--- title: Donald Trump Wants Obama Ambassadors Out by Inauguration Day description: In a break from tradition, President-elect Donald Trump has asked that all of President Obama's foreign ambassadors leave their posts by Inauguration Day canonical: https://time.com/4625664/donald-trump-barack-obama-ambassadors/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-06T12:51:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:35:06.404Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Wants President Obama's Ambassadors Out by Inauguration Day og:description: It could leave the U.S. without Senate-confirmed ambassadors around the world for weeks or months og:url: https://time.com/4625664/donald-trump-barack-obama-ambassadors/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5302327f36bb729/6988b4418e0601bfb3468b06/donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: President-Elect Donald Trump Holds Thank You Rally In Mobile, Alabama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Wants President Obama's Ambassadors Out by Inauguration Day twitter:description: It could leave the U.S. without Senate-confirmed ambassadors around the world for weeks or months twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5302327f36bb729/6988b4418e0601bfb3468b06/donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Wants President Obama's Ambassadors Out by Inauguration Day > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 6, 2017 12:51 PM UTC  President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a thank you rally in Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Dec. 17, 2016 in Mobile, Alabama. President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a thank you rally in Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Dec. 17, 2016 in Mobile, Alabama. Mark Wallheiser—Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 6, 2017 12:51 PM UTC In a break from tradition, President-elect [Donald Trump](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/) has asked that all of [President Obama](http://time.com/4302043/barack-obama-2016-time-100/)‘s foreign ambassadors leave their posts by Inauguration Day, according to new reports. Citing unnamed sources, [the New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/05/us/politics/trump-ambassadors.html?%5Fr=1) and [_Politico_](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-ambassadors-obama-appointees-233262)report that Trump’s transition team sent an order saying all ambassadors had to be out of their posts by Jan. 20 “without exceptions.” The order was delivered by a State Department cable sent just before Christmas. This could leave the United States without Senate-confirmed ambassadors around the world for weeks or months after Trump takes office. A Trump transition official told the _Times_ that this was not a political move or one made with any malice, but that it was simply about keeping to a schedule. Previous administrations have allowed exceptions and grace periods for ambassadors to get their affairs in order and make new living arrangements, especially for those with school-age children. That’s a situation Trump should be familiar with: Soon-to-be First Lady Melania Trump is reportedly [staying in New York City](http://people.com/politics/melania-barron-trump-wont-move-to-white-house-immediately-finish-school-year/) for at least six months after the inauguration to let their 10-year-old son Barron finish out his school year. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4625664/donald-trump-barack-obama-ambassadors/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4625664/donald-trump-barack-obama-ambassadors/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Wants President Obama's Ambassadors Out by Inauguration Day","datePublished":"2017-01-06T12:51:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:35:06.404Z","description":"It could leave the U.S. without Senate-confirmed ambassadors around the world for weeks or months","url":"https://time.com/4625664/donald-trump-barack-obama-ambassadors/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Barack Obama","White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5302327f36bb729/6988b4418e0601bfb3468b06/donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5302327f36bb729/6988b4418e0601bfb3468b06/donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President-Elect Donald Trump Holds Thank You Rally In Mobile, Alabama","caption":"President-Elect Donald Trump Holds Thank You Rally In Mobile, Alabama","creditText":"Mark Wallheiser—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4625664/donald-trump-barack-obama-ambassadors/","name":"Donald Trump Wants President Obama's Ambassadors Out by Inauguration Day"}}]}] ```