President Donald Trump removed all members of the Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation—an entity meant to be non-partisan—through a mass dismissal email sent last month.

“On behalf of President Donald Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position on the Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation is terminated effective immediately,” wrote Cate Dillon, the White House liaison to the State Department, according to the Washington Post.

No explanation was provided in Dillon’s message, the outlet reported. However, after Canadian-American historian and former committee member Timothy Naftali announced his removal on X, critics on the right highlighted previous remarks they believed demonstrated his anti-Trump and anti-American sentiment.

The Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation advises the State Department on the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series, which is the official documentary record of U.S. foreign policy, as noted by the Office of the Historian.

The committee ensures that materials published in the FRUS series—including papers, letters, and reports—are carefully selected, historically accurate, and released in a timely manner. It also supervises the declassification and public release of relevant documents.

Naftali isn’t the only former member attracting criticism over perceived bias. Committee chairman James Goldgeier, a professor at American University’s School of International Service, has also been scrutinized for anti-Trump comments.

During the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, Goldgeier was vocal in his disapproval of Trump.

“It wasn’t enough for Trump to kill Americans through his incompetence and disinterest in dealing with the pandemic,” he posted to X on July 20, 2020. “Now he’s got DHS attacking peaceful Americans to distract from his failure to care about the pandemic. It’s startling that he has enablers in this effort.”

Speaking to the Post, Goldgeier noted that the committee is still reviewing records from President Ronald Reagan’s administration, in accordance with a rule that mandates federal documents be declassified only after 30 years.

“Right now, the office is still trying to get volumes out from the Reagan era,” he explained. “There’s no work that’s being done here regarding the current administration.”

He also questioned the rationale behind disbanding the group, suggesting it may have been part of a blanket move affecting multiple committees.

“It just seems to me like they just got a list from all the agencies [of similar committees] … I can’t imagine they looked much into what any of the particular ones did,” he said. “And I don’t know that they understood that this one is congressionally mandated.”

Despite the dismissals, a senior State Department official told the Post that “there is a plan in place to maintain the committee,” indicating that Trump intends to reconstitute it with different, potentially less politically outspoken members.

Meanwhile, Trump’s approval ratings have seen significant gains, suggesting a shift in public sentiment.

A national survey conducted in April by InsiderAdvantage and Trafalgar Group showed Trump with a narrow 2-point net approval lead among likely voters. Of the 1,200 respondents, 46% approved of his performance, 44% disapproved, and 10% remained undecided.

Since then, the numbers have trended upward. In late May and early June, Trafalgar’s latest polling showed that 54% of likely voters approved or strongly approved of Trump’s performance, while 46% disapproved or strongly disapproved. The 8-point swing came even with the poll slightly oversampling Democrats.

Rasmussen’s presidential approval tracker also reflected the upward momentum. As of June 2, Trump’s approval rating reached 53%, just three points shy of his numbers during his inauguration week.