FOLLOW US

Former President Donald J. Trump gave up his union membership with the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) on Thursday.

His decision comes after the SAG-AFTRA National Board ordered a disciplinary hearing to determine if then-President Trump violated the union's Constitution in connection with his role in the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6.

On January 19, SAG-AFTRA issued a press release indicating that its President Gabrielle Carteris and National Executive Director David White filed a complaint against Trump with the union's National Board.

Carteris and White alleged that Trump incited the attack on the U.S. capitol by "sustaining a reckless campaign of misinformation aimed at discrediting and ultimately threatening the safety of journalists, many of whom are SAG-AFTRA members. They requested the most severe penalty, expulsion from membership if the former president is found guilty.

In response, Trump quit SAG-AFTRA before its Disciplinary Committee conducts a hearing and consider imposing penalties against him. Aside from expulsion, other possible penalties include censure, reprimand, payment of fines, and suspension.

In his blistering resignation letter to Carteris, the former president wrote, "Who cares!" regarding SAG-AFTRA's so-called disciplinary hearing to revoke his membership.

Trump also bragged about his achievement in the entertainment industry and stated that he is not familiar with the union's work.

The former president wrote, "While I’m not familiar with your work, I’m very proud of my work on movies such as Home Alone 2, Zoolander and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps; and television shows including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Saturday Night Live, and of course, one of the most successful shows in television history, The Apprentice – to name just a few!" 

"I’ve also greatly helped the cable news television business (said to be a dying platform with not much time left until I got involved in politics), and created thousands of jobs at networks such as MSDNC and Fake News CNN, among many others." 

Former President Trump intentionally misspelled MSNBC, a left-leaning media outlet. The misspelling shows that he is trying to link the media outlet to the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

Trump criticizes SAG-AFTRA's policy and disciplinary failures

Trump then condemned SAG-AFTRA's disciplinary action as "a blatant attempt at free media attention to distract from your dismal record as a union."

He went on to say that the union "has done little for its members, and nothing for me – besides collecting dues and promoting dangerous un-American policies and ideas." 

Furthermore, Trump noted that SAG-AFTRA is confronting "massive unemployment rates and lawsuits from celebrated actors." 

"These, however, are policy failures. Your disciplinary failures are even more egregious. I no longer wish to be associated with your union," said the former President.

In conclusion, Trump wrote, "As such, this letter is to inform you of my immediate resignation from SAG-AFTRA. You have done nothing for me."

In response to Trump's resignation letter, Carteris simply wrote, "Thank you."

Have a story you want USA Herald to cover? Submit a tip here and if we think it’s newsworthy, we’ll follow up on it.

Want to contribute a story? We also accept article submissions – check out our writer’s guidelines here.