Trump fires Doug Emhoff, other Biden appointees, from U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council
In the final days before former President Joe Biden left office, he appointed many of his partisan allies and friends to various boards and commissions, including the council that oversees the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
On Tuesday, coinciding with the 100th day of his second administration, President Donald Trump fired several Biden appointees on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, including former second gentleman Doug Emhoff, Breitbart reported.
The fired council members and the media will undoubtedly cry and complain about the terminations, but the personnel changes are based upon a court precedent established under Biden that confirmed a president's authority to fire and replace certain political appointees at their discretion.
Emhoff is fired
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that former second gentleman Emhoff, the husband of former Vice President Kamala Harris, had been fired from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, which oversees the Museum of the same name.
"Today, I was informed of my removal from the United States Holocaust Memorial Council," Emhoff said in a statement shared with The Times.
"Holocaust remembrance and education should never be politicized," he added. "To turn one of the worst atrocities in history into a wedge issue is dangerous -- and it dishonors the memory of six million Jews murdered by Nazis that this museum was created to preserve."
Breitbart noted that Emhoff, who is Jewish, had further been tasked by the former president with leading the prior administration's purported "strategy" to combat antisemitism, which by all accounts was an abject failure given the frightening surge of anti-Jew hate among leftists on college and university campuses nationwide over the past few years.
Biden's appointees fired by Trump
Emhoff was not alone in getting axed, as The Times reported that other fired council members included former Biden Chief of Staff Ron Klain, former Biden Labor Secretary Tom Perez, former Biden domestic policy advisor Susan Rice, and former first lady Jill Biden's senior advisor Anthony Bernal -- all of whom were appointed to five-year terms right before former President Biden's term ended in January.
Perez, who previously served as the highly partisan chairman of the Democratic National Committee, also spoke out after being fired and laughably claimed, "This is a sad day because our mission at the council has always been nonpartisan."
The Times also shared a copy of the termination letters received by those individuals from the Trump White House Presidential Personnel Office, which stated, "On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council is terminated, effective immediately," and added, "Thank you for your service."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to answer any questions about the terminations but said of the firings in a statement, "President Trump looks forward to appointing new individuals who will not only continue to honor the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust, but who are also steadfast supporters of the State of Israel."
Biden's firings of Trump's appointees set the precedent
Ironically, the Biden appointees have no room to complain about being fired from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council by President Trump, thanks to the legal precedent established by former President Biden's firing of Trump appointee Sean Spicer from the U.S. Naval Academy Board of Visitors, according to a February report from The Washington Post.
Former White House press secretary Spicer, a Navy veteran, was fired along with other Trump appointees from that board as soon as Biden entered office in 2021, which prompted a lawsuit that ultimately failed but, in the process, codified via court precedent the authority and power of future presidents to hire and fire such political appointees at will.
"Now all of these Biden appointees are paying the price for what Biden did," Spicer told The Post in February. "To watch President Trump do this, knowing that I played a small part in giving him the authority to do that, is amazing. This is pretty cool."