US election: Trump orders all political appointees, ambassadors to resign

The White House has finally asked thousands of President Donald Trump’s political appointees to resign,” According to Washington Post.

The appointees, ranging from ambassadors to schedulers, are to resign on Inauguration Day.

President Trump administration had stalled this formality for weeks as the outgoing leader disputed the election outcome.

A White House directive was emailed to agency heads on Thursday that political appointees must resign effective Jan. 20.

President-elect Joe Biden will take over office on the said date.

The order was issued by Chris Liddell, the deputy White House chief of staff who has been leading transition arrangements with the Biden team, and was first reported by Politico.

The call for appointees resignations followed Trump’s statement early Thursday that there would be an orderly transfer of power come January 20.

Before now the White House had refused to issue the call for resignations since November 2020 when Biden was confirmed winner of the presidential election.

Every outgoing administration in the US is expected to issue the order between Election Day and mid-December.

In Trump’s case, White House officials declined to request the resignations because Trump rejected Biden’s victory and file a flury of court cases challenging the voting results in the courts.