White House spokesperson confirms Trump is purging people: 'If we find them, we'll take appropriate action'

Reuters

• Hogan Gidley, a White House spokesman, on Monday said the Trump administration was looking to boot employees who are not furthering the president's agenda.

• "It's not a secret that we want people in positions that work with this president and not against him," Gidley told Fox News. "If we find them, we'll take appropriate action."

• This came after reports that the White House was compiling a list of people perceived as disloyal to President Donald Trump.

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White House spokesman Hogan Gidley on Monday confirmed that the Trump administration was purging federal government employees "actively working against" President Donald Trump.

"It's not a secret that we want people in positions that work with this president and not against him ... The federal government is massive with millions of people, and there are a lot of folks out there working against this president. If we find them, we'll take appropriate action," Gidley told Fox News.

This came as Gidley was questioned on reports that the Trump administration is compiling lists of officials perceived as disloyal to the president. Gidley said he hadn't seen any lists personally but did not deny that the White House was looking to push out people not furthering Trump's agenda.

"The president's been pretty clear about the fact he wants people in this administration who want to forward his agenda," Gidley said. "Donald Trump was the only one elected. He was the only one that the American people voted for. They didn't vote for someone at any of these other agencies, any of these other departments."

Gidley said "time and time again" he has seen reports in the media of people in the "bowels of the federal government working against this president."

Trump has a right to have people in the government who are forwarding and executing his agenda, Gidley added, saying that some federal employees are pushing "their own selfish political agenda."

"We know there are people actively working against this president," Gidley said. "We're going to continue to move forward to make sure that people are in positions that support this president's agenda, and that's just logical."

It's unclear what kind of behavior or actions would be defined by the Trump administration as "working against" the president and his agenda. Gidley did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

Axios on Friday reported that Johnny McEntee, who in 2018 was fired by then-White House chief of staff John Kelly but was recently rehired, had been tapped by Trump to purge the "bad people" and "deep state."

McEntee is compiling a list of political appointees across the government who are believed to be anti-Trump, according to Axios.

Trump has alluded to the purge in public remarks.

"We want bad people out of our government!" Trump tweeted on February 13, days after he ousted key impeachment witnesses from the White House.

The president last week replaced Joseph Maguire as his acting top spy chief with a fierce loyalist, Richard Grenell, in a move that shook Washington and the intelligence community. Grenell, the US ambassador to Germany, has little to no background in intelligence.

Maguire's ouster was linked to the president's dismay over a briefing in which congressional lawmakers were told that Russia is interfering in the 2020 election to boost Trump's chances of winning, according to The Washington Post.

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