Who Has Trump Fired? The High-Ranking Officials Replaced in the President’s Second Term
The upper echelon of President Donald Trump’s Administration has so far been much more stable in his second term than his first, when the comings and goings of high-ranking officials at times evoked a revolving door. But with Trump ousting two Cabinet officials within the past month, the list of federal leaders he’s tapped and then removed since returning to the White House is only growing.
The President announced on Thursday that Pam Bondi is out as Attorney General, just weeks after he removed Kristi Noem from her position as Homeland Security Secretary.
The firings, which come as the Trump Administration has confronted widespread backlash over its aggressive immigration enforcement tactics and handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, mark the first departures from Trump’s Cabinet during his second term.
But other Administration leaders have previously left their posts, including Department of Government Efficiency heads Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk, and Trump himself has pulled the nominations of multiple people he’d appointed to top positions and ousted several others who had already taken them on.
Another Cabinet-level removal could also be on the horizon: The Guardian reported on Thursday that Trump has asked advisers privately in recent weeks about the possibility of replacing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Here’s what you should know about the notable Trump-appointed officials the President has replaced in his second term.
Attorney General Pam Bondi
Trump removed Bondi from her post as the nation’s top prosecutor on Thursday. It is understood he had grown increasingly frustrated with her failure to swiftly prosecute his political adversaries and with her handling of the Epstein files.
In a Truth Social post announcing Bondi’s departure, Trump praised her for her role in overseeing his Administration’s crackdown on crime and called her “a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend.”
“She will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector,” he wrote, adding that the nature of that position would be announced “at a date in the near future.”
Read more: Pam Bondi Ousted as Trump's Attorney General
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will step in as Attorney General for the time being. Trump is reportedly eying Lee Zeldin, who is currently serving as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, as the top candidate to replace Bondi long-term.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem
The President ousted Noem as the leader of the Department of Homeland Security early last month after her appearance in a week of contentious congressional hearings brought his frustration with her to a head following months of growing controversy.
In the leadup to her removal, Noem had faced mounting criticism from members of both parties amid a standoff over funding for the department and widespread backlash against the Administration’s immigration crackdown following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers in Minneapolis in January.
Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing Noem’s replacement that she “has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!)” Rather than removing her from the Administration entirely, he announced that she would shift into a newly created position: “Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas.”
Read more: What Is Kristi Noem’s New Role in the Trump Administration?
Trump tapped Markwayne Mullin, a loyal Republican ally to the President who was then serving in his first term as a senator from Oklahoma, to succeed Noem as Homeland Security Secretary. Mullin was confirmed to the role last month.
Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino
Greg Bovino, who served as another visible leader in Trump’s immigration crackdown in his role as commander-at-large of Customs and Border Protection, was reportedly ousted from the position in late January as backlash flared in the wake of Good and Pretti’s shootings.
Bovino was then on the ground overseeing federal immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis, after previously doing the same in cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, and New Orleans that were similarly targeted in Trump’s crackdown.
Trump dispatched his border czar, Tom Homan, to oversee Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Minneapolis as he sought to quell the growing outcry. Bovino meanwhile departed the city along with a contingent of federal agents.
Last month, the former Border Patrol commander announced that he was retiring from the agency after more than 30 years.
CDC Director Susan Monarez
The White House announced that it had fired Susan Monarez in late August, just weeks after she was confirmed as the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A spokesperson for the White House told news outlets at the time that Monarez was “not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again.”
Attorneys for Monarez contended in a statement that she was “targeted” because she “refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directive and fire dedicated health experts.” She fiercely contested her removal, refusing at first to step down from her position.
Read more: CDC Director Susan Monarez Refuses to Leave as White House Seeks to Oust Her Weeks Into Job
But she was replaced first by Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill and then by National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya as acting heads of the CDC. Bhattacharya’s term expired late last month, and the position has since remained unfilled, though Bhattacharya is continuing to carry out the responsibilities of overseeing the department. Trump has not yet named a nominee to lead the CDC long-term.
IRS Commissioner Billy Long—and acting commissioner Gary Shapley
Billy Long also served as an agency leader for just a short time before his removal, though he lasted longer than Monarez: nearly two months after his confirmation as the head of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Long was then abruptly ousted from his post last August and tapped by Trump to instead serve as the Ambassador to Iceland.
“It is an honor to serve my friend President Trump and I am excited to take on my new role,” Long, a staunch ally of the President, then said in a statement. “Exciting times ahead!”
No reason was publicly given for Long’s departure at time, but The Washington Post and The New York Times reported that leaders at the Treasury Department had clashed with Long during his short time at the IRS.
Before Long was confirmed to the post, four other people had already served as acting heads of the agency during the opening months of Trump’s second term.
The first, Douglas O’Donnell, an IRS veteran, announced his retirement late in February and was replaced by Melanie Krause, who in turn announced plans to resign in mid-April after the Trump Administration unveiled an agreement to provide taxpayer data to immigration authorities.
Trump then named Gary Shapley as acting commissioner, only to oust him days later after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly complained he had not been consulted before Shapley’s appointment. Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender thereafter replaced Shapley as acting IRS commissioner for a time, until Long assumed leadership of the agency.
Bessent himself was tapped to head the IRS following Long’s ouster, and served in the role until his term expired last month. The position has since remained unfilled.
Long has not yet been confirmed as the Ambassador to Iceland. He drew backlash from Icelanders earlier this year after joking about the country becoming the U.S.’s “52nd state.” He later apologized for the remark, saying “there was nothing serious about that.”
Acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton
Cameron Hamilton was removed as the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in May, just a few months after Trump tapped him for the role, after he broke with the Administration by testifying to members of Congress that he did not approve of dismantling the agency.
“I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” he told lawmakers.
The following day, Hamilton was removed from his position and replaced by David Richardson, who was serving as the assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security’s countering weapons of mass destruction. Karen Evans, FEMA’s chief of staff, in turn replaced Richardson as the acting head of the agency in December.
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz
Mike Waltz, who Trump ousted from his role as national security adviser last May, was the first senior member of the Administration to be removed from his role following the President’s return to the White House.
Waltz’s ouster came weeks after The Atlantic revealed in a bombshell report that he had organized a group chat on the encrypted messaging app Signal to coordinate a sensitive military operation against Houthi militants in Yemen.
Read more: Trump Removes Mike Waltz as National Security Adviser and Taps Him For UN Role
Trump announced that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would replace Waltz as his interim national security adviser, and nominated Waltz to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He was confirmed to the role in September.