EYE-ON-USA: Trump Sacks Top Presidential Appointees, Says More Terminations To Come

By Ed Malik, A | ed@ddnewsonline.com | posted January 22nd, 2025

The newly inaugurated 47th United States President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday the dismissal of four high-profile appointees, according to a post he made on Truth Social. Those leaving the presidential councils and a think tank include retired Gen. Mark Milley, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, chef Jose Andres, and scholar Brian Hook.

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Trump said in a statement on Tuesday after midnight that he fired retired Gen. Mark Milley from the National Infrastructure Advisory Council; Brian Hook from the Wilson Center for Scholars; former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms from the President’s Export Council, and celebrity chef José Andrés from the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.

“You’re fired!” he wrote at the end of his post.

“Our first day in the White House is not over yet! My Presidential Personnel Office is actively in the process of identifying and removing over a thousand Presidential Appointees from the previous Administration, who are not aligned with our vision to Make America Great Again,” he wrote before announcing the names of those he terminated.

He added later that the message should “serve as Official Notice of Dismissal for these 4 individuals, with many more, coming soon.”

Andrés released a statement on social media platform X that he had already resigned from his position this past week.

“I was honored to serve as co-chair of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. My fellow council members—unpaid volunteers like me—were hardworking, talented people who inspired me every day,” he wrote on Tuesday.
“I’m proud of what we accomplished on behalf of the American people … like a historic partnership between the White House and every major sports league to increase access to sports and health programs for kids.”

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He then wrote that he hopes Trump “exercises his presidential authority so the Council can continue to advocate for fitness and good health for all Americans.”

“These are bipartisan issues … nonpartisan issues,” he wrote.

Bottoms, Milley, and Hook, who had served as Trump’s envoy to Iran in his first term in office, have not released public statements after Trump’s announcement.

Bottoms, a Democrat, served as Atlanta’s mayor from 2018 to 2022 and initially joined the Biden administration as the head of the Office of Public Engagement and a senior adviser to then-President Joe Biden before being appointed to her most recent position.

Hours before Trump’s announcement, Biden pardoned Milley on Monday in one of his last acts as president. The preemptive pardon was given to prevent any possible retribution, Biden said.

Milley, who was Trump’s top military adviser between 2019 and early 2021, said in a statement on Monday that he was “deeply grateful” for Biden’s pardon.

Others whom Biden pardoned include Anthony Fauci, who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984 and who oversaw portions of the U.S. response to COVID-19; former Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.); U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, and others.

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“But these are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing,” Biden said in a statement. “These public servants have served our nation with honor and distinction and do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions.”

He also preemptively pardoned several members of his own family, his last official act as president.

NOTE: This report referenced The Epoch Times.