Julia Curlee, a former senior CIA officer, poses for a photo in Washington, DC, on August 25, 2026. When President Donald Trump returned to power last year in 2025, Julia Curlee, a longtime CIA analyst and transgender woman, opted to continue serving as a senior official at the White House despite right-wing attacks on trans issues. But after a far-right influencer publicized her transgender identity online, the White House immediately dismissed her. "They needed me. They asked me to stay" when Trump succeeded Joe Biden in the presidency, Curlee told AFP in an interview, over a year after she was fired. "But the moment (my gender identity) became public and a political problem with their supporters, that's when they got rid of me." (Photo by Oliver Contreras / AFP via Getty Images)