The very long list of high-profile White House departures

Joe Hagin, in 2008.

A guide to the resignations, ousters, and firings of the Trump administration.

There’s been a bit of a lull in White House departures, but that might be about to change as summer approaches. A few reports have suggested some top staffers might be getting ready to leave — though it’s too early to say if another exodus is about to begin.

But at least one top staffer is stepping down this summer. White House deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin, a veteran GOP staffer who helped put together the president’s summit with North Korea in Singapore last week, is leaving government service.

Hagin is departing next month, according to Politico. Hagin, who worked for both the Reagan and Bush administration, was one of the most experienced members of Trump’s staff. He lasted for 17 months and is expected to return to the private sector, reports the Washington Post.

 Javier Zarracina/Vox

“Joe Hagin has been a huge asset to my administration,” Trump said in a statement, according to Politico. “He planned and executed the longest and one of the most historic foreign trips ever made by a President, and he did it all perfectly. We will miss him in the office and even more on the road. I am thankful for his remarkable service to our great country.”

  • White House deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin

Trump is losing one of his most seasoned aides and one of the few staffers with a long résumé of White House service. Hagin helped plan Trump’s Singapore summit, and somehow lasted more than a year, though he was reportedly distrusted by Trump loyalists because of his ties to the Bush family.

  • Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer, National Security Council senior director for global health security

Ziemer, who led the President’s Malaria Initiative under both George W. Bush and Barack Obama, departed the National Security Council after his department was eliminated in an organizational shakeup.

  • Ty Cobb, White House special counsel

Cobb, one of the president’s top attorneys in the Mueller probe, said he told the president he wanted to retire. Reports suggested that others on Trump’s legal team wanted someone more aggressive as the special counsel investigation headed into its second year.

  • Tom Bossert, homeland security adviser

Bossert announced that he was leaving his post in April. His abrupt departure is likely a consequence of National Security Adviser John Bolton’s arrival, who wanted to build his own team.

  • Michael Anton, National Security Council spokesperson

Anton is probably best known for his essay, published under a pseudonym, that called 2016 the “Flight 93” election. The essential argument was that the US was on the verge of destruction like the doomed 9/11 plane; electing Hillary Clinton would hasten its demise, but Trump might be able to take control of the metaphorical plane and avert disaster.

Trump’s defenders seized on the argument, and Anton joined the National Security Council under the first national security adviser, Michael Flynn. He stayed on as an NSC spokesperson during H.R. McMaster’s tenure. His departure coincided with the arrival of the hawkish John Bolton.

  • David Shulkin, secretary of veterans affairs

Shulkin had been the frontrunner in the competition over the next Cabinet member to go. Trump made it official with a tweet. Shulkin is one of several Cabinet officials who have faced ethics questions over misuse of taxpayer funds, with his relating to an expensive European trip.

  • H.R. McMaster, national security adviser

After weeks of speculation, McMaster left the White House after a little more than a year, and was replaced by former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton. McMaster wasn’t Trump’s first choice, and their working relationship was at times fraught.

  • Andrew McCabe, FBI deputy director

The Trump administration fired McCabe a day before he was set to retire with a full pension after a 21-year career. McCabe’s dismissal came after a report from the Department of Justice inspector general that found McCabe was not candid about his interactions with reporters. McCabe had stepped away from his job in January after months of attacks from Trump and his allies over a controversy involving his wife’s alleged ties to Hillary Clinton and her supporters.

  • Rex Tillerson, secretary of state

Tillerson was ousted on March 13 and replaced by CIA Director Mike Pompeo amid various clashes with President Trump.

  • John McEntee, Trump’s personal assistant

McEntee, President Trump’s personal assistant, was escorted out of the White House on March 12, according to the Wall Street Journal, after being fired over an unspecified security issue.

  • Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council

Cohn resigned as the Trump administration appeared ready to move ahead on tariffs, a policy he opposed.

  • Josh Raffel, deputy White House communications director

Raffel, who worked closely with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, left amid speculation about Kushner’s status within the administration.

White House Communications Director Hope Hicks Is Interviewed By House Intelligence Committee During Russian InvestigationChip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Hope Hicks.
  • Hope Hicks, White House communications director

Hicks, one of Trump’s closest and longest-serving aides, resigned in February after a turbulent few weeks.

  • Rachel Brand, associate attorney general

Brand, the No. 3 official at the Justice Department, resigned after nine months. She left for a job in the private sector, but she departed amid Trump’s continued attacks on the Justice Department and federal law enforcement.

  • Rob Porter, White House staff secretary

Porter resigned amid domestic abuse allegations and revelations that despite controlling the paper flow of sensitive documents to Trump’s desk, he had not obtained a long-term security clearance.

  • Brenda Fitzgerald, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Fitzgerald resigned amid allegations of a conflict of interest; she had purchased shares in a tobacco company a month before assuming her job.

Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe Interviewed By House Judiciary CommitteeChip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Andrew McCabe.
  • Rick Dearborn, deputy White House chief of staff

Dearborn stepped down for a job in the private sector around the one-year mark of Trump’s tenure.

  • Omarosa Manigault-Newman, director of communications for the White House Office of Public Liaison

Manigault-Newman resigned (though early reports suggested she was fired in dramatic fashion) to “pursue other opportunities,” which included CBS’s reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother.

  • Dina Powell, deputy national security adviser

One of the so-called “adults in the room,” Powell had been working closely with Middle East policy and departed the White House around the one-year mark.

  • Tom Price, secretary of health and human services

Price resigned amid mounting scandals, including his use of taxpayer money to charter flights and his investments in health care stocks, which raised questions about conflicts of interest.

  • Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the president focusing on national security and terrorism

Gorka said he resigned; the White House implied he was fired. Either way, the controversial adviser — he was linked to far-right Hungarian groups — parted ways with the administration in August and began making regular appearances on Fox News.

President Trump Signs Memorandum On Investigation Into Trade Expansion ActMark Wilson/Getty Images
Bannon and Priebus, White House casualties.
  • Steve Bannon, White House chief strategist

Trump’s firebrand populist adviser left the White House in August 2017 following months of turmoil and his penchant for talking to reporters.

  • Carl Icahn, special adviser to the president on regulatory matters

Icahn said he had stopped advising Trump in August 2017, though he also claimed he never had a formal role with the administration. The billionaire friend of Trump’s was plagued by conflict of interest questions before he relinquished his role.

  • Sean Spicer, White House press secretary

The embattled and increasingly sidelined press secretary resigned in July 2017 after Anthony Scaramucci was appointed White House communications director. Speaking of which…

  • Anthony Scaramucci, White House communications director

In what might be the record for shortest tenure, Scaramucci was fired after just 10 days at his job in the White House. He was reportedly ousted by Chief of Staff John Kelly, though an expletive-laced interview probably didn’t help.

  • Reince Priebus, White House chief of staff

Priebus said he resigned, though it appeared he was unceremoniously ousted after Trump announced his successor, John Kelly, on Twitter and reportedly kicked him out of the presidential motorcade. Priebus’s departure wasn’t a surprise; weeks of reports suggested Trump was on the verge of axing him.

  • Walter Shaub, director of the Office of Government Ethics

Shaub, the ethics watchdog appointed during President Barack Obama’s second term, resigned in July. He had sharply criticized the Trump administration over ethics questions; he’s now working with an outside ethics watchdog.

  • James Comey, FBI director

You probably know this one by now. Trump officially fired Comey because of his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, but he later admitted it was because he was angry about the Russia investigation. The fallout from Comey’s firing precipitated the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller.

  • Michael Dubke, White House communications director

The first, but definitely not the last, communications director to resign. He lasted about three months.

  • Vivek H. Murthy, surgeon general

Murthy, an Obama administration holdover, was asked to resign by the Trump administration.

  • K.T. McFarland, deputy national security adviser

McFarland was forced out after H.R. McMaster took over as national security adviser. She was nominated as ambassador to Singapore but withdrew her nomination in February because she’s come under scrutiny in Mueller’s probe.

  • Katie Walsh, White House deputy chief of staff

Walsh, an ally of Priebus’s, left the administration after about two months to work for an outside pro-Trump group. Walsh’s notoriety rose months after her departure, and she was widely quoted in Michael Wolff’s Fury and Fury on the White House dysfunction (some of which she disputes).

President Trump Holds Joint Press Conference With Japanese PM Shinzo AbeMario Tama/Getty Images
Michael Flynn.
  • Michael Flynn, national security adviser

Flynn resigned under increasing pressure after it appeared he lied to Vice President Mike Pence and the FBI about his contacts with Russians during the presidential transition. He has since pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in special counsel Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 elections.

  • Preet Bharara, US attorney for the Southern District of New York

Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked for the resignations of all 46 Obama-appointed US attorneys — a customary practice when a new president takes office. But Bharara’s case stood out because Trump had reportedly asked him to stay on during the transition. Bharara refused to resign; Trump fired him.

  • Sally Yates, acting attorney general

An Obama administration holdover, Yates was fired after she refused to defend Trump’s executive order that temporarily barred people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from traveling to the US.

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