UPDATE (May 9, 2025, 6:50 p.m. ET): Asked about Carla Hayden’s firing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Friday: “There were quite concerning things that she had done at the Library of Congress in the pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the library for children. And we don’t believe that she was serving the interests of the American taxpayer well, so she has been removed from her position.”
Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, was on Capitol Hill this week, testifying in the House and Senate about her efforts to extensively modernize and optimize the library’s systems, processes and staff. As NBC News reported, those efforts have apparently come to an abrupt and unexpected end.
President Donald Trump fired the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, on Thursday, according to a copy of her termination email obtained by NBC News. In the email sent to Hayden, Trent Morse, the deputy director of presidential personnel, wrote: “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective immediately.”
It’s worth emphasizing that the two-sentence email Hayden received did not make effort to explain why Trump was firing her. Rather, Hayden, who’s received bipartisan support during her tenure, was simply told that her career was over.
Hayden, appointed by Barack Obama, was the first African American and the first woman to serve as the Librarian of Congress.
“Dr. Carla Hayden is an accomplished, principled and distinguished Librarian of Congress,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement. “Her historic tenure has taken the institution to new heights, and I am thankful for her incredible service. Donald Trump’s unjust decision to fire Dr. Hayden in an email sent by a random political hack is a disgrace and the latest in his ongoing effort to ban books, whitewash American history and turn back the clock.”
Around the same time, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement of his own, “Donald Trump’s decision to fire Dr. Carla Hayden is the latest foray in his relentless campaign to dismantle the guardrails of our democracy and punish public servants who don’t bend to his every will.” The New York Democrat added, “Dr. Hayden is a trailblazer, a scholar, and a public servant of the highest order. She brought integrity, vision, and truth to the Library of Congress. That she is being ousted by a man who knows more about sowing division than preserving knowledge is an insult not only to her but to every American who values facts, history, and truth.” As for why in the world the president did this, neither Trump nor his White House team have offered any kind of explanation. That said, the NBC News report noted, “A conservative nonprofit group, the American Accountability Foundation, has targeted Hayden in recent days, accusing her of being ‘woke.’” Jeffries’ statement on Hayden’s ouster concluded, “The Library of Congress is the People’s Library. There will be accountability for this unprecedented assault on the American way of life sooner rather than later.”
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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