by Jeff Mason and Kanishka Singh at Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday dismissed Colleen Shogan, the Archivist of the United States, and announced plans to shake up the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in his latest moves to upend institutions in Washington.
The national archivist is responsible for overseeing government records and heads the National Archives, an agency Trump has repeatedly criticized since it alerted the Justice Department to Trump’s handling of classified documents in early 2022.
The Kennedy Center, which receives federal funding, is one of the nation’s leading arts facilities and has long enjoyed bipartisan support and national renown. Presidents appoint members of its board of trustees.
Trump has had a mixed relationship with both institutions.
The FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022 as part of an investigation into removal of official presidential records from the White House after his first term. The National Archives had been seeking the documents.
He was later indicted for illegally retaining classified material. Former Special Counsel Jack Smith dropped that case and one accusing him of attempting to subvert the results of the 2020 election after Trump’s 2024 election win.
Sergio Gor, the director of the White House’s Presidential Personnel Office,…
Continue Reading