{"id":597,"date":"2026-07-30T17:42:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:42:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/?p=597"},"modified":"2026-07-30T17:42:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:42:28","slug":"top-diplomat-in-trump-admin-leaving-state-dept-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/?p=597","title":{"rendered":"Top Diplomat in Trump Admin Leaving State Dept"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s been another major update involving President Donald Trump\u2019s administration. As the president takes on many challenges both at home and abroad, his team has just been hit with another round of bad news. Trump\u2019s top diplomat in Africa,\u00a0Troy Fitrell, will retire from the State Department at the end of the month.\u00a0Jonathan Pratt, the Bureau of African Affairs deputy assistant secretary, will take his position. Fitrell, a foreign service diplomat, formerly served as the US ambassador to Guinea. He has held various positions at the State Department throughout Africa, including director of the Offices of Western and Southern African Affairs. He also served as the Deputy Chief of Mission in the US embassies in Ethiopia and Mauritius.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a long and distinguished career, the Department of State\u2019s Bureau of African Affairs Senior Bureau Official Ambassador\u00a0Troy Fitrell\u00a0is retiring as planned,\u201d a State Department spokesperson said. \u201cThe Bureau of African Affairs Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary\u00a0Jonathan Pratt\u00a0will step into the Senior Bureau Official role after Ambassador Fitrell\u2019s departure,\u201d the official added. Fitrell has been leading the State Department\u2019s African bureau since the Senate-confirmed assistant secretary position remains unfilled. Fitrell, who has been a diplomat for over 30 years, recently stated that the Trump administration is shifting the United States\u2019 approach to Africa from \u201cone rooted primarily in development assistance to a strategy that prioritizes robust commercial engagement.\u201d Pratt, who will follow Fitrell, previously served as the United States ambassador to Djibouti from 2021-2023. He also held additional missions with the State Department, serving in Pakistan, Sudan, and Angola.<\/strong><\/p>\n

High-Profile Departures from Trump Administration<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This is the second high-profile figure to step away from the administration recently. The military commander who announced his resignation is responsible for the Pentagon\u2019s intensifying operations against vessels in the Caribbean Sea that the Trump administration alleges are engaged in drug smuggling.\u00a0Adm. Alvin Holsey, the officer in charge of the U.S. Southern Command, which oversees operations in Central and South America, is stepping down from his position, despite the Pentagon\u2019s swift deployment of approximately 10,000 troops in the region for what it describes as a significant counterdrug and counterterrorism initiative. The reason for Admiral Holsey\u2019s abrupt departure, occurring less than a year into a typically three-year tenure and amidst the most significant operation of his 37-year career, remains unexplained.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, one current and one former U.S. official, both speaking anonymously on personnel issues, indicated that Admiral Holsey had expressed apprehensions about the mission and the assaults on the purported drug vessels. In a statement, Defense Secretary\u00a0Pete Hegseth\u00a0avoided mentioning any friction with his four-star commander. \u201cOn behalf of the Department of War,\u201d Hegseth said, adding, \u201cWe extend our deepest gratitude to Admiral\u00a0Alvin Holsey\u00a0for his more than 37 years of distinguished service to our nation as he plans to retire at year\u2019s end.\u201d Some Pentagon officials said there were policy tensions concerning Venezuela that the admiral opposed and that misaligned with the Trump administration.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump Jokes About Supreme Court Nominations<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This comes as Trump hinted this week that he may already know who he wants to pick if there\u2019s another U.S. Supreme Court vacancy. Trump joked during a White House ceremony that Sen.\u00a0Ted Cruz, R-Texas, should be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, quipping that lawmakers in both parties would quickly vote to confirm him because they would be eager to see him leave the Senate. Trump made the remarks Monday during the official launch of the Trump Accounts program, a savings initiative championed by Cruz that was included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The president praised Cruz\u2019s legal abilities before jokingly suggesting he would make a strong Supreme Court justice, adding a lighthearted remark that drew laughter from those in attendance.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, somebody said, \u2018Would you ever appoint him to the United States Supreme Court?\u2019 Because he\u2019s a brilliant lawyer, Ted. I said, \u2018Well, he\u2019s the only one I can think of that\u2019s going to get 100 votes,\u2019\u201d Trump said, per the Washington Examiner. \u201cAll Republicans will vote for him, all Democrats will vote for him, because they want to get him the h*** out of the Senate,\u201d Trump said, drawing laughter from those in the Oval. \u201cIf I was having a hard time with getting the votes, I would appoint Ted Cruz. I\u2019d get 100%, guaranteed,\u201d the president added.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s been another major update involving President Donald Trump\u2019s administration. As the president takes on many challenges both at home and abroad, his team has just been hit with another … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=597"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":599,"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions\/599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/checkthenews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}