Fires All 16 Members Via FedEx
All sixteen members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) have been fired without warning or explanation, and overnight the White House website, HIV.gov, has been scrubbed of their names.
“With no explanation, the White House has terminated members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS amid widespread discontent with President Trump’s approach to the epidemic,” The Washington Blade‘s Chris Johnson reported late Thursday night.
“After six members of PACHA resigned in June, the White House on Wednesday terminated the remaining 16 members without explanation via a letter from FedEx.”
This archived version of HIV.gov from November lists many of the sixteen members. But the current site lists just two staffers who also are employees of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The site states it was updated December 28.
Just two days earlier, VICE news reported members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS “say they feel abandoned by the Trump administration.”
The Blade also points to this tweet from Lambda Legal senior attorney Scott Schoettes:
Schoettes also posted this tweet, calling the firings a “purge”:
In June six other members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS resigned amid concern over Trump’s lack of action on HIV/AIDS. Trump has also sought massive funding cuts to HIV/AIDS programs, both in the U.S. and around the world.