December 6th According to a U.S. media report on the 4th, the Trump administration recently expelled nine members of an advisory committee of the U.S. Department of Defense, and the new candidates are all “loyal to Trump”, including close allies from his campaign.
According to the U.S. political news website Politico, members of the Pentagon’s Defense Business Committee received emails from White House liaison commissioner Joshua Whitehouse. U.S. media said that the content of the email is very simple: “If you receive this email, your membership in the Defense Business Council has expired or is about to end.”
According to the report, the Ministry of Defense stated that the previous members’ terms of office had ended, but many parties told the American media that they were still early to leave. Others were surprised by the sudden news of dismissal, because they had not received any negative feedback or criticism before. “This committee has never been involved in politics,” one dismissed member criticized.
Meanwhile, the new members include Corey Lewandowski and David Bossi, who have been senior members of the Trump campaign. The former was the campaign manager of Trump’s 2016 team and a senior adviser to the 2020 team, and the latter is the deputy manager of the 2016 team and is currently responsible for challenging the legal challenge of the state’s vote results. In addition, the two have co-authored books about the Trump campaign.
Michael Bayer, the dismissed committee chairman, said: “Many of the committee members have been dismissed by mail. In my experience, I am surprised that the White House will make such a last-minute adjustment. The committee has been supported by the Department of Defense for 19 years, regardless of party. He pointed out that if people have to face an “unprecedented test of political loyalty” to join such committees, it will seriously affect their motivation.
Previously, the Trump administration had fired several senior defense officials and advisers. In addition to firing the previous Defense Secretary Mark Esper, several high-profile members of the U.S. Defense Policy Council were also dismissed, including former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright.
