WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump suddenly fired Congressman Carla Hayden on Thursday as the White House continues to clear the federal government to those who oppose the president and his agenda.
According to an email received by the Associated Press, the White House President’s Office of Personnel notified Hayden in an email late Thursday. Hayden, longtime leader of the Baltimore library system, was confirmed by the Senate as the first woman and the first woman to become a librarian in Congress.
“Kara,” the email began. “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I write to you that your position as a librarian of Congress was immediately terminated. Thank you for your service,” a spokesman for the Library of Congress confirmed that the White House told Hayden that she was fired.
Hayden's ten-year term expires next year.
“The current #LibrarianOfCongress Carla Hayden has been awakened to anti-Trump and promote trans children,” the American Accountability Foundation said on its X account earlier Thursday. “It's time for her to leave and hire a new guy to work!”
The Library of Congress provides lawmakers and the public with numerous historical documents, such as papers by nearly twenty presidents and more than thirty Supreme Court judges. It also has a large collection of rare books, prints and photos, as well as valuable artifacts, just like the flute owned by President James Madison, singer and rapper Lizzo played in Hayden's 2022 performance.
Trump's unexpected move angered Congressional Democrats, who initially revealed their firing.
Rep. Rosa Delauro, the top Democrat of the House Appropriations Committee, said Hayden was “bored” by Trump and asked for an explanation for why she was fired.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., praised Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., as “an accomplished, principled and outstanding Congress librarian.”
“The unjust decision of Donald Trump to fire Dr. Haydn in an email sent by a random political hacker is the latest in his ongoing efforts to ban books, paint American history and reject the clock,” Jeffries said. “The Library of Congress is the Library of People's. An unprecedented attack on the American way of life will quickly and not later on accountability for the United States.”
New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich is the top Democrat in charge of library funding in the Senate panel. He said the release was at 6:56 p.m., and he “takes his attack on the American library to the next level.”
Heinrich added that while Trump “want to ban books and tell Americans what to read — or not to read at all, Dr. Hayden is dedicated to reading and pursuing knowledge for all.”
Principal Deputy Librarian Robert Newlen said he will be acting as a Congressional librarian in another email seen by the Associated Press “until further guidance”.
He wrote to colleagues.
At Wednesday's grand event, Secretary of State Marco Rubio joked that he served as national security adviser, acting archivist and acting director of the U.S. International Development Agency in the Trump administration. In his speech at the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute event, he said leading the Library of Congress “will be a good job” before pausing and jokingly proposing Florida Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart to the position.
“Do you know what would be good? Library of Congress. That would be a good job,” Rubio said. “Agent librarian Mario Diaz-Balart. Do you want it?”
