The Trump administration has dismissed multiple members of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council appointed by former President Joe Biden, Jewish Insider has learned.

Sources familiar with the situation told JI that those fired from the board overseeing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and other Holocaust commemoration activities include former Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, former Ambassador Susan Rice, former Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer, former presidential senior advisor Tom Perez and former Ambassador Alan Solomont.

In an email sent to board members on Wednesday reviewed by JI, Sara Bloomfield, the council’s director, confirmed that 13 appointees had been “removed” by the White House.

The additional members who have been let go include Anthony Bernal, a senior advisor to former First Lady Jill Biden; former Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI); Jennifer Klein, a former director of the White House Gender Policy Council; Stacy Eichner, a former deputy assistant to Biden; Meredith Jachowicz, a former special assistant to Biden; Kimberly Marteau Emerson, a lawyer and human rights advocate; and Marsha Borin, a Jewish community leader in Delaware.  

“We thank them for their service and hope there will be opportunities to work with them in the future,” Bloomfield wrote in her email, adding that the remaining “members of the council include those who have been appointed by President Trump in his first administration and President Biden.”

Klain, Rice and Finer did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and Perez and Zients could not be reached, nor could other members who were dismissed.

“He’s talking all about fighting antisemitism, but he chooses to make a divisive call on the official arm of the federal government that was created to remember the Holocaust,” Solomont told JI. 

The New York Times also reported that Emhoff, Klain, Perez, Rice and Bernal had been dismissed.

Solomont learned of his dismissal through a curt email from a staff member of the Presidential Personnel Office, reviewed by JI, which read, “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service.”

The email, on which PPO Director Sergio Gor was CC’ed, provided no explanation for the dismissal.

A White House official confirmed Emhoff, Klain, Rice, Finer, Perez, Zients and Solomont’s dismissals and said that the Trump administration is currently interviewing prospective replacements. The official did not address questions from JI about why they were dismissed, how many others were dismissed or if any future dismissals are planned.

Such dismissals from presidentially appointed boards are unusual, but have happened in the past, including under the Biden administration, which dismissed a series of former Trump officials from military service academy advisory boards. The Biden administration also forced controversial Trump appointee Darren Beattie off of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad.

“Holocaust remembrance and education should never be politicized,” Emhoff said in a statement to the Times. “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.”

Biden appointed more than 50 people to the Holocaust Memorial Board, and some have not yet been dismissed.

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), a co-chair of the Senate antisemitism task force and a congressionally appointed member of the Holocaust Memorial Council, decried what she described as politicization of the council.

“Spreading awareness and educating the American public about the horrors of the Holocaust cannot and should not be a political issue,” Rosen said. “Donald Trump’s action to prematurely remove members of the board before the end of their terms is an attempt to politicize an institution dedicated to remembering one of the worst atrocities in our history and hurts our efforts to educate future generations.”

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), a co-chair of the House antisemitism task force, downplayed the significance of Trump’s move.

“It is the prerogative of all Presidents to appoint their nominees to various boards,” Bacon said. “Former President Biden did the same with all of the military academies in 2021. There are still democrat board members appointed by Congress who are serving on the board.”

Abe Foxman, the former national director of the Anti-Defamation League and a Holocaust survivor, called on the administration to reverse course.

“It is sad and insensitive to use the United States institution dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust and its victims for purposes other than memory,” Foxman said. “I hope the administration reconsiders.”

Foxman sits on the council but emphasized that he was speaking in his personal capacity as a survivor.

This story was updated on April 30 to reflect new details.