The Biden administration tells former Trump officials to resign from the military academy’s advisory boards or be fired

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Among the officials who called for the resignation were prominent former Trump officials, such as former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, former senior adviser to President Kellyanne Conway and former national security adviser HR McMaster. They were appointed to the advisory boards of the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy and West Point respectively.

Other prominent names include Heidi Stirrup, the White House liaison with the Justice Department who was barred from entering the building after trying to access sensitive information about possible election fraud in December 2020 and retired Colonel Douglas Macgregor, former ambassador and Pentagon official with a history of controversial comments. The duo was named a member of the boards of the Air Force Academy and West Point.

Other nominees who have been asked to resign are Michael Wynne, who was named a member of the board of the Air Force Academy; retired General John Keane, Meaghan Mobbs and David Urban appointed to West Point council; and John Coale and Russell Vought, Trump’s former director of the Office of Management and Budgets, appointed to the board of the Naval Academy.

The advisory boards of the military academy, according to the Air Force Academy website, were created to oversee “morale, discipline, social climate, curriculum, instruction, physical equipment, tax matters, academic methods, and others. issues “related to the nation ‘s military academies. . The board of each academy meets several times a year and its members provide independent advice and recommendations to the president.

Members usually serve three-year terms. At least one Trump nominee, Vought, has indicated he will not resign.

“No, it’s a three-year term,” Vought tweeted, attaching an image of the letter requesting his resignation.

When he came to CNN to comment, Spicer said he intended to respond to his program’s resignation request. Wynne told CNN “it was an honor to be on the board” and said she was disappointed not to be asked to continue on the board.

“I was very disappointed to see that the Biden administration did not honor the appointment of a previous chairman on the visitor board, which has been the tradition for years,” Keane told CNN.

In a statement, Mobbs said he would not resign.

“Frankly, I consider this whole act to be unconscious and not all in the spirit by which this administration promised to govern. President Biden ran on a supposed platform of unity, but his actions speak directly to the contrary. Apparently, the drive is only for those who comply, ”Mobbs said. “When I joined the board under the Trump administration, there were remnants of the Obama administration. They were not fired, but served alongside those appointed by Trump. This mix of perspective, experience, and belief systems ensured that there was diversity, a value that the Democratic Party made. It aims to stay above all else. “

CNN has also contacted Conway, Macgregor, Urban, Stirrup, Coale and McMaster to comment.

CNN’s KFile has previously reported that Macgregor, who served in the Trump administration as a senior Pentagon adviser and was appointed to the West Point board late last year, discredited immigrants, refugees and minorities, and he spread conspiracy theories that the Biden administration was replacing whites of European descent.

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