John Gibbs (US government official)

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]