Johnny DeStefano

DeStefano was born and grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and attended Saint Louis University. His uncle helped him get an internship with Oklahoma Representative J. C. Watts during his junior year.

Following his graduation, DeStefano worked for the House Republican Conference as a liaison to outside conservative groups. In 2006, he ran the reelection campaign of Ohio Representative Deborah Pryce.[4]

Prior to his White House positions, DeStefano worked for Ohio Republican Congressman John Boehner. From 2007 to 2011, he was Boehner's political director. From 2011 to 2013, when Boehner was Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, DeStefano served as Boehner's senior advisor. DeStefano also worked with the Republican National Committee building "a 2016 voter file and political database."[5]

In July 2013, DeStefano was named president of Data Trust,[6] a private company that is the primary handler of voter files for the Republican National Committee.[7]

On January 4, 2017, DeStefano was named Director of Presidential Personnel in the Trump administration.[8]

On the evening of January 30, 2017, DeStefano wrote a letter to Acting Attorney General Sally Yates informing her that "the president [had] removed [her] from the office of Deputy Attorney General of the United States." Yates' dismissal followed her decision to inform the United States Department of Justice that she did not see defending Trump's executive order "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States" as consistent with her responsibilities.[9]

In May 2019, The Washington Post reported that DeStefano was leaving the administration on May 24 and intended to advise companies including Juul, an e-cigarette company with substantial business before the Food and Drug Administration.[10]