Skip to main content

Cleaning House: High Ranking Officials Ousted at State Department

Share This article

President Donald Trump is already "cleaning house" at the State Department.

At least six senior foreign service officers are out. Among those forced to leave, Patrick Kennedy, the undersecretary for management.

Kennedy held that post for nine years and was blamed for several controversies, including his failure to protect an American outpost in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012, that left four Americans dead.

He was also at the center of Hillary Clinton's email scandal when he tried to pressure the FBI to dismiss accusations that then-Secretary of State Clinton was sending classified information over a private and unsecure email server.

Also gone is Michele Bond, head of consular affairs.

Bond would have played a key role in implementing some of Trump's immigration policies, including efforts to limit the numbers of Muslims coming from terror-prone countries.

One State Department official told Foreign Policy Magazine that: "Michele Bond is a person of tremendous character. She follows the law, and that can cause headaches for a president trying to limit the travel of Muslims."

While some in the media tried to portray the resignations at the State Department as a "mass exodus", CNN reports that all six got letters from the White House telling them their services were no longer needed.

Share This article

About The Author

George Thomas Headshot
George
Thomas

Born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and of Indian descent, CBN News’ Senior International Correspondent and Co-Anchor, George Thomas, has been traveling the globe for more than 20 years, finding the stories of people, conflicts, and issues that must be told. He has reported from more than 100 countries and has had a front-row seat to numerous global events of our day. George’s stories of faith, struggle, and hope combine the expertise of a seasoned journalist with the inspiration of a deep calling to tell the stories of the people behind the news. “I’ve always liked discovering & exploring new