Fired CIA officer reveals stunning detail about removal: 'They still needed me'
U.S. President Donald Trump and John Ratcliffe, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), speak as they depart after a Cabinet meeting at Camp David in Thurmont, Maryland, U.S., July 31, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/Pool

A fired CIA officer revealed a detail that stunned a CNN anchor during an interview about the Trump administration.

Decorated former CIA officer Julia Curlee told CNN anchor Dana Bash in an interview on Tuesday that the Trump administration fired her shortly after she was called out publicly for being trans. However, what caught Bash by surprise was Curlee's account of how they asked her to return immediately after firing her.

"Laura Loomer had demanded my identity," Curlee said, detailing how the incident unfolded after the right-wing influencer "asked for someone to reveal [Curlee's identity] to the world so that we could drive out this trans Biden holdover."

Curlee worked in both the first and second Trump administrations. She recounted how she was a security advisor for Vice President Mike Pence and what Curlee called an "incredible" scene where Pence consoled her mom, who was having trouble dealing with Curlee's transition.

However, Bash, who agreed that Pence was "nice," was more caught off guard by how the Trump administration fired Curlee on a Saturday and asked her to come in on Monday.

"At the end of this call from my boss, who had said that my tour was over, they also had asked me to come back to work on Monday," Curlee said. "So I was fired on [Saturday] and asked to return."

"Can we just talk about that?" Bash asked. "So you're fired on a Saturday, when you're out with your family, after a not-so-subtle tweet from Laura Loomer about you, and then they said, 'But please come back on Monday anyway, even though we're firing you?'"

"Yeah, they still needed me," Curlee explained. "I was helping with a very important budget item. The new administration was still getting up and running, and we had two years of turnover to conduct."