Latest news with #politicalappointees
Washington Post
6 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
State Dept. layoffs led by team of outsiders willing to ‘break stuff'
The Trump administration's dramatic reorganization of the State Department, including this month's firing of more than 1,300 workers, was engineered primarily by a handful of political appointees lacking extensive diplomatic experience and chosen for their 'fidelity' to the president and willingness to 'break stuff' on his behalf, according to people with knowledge of the process.
CBS News
16-07-2025
- Health
- CBS News
RFK Jr. ousts two Trump loyalists from HHS top ranks
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired two loyalists of President Trump who were serving in top-ranking posts at his department, multiple people familiar with the situation tell CBS News. Multiple federal health officials expressed surprise at news of the firings, which ousted chief of staff Heather Flick Melanson and top policy adviser Hannah Anderson. Anderson and Flick had led Kennedy's immediate office alongside two other aides, senior counselor Stefanie Spear and executive secretary Cortney McCormick. Spear is a longtime aide to Kennedy, dating back to his longshot presidential bid. Two federal health officials said Anderson and Flick were seen as outsiders to Kennedy's base, installed by the White House to keep tabs on Kennedy and make sure the president's agenda was being prioritized. "The White House pretty much parachuted Heather in there to tether RFK and Stefanie a bit," one official told CBS News. A Trump ally familiar with the situation praised Anderson, saying she was "a person of impeccable integrity" who "loved working for President Trump." A spokesperson for the department said that Kennedy has named Matt Buckham, currently the HHS liaison to the White House, as his acting chief of staff. Bukcham currently oversees the recruitment and onboarding of political appointees, the spokesperson said. "Secretary Kennedy thanks the outgoing leadership for their service and looks forward to working closely with Mr. Buckham as the Department continues advancing its mission to Make America Healthy Again," the spokesperson said in a statement. The spokesperson did not comment on why they were dismissed. CNN previously reported news that they had been ousted. Their firings come after other Trump loyalists have left the department in recent weeks. Scott Rowell, who had served as the deputy chief of staff for operations, also left the department. Rowell previously worked as a top-ranking HHS official during the first Trump administration.
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Trump Using an Obscure Architecture Board to Fire Jerome Powell?
On Wednesday night, President Donald Trump ousted Joe Biden's appointees to the National Capital Planning Commission, the obscure panel that oversees urban planning for the Washington area. And instead of the usual wonky architecture types, the replacements are sharply political White House heavyweights: Staff Secretary Will Scharf, Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair and Stuart Levenbach, an aide to Office of Management and Budget chief Russell Vought. On the face of it, it seemed like a strange use of senior officials' time. At their inaugural meeting Thursday, the three sat through an afternoon of discussions about lighting plans for a Smithsonian building and guidelines for protecting pollinating insects. But their presence made a lot more sense when the new commissioners spoke up — and promptly took aim at one of Trump's political foes, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Powell has resisted Trump's demands to lower interest rates. In response, Republicans have launched a campaign on social media and in Congress against the Fed chair, himself a first-term Trump nominee. It's not the sort of campaign that usually winds up in front of the National Capital Planning Commission. But Blair took the mic for his maiden speech to the group to do just that. 'We should not be made fools of,' he thundered, referencing a renovation project to the Fed's headquarters that he called far more opulent than the one the Planning Commission approved. Blair cited a professor who implied Powell had lied under oath to the Senate about the renovation, which has become a refrain for GOP officials and conservative media. As my colleagues Victoria Guida and Declan Harty reported this month, some Republicans see the controversy as a reason for Trump to fire Powell for cause — thereby avoiding a legal crisis over his desire to remove the head of an independent federal body. 'I am going to request a full review of plans of the Federal Reserve project,' Blair said, referring to the project as the 'Taj Mahal on the National Mall.' 'I'm going to ask that they send us a detailed explanation package of any and all upgrades, changes and modifications to the plan that was submitted here in 2021 and approved,' he added. 'I'm going to request a site visit.' His fellow Trump appointees concurred. 'Please count me in,' said Luvenbach. 'I look forward to working with you on this letter and in scrutinizing this building.' The other commissioners — who include appointees of D.C.'s local government, congressional committees and cabinet agencies — stayed quiet. It was, to say the least, an unusual moment for a largely apolitical commission that has rarely made news during its 101-year history. The audience for Blair's remarks was largely made up of architects with business before the panel. I was the lone person sitting in the area reserved for the media. But in Washington, this little-noticed moment served as a reminder of something Trump himself said at a Tuesday cabinet meeting: He has a lot of power over the shape of the city, and he intends to use it. The Planning Commission has the power to approve or reject not just federal buildings, but also D.C. government projects and privately-owned properties in certain core parts of the capital. At the meeting Thursday, for instance, commissioners weighed in on a D.C. government-led redevelopment project along the Anacostia River, a Jeff Bezos-sponsored learning center at the Air and Space Museum and proposed renovations to the arena that houses Washington's hockey and basketball teams. In theory, that's a lot of leverage over a lot of people. In the case of Powell, the leverage comes in the form of the Planning Commission's approval of the initial plan for the headquarters, which calls for 'additions that should emphasize the Federal Reserve's civic importance while being modest and restrained.' During the session, the Trump appointees to the panel said the now-$2.5 billion price tag didn't comport with the promise of modesty. Blair told me afterward that his concerns were unrelated to the tussle over interest rates. 'I think with a commission like this, it's extremely important, obviously, to get the planning right on the front end, but it's also equally important to ensure that when plans are duly approved, the construction proceeds according to plan,' Scharf said in his opening remarks. Of course, litigating a term like 'modest' is a tough thing to do. But if the goal is to make life unpleasant for a guy you want to pressure, that's not really the point. And the bigger campaign is hard to miss. In a letter to Powell that was posted on social media while the Planning Commission was still meeting, Vought — the boss of new commissioner Levenbach — accused the Fed of violating the National Capital Planning Act, which undergirds the commission. (That same law, incidentally, calls for commissioners to be 'citizens with experience in city or regional planning,' which is a bit of a stretch for the new Trump appointees.) The Federal Reserve declined to comment Friday morning. Testifying before the Senate this summer, Powell dismissed allegations that the building was too opulent. There are plenty of other places where political influence over obscure planning bodies can give the White House new muscle. Locally, it has already become part of a city debate over a proposed new stadium for the Washington Commanders. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser's proposal to build on the site of the old RFK stadium is strongly supported by Trump. But some members of the city council are balking at the proposed taxpayer subsidies involved in bringing the NFL back to the city. Lobbying for votes, the mayor's allies have talked up the potential of Trump using bodies like the Planning Commission to re-open the project if the council doesn't OK it as-is. But what's notable about Trump, our first developer president, is that some of the places where he wants to use the Planning Commission actually line up with its mission. The look and shape of buildings, which never used to vary much between Democratic and Republican presidencies, has become intensely political. That's a place where Trump's appointees can put a thumb on the scale, even for buildings that aren't owned by Uncle Sam. In his opening remarks Thursday, Scharf — a former lawyer for Trump — alluded to the administration's preferred aesthetic: 'Classical architecture.' During his first term, Trump issued an executive order forbidding modernist architecture in federal buildings. Progressives howled, and Biden reversed the order upon taking office. Then Trump reinstated it when he came back. Whether you prefer Ionic columns or brutalist facades, it seems, is now a culture war issue. Conservatives have been angling for an executive order that goes even further by jettisoning the 1962 'Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture' compiled by Kennedy aide (and future senator) Daniel Patrick Moynihan. The principles discouraged the country from having an 'official style' and instructed the government to defer to elite architects — the very people that traditionalists accuse of foisting ugly modern buildings on the public in the name of being cutting-edge. Practically speaking, though, exerting maximal control over the agencies that have say-so over the look of Washington — the Planning Commission, the Old Georgetown Board and the Commission of Fine Arts — will allow the administration to do the almost same thing. And they'll have a lot to do: The DOGE-inspired plans to abandon landmark federal agency headquarters will mean there are a lot of disused modernist government buildings to dispose of. The Planning Commission will have authority over what happens to them. Scharf declined to say what he envisions when I asked him, leaving it at 'stay tuned.' One of Trump's first-term nominees, former Commission of Fine Arts leader Justin Shubow, who shaped the initial executive order requiring classical architecture, has already weighed in: In a February op-ed, he called for demolishing the Forrestall Building, the blocky modernist structure that currently houses the Department of Energy. Blair told me that Trump is keen on putting his visual stamp on the capital. 'He has a background as a builder,' he said. 'He's well known for his very tasteful design and very successful properties. Obviously, this is the seat of government, and is really a symbol of all civilization, certainly the Western world. And he wants to make sure that it's beautiful and it's well designed. And I think so far as he can influence that with his time here, he wants to do so.'
Fox News
03-06-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Trump to host thousands of admin officials for one of the largest events ever on White House lawn
EXCLUSIVE: President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening is hosting the more than 3,000 political appointees in his administration for one of the largest events ever held on the White House lawn to celebrate their work, Fox News Digital has learned. The event will be the first time ever that the president has invited all individuals hired across all departments to the White House at the same time for the same event, officials told Fox News Digital. Traditionally, events are held over several shifts for each department, but Wednesday's event will honor the more than 3,000 individuals hired for the second Trump administration. "This is his team. These are his people," an official told Fox News Digital. "These are individuals who are hand-selected by the president to work in the administration delivering on the historic mandate that he received in November." The president will attend the event and address the attendees. Most members of the Cabinet will also attend. Those familiar with the planning of the event told Fox News Digital that there will be food and entertainment for staff. "President Trump's Office of Presidential Personnel is breaking hiring records at an unprecedented pace," Director of Presidential Personnel Sergio Gor told Fox News Digital. "In just 135 days, we have filled 91% of all political appointments across the U.S. government, a historic achievement." Gor told Fox News Digital that "the quality of talent that we've assembled is remarkable." "Each political appointee in the Trump administration is unwavering in their commitment to this president and his goal to make America great again," Gor said. Since the president took office Jan. 20, the administration has hired more than 3,200 appointees. An official in the Office of Presidential Personnel told Fox News Digital that at the Departments of Defense, Commerce and Treasury, more than 85% of political hires are complete; at the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Homeland Security, 90% of political hires are complete; and at the Department of Veterans Affairs, 100% of political hires are complete. The official told Fox News Digital that the administration is filled with individuals who have served as Fortune 500 executives, accomplished business leaders, technical experts and "dedicated aides that are working to ensure that President Trump continues to deliver for the American people." "We have hired the best and brightest to make America great again and advance the America First agenda," the official said. Trump's Cabinet was also confirmed in record time, with officials noting that none of his Cabinet-level nominees failed in committee or on the Senate floor for confirmation.
The Guardian
29-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Trump's new ‘gold standard' rule will destroy American science as we know it
Science is under siege. On Friday evening, the White House released an executive order called Restoring Gold Standard Science. At face value, this order promises a commitment to federally funded research that is 'transparent, rigorous, and impactful' and policy that is informed by 'the most credible, reliable, and impartial scientific evidence available'. But hidden beneath the scientific rhetoric is a plan that would destroy scientific independence in the US by giving political appointees the latitude to dismiss entire bodies of research and punish researchers who fail to fall in line with the current administration's objectives. In other words: this is Fool's-Gold Standard Science. According to the order, 'Gold Standard Science means science conducted in a manner that is: (i) reproducible; (ii) transparent; (iii) communicative of error and uncertainty; (iv) collaborative and interdisciplinary; (v) skeptical of its findings and assumptions; (vi) structured for falsifiability of hypotheses; (vii) subject to unbiased peer review; (viii) accepting of negative results as positive outcomes; and (ix) without conflicts of interest.' The order mimics the language of an active reform movement in science to increase rigor and transparency of research – a movement commonly called the open science movement, to which some of us are contributors. Science is, by nature, a continuous work in progress; constantly self-scrutinized and always looking for opportunities to improve. We should all be able to celebrate any administration's investment in improving the openness, integrity, and reproducibility of research. But, with this executive order, we cannot. Instead of being about open science, it grants administration-aligned political appointees the power to designate any research as scientific misconduct based on their own 'judgment' and includes the power to punish the scientists involved accordingly; this would weaponize government counter to the public interest. The consequences of state-dictated science can be catastrophic. When Trofim Lysenko, a researcher who denied the reality of genetic inheritance and natural selection, won favor with Joseph Stalin and took control of agriculture in the Soviet Union, thousands of scientists who disagreed with him were fired, imprisoned, or killed. His disastrous agricultural prescriptions ultimately led to famines that killed millions in the USSR and in China. Science does not proceed by sequentially establishing unassailable conclusions, but rather by steadily accumulating numerous lines of evidence, scrutinizing its weaknesses, and pursuing additional evidence. Almost any study, any source of evidence, any conclusion, falls short of meeting every aspect of the White House's list of best practices. This has nothing to do with laziness, let alone misconduct by individual scientists; it's simply a consequence of the fact that science is difficult. Scientists constantly grapple with uncertainty, and nevertheless can ultimately arrive at robust, valid conclusions, such as the fact that vaccines do not cause autism, and that the burning of fossil fuels is warming the planet and wreaking havoc on our climate. Under the terms of the executive order, political appointees loyal to the president can willfully find justification to label any research finding as scientific misconduct, and then penalize the researchers involved accordingly. This administration has already appropriated the language of open science to assert control over and deal heavy blows to the scientific ecosystem of the United States – including cancelling thousands of active research grants in climate science, misinformation and disinformation, vaccines, mental health, women's health, LGBTQ+ health, and stem education. Calls to 'revisit' decades of work that establish vaccine safety beyond a shadow of a doubt 'because the only way you can get good science is through replication', and demands for unethical vaccine clinical trial practices and additional data, further echo the bad-faith adoption of open science language. Trump has also advanced a congressional budget calling for massive cuts to federal spending on research and development and levied significant retaliation against universities that have not fallen in line with his demands. He has gone so far as to propose a rule change by the office of personnel management that would install policy police at all levels of federal agencies, converting thousands of employees into presidential appointees who can be summarily fired without due process for any arbitrary political reason. This new executive order raises the concern that many of our best scientists would be targeted in Lysenkoist purges. Meanwhile, the threat of such actions is already having a chilling effect on all scientists. Science is the most important long-term investment for humanity. Interference in the scientific process by political arbiters stifles scientists' freedom of speech and thought. Science depends on unfettered speech – free and continuous discussion of data and ideas. We, like the rest of the scientific community, aspire to achieve greater openness, integrity, and reproducibility of research to accelerate discovery, advance treatments, and foster solutions to meet society's greatest challenges. Meeting that objective will not occur by centralizing power over science and scientists according to the whims of any political administration. We see this executive order for what it is: an attempt to sell America's future for pyrite. Colette Delawalla is a PhD candidate at Emory University and executive director of Stand Up for Science. Victor Ambros is a 2024 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine at the Chan Medical School, University of Massachusetts. Carl Bergstrom is professor of biology at the University of Washington. Carol Greider is a 2009 Nobel laureate in medicine and distinguished professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Michael Mann is the presidential distinguished professor of earth and environmental science and director of the center for science, sustainability, and the media at the University of Pennsylvania. Brian Nosek is executive director of the Center for Open Science and professor of psychology at the University of Virginia
