Trump administration dismisses national archivist

(CNN) — President Donald Trump’s administration announced it had dismissed Archivist of the United States Colleen Shogan in a surprise move Friday evening.

“At the direction of @realDonaldTrump the Archivist of the United States has been dismissed tonight,” White House Director of Presidential Personnel Sergio Gor wrote in a post on X. “We thank Colleen Shogan for her service.”

While Shogan had been told that Trump wanted to replace her, she did not expect her removal would happen as soon as Friday and was shocked when she was notified, a source familiar with the situation said.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) referred a request for comment to the White House.

Shogan, who was nominated to the position by President Joe Biden in 2022, was the first woman to hold the post as head and chief administrator of NARA, and previously served as senior vice president and director of the David M. Rubenstein Center at the White House Historical Association.

Shogan had served as the archivist since 2023 and was not at the National Archives when FBI agents searched Trump’s home in 2022 looking for classified documents.

The role of the National Archives took on new prominence in recent years, coming under scrutiny from Republicans in the wake of the search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort as part of an investigation into the handling of presidential documents, including classified documents.

At the time, the Archives asked the Department of Justice to investigate Trump’s handling of White House records.

Trump has been critical of the National Archives in the past, telling radio host Hugh Hewitt in an interview last month the previous archivist in place during the Mar-a-Lago raid, David Ferriero, “was a disaster,” before hinting he planned to replace Shogan.

“I think I can tell you that we will get somebody,” he told Hewitt. “Let me just put it – yeah, we will have a new archivist.”

Just last month, Shogan blocked the Biden administration’s move to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, citing “established legal, judicial, and procedural decisions.” In his first term, Trump’s administration petitioned a federal court to throw out a lawsuit seeking to codify the ERA into law.

The archivist also enjoyed personal ties to first lady Melania Trump, personally inviting her to give a rare public speech on citizenship at the National Archives in 2023.

The two women met while Shogan was at the White House Historical Association during Melania Trump’s previous tenure as first lady and worked together on a number of projects.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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