Trump administration fires Holocaust Museum board members picked by Biden

The Trump administration has terminated members of the board that oversees the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum appointed by former President Joe Biden – including Doug Emhoff, the husband of former Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Today, I was informed of my removal from the United States Holocaust Memorial Council,” Emhoff, who is Jewish and helped lead the Biden administration’s fight against antisemitism, said in a statement posted to social media. “Holocaust remembrance and education should never be politicized. To turn one of the worst atrocities in history into a wedge issue is dangerous – and it dishonors the memory of six million Jews murdered by Nazis that this museum was created to preserve.” Emhoff was appointed in January.

The White House confirmed to the Washington Post on Tuesday that President Donald Trump is planning to appoint new members to the board, though it stopped short of confirming the reports that it terminated members of the current board.

“President Trump looks forward to appointing new individuals who will not only continue to honor the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust, but who are also steadfast supporters of the State of Israel,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to the Post.

On Tuesday morning, some board members received a termination email from Mary Sprowls of the White House Presidential Personnel Office. According to board member Alan D. Solomont, a former U.S. ambassador to Spain appointed to the council by Biden in May 2023 who received the email, it read: “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service.”

Emhoff, has been outspoken against the rise in antisemitism. Jon Finer, a former deputy national security adviser to Biden, was also terminated, according to people familiar with the matter.

Others dismissed include former Biden chief of staff Ron Klain, former domestic policy adviser Susan Rice, and Anthony Bernal, a senior adviser to former first lady Jill Biden, the Associated Press reported.

The Holocaust memorial museum is a nonprofit federal institution funded by federal appropriations and private contributions. It attracts millions of visitors every year who learn about and memorialize the millions of people who were killed in the Holocaust. The museum was first authorized by Congress in 1980 and opened in 1993.

The board of trustees, known as the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, typically meets twice a year. The council traditionally has 68 members, including 55 members appointed by the president, as well as 10 members combined added by the Senate and House of Representatives. Three more members were appointed by the Departments of State, Interior and Education. Members usually serve five-year terms, with 11 members’ terms expiring each year.

“At this time of high antisemitism and Holocaust distortion and denial, the Museum is gratified that our visitation is robust and demand for Holocaust education is increasing,” the museum said in a statement to the Post. “We look forward to continuing to advance our vitally important mission as we work with the Trump Administration.”

Solomont, who said the email came as a shock, called the terminations “divisive” and “revolting.” He criticized Trump’s decision to remove people from a board that is charged with memorializing and remembering the Holocaust “at a time when he is supposedly fighting antisemitism.” The president, Solomont said, was choosing “to make that a partisan issue.”

In a post on Bluesky, National co-chair of the Democratic Lawyers Council Andrew Weinstein, a former museum board member who was appointed by President Barack Obama, wrote “The primary mission of the museum is to advance knowledge of the Holocaust and preserve the memory of its victims. Removing Biden appointees is petty and vindictive and distracts from this important work.”

In a statement Tuesday, Sen. Jacky Rosen , D-Nevada, a Senate appointee to the council, said the removals were “an attempt to politicize an institution dedicated to remembering one of the worst atrocities in our history and hurts our efforts to educate future generations.”

The Trump administration’s decision to fire board members has been a running theme amid the president’s first 100 days back in the White House. In February, Trump purged the Kennedy Center’s board members appointed by Biden and made himself the board’s chairman in what many have described as a “takeover.”

In March, the president’s sweeping executive order aimed to eliminate what he considered “anti-American ideology” from the Smithsonian Institution. The order singled out the National Museum of African American History and Culture, drawing outrage from Democrats.

The Trump administration also attempted to terminate board members of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in April. The email sent by Trump officials to the Holocaust museum’s board members was an almost line-for-line copy of what was sent to the CPB, a nonprofit organization created by Congress that provides funding to public broadcasters such as NPR and PBS.

On Tuesday, the CPB sued the Trump administration, alleging that the president does not have the authority to fire board members there because it’s not a government agency subject to the decisions of the executive branch. In a statement to the Post, the Trump administration said it does have the authority to make these decisions: “As numerous courts have repeatedly affirmed, the Constitution gives President Trump the power to remove personnel who exercise his executive authority,” White House assistant press secretary Taylor Rogers said in a statement. “The Trump Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”

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Abigail Hauslohner contributed to this report.