White House ‘requesting names of those who clapped out departing Pentagon official’

The White House has reportedly demanded a list of names of people who clapped as a departing Pentagon official left the building, having resigned after his boss was fired by Donald Trump.

James Anderson, the acting under secretary of defense for policy, was a key advisor to Mark Esper, the defense secretary who Mr Trump announced via tweet on Monday had been “terminated”.

Mr Anderson, a former marine who taught at the Marine Corps War College before joining the Department of Defense, resigned on Tuesday.

Bill Kristol, a “Never Trump” Republican and former newspaper editor, who now runs advocacy organisation Defending Democracy Together, said there was an atmosphere of “loyalty-oath” inside the Pentagon.

"A sign of the loyalty-oath atmosphere now at DOD: When Jim Anderson was fired yesterday as Acting Under Secretary for Policy, he was given a "clap-out" as he left the building," Mr Kristol tweeted. 

“The WH called to request names of any political appointees who joined in so they could be fired.”

The Department of Defense, asked for comment, referred The Independent to the White House.

The White House referred The Independent to the Department of Defense.

Mr Anderson, appointed in June, had repeatedly clashed with the White House over the installation of Trump allies in the department, Politico reported.

Mr Trump’s removal of Mr Esper and his replacement with Chris Miller, 55, has alarmed some and set off a series of resignations - including Mr Anderson’s.

Mr Miller has served in the Trump administration since 2018, when he was named special assistant to the president and senior director for counter-terrorism and transnational threats at the National Security Council, according to the Department of Defense website.

He served in the army from 1987, joining the special forces in 1993 and retiring to work, from 2014, for defence contractors. 

Mr Anderson has been replaced by retired Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata, who will take over policy on a temporary basis.

Mr Tata, a Fox News regular before joining the administration this year, had been nominated by Mr Trump for Mr Anderson’s job, but his nomination collapsed this summer after CNN unearthed tweets calling former President Barack Obama a “terrorist leader” and referring to Islam as "most oppressive violent religion I know of.”

Following Mr Anderson’s resignation Jen Stewart, the chief of staff to the defense secretary, also resigned and was replaced by Kash Patel.

Mr Patel, played a key role in helping Republicans discredit the Russia probe, and has had a number of roles in the Trump administration, culminating in being named the White House’s top counter-terrorism official.

“It is hard to overstate just how dangerous high-level turnover at the Department of Defense is during a period of presidential transition,” said Adam Smith, chair of the House armed services committee. 

He told Politico: “If this is the beginning of a trend — the president either firing or forcing out national security professionals in order to replace them with people perceived as more loyal to him — then the next 70 days will be precarious at best and downright dangerous at worst.”