If you’re under the impression that the staff shake-up at Donald Trump’s White House has settled down, allow me to make the opposite case. The Washington Post reported yesterday, for example, on the next major departure from the West Wing.
White House deputy chief of staff Joseph Hagin, President Trump’s point person arranging the North Korean nuclear summit, is preparing to leave his West Wing post soon, according to four people familiar with White House planning.
Hagin, who was in Singapore recently and has been negotiating logistics for the on-again, off-again meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, may leave his job overseeing White House operations shortly after returning from the historic visit, two of the people said.
The Post added that Hagin intends to leave “almost immediately” after returning from next weeks’ summit in Singapore.
He’s not alone. We learned this morning that Drew Maloney, the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for legislative affairs, is leaving his position for a job with the finance industry.
Kelly Sadler, a special assistant to the president in the White House Communications Office, also left this week, a month after her rude comments about Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) health became a notable political controversy.
They join Mark Inch, chief of the Federal Bureau of Prisons; Tom Ziemer, the National Security Council’s head of Global Health Security, and Richard Johnson, the State Department’s acting assistant coordinator for Iran Nuclear Issues; each of whom have parted ways with Team Trump since I last published the overall departures list.
Cliff Sims, a special assistant to the president who oversees White House message strategy, also left, as did Sam Clovis, the White House’s controversial USDA liaison, and Thomas Homan, the Trump administration’s top immigration enforcement official.
All of which suggests this is a good time to update the overall list of prominent Trump World departures:
Cabinet: HHS Secretary Tom Price, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, VA Secretary David Shulkin
West Wing: Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Deputy Chief of Staff Katie Walsh, Deputy Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, Director of Public Liaison George Sifakis, Office of Public Liaison Communications Director Omarosa Manigault, Staff Secretary Rob Porter, Deputy Assistant to the President Sean Cairncross, Chief Usher Angella Reid, Assistant to the President Reed Cordish, Personal Assistant to the President John McEntee, Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Carroll (who’s leaving his post to become the “drug czar”), Special Assistant to the President and Director of Special Projects and Research Michael Roman, Deputy Chief of Staff Joseph Hagin
White House Communications: Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Assistant Press Secretary Michael Short, Communications Director #1 Mike Dubke, Communications Director #2 Anthony Scaramucci, Communications Director #3 Hope Hicks, Rapid Response Director Andy Hemming, Speechwriter David Sorensen, Senior Communications Official Josh Raffel, Deputy Director of Media Affairs Tyler Ross, Communications Aide Kelly Sadler, Special Assistant to the President Cliff Sims
National Security team: National Security Advisor #1 Michael Flynn, National Security Advisor #2 H.R. McMaster, Deputy National Security Advisor K.T. McFarland, Deputy National Security Advisor Dina Powell, Advisor to the National Security Council Monica Crowley, Director for intelligence programs at the National Security Council Ezra Cohen-Watnick, Deputy Chief of Staff at the National Security Council Tera Dahl, Director Of Strategic Planning at the National Security Council Rich Higgins, NSC Middle East Advisor Derek Harvey, U.S. diplomat overseeing North Korea policy Joseph Yun, Senior Advisor to the Defense Secretary Sally Donnelly, Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Elaine Duke, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Tom Bossert, National Security Council Spokesperson Michael Anton, White House Cyber Security Coordinator Rob Joyce, Deputy National Security Adviser Rick Waddell, Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategy Nadia Schadlow, head of Global Health Security for the National Security Council Tom Ziemer, acting Assistant Coordinator for Iran Nuclear Issues Richard Johnson
Diplomatic team: Undersecretary of State Steve Goldstein, Chief of State to the Secretary of State Margaret Peterlin, Deputy Chief of State to the Secretary of State Christine Ciccone, State Department Counselor Maliz Beams, State Department Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon, Ambassador to Panama John Feeley, Ambassador to Mexico Roberta Jacobson
The self-identified “nationalist” wing: Chief White House Strategist Steve Bannon, National Security Aide Sebastian Gorka
Federal law enforcement: Acting U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates, FBI Director James Comey, Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mary McCord, FBI Assistant Director Mike Kortan, Justice Department’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section chief David Laufman, Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand, Chief of Federal Bureau of Prisons Mark Inch, Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thomas Homan, dozens of U.S. Attorneys
Office of the Vice President: Chief of Staff Josh Pitcock, Press Secretary Marc Lotter, Chief Counsel Mark Paoletta, Domestic Policy Director Daris Meeks
A cavalcade of others that includes CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald, National Economic Council Deputy Director Jeremy Katz, Domestic Policy Council Deputy Director Paul Winfree; Director of Office of Government Ethics Walter Shaub, Department of Energy Office of Indian Energy Director William Bradford, Department of Homeland Security Faith-Based Director Jamie Johnson, Corporation for National and Community Service Chief of External Affairs Carl Higbie, Office of Drug Control Policy Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Weyeneth, Trump legal team spokesperson Mark Corallo, EPA Office of Science and Technology Director Elizabeth Southerland, National Economic Council adviser George David Banks, Federal Railroad Administration’s acting chief Heath Hall, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tony Tooke, Acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot, Special Assistant to the President on Infrastructure DJ Gribbin, White House Adviser for Energy and Environmental Policy Michael Catanzaro, Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Bryan Rice, the Treasury Department’s Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs Drew Maloney, USDA White House Liaison Sam Clovis, and Carl Icahn, who served as a special adviser to the president on regulatory reform.
As we discussed a while back, this does not include a variety of people the president nominated for prominent administrative posts – including some cabinet positions – who ultimately withdrew in the face of assorted controversies, nor does it include the many changes to Trump’s outside legal team.
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."