Late Friday afternoon, the White House fired Bonnie Glick, the Senate-confirmed deputy administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, without any justification offered, making her the first senior Trump political appointee to be purged following the election. The move further cripples the $31 billion agency in the middle of a global pandemic and potentially during a presidential transition as well.
The departure of Glick is the first in what is widely expected to be a broader purge of officials whom President Trump feels to have been insufficiently loyal.
Glick, a long-time Republican foreign policy official, was told early Friday in a letter from the White House that she had until the end of the day to either resign or be fired. When she refused to resign, the White House sent a second letter informing her she was terminated effective immediately. Late Friday, USAID released a statement announcing that Friday would be Glick’s last day but providing no explanation for her firing. USAID confirmed that acting administrator John Barsa has been named acting deputy administrator and will continue to lead the agency. Continue reading.