(Reuters) – U.S President Donald Trump’s administration has fired the Librarian of Congress, Carla D. Hayden, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing a spokesperson for the organization.
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.
Neither the Library of Congress nor the White House immediately responded to a request for comment from Reuters.
The top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, described the move as “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 Costas Pitas; additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
