See also: Cabinet of Donald Trump and Political appointments by Donald Trump.
This is a list of notably short political appointments by Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States.
The turnover rate in the Trump administration has been noted by various publications.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Several Trump appointees, including Michael Flynn, Reince Priebus, Anthony Scaramucci, and Tom Price, have among the shortest service tenures in the history of their respective offices.
This list excludes political appointees, White House staff and other officials of the federal government from previous administrations who left or were dismissed from their positions under Trump (such as James Comey or Sally Yates).
| Portrait | data-sort-type="text" | Name | data-sort-type="text" | Office | data-sort-type="date" | Took office | data-sort-type="date" | Left office | data-sort-type="number" | Tenure | data-sort-type="text" | Preceded by | data-sort-type="text" | Succeeded by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Bannon | Senior Counselor to the President | January 20, 2017 | August 18, 2017 | 210 days (6 months, 29 days) | John Podesta | Kellyanne Conway Dina Powell | Previously executive chairman of Breitbart News, a position he briefly resumed following his resignation August 18.[9] [10] [11] | ||||||||
| White House Chief Strategist | position established | vacant | |||||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Dubke, Michael" | Michael Dubke | White House Communications Director | March 6, 2017 | June 2, 2017 | 88 days (2 months, 27 days) | Sean Spicer (acting) | Sean Spicer (acting) | Previously a Republican political strategist. Submitted his resignation May 30, 2017.[12] [13] His tenure was the fourth-shortest in the office's history, excluding interim appointments. | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Fitzgerald, Brenda" | Brenda Fitzgerald | Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | July 7, 2017 | January 31, 2018 | 208 days (6 months, 24 days) | Anne Schuchat (acting) | Anne Schuchat (acting) | Previously commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health.[14] Resigned due to scrutiny of her financial holdings, which included stock in Japan Tobacco.[15] Her tenure was the shortest in the office's history, excluding interim appointments.[16] | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Flynn, Michael" | Michael Flynn | National Security Advisor | January 20, 2017 | February 13, 2017 | 24 days | Susan Rice | H. R. McMaster | Previously a three-star general and director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Resigned after misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the nature and content of his communications with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.[17] [18] Later pled guilty to making false statements to the FBI. His tenure was the shortest in the office's history.[19] [20] | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Gorka, Sebastian" | Sebastian Gorka | Deputy Assistant to the President | January 20, 2017 | August 25, 2017 | 217 days (7 months, 5 days) | Previously a military and intelligence analyst. Failed to obtain the security clearance necessary for work on national security issues.[21] [22] Resigned August 25, 2017.[23] | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Harvey, Derek" | Derek Harvey | Member of the National Security Council | January 27, 2017 | July 27, 2017 | 181 days (6 months) | Previously a United States Army colonel and a senior member of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Fired July 27, 2017.[24] | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="McFarland, K. T." | K. T. McFarland | Deputy National Security Advisor | January 20, 2017 | May 19, 2017 | 119 days (3 months, 29 days) | Avril Haines | Ricky L. Waddell | Previously a member of the National Security Council in the 1970s and a Republican Senate candidate. Reported not to be a good fit at the NSC,[25] [26] she resigned after less than four months. Trump nominated her to be Ambassador to Singapore, but her nomination stalled and was withdrawn.[27] | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Powell, Dina" | Dina Powell | Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy | March 15, 2017 | January 12, 2018 | 303 days (9 months, 28 days) | Position established | Nadia Schadlow | Previously an Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel under George W. Bush.[28] Left the Trump administration in January 2018.[29] | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Price, Tom" | Tom Price | Secretary of Health and Human Services | February 10, 2017 | September 29, 2017 | 231 days (7 months, 19 days) | Sylvia Mathews Burwell | Alex Azar | Previously U.S. Representative for . Resigned following scrutiny of his use of private charters and military aircraft for travel.[30] [31] His tenure was the shortest in the office's history.[32] | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Priebus, Reince" | Reince Priebus | White House Chief of Staff | January 20, 2017 | July 31, 2017 | 192 days (6 months, 11 days) | Denis McDonough | John F. Kelly | Previously chairman of the Republican National Committee. Submitted his resignation July 27, 2017. His tenure was the shortest in the office's history, excluding interim appointments.[33] | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Pruitt, Edward Scott" | Scott Pruitt | Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency | February 17, 2017 | July 6, 2018 | 504 days (1 year, 4 months, 19 days) | Gina McCarthy | Andrew R. Wheeler | Previously Oklahoma Attorney General and a state senator. A self-described "leading advocate against the EPA's activist agenda,"[34] Pruitt rejects the scientific consensus that human-caused carbon dioxide emissions are a primary contributor to climate change.[35] His tenure was marked by controversy and at least a dozen[36] federal inquiries into his spending and management habits. Announced his resignation July 5.[37] [38] [39] His tenure was the second-shortest in the office's history, excluding interim appointments. | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Shulkin, David" | David Shulkin | Secretary of Veterans Affairs | February 14, 2017 | March 28, 2018 | 407 days (1 year, 1 month, 14 days) | Bob McDonald | Robert Wilkie (acting) | Previously a physician and later Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health. Confirmed unanimously, but clashed with staffers and attracted scrutiny of his travel expenses. Fired March 28, 2018.[40] His tenure was the shortest in the office's history, excluding interim appointments. | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Sifakis, George" | George Sifakis | Director of the Office of Public Liaison | March 6, 2017 | September 25, 2017 | 203 days (6 months, 19 days) | Valerie Jarrett | Johnny DeStefano | Left after less than seven months.[41] | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Scaramucci, Anthony" | Anthony Scaramucci | White House Communications Director | July 21, 2017 | July 31, 2017 | 10 days | Sean Spicer | Hope Hicks | Previously designated director of the White House Office of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs but did not assume office due to pending United States Office of Government Ethics investigation.[42] Fired July 31, 2017.[43] [44] [45] [46] His tenure was the shortest in the office's history, breaking the former record held by Jack Koehler.[47] | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Spicer, Sean" | Sean Spicer | White House Press Secretary | January 20, 2017 | July 21, 2017 | 182 days (6 months, 1 day) | Josh Earnest | Sarah Huckabee Sanders | Previously acting White House Communications Director and a Republican Party strategist. Announced his resignation July 21, 2017, although he remained at the White House in an unspecified capacity until August 31.[48] [49] His tenure was the sixth-shortest in the office's history.[50] | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Tillerson, Rex" | Rex Tillerson | United States Secretary of State | February 1, 2017 | March 13, 2018 | 405 days (1 year, 1 month, 12 days) | John Kerry | John Sullivan (acting) | Previously CEO of ExxonMobil. Fired March 13, 2018.[51] His tenure was the fifteenth-shortest in the office's 228-year history, and the third-shortest since World War II. Tillerson is the only Secretary of State since at least 1945 to have been fired.[52] | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Walsh, Katie" | Katie Walsh | White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Implementation | January 20, 2017 | March 30, 2017 | 69 days (2 months, 10 days) | Kristie Canegallo | vacant | Previously a deputy finance director in several Republican Party organizations.[53] Resigned after less than three months.[54] |