Georgia Republican Party Chair David Shafer criticized U.S. President Joe Biden Thursday for demanding that appointees of former U.S. President Donald Trump resign from the U.S. Military Academy’s advisory board.
The Georgia Star News contacted Shafer for comment.
“Joe Biden is focused on purging advisory boards of Trump appointees when he should be rescuing Americans trapped in Afghanistan, recovering our weapons from the Taliban and securing the borders of our country,” Shafer said via email.
No Republican members of Georgia’s congressional delegation returned requests for comment before Thursday’s stated deadline. The Star News also contacted staff for Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, and Speaker of the House David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) for comment. They also did not respond.
As Just the News reported, “The Biden administration on Wednesday told 11 officials appointed by former President Trump to military service academy boards of visitors that they must either resign or be fired by the end of the day.”
“Members of the U.S. Military Academy’s Board of Visitors (BOV) are appointed by the President and members of Congress to provide independent advice and recommendations to the Academy’s leaders,” Lt. Col. Beth R. Smith, West Point’s director of Public Affairs and Communications, told The Tennessee Star by email.
She directed any further questions to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
Psaki fielded questions on the subject during Wednesday’s press briefing.
“The President’s objective is what any president’s objective is — to ensure you have nominees and people serving on these boards who are qualified to serve on them and who are aligned with your values. And so yes, that was an ask that was made,” Psaki reportedly said.
She specifically addressed two high-profile Trump administration officials – Sean Spicer and Kellyanne Conway – respectively appointed to the advisory boards of the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) and USNA.
“I will let others evaluate whether they think Kellyanne Conway and Sean Spicer and others were qualified, or not political, to serve on these boards, but the President’s qualification requirements are not your party registration, they are whether you’re qualified to serve and whether you’re aligned with the values of this administration,” Psaki said.
USAFA did not respond to a comment request in time for publication.
Conway responded on Twitter with an open letter to Biden.
“President Biden, I’m not resigning, but you should,” the tweet with the accompanying letter said.
“Your decision is disappointing, but understandable given the need to distract from a news cycle that has you mired in multiple self-inflicted crises and plummeting poll numbers, including a rise in new COVID cases, a dismal jobs report, inflation, record amount of drugs coming across the southern border and, of course, the chaotic and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan that has left hundreds of Americans and thousands of Afghan allies stranded under Taliban rule,” the letter said.
Nine other Trump appointees would be affected by the directive, including Lt. General H.R. McMaster, who serves on the advisory board at West Point.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “David Shafer” by David Shafer.
Yup you know the cancel culture controlling Hiden too….GOTTA GET RID OF THESE PEOPLE TOO, ALL TRUMP APPOINTEES, BUT AT THE SAME TIME SOMEONE SHOULD GET RID OF SHAFER TOO