Trump fires head of Library of Congress in part over diversity, White House says

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(Reuters) -U.S President Donald Trump fired the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, in part over her commitment to diversity, the White House said on Friday.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Trump administration believed Hayden wasn’t serving the interests of American taxpayers, citing her advancement of diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

“There were quite concerning things that she had done at the Library of Congress in the pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the library for children,” Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing on Friday.

“She has been removed from her position, and the president is well within his rights to do that,” she added.

Hayden, who was the first woman and first African American in the role, headed an office that has overall management responsibility for the library and sets out policy on its programs and activities.

Democratic President Barack Obama appointed her in 2016 to a 10-year term in the role that needed Senate confirmation.

The Library of Congress did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

The New York Times first reported the firing.

Top Democrats in Congress criticized the move as Trump’s latest politically-motivated purge.

“Donald Trump’s decision to fire Dr. Carla Hayden is the latest foray in his relentless campaign to dismantle the guardrails of our democracy and punish public servants who don’t bend to his every will,” top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer wrote.

The House of Representatives minority leader, Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, called the firing unjust.

“There will be accountability for this unprecedented assault on the American way of life sooner rather than later,” he said in a statement.

(Reporting by Steve Holland, Costas Pitas, Jarrett Renshaw, and Ryan Patrick Jones; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Deepa Babington)