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Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Librarian of Congress was from Florida, and she was fired by Trump. Here's why
President Donald Trump fired longtime Librarian of Congress and Tallahassee native Carla Hayden on May 8, reportedly due to her focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. Hayden, both the first Black American and the first woman to head the library, holds a PhD in library sciences and was nominated to the post in 2016 by then-President Barack Obama. She was questioned by Congress earlier in the week over a library modernization project that was running late and over budget. Trump had her fired via email late in the day. The day before, the nonprofit American Accountability Foundation, a conservative group dedicated to protecting Trump's "America First" initiatives, posted on X, "The current #LibrarianOfCongress Carla Hayden is woke, anti-Trump, and promotes trans-ing kids. It's time to get her OUT and hire a new guy for the job!" with a clip of Secretary of State Marco Rubio joking that it would be a good job. Hayden was serving a 10-year term as the Librarian of Congress and would have been up for reappointment next year. The library's collection is intended to include the "world's most comprehensive record of human creativity and knowledge" and preserves millions of books, films, photos and manuscripts. Since his inauguration day, Trump has repeatedly targeted programs and people he considers improperly advancing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. "We felt she did not fit the needs of the American people," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters. "There were quite concerning things that she had done at the Library of Congress in the pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the library for children." The Library of Congress is a research library and does not operate as a lending library, although members of the public who are 16 years of age and older may use books while on the premises. It is also the home to the U.S. Copyright Office. Some possible reasons for Hayden's dismissal: Hayden appeared before a Congressional committee earlier in the week, facing questions from a library modernization project whose cost has ballooned while completion deadlines have been repeatedly delayed. Hayden had been leading the "Of the People" initiative to bring more works from Black, indigenous, Hispanic or Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander and other communities of color into the library's collections. On May 8, the American Accountability Foundation pushed for Hayden's firing and posted later, thanking Trump for removing a "woke and radical Librarian of Congress." In March, the Library released a study examining the copyright law and policy issues raised by artificial intelligence (AI) programs using copyrighted materials in their training. The study advised against compulsory usage in publishing contracts in favor of voluntary contracts and opt-out mechanisms to protect copyright. Several of Trump's big donors, including megabillionaire Elon Musk, operate AI programs that have been accused of scanning copyrighted works without permission. Several Democratic members of Congress criticized her firing. "While President Trump wants to ban books and tell Americans what to read – or not to read at all, Dr. Hayden has devoted her career to making reading and the pursuit of knowledge available to everyone," New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich said in a statement. "President Trump's ignorant decision will impact America's libraries, our copyrighted economic interests, and service to the American people by threatening support for Congress," Rep. Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat, posted to social media May 8. Hayden was raised in New York, but she was born at Florida A&M University Hospital to Bruce Kennard Hayden Jr., a FAMU music professor and Colleen Hayden, a Tallahassee elementary school teacher and social worker. She gave the commencement address for FAMU's fall graduation in 2019. She once told the Tallahassee Democrat she had a personal connection to the university and that it was a thrill to stand on the stage at Lee Hall where both her parents had once performed. Hayen graduated from Roosevelt University with a degree in political science and African history and earned a Ph.D. in library science from the University of Chicago. She got her start telling stories to children with autism at the Chicago Public Library, working her way up until she became library services coordinator at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. After five years, she moved to Pittsburgh to teach information sciences for four years before moving back to Chicago, where she was deputy commissioner and chief librarian of the Chicago Public Library from 1991 to 1993. She was the CEO of Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland, from 1993 to 2016, and president of the American Library Association from 2003 to 2004. In 2003. Ms. Magazine named her Woman of the Year for her public opposition to the parts of the Patriot Act that allowed the Department of Justice and the FBI to access library user records. In 2016, former President Barack Obama, who had met Hayden in Chicago, nominated her to serve as the next Librarian of Congress. She was confirmed with a 74-18 vote and sworn in by Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts. She has also written two books, "Venture into Cultures: A Resource Book of Multicultural Materials and Programs" and "A Frontier of Librarianship: Services for Children in Museums." Contributing: James Call, USA TODAY NETWORK This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Trump fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. Here's why
Fox News
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
'Nonpartisan' CBO's health division overwhelmingly staffed by Dems, GOP-aligned group says
EXCLUSIVE: A division of the Congressional Budget Office, the agency charged with providing budget and economic information to lawmakers, is stacked with liberal Democrats, putting into question its long-standing reputation of being nonpartisan. The American Accountability Foundation, a conservative government research nonprofit, found that much of the CBO's Health Analysis Division is made up of Democrats or Democratic donors. Of the 32 staff members in the division, 26 of them, or 84%, have "clearly" verified liberal partisan biases, being either a Democrat donor, a registered Democrat, or a Democratic primary voter, the group said in a memo outlining its findings, which come ahead of potential scrutiny of President Donald Trump's budget request. "The CBO likes to call itself 'nonpartisan' in an attempt to disguise its role as an undercover leftist think tank," AAF President Tom Jones said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "In fact, the CBO is institutionally progressive, with 84% of its professional healthcare staff members being registered Democrats. These same staff members, who are on record donating to radicals like Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton, 'score' legislation and present it to the American people like it's sacrosanct." Jones accused the CBO staffers of not just voting left, but using their influence to promote progressive policy changes. "The Health Analysis Division has been overtaken by liberal group think," the memo states. "As policymakers consider pronouncements and scores from CBO over the coming weeks, they should regard those from the Health Care Analysis Division with deep suspicion and should likely disregard them as the product of a politically biased policy shop, much as they would analysis from an institution like the Center for American Progress." The HAD is tasked with analyzing federal programs and policies that include Medicare, Medicaid and subsidies provided through health insurance exchanges. Its staffers produce reports on policy issues and play a key role in certain estimates of proposed changes in health care programs, the CBO website states. The report noted that the CBO works to "cultivate" a reputation as a "non-partisan scorekeeper, just balls and strikes." That reputation is so entrenched, the AAF said, that 1,358 different news media stories in the last year alone have appended the word "nonpartisan" to the beginning of the office's name, reporting on the "nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office." "While the CBO has spun a narrative through the mainstream media that it's a neutral scorekeeper, it's one big gaslighting campaign to distract from the office's fundamentally progressive roots." Jones said. "They know the next few months with reconciliation are crucial and will do everything they can to slam and stall the Trump administration's policies." CBO employees are barred from engaging in political activity if it would "identify, or appear to identify, CBO with a political campaign, candidate, officeholder, or cause," its website states. "The specific positions taken are irrelevant; rather, the potential harm to CBO's reputation for objectivity comes from association with political activity or public advocacy," it adds. The agency doesn't hire employment candidates based on their political affiliation, it said. Research conducted by the group found that Health Analysis Director Chapin White is a Democratic donor, having given money to former Secretary of State John Kerry. White made a $300 donation to Kerry's failed presidential bid in 2004, according to Federal Election Commission data. White referred Fox News Digital to the CBO, which declined to comment. One analyst has donated to several Democratic elected officials, including former President Joe Biden and various members of Congress, according to the FEC. Many others are registered Democrats or have donated to Democratic pollical candidates, the think tank said. Much of the data gathered by the AAF was obtained through public campaign finance reporting agencies or from voter registration offices, noting that many CBO employees live in Virginia, which doesn't have partisan registration, the nonprofit said. Virginia also restricts access to voter history records via the state's Freedom of Information Act, making it challenging to ascertain whether voters cast ballots in Democratic or Republican primaries, it said. However, the AAF said it obtained Virginia voting history information from a trusted third-party source. "There were four staff members for whom AAF was unable to secure voting history or registration information," it said. "AAF strongly suspects if the staffers listed as 'Data on Definitive Partisan Bias Unavailable' were asked whether they vote in Democrat or Republican primaries (or if they had voted for Kamala Harris or Donald Trump) very few, if any, will respond that they are Republicans."
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump fires head of Copyright Office after firing Librarian of Congress
The Trump administration fired Shira Perlmutter from her post heading the U.S. Copyright Office, just days after booting the nation's Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden. A spokesperson from the Copyright Office confirmed on Sunday that the White House sent Perlmutter an email on Saturday, saying, 'your position as the Register of Copyrights and Director at the U.S. Copyright Office is terminated effective immediately.' The move comes after President Trump fired Thursday Carla Hayden, the head of the Library of Congress, which oversees the Copyright Office. Hayden was the first woman and first African American to serve as Librarian of Congress. Hayden, who was confirmed to her post in 2016, tapped Perlmutter to head the Copyright Office in October 2020. Perlmutter had previously been a policy director at the Patent and Trademark Office, The Associated Press reported, and brought expertise in copyright and other areas of intellectual property. Perlmutter and Hayden both faced scrutiny from a conservative nonprofit, American Accountability Foundation (AAF), which called for their firings late last month. 'The President and his team have done an admirable and long-needed job cleaning out deep state liberals from the federal government. It is time they show Carla Hayden and Shira Perlmutter the door and return an America First agenda to the nation's intellectual property regulation,' AAF's president, Tom Jones, told the Daily Mail in late April. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Gizmodo
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Gizmodo
Trump Reportedly Fires Head of US Copyright Office
Shira Perlmutter recently expressed concern over the use of copyrighted material by AI firms. Earlier this week, the US Copyright Office issued a massive report in part expressing support for content creators and raising concerns about how artificial intelligence systems utilize copyrighted material in training. On Saturday, the head of that office, Shira Perlmutter, was fired by Donald Trump, according to CBS News. The firing also followed Trump's axing of Carla Hayden, the head of the Library of Congress, of which the US Copyright Office is one department. Perlmutter had served as the Register of Copyrights since October, 2020, during the first Trump administration. She had been appointed to the role by Hayden, who was appointed librarian of Congress during Barack Obama's first term and served through the first Trump presidency without disruption. Hayden, who made significant efforts to modernize and optimize the library's systems during her tenure, was fired without explanation earlier this week. Hayden's firing came shortly after the American Accountability Foundation, a right-wing 'government oversight' organization, took aim at Hayden for denouncing efforts to remove books about sexual identity from libraries and for inviting Lizzo to play former President James Madison's crystal flute at a concert in 2022. Perlmutter also faced scrutiny from this group, taking issue with the fact that she had made donations to Democratic political campaigns. The AAF also apparently took issue with the fact that she supported a 'three strikes' rule for individuals downloading copyrighted material on the Internet. It's hard to see any other inciting incident other than the AAF's recent campaign against Hayden and Perlmutter as the impetus for Trump taking action, but the timing is certainly open to question given the Copyright Office's recent report examining how generative AI models utilize copyrighted works within their training data and the potential harms that may cause to artists, creators, and copyright holders. To that end, Democratic Congressperson Joe Morelle of New York, the ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, took issue with Perlmutter's firing and called into question the motivations behind it. 'Donald Trump's termination of Register of Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter, is a brazen, unprecedented power grab with no legal basis,' he said in a statement. 'It's surely no coincidence he acted less than a day after she refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk's efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works to train AI models.' Musk recently endorsed the idea of removing all intellectual property laws, an idea that has growing support among tech CEOs who would like to mine and utilize as much data as humanly possible in order to train their AI models. Deleting those laws off the books seems like the quickest way for these companies to access the data they want, as it seems the 'fair use' argument for using copyrighted material as training data may fall flat. Fittingly, one of the major conclusions of the report from Perlmutter's office was that the use of copyrighted works to train commercial services 'goes beyond established fair use boundaries.'
Black America Web
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Black America Web
Trump's Firing Of Carla Hayden Is Another Attack On Knowledge And History
Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE Source: Shannon Finney / Getty In yet another shocking display of power and partisanship, President Donald Trump has fired Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress. For those unfamiliar with her, Dr. Carla Hayden is a trailblazer — the first woman and the first African American to ever hold the prestigious role of Librarian of Congress, an institution often described as the 'People's Library'; but apparently, her commitment to making knowledge accessible to all was a problem for the Trump administration. Hayden's abrupt dismissal was confirmed in an email sent by the White House's Presidential Personnel Office on Thursday evening. The email, cold, informal, and unpresidential, read: 'On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service.' A classic Trumpian approach — no ceremony, no gratitude, just an ax dropped from above. What did Carla Hayden do to deserve this unceremonious exit? According to the conservative advocacy group American Accountability Foundation (AAF), she was guilty of promoting 'woke' content and 'radical' children's books. Translation: she dared to make the Library of Congress a place where diverse perspectives were valued and where American history was shown in all its complexity. AAF's president Tom Jones went so far as to claim that the Library needed to be brought back in line with an 'America First' agenda. Because, apparently, making literature, history, and knowledge accessible to all Americans is now considered radical. THANK YOU @POTUS!!!! Woke & radical Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden has been fired! — American Accountability Foundation (@Theswampmonitor) May 9, 2025 But this is about more than just Carla Hayden losing her job; this decision is a clear continuation of the Trump administration's broader purge of public servants who don't align with its agenda. Whether it's firing FEMA officials who dare to disagree with Trump's chaotic disaster response strategy or axing high-ranking women at the Pentagon, this administration has shown a consistent pattern: loyalty to Trump is more important than experience, expertise, or public service. This is particularly troubling given the role of the Library of Congress. This isn't just any federal agency. It is the largest library in the world, a repository of American history, culture, and knowledge. From the personal papers of U.S. Presidents to rare books, photographs, and artifacts, the Library is a treasure trove of American heritage. Under Carla Hayden's leadership, it became even more accessible, with initiatives that brought its resources into rural communities and expanded its digital collections, but in Trump's America, a commitment to inclusion and education makes you a target. Predictably, Democrats have come out in full force, condemning Hayden's firing as an attack on knowledge and a blatant attempt to rewrite history. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called Hayden 'a trailblazer, a scholar, and a public servant of the highest order.' Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro described her dismissal as 'callous,' and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries didn't mince words, declaring that Trump's decision was part of his ongoing effort to 'ban books, whitewash American history, and turn back the clock.' My statement on the unjust termination of Dr. Carla Hayden as Librarian of Congress by a failed President. — Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) May 9, 2025 Hayden's firing is not just a loss for the Library of Congress. It is a loss for every American who believes that knowledge should be accessible to all, that history should be preserved in its fullness, and that a public servant's duty is to serve the people, not a political agenda. In an era when truth is constantly under attack, the removal of someone who has dedicated her life to making knowledge available to all is nothing short of a national tragedy. But this isn't just another story of a qualified woman being shown the door; it's a message. A nation that allows knowledge to be controlled by politics is a nation doomed to repeat its darkest mistakes, and we are watching history be rewritten in real-time. If we don't check Trump's overreach now, the next purge may not just target librarians — it may target our very right to know, to learn, and to think for ourselves. SEE ALSO: Black Homeowner Charged with Murder After Teen TikTok Prank Goes Wrong Donald Trump, Executive Overreach, And Project 2025's Blueprint function () { setTimeout(function () { var s = el = 0 ]; = true; = ' el); }, 1000) }); SEE ALSO Trump's Firing Of Carla Hayden Is Another Attack On Knowledge And History was originally published on
