Former US Second Gentleman, Doug Emhoff has been removed from the board overseeing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., as the Trump administration moves to appoint new members more closely aligned with its views on Israel.
Emhoff, husband of former Vice President Kamala Harris, was one of several appointees from the Biden administration dismissed by President Donald Trump. The board, known as the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, helps guide the museum’s operations and policy.
“Today, I was informed of my removal from the United States Holocaust Memorial Council,” Emhoff said in a statement posted on X. “Let me be clear: Holocaust remembrance and education should never be politicized. To turn one of the worst atrocities in history into a wedge issue is dangerous — and it dishonors the memory of six million Jews murdered by Nazis that this museum was created to preserve.”
Emhoff, who is Jewish, was appointed to the council in January for what was expected to be a five-year term. He previously served on President Joe Biden’s White House task force on antisemitism, created following the spike in antisemitic incidents after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
Several other prominent Biden-era officials were also removed from the board, including Ron Klain (Biden’s former chief of staff), Tom Perez (former White House adviser), Anthony Bernal (former adviser to Jill Biden), and Susan Rice (former national security adviser under President Obama), according to a White House official.
According to a copy of the termination email obtained by the New ork Times, board members were informed by the White House Presidential Personnel Office that their roles had been terminated “effective immediately.”
“Thank you for your service,” the brief note concluded.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the decision, stating that President Trump plans to appoint new members who are “steadfast supporters of the State of Israel.”
“President Trump looks forward to appointing individuals who will not only continue to honor the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust but also stand strongly with Israel,” Leavitt said in a statement.
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, opened in 1993, is a federally chartered institution whose board typically includes bipartisan appointees serving staggered five-year terms.
