Justice Department said last month that it had fired several career prosecutors who were involved in criminal investigations into the president. Trump was charged in two federal cases, which were later dismissed when he won the presidential election. The Justice Department told US media that the move to fire the prosecutors was "consistent with the mission of ending the weaponization of government",  another one of Trump's campaign pledges. The Trump administration also fired eight senior FBI officials involved in investigating the 6 January Capitol riots, according to a memo written by Emil Bove, a former defense lawyer for Trump who now works for the Justice Department. The administration has asked the FBI to compile a list of all the agents involved in those 6 January probes, a list a US judge has ordered Trump's team to keep confidential. Trump has also fired at least a dozen inspectors general across several federal agencies, including the departments of defence, energy and state. The role of inspector general was created to provide a check on governmental abuses of power. 