John Gibbs (government official)
John Gibbs is a former American government official, political commentator, and software engineer. During the Trump administration, Gibbs held roles in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and was acting assistant secretary of housing and urban development for community planning and development. In 2020, Trump nominated Gibbs to be director of the United States Office of Personnel Management, though he was never confirmed. Early life and education. Gibbs is a native of Lansing, Michigan. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Stanford University and a Master of Public Administration from  the Harvard Kennedy School. Career. Business. Gibbs was employed by Symantec, Palm, and Apple as a software engineer. He worked in Japan for the evangelical Christian ministry WorldVenture for nearly seven years and is fluent in Japanese. Political commentary. Gibbs has a history of making false, inflammatory, and conspiratorial remarks on his Twitter feed, including numerous tweets promoting fringe concepts and figures. On four occasions, he spread the false conspiracy theory that John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign took part in a "Satanic ritual," a claim propagated by far-right bloggers. In early-2016, Gibbs used  the term "cucks" (a derogatory word applied by the far-right to attack moderate Republicans); he has also attacked Democrats as the party of "Islam, gender-bending, anti-police." In a July 2020 interview with the "Washington Examiner", in response to criticism of his past remarks he said, "I don't really see anything to apologize for." In later Senate testimony, he said, "I regret that it's unfortunately become an issue." Trump administration. Gibbs was a conservative commentator before joining the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a political appointee and advisor to Secretary Ben  Carson. He was a frequent contributor to "The Federalist", a right-wing website, and wrote in support of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. He endorsed the notion that incoming federal employees be "loyal" to Trump. Gibbs did not have housing experience before his appointment to HUD. Gibbs's first position at HUD was director of the Strong Cities, Strong Communities initiative. By the time Gibbs was appointed, the Trump administration had already shuttered the Obama-era initiative, and so Gibbs never directed the program. 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. In 2020, President Donald Trump nominated Gibbs to be director of the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the federal workforce of about 2.1 million employees and acts as the executive branch's human resources function. During a September 2020 confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Gibbs deflected questions over past conspiracy tweets. Senators in both parties expressed concerns about Gibbs' fitness to hold office. His nomination was opposed by federal employees' associations, including the National Treasury Employees Union and Senior Executives Association , which cited Gibbs' history of inflammatory comments and expressed concerns about his commitment to the merit system. Gibbs' nomination was "held over" by the committee in September 2020, meaning that he did not receive a vote. He was never confirmed by the Senate, and his nomination lapsed in January 2021 at the end of the 116th Congress. After Gibbs' nomination stalled, Trump appointed him as a member of the administration's 1776 Commission. 2022 congressional campaign. In November 2021, Gibbs announced his campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan's 3rd congressional district. He is running in the  Republican primary election against incumbent congressman Peter Meijer, a Republican who voted to impeach President Trump. On November 15, 2021, Trump endorsed Gibbs.