Aides of President-elect Donald Trump have called on former US ambassador to Bangladesh Marcia Bernicat and three other senior US diplomats to resign. Those Trump aides are responsible for the State Department’s manpower and internal coordination.
The news agency Reuters quoted two officials familiar with the matter on condition of anonymity. Apart from Marcia Bernicat, the other two senior diplomats are Derek Hogan and Aleina Teplitz.
It is being said that Trump can make major changes to the diplomatic fleet after taking power. In this situation, the Agency Review Team, which is in charge of reshuffling the Foreign Ministry on behalf of the new administration, is indicative of that.
Trump will be sworn in as president on January 20. However, since the election campaign, he has warned that if elected president, he will fire officials who do not belong to “wipe out the Deep State.
In the United States, it is common for political appointees in the administration to resign themselves after the new president takes office.
However, Foreign Ministry officials usually carry out their duties. Now the three senior diplomats who have been asked to leave their posts have done all the important responsibilities including ambassador in both the Democratic and Republican administrations.
“The concern is that this could set the stage for something worse,” a source said.
Asked for a response, a spokesman for Trump’s transition team told Reuters: “It’s natural for the transition team to try to find officials who respect President Trump’s vision of putting our nation and America’s working men and women first.” ’
The spokesman added: “We have to keep trying to bounce back from a lot of failures. And for that, you need a team committed to the same goal. ’
A State Department spokesman said the department would not make any announcement on the matter. None of the three senior diplomats asked to resign responded to requests for comment.