The White House removed a top trade official after learning that he had attended the wedding of Miles Taylor, author of a 2018 opinion piece critical of President Donald Trump.
George Bogen, who had served as executive director of the Office of Trade Relations at Customs and Border Protection (CBP), was asked to step down earlier this week over his alleged connection to Taylor, The Washington Post reported Friday.
Trump officials had been passing around a Facebook photo of Bogen at Taylor’s 2019 wedding in Jamaica. Bodgen was also present at Taylor’s second wedding in 2023, an attendee told the Post.
This was enough to doom Bogen’s tenure at CBP, even though he was a supporter of Trump’s tariff policies.
In September 2018, Taylor, then the Department of Homeland Security chief of staff, penned an anonymous opinion piece for The New York Times titled, “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.” The following year, he wrote a book warning of Trump’s reelection, and in 2020 revealed himself as the author of both.
Trump has continued to harp on Taylor’s act of “resistance.” As one of his many acts of revenge on perceived enemies, he ordered the Justice Department to investigate Taylor, who had endorsed former President Joe Biden in 2020.
Bogden wrote on LinkedIn Friday that he stands by Trump despite having “fallen victim to character assassination.”
“I am honored to have served President Trump and to have played a role in advancing his bold agenda on tariffs and trade,” he wrote.
“Helping to implement policies that prioritized American workers and industries was the honor of my life,” Bodgen added. “I remain proud of that work, and I regret that I have fallen victim to character assassination. I continue to support President Trump, and I remain fully behind the policies that are delivering real results for the American people.”
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