Gautam Raghavan, the White House deputy director of the Office of Presidential Personnel, said in an email to Gustafson reached by The Hill that she was being fired effective 5 p.m. Friday after she refused to step down. Her term was first thought to end in 2023.
Gustafson, in a letter to the White House released by the Ethics & Public Policy Center, a conservative think tank, said she had received the call to quit but had opted to “respectfully” decline.
“I have confidently given this advice to countless embattled clients over the last 25 years: hold your head high, do your best work, and do not resign under pressure,” she wrote. “In solidarity with them, I will follow that advice.”
WATCH: UCLA PROTESTORS LOST THEIR MIND CALLING THE UNIVERSITY A VIOLENT INSTITUTION
Republicans were swift to excoriate Gustafson’s discharge, with Andrea Lucas, a Republican-appointed commissioner to the EEOC, saying it undercut Biden’s pleas for unity.
WATCH: TRUMP'S ATTORNEY FACING INDICTMENT IN ARIZONA
“I find the action taken today by the White House against our independent agency to be deeply troubling, a break from long-established norms respected by presidents of both parties, an injection of partisanship where it had been absent, and … telling evidence of what ‘unity’ actually means to this President and his Administration,” she wrote in a tweet.
IS MCDONALD'S BECOMING THE NEW CHAMPION OF AFFORDABILITY?
Another Republican to condemn the action was Education and Labor Committee Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), who published a strongly-worded statement that asked for Gustafson to be restored.
“This is a pattern. President Biden calls for the end to ‘partisan warfare,’ only to turn around and demand that Senate-confirmed officials resign so he can make room for his left-wing friends,” she wrote.
MEET VICTORIA SHI: THE AI-BOT SPOKESWOMAN TAKING UKRAINE'S FOREIGN MINISTRY BY STORM
“This unprecedented firing of an honorable public official which occurred just hours after she was asked to resign is unwarranted and should be immediately rescinded. General Counsel Gustafson should be reinstated so she can complete her four-year term, independently and free from undue political influence,” Foxx wrote.
MOUNTING PRESSURE: OVER 300 ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVISTS DEMAND REGULATIONS FOR ISRAEL IN UPCOMING OLYMPICS
The move comes after Biden fired National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Peter Robb, also a Trump pick, after he refused to resign on Jan. 20.
SPOILER ALERT: MSNBC HOSTS WARN THAT CAMPUS PROTESTS MIGHT PAVE THE WAY FOR TRUMP'S COMEBACK
Gustafson, who was approved as the EEOC’s general counsel in August 2019, focused on fighting religious discrimination in the workplace.
Her legal approaches advanced at least one EEOC attorney to previously voice interest that the agency’s approach in a religious bias lawsuit against Kroger Co. could impinge on the rights of LGBT workers.
DRAMATIC COURTROOM TWIST: WIFE OF ACCUSED 'CLIFF-DRIVER' MAKES DESPERATE PLEA FOR HUSBAND
Gustafson had claimed the lawsuit wouldn’t clear the way for religious justification of other forms of discrimination.
Discover alternative ideas that will make you think
Engage in mind bending debate
Earn points, rise in rank, have fun
