Michael Pack, the Trump-appointed head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media which oversees the Voice of America and other media outlets, quietly submitted his immediate resignation in the hours after Joe Biden was sworn into office, the Washington Post reports. Biden reportedly asked for his resignation.
Just eight months into a three-year term, Pack came under fire almost immediately after taking office for insisting that he take over editorial decisions at the famously non-political outlets. He fired editors and producers who challenged his spin on stories and turned the outlets into pro-Trump campaign voices instead of the objective news outlets that were respected around the world.
A Trump advisor and former collaborator with Steve Bannon, Pack claimed in his resignation letter “I firmly believe that — thanks to your support, patriotism, and understanding — a great amount of much-needed reform was achieved in the past eight months.”
Employees of the agency reportedly greeted Pack’s departure with “sighs of relief and cheers” according to one journalist. “Most if not all of us are celebrating Pack’s resignation as the first step toward a return to normalcy,” the journalist said, reflecting the feeling across the nation with the departure of Donald Trump.