President Trump Fires Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, Sparking Backlash

President Donald Trump has fired Carla Hayden, the first woman and African American to serve as Librarian of Congress, with more than a year remaining in her 10-year term. The termination came via a late-night email from the White House, part of a broader purge of federal officials seen as ideologically misaligned with the administration. Hayden, praised by both Democrats and literary advocates for modernizing the Library and expanding rural and online access, had come under fire from the conservative American Accountability Foundation, which accused her of promoting “woke” materials and children’s books critical of Trump. The move drew swift condemnation from lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who called the firing “an unprecedented assault on the American way of life.” Critics say this is part of a wider pattern of political retaliation by Trump, with recent high-profile dismissals spanning FEMA, the Pentagon, and now the nation’s oldest cultural institution. Robert Newlen will serve as acting librarian until further notice.

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Source: AP News
Image Source: Library of Congress Life, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons