US ambassador to Panama resigns because he can ‘no longer serve under Trump’
The US State Department clarified that Feeley had decided to depart prior to Trump’s recent use of racist comment
US Ambassador to Panama John Feeley has resigned, saying he no longer felt able to “faithfully” serve President Donald Trump.
Feeley, a career diplomat and former Marine Corps helicopter pilot, was one of the department’s Latin America specialists and among its senior most officers.
“As a junior foreign service officer, I signed an oath to serve faithfully the president and his administration in an apolitical fashion, even when I might not agree with certain policies,” Feeley said, according to an excerpt of a resignation letter.
“My instructors made clear that if I believed I could not do that, I would be honour-bound to resign. That time has come.”
Feeley’s departure had been communicated to State Department officials on December 27 and was not a response to Trump’s alleged use of the word “s***hole” to describe Haiti and African countries at a meeting on Thursday, US officials said.