Trump’s purge started with his firing of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top Navy officer, and the vice chief of the Air Force.

Pete Hegseth, secretary of defense and a 2025 Wash100 Award winner, has announced the intention of President Donald Trump to nominate retired Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In a press release published Friday, Hegseth also called for the nomination of key military positions.

President Trump said he is nominating Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan "Razin" Caine to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

President Trump ousted Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr., a President Biden appointee, who served as the U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday. “I want to thank General Charles ‘CQ’

President Trump has fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr., a four-star pilot, and named Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine to be the country’s next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “I

N.J., said Sunday that President Donald Trump’s firing of Gen. CQ Brown Jr. from his role as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sends “a dangerous message to the military” on political loyalty to the president.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in an interview on Sunday that Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. was “not the right man for the moment” and praised President Trump’s handling of the war in Ukraine.

The Trump administration purged top military brass, firing Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force James Slice.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday that President Trump fired Air Force Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, because he was “not the right man for the moment.”

Trump announced the dismissal of Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. and said he would nominate Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, a retired three-star general, to succeed him as the top U.S. military officer.

Caine is a career fighter jet pilot who defended Washington, D.C., during the 9/11 attacks and been adored by Trump since they met in Iraq during Trump's first term.