President Joe Biden has nominated six new members, including some notable names, to the U.S. Naval Academy's Board of Visitors, possibly closing the book on another leftover controversy from the Trump era.
The drama kicked off in the waning days of the Trump administration. Between then-President Donald Trump's election loss and Biden's inauguration, Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller frantically removed and replaced dozens of members of various Defense Department boards, including one that oversees the Naval Academy.
The replacements were often Trump loyalists, such as senior adviser Kellyanne Conway; fundraiser and White House adviser Matt Schlapp; and impeachment attorney Pam Bondi. Many had little or no military or defense experience.
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Shortly after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin took office in early February 2021, he suspended all the boards and ordered a review. In September of that year, Biden fired 18 members of the various military academy service boards, including six from the Naval Academy.
Notable names in the new batch of six appointees include Lt. Cmdr. John S. McCain IV, son of the late senator from Arizona; retired Lt. Col. Amy McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot who was the first woman to fly a combat mission for the branch and would later unsuccessfully challenge Mitch McConnell for his Senate seat in 2020; and retired Adm. Michelle Janine Howard, a trailblazing African American female officer who rose to become the highest-ranking woman in U.S. naval history.
Biden also named retired Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen; Dr. Paul J. Angelo; and Robert E. Clark II, a former Navy captain and president emeritus of Wesley College, to the board.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed by two former appointees to the Naval Academy board -- former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and ex-Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought -- has stalled in federal court.
The pair filed the suit several weeks after their firing, arguing in their complaint that the Biden administration did not have the legal authority to remove them. The men asked for a restraining order blocking their ousting, but a judge denied that order in December. Lawyers for the two men are now trying to keep the case from being dismissed, court records show.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct Gen. Allen's service.
-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.
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