- The president on Friday fired a Trump nominee, Sharon Gustafson, after she refused to resign.
- Gustafson served as general counsel for EEOC, a federal agency charged with investigating issues in the workplace.
- His dismissal sparked fury in others nominated by Trump and Republican lawmakers.
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President Joe Biden on Friday fired a Trump-appointed lawyer who worked on the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, the federal agency that investigates sexual discrimination and retaliation in the workplace.
Sharon Gustafson, who under the Trump administration was the general counsel for the EEOC, refused to resign, according to an email published online by the Conservative think tank Ethics and Policy Center.
Gustafson in a letter dated March 5 said that she “respectfully” refused Biden’s request to resign. She wanted to serve until 2023, which would have marked the end of her four-year term.
“At the time I was nominated, I was asked if I would commit to doing my best to fulfill my four-year term and I said yes,” she wrote in the letter, addressed to Biden. “Unless you are prevented from doing so, I intend to honor that commitment.”
In response to her letter refusing to resign, Gautum Raghavan, the deputy director of the Presidential Personnel Office, said in an email to Gustafson that she would be fired at the end of the day on Friday.
His dismissal sparked the fury of Andrea Lucas, another Trump nominee for the EEOC.
“I think that the action taken today by the White House against our independent agency is deeply worrying, a break with established rules long respected by presidents of both parties, an injection of partisanship where it was previously absent and overwhelming evidence of what ‘unity’ is. actually means for this president and his administration “, Lucas tweeted.
When a new president takes office, it is common for him to nominate his own staff for all White House positions. Typically, employees appointed by the previous administration voluntarily leave their positions. The new administration’s chief of staff asks about 4,000 nominees to deliver letters of resignation.
Gustafson, however, pointed out in his letter to the president that she is unaware of any similar requests made by others regarding the EEOC.
“As far as I know, no previous General Counsel has been fired for being nominated by the wrong political party,” wrote Gustafson in his letter.
A Republican lawmaker also condemned Biden’s action, calling his dismissal “an unprecedented dismissal of an honorable civil servant”.
“This is a pattern. President Biden calls for an end to the ‘party war’, just to turn around and demand that Senate-confirmed officials resign so that he can make room for his leftist friends,” Rep. Virginia Foxx said in a demonstration.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.