Biden requests Mehmet Oz and Herschel Walker resign from presidential council or be terminated

Oz, who’s seeking the GOP nod in a contentious primary, blasted the move in a statement. “President Trump appointed me to two terms on the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition. The White House just emailed me demanding my resignation by the end of the day,” he wrote. “Clearly, Joe Biden can’t be around anyone who doesn’t completely fall in line with his fear-mongering authoritarian one-size-fits-all COVID handling. I am proud of my service and will not resign.”

Members of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, & Nutrition are considered special government employees, who, per the Hatch Act, “may not be candidates in partisan elections” while conducting official government business.

Earlier Wednesday, the White House announced the appointment of chef and humanitarian José Andrés and WNBA star Elena Delle Donne as co-chairs of the committee.

Last fall, the Biden White House asked a number of Trump appointees, including former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, senior counselor Kellyanne Conway and national security adviser H.R. McMaster, to resign from their positions on military service academy advisory boards.