Trump’s head of personnel demands list of ‘anti-Trump’ officials to be purged

Donald Trump’s head of presidential personnel demands list of ‘anti-Trump’ officials working across the government after being brought back by president to purge ‘bad people’

  • President Trump’s fired and then rehired aide John McEntee led a meeting Thursday with liaisons from the cabinet agencies 
  • At the meeting, according to Axios’ reporting, McEntee asked attendees to identify ‘never-Trumpers’ working in the government 
  • The 29-year-old former Trump ‘body man’ suggested that some firings would have to happen after the 2020 election, according to the report 
  • But he also explained how anti-Trump individuals could be shifted around, a way to deny them government promotions 
  • Trump has been emboldened since his impeachment acquittal and has been cleaning house of individuals who crossed him during the months-long saga 

President Trump’s fired and then rehired aide John McEntee asked White House liaisons from the cabinet agencies to identify potential ‘never-Trumpers’ who could be purged from the U.S. government. 

Three sources familiar with the Thursday meeting described to Axios what happened, including that McEntee suggested that some of the firings of ‘bad people’ and ‘deep state’ would have to take place after the November election.  

The 29-year-old McEntee also explained how those individuals could be sabotaged in the meantime, saying at the meeting that employees deemed as anti-Trump would be shifted around, denying them promotions.  

The fired and then rehired John McEntee led a meeting Thursday in which he asked liaisons from the cabinet agencies to identify people across the government who are ‘anti-Trump,’ Axios first reported 

President Trump has been emboldened by his Senate impeachment acquittal and has brought back ex-aides, including John McEntee, who he's assigned with leading a purge of 'never-Trumpers' from the federal government

President Trump has been emboldened by his Senate impeachment acquittal and has brought back ex-aides, including John McEntee, who he’s assigned with leading a purge of ‘never-Trumpers’ from the federal government 

Axios had previously reported that McEntee, who had served as Trump’s ‘body man’ before getting canned after he couldn’t get a security clearance due to a gambling problem, would be taking over the Presidential Personnel Office.  

The same report said that Trump was aiming to rid the government of ‘never-Trumpers,’ with more firings expected.  

‘Administration officials tell Axios Trump feels he’s surrounded by snakes and wants to clear out all the disloyal people,’ Axios said. 

Trump has already started purging individuals who testified before House committees, which led to his impeachment.   

He removed Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman – and Vindman’s twin brother Yevgeny. 

Both brothers did work for the National Security Council. 

Trump also ousted E.U. Amb. Gordon Sondland, who also testified. 

Sondland was a Trump political donor before being appointed to the European Union diplomatic post. 

Earlier this week, Trump asked for the resignation – and got it – of John Rood, a top policy official at the Pentagon who had certified last year that Ukraine was making enough progress in anti-corruption measures to receive the around $400 million in American aid dollars authorized by Congress. 

Trump’s impeachment saga revolved around a scheme to hold up the military aid in order to pressure Ukraine’s president to announce investigations into Hunter and Joe Biden, a political rival of the president.   

Trump has been emboldened by the U.S. Senate’s decision to acquit him on the two articles of impeachment approved by the House in December. 

McEntee was fired and removed from the White House in March 2018 with the Wall Street Journal reporting that the dismissal was due to the aide having financial problems related to online gamling and his tax filings. McEntee was being investigated by the Secret Service for these issues when he was let go, the Journal said. 

DailyMail.com reported that McEntee was gambling in real life too. 

As he would spend time at the MGM National Harbor casino, located just down the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., in Oxon Hill, Maryland. 

There, McEntee blew $250,000 on roulette.  

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk