John Gibbs (US government official)

John Gibbs is an American government official. A former conservative commentator and software engineer, he has had several roles at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.[1] Gibbs was first the director of HUD's "Strong Cities, Strong Communities" initiative; in August 2017, under the Donald Trump administration, he became a senior adviser in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, and then acting Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development.[1] On July 21, 2020, Trump nominated Gibbs to be director of the United States Office of Personnel Management.[2][3] Gibbs has a history of making inflammatory remarks and spreading false conspiracy theories on his Twitter feed.[1]

John Gibbs
Acting Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development
Assumed office
May 2018
PresidentDonald Trump
Personal details
EducationStanford University (B.S.)
Harvard Kennedy School (M.P.A.)

Education and career

Gibbs received a computer science degree from Stanford University.[4] He was employed by Symantec, Palm, and Apple as a software engineer.[4] He worked in Japan for the evangelical Christian ministry WorldVenture for nearly seven years and is fluent in Japanese.[4] Gibbs' resume also includes a master's in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.[5]

Gibbs was a conservative commentator before joining the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a political appointee[1][5][6] and advisor to Ben Carson, Trump's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.[4] Gibbs did not have housing experience before his appointment to HUD.[5] Gibbs' first position at the department was director of the Strong Cities, Strong Communities initiative;[1] however, by the time Gibbs was appointed, the Trump administration had already shuttered the Obama-era initiative, and so Gibbs never directed the program.[5] In August 2017, Gibbs became a senior adviser in HUD's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, and then became Acting Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development.[1][6]

Gibbs has a history of making inflammatory remarks and spreading false conspiracy theories on his Twitter feed.[1] On four occasions, he spread the false claim that John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign took part in a "Satanic ritual";[1][6] the claim had arisen from far-right bloggers.[6] Gibbs also defended "Ricky Vaughn," an "alt-right" figure who had been banned from Twitter for his frequent antisemitic comments.[1] In early 2016, Gibbs used the term "cucks" (a derogatory word applied by the far-right to attack mainstream conservatives); he also disparaged Democrats as the party of "Islam, gender-bending, anti-police."[1][6] In a July 2020 interview with the Washington Examiner, Gibbs rejected criticism of his past remarks, saying, "I don't really see anything to apologize for."[7]

On July 20, 2020, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Gibbs to be the next Director of the United States Office of Personnel Management.[2] His nomination was officially made and sent to the Senate the next day. On January 3, 2021, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate.[3]

References
  1. Andrew Kaczynski, Trump's pick to head Office of Personnel Management spread 'satanic' conspiracy theory, called Democrats party of 'Islam' and 'gender-bending', CNN (July 22, 2020).
  2. President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Individual to Key Administration Post, White House (July 20, 2020)
  3. "PN2103 — John Gibbs — Office of Personnel Management, 116th Congress (2019-2020)". Congress.gov. United States Congress.
  4. Adam Mazmanian, Trump taps HUD official to lead OPM, Federal Soup (July 21, 2020).
  5. Tracy Jan, Ben Carson's HUD: Political loyalty required, no experience necessary, Washington Post (September 20, 2018).
  6. Andrew Kaczynski, Senior adviser at HUD spread conspiracy theory that Clinton campaign chairman was Satanist, CNN (March 8, 2018).
  7. Crilly, Rob (July 30, 2020). "Trump nominee rejects criticism over tweets". Washington Examiner. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
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