Mark Wilson/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s campaign had its fair share of staff shakeups before the election. And a little over eight months into Trump’s presidency, his White House staff and administration have also seen a lot of turnover.
Here are the departures of White House staffers and other administration officials, starting with the most recent:
Tom Price
Role: Secretary of Health and Human Services
Officially started: Feb. 10, 2017
Resigned: Sept. 29, 2017
232 days in his tenure
Price resigned in the midst of a controversy over his use of private jets for government travel. The former congressman and orthopedic surgeon took as many as 26 chartered planes during his short tenure a spent an estimated $1 million of taxpayer money on both the domestic trips and military flights to Africa, Asia and Europe.
“I have spent forty years both as a doctor and public servant putting people first,” wrote Price to Trump in his resignation letter. “I regret that the recent events have created a distraction from these important objectives.”
The HHS Office of Inspector General launched an investigation into the matter a week prior to the resignation.
Sebastian Gorka
Role: Deputy assistant to the president
Hired: Jan. 30, 2017
Resigned: Aug. 25, 2017
208 days in his tenure
Gorka was a deputy adviser focused on national security and counterterrorism who had worked as a paid policy consultant for Trump’s campaign.
Web magazine The Federalist obtained and posted what it says is Gorka’s resignation letter. “[G]iven recent events, it is clear to me that forces that do not support the MAGA promise are — for now — ascendant within the White House,” the Federalist quotes Gorka as saying. “As a result, the best and most effective way I can support you, Mr. President, is from outside the People’s House.”
The White House, however, disputed the claim that Gorka had tendered his resignation. A White House official told ABC News, “I can confirm he no longer works at the White House.”
What he’s doing now: Gorka will return to Breitbart News.
Steve Bannon
Role: Chief strategist and senior counselor
Hired: Nov. 13, 2016
Officially started: Jan. 20, 2017
Fired: Aug. 18, 2017
211 days in his tenure
After working as the CEO of the Trump campaign since August 2016, Bannon was appointed to a role in the White House. Trump’s announcement that Bannon would be his chief strategist was met with backlash. Critics opposed Bannon’s purported nationalist views and former position as executive chairman of the website Breitbart News, which published articles that promoted the so-called alt-right movement. Bannon’s firing came as a result of Trump’s increasing frustration with Bannon, according to one senior White House official. A source close to Bannon told ABC News that he resigned with an effective date of Aug. 14.
What he’s doing now: Bannon has returned to Breitbart News.
Anthony Scaramucci
Role: White House communications director
Hired: July 21, 2017
Officially started: July 26, 2017
Fired: July 31, 2017
6 days in his tenure
Scaramucci didn’t officially start in his position until July 26, so he was on the job for only six days. When his role was announced, however, he took questions from White House reporters during a press briefing.
Almost a week after he was hired, The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza published a detailed account of an expletive-ridden phone conversation he had with Scaramucci. Scaramucci was pushed to resign the Monday after the article’s publication.
“Mr. Scaramucci felt it was best to give chief of staff John Kelly a clean slate and the ability to build his own team,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
“The president certainly felt that Anthony’s comments were inappropriate for a person in that position, and he didn’t want to burden Gen. Kelly,” Sanders told said at a press briefing the day Scaramucci resigned.
What he’s doing now: Having sold his stake in the hedge fund SkyBridge Capital to join the White House, Scaramucci has turned to doing media appearances. His first televised interview since leaving the White House was with ABC News.
Reince Priebus
Role: White House chief of staff
Hired: Nov. 13, 2016
Officially started: Jan. 20, 2017
Fired: July 28, 2017
190 days in his tenure
Trump announced on Twitter that he was replacing Priebus as his right-hand man with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. According to senior White House officials, Trump told Priebus he wanted to make a change two weeks before he was fired.
What he’s doing now: Despite being out of the White House, Priebus told Fox News he’s going to be “Team Trump all the time.”
“I’ll always be out there trying to help the president, advance his goals, support him as a friend too,” Priebus said.
Sean Spicer
Role: White House press secretary
Hired: Dec. 22, 2016
Officially started: Jan. 20, 2017
Resigned: July 21, 2017
183 days in his tenure
Spicer officially took on the role the day Trump was sworn in as president. But Spicer was named incoming press secretary on Dec. 22, 2016, during the presidential transition. A few hours after Anthony Scaramucci was brought on the team as communications director, Spicer resigned. Spicer told ABC News that he felt “relieved” and that “organizationally” the White House communications team needed a “fresh start.” Though he’s no longer the press secretary, Spicer is still assisting the communications office.
What he’s doing now: After he resigned, Spicer declined to comment on his next steps or formal plans to ABC News, saying only that he would be spending a lot of time with his family. There were rumors that Spicer would join “Dancing With the Stars” or “Saturday Night Live,” on which he was famously parodied by Melissa McCarthy.
Mike Dubke
Role: White House communications director
Hired: March 6, 2017
Resigned: May 18, 2017
74 days in his tenure
According to Axios, Dubke left on good terms, but during his time in the White House he didn’t gel with those who had been with Trump since the campaign. After he resigned, Dubke offered to stay on until the end of Trump’s first foreign trip and “until a transition is concluded,” then–chief of staff Priebus said. Dubke’s last day was June 2, 2017.
What he’s doing now: Dubke has returned to his work at the strategic communications and public affairs firm he co-founded, Black Rock Group.
James Comey
Role: FBI director
Hired: June 21, 2013
Officially started: Sept. 4, 2013
Fired: May 9, 2017
1,344 days in his tenure
Comey was dismissed by Trump, who the White House originally said was acting on the counsel of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, after they criticized Comey’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. Trump later portrayed the decision as his alone and said that he was thinking about the FBI’s Russian election interference probe when he resolved to fire Comey.
What he’s doing now: Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8, when he detailed his interactions with Trump before his firing. In early August, Flatiron Books announced a deal to publish a book by Comey in the spring of 2018.
Mike Flynn
Role in the Trump administration: National security adviser
Hired: Nov. 18, 2016
Officially started: Jan. 20, 2017
Fired: Feb. 13, 2017
25 days in his tenure
Flynn, who spent much of 2016 on the campaign trail supporting Trump at rallies and events, was rewarded with the national security adviser position shortly after the election. He lasted just over three weeks before being forced to resign after it was revealed that he misled Vice President Mike Pence about the nature of multiple meetings with Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak before Trump’s inauguration.
What he’s doing now: Flynn and his business ties to Turkey have been part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and possible connections to the Trump campaign.
Sally Yates
Role: Acting attorney general
Promoted: Jan. 20, 2017
Fired: Jan. 30, 2017
11 days in her tenure
After nearly three decades in a career with the Department of Justice, Yates took the reins of the department with the resignation of Barack Obama’s Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Yates was fired for instructing DOJ lawyers not to defend Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order barring immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
“For as long as I am the acting attorney general, the Department of Justice will not present arguments in defense of the executive order, unless and until I become convinced that it is appropriate to do so,” Yates wrote in a letter to DOJ lawyers. She was fired hours after sending the letter. In a statement, the White House said Yates “betrayed the Department of Justice.”
What she’s doing now: Since she left the Department of Justice, Yates has penned two op-eds in The Washington Post and The New York Times that are critical of Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Other notable departures:
- George Sifakis: director, Office of Public Liaison
- Ezra Cohen-Watnick: senior director for intelligence programs, National Security Council
- Michael Short: senior press assistant
- Walter Shaub: director, Office of Government Ethics
- Vivek Murthy: surgeon general
- Angella Reid: chief usher, White House
- Katie Walsh: deputy chief of staff
- Preet Bharara: U.S. attorney, Southern District of New York
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