Author Topic: Trump's Cabinet  (Read 65898 times)

Dos Equis

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #175 on: December 13, 2016, 05:47:57 PM »
Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, Bob Gates Praise Tillerson Choice
By Jeffrey Rodack and Todd Beaman   |   Tuesday, 13 Dec 2016

Republicans who have long stood hard against Russia and President Vladimir Putin Tuesday widely praised President-elect Donald Trump's pick for secretary of state, Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, as strong corporate executive who understands the challenges facing the United States on many fronts around the world.

They include Dick Cheney, Bob Gates, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, James A. Baker III and Jeb Bush.

However, several key GOP senators — Marco Rubio of Florida, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — expressed concerns about Tillerson's close ties to Russia.

"He would bring to the position vast knowledge, experience and success in dealing with dozens of governments and leaders in every corner of the world," Gates said of Tillerson. "He is a person of great integrity whose only goal in office would be to protect and advance the interests of the United States."

Gates, a Trump adviser who has served as CIA director and defense secretary, acknowledged that Exxon Mobil was "one of many clients" of RiceHadleyGates, a consulting firm owned by him and Rice.

"Rex Tillerson is an excellent choice for Secretary of State," said Rice, who served as in the post under President George W. Bush. "He will bring to the post remarkable and broad international experience; a deep understanding of the global economy; and a belief in America's special role in the world."

Trump said Tuesday that he would nominate Tillerson, 64, who has helmed the world's largest oil company since 2006, to become the nation's top diplomat, saying that he was "one of the truly great business leaders of the world."

Tillerson said that he would work to restore America's credibility on the international stage.

"We must focus on strengthening our alliances, pursuing shared national interests and enhancing the strength, security and sovereignty of the United States," he said in a statement with Trump's announcement.

Cheney, the former two-term vice president, called Tillerson "an inspired choice."

"I've known Rex for many years both in his role as the chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil and as a personal friend," he said. "He has the vast experience, ability, and judgment to deal with the very dangerous world we find confronting us.

"I'm confident that he will do a superb job promoting our national interests in dealing with the complex and difficult choices that are on the agenda for the next administration."

On Twitter, Rumsfeld, a defense secretary under two presidents, said:
 
Donald Rumsfeld  ✔@RumsfeldOffice
W/ the addition of Tillerson, a talented exec & skillful negotiator, @realDonaldTrump seems to be assembling an accomplished & able cabinet.
8:54 AM - 13 Dec 2016

Baker, who served as secretary of state under former President George H.W. Bush, said that Tillerson has "demonstrated the management and negotiating skills, and has the international experience, that are required for the job.

"I am confident that he will understand the global challenges facing the United States and has the intellect to address them."

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who quit the presidential race in February, praised Tillerson's "vast experience" and called him a "patriot."

The corporate executive will "represent the interests of United States really, really well," Bush told WJHL-TV in Kingston, Tenn.

However, the Senate "will have the chance to discuss all these things in an opening hearing," he cautioned. "That's how the process works."

These endorsements came as some senators voiced concerns about the Exxon Mobil CEO's ties to the Kremlin — dating back nearly two decades.

In 2013, Russia awarded Tillerson the Order of Friendship. He visited with Putin's inner circle two years later.

In 2011, he signed an agreement with Russia allowing Exxon Mobil to drill in the Arctic Ocean. The deal was valued at as much as $300 billion.

Neither McCain, Rubio, nor Graham has said that they would vote to confirm Tillerson when he comes up for nomination in the Senate, but they expressed reservations about his Moscow dealings.

Rubio said that while Tillerson was "a respected businessman, I have serious concerns about his nomination.

"The next secretary of state must be someone who views the world with moral clarity, is free of potential conflicts of interest, has a clear sense of America's interests, and will be a forceful advocate for America's foreign policy goals to the president, within the administration, and on the world stage."

The senator promised "a full and fair but also thorough hearing" for Tillerson when he comes before the Foreign Relations Committee.

If confirmed by the panel, Tillerson's nomination would be voted on by the full Senate.

Graham, who said last week that he was spearheading several investigations into Moscow because he wanted President Vladimir Putin "personally to pay a price," said that he looked forward to discussing Tillerson's "world view — especially his views of the U.S.-Russian relationship.

"Based upon his extensive business dealings with the Putin government and his previous opposition of efforts to impose sanctions on the Russian government, there are many questions which must be answered," Graham added. "I expect the U.S.-Russian relationship to be front and center in his confirmation process."

McCain told CNN Tuesday that "anybody who is a friend of Vladimir Putin must disregard the fact that Vladimir Putin is a murderer, a thug, and KGB agent, whose airlines, as we speak, have been targeting, with precision weapons, hospitals in Aleppo, who have committed atrocities throughout the region — and has destabilized Ukraine.

"The list goes on and on."

Other Republicans also lauded Trump's choice on Tuesday:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky:

"We need a full review of our national security policy, and I know Rex will face each problem head on with American interests and security as his top priority."

House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin:

"A proven leader and person of enormous accomplishment."

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas:

"His experience will be critical as the next Secretary of State will face a broad array of diplomatic challenges that will define the security and success of our nation for generations."

Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:

"Mr. Tillerson is a very impressive individual and has an extraordinary working knowledge of the world."

Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma:

"I am confident that he will leverage our global leadership position to strengthen the United States and our allies around the world."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who reportedly was being considered for the top diplomatic post:

"Getting Rex Tillerson to serve as Secretary of State is a great achievement by President elect Trump."

http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/rex-tillerson-donald-trump-exxonmobil-praise/2016/12/13/id/763672/

Thin Lizzy

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #176 on: December 13, 2016, 06:50:41 PM »
Has it occurred to any of you that never before (as best as this senior can remember) has the President Elect's cabinet choosing been such big news. I can hardly keep up with who is in and who is out. It seems to change on a daily basis. Recently, there have been a few folks who claim they've turned down Trump on his offers for a place in his cabinet. Whether this is true or not, we may never know. Heck they may not even have been offered a position and these are just face saving statements to the press. Help us if soon to be President Trump is so indecisive that he changes his mind on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, in one month, all the major picks have been made. Maybe, you're the one who's a fuck up. That is a possibility.

Tillerson - Secretary of State

Mattis - Defense

Sessions - Attorney General

Mnuchin - Treasury Department

Dos Equis

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #177 on: December 15, 2016, 11:31:15 AM »
Trump Considering Navy Admiral Michelle Howard for VA Secretary
By Jeffrey Rodack   |    Thursday, 15 Dec 2016

Navy Admiral Michelle Howard is under consideration by President-elect Donald Trump to head the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Word that Trump is giving some thought to picking her came in a Thursday tweet from Maggie Haberman of the New York Times.
 
Howard is currently the commander of U.S. Naval Forces in Europe. She is the first African-American woman to command a U.S. Navy ship, The Hill reported.

Just this week, the website noted, a group of 20 veterans had asked Trump to "strongly consider" keeping current VA Secretary Bob McDonald.

"While you continue your deliberations over who you will select to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, we ask you to strongly consider the proven track record of the current VA Secretary, Bob McDonald, who is leading the largest transformation in the department's history," the group said in a letter to Trump.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Navy-admiral-Michelle-Howard-VA/2016/12/15/id/764180/

Thin Lizzy

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #178 on: December 15, 2016, 02:05:38 PM »
Monica got a gig:



http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/15/monica-crowley-fox-news-personality-to-join-trump-s-national-security-council.html

Monica Crowley, a conservative radio host and Fox News analyst, has been tapped by the Trump administration as the senior director of strategic communications for the National Security Council, the Trump transition team announced Thursday.
“I am deeply honored, humbled and grateful to be asked by the President-elect to join the extraordinary national security team he is assembling,” said Crowley in a statement. “With vision, courage and moral clarity, he is committed fully to re-establishing America's singular place in the world. He is also committed to selecting the best people for the jobs of keeping the American people safe and the country secure. It will be a great privilege to serve with them.”
Crowley’s selection was first reported by The Daily Beast.

Now, that's a good lookin' woman:



Dos Equis

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #179 on: December 15, 2016, 03:46:52 PM »
Monica got a gig:



http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/15/monica-crowley-fox-news-personality-to-join-trump-s-national-security-council.html

Monica Crowley, a conservative radio host and Fox News analyst, has been tapped by the Trump administration as the senior director of strategic communications for the National Security Council, the Trump transition team announced Thursday.
“I am deeply honored, humbled and grateful to be asked by the President-elect to join the extraordinary national security team he is assembling,” said Crowley in a statement. “With vision, courage and moral clarity, he is committed fully to re-establishing America's singular place in the world. He is also committed to selecting the best people for the jobs of keeping the American people safe and the country secure. It will be a great privilege to serve with them.”
Crowley’s selection was first reported by The Daily Beast.

Now, that's a good lookin' woman:




Nice.  She is one of my favorites.

Dos Equis

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #180 on: December 16, 2016, 08:40:05 AM »
Trump expected to name Sean Spicer White House press secretary
By GABBY MORRONGIELLO (@GABRIELLAHOPE_) • 12/15/16

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to pick Republican National Committee spokesman and chief strategist Sean Spicer to serve as White House press secretary, sources with direct knowledge told the Washington Examiner on Thursday.

Spicer first became involved with Trump in August when he agreed to work in New York three to four days a week as an on-site adviser to the campaign while maintaining his position with the RNC. He has since become a senior spokesman for the president-elect's transition operation and has been responsible for briefing reporters each morning on the transition team's day-to-day activities.

"Sean has come out to be the leading contender for the podium position," a GOP source told the Examiner, adding that a formal announcement could come as soon as Friday.

Reached by the Examiner, Spicer did not confirm or deny his selection for the post.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/exclusive-trump-expected-to-name-sean-spicer-white-house-press-secretary/article/2609766?utm_campaign=Washington%20Examiner:%20Breaking%20News%20Alert&utm_source=Washington%20Examiner:%20Breaking%20News%20Alert%20-%2012/1

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #181 on: December 17, 2016, 08:39:30 AM »
Trump expected to name Sean Spicer White House press secretary
By GABBY MORRONGIELLO (@GABRIELLAHOPE_) • 12/15/16

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to pick Republican National Committee spokesman and chief strategist Sean Spicer to serve as White House press secretary, sources with direct knowledge told the Washington Examiner on Thursday.

Spicer first became involved with Trump in August when he agreed to work in New York three to four days a week as an on-site adviser to the campaign while maintaining his position with the RNC. He has since become a senior spokesman for the president-elect's transition operation and has been responsible for briefing reporters each morning on the transition team's day-to-day activities.

"Sean has come out to be the leading contender for the podium position," a GOP source told the Examiner, adding that a formal announcement could come as soon as Friday.

Reached by the Examiner, Spicer did not confirm or deny his selection for the post.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/exclusive-trump-expected-to-name-sean-spicer-white-house-press-secretary/article/2609766?utm_campaign=Washington%20Examiner:%20Breaking%20News%20Alert&utm_source=Washington%20Examiner:%20Breaking%20News%20Alert%20-%2012/1

Should have been Milo

Dos Equis

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #182 on: December 19, 2016, 10:17:51 AM »
Trump Picks Fiscal Hawk Mulvaney to Head OMB
By Sandy Fitzgerald   |   Saturday, 17 Dec 2016

President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday named Rep. Mick Mulvaney, a noted Capitol Hill fiscal hawk, to head the Office of Management and Budget, calling him a "high-energy leader" and signaling a tougher stance on government spending.

"We are going to do great things for the American people with Mick Mulvaney leading the Office of Management and Budget," Trump said in a statement, reports The Washington Post. "Right now we are nearly $20 trillion in debt, but Mick is a very high-energy leader with deep convictions for how to responsibly manage our nation’s finances and save our country from drowning in red ink."

Trump said by adding the South Carolina Republican to head OMB, his administration will "make smart choices about America's budget, bring new accountability to our federal government, and renew the American taxpayer's trust in how their money is spent."

Mulvaney, 49, was elected during the 2010 Republican sweep, but quickly established himself as a fiscal conservative and played a key role in the passage of budget caps in 2011.

He also has pushed his own party to seek spending cuts, and House Speaker Paul Ryan on Saturday said Trump made the right choice.

"In Congress, he has been a conservative reformer from day one, proposing solutions to fix the budget process and our regulatory system," said Ryan, R-Wisconsin. "At OMB, he will lead the work he has started to improve the way government does the people's business."

Mulvaney, as a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, was part of a group of lawmakers who pushed former House Speaker John Boehner to resign in 2015, and while he's a conservative hard-liner, he has also broken ranks with his party several times.

One of his particular emphasis has been on defense spending, including the overseas contingency operations war funding stream, which allows a way to fund military and anti-terror operations overseas while avoiding spending caps.

He also favors a Constitutional amendment that would mandate a balanced budget.

Mulvaney, as OMB director, will be in charge of overseeing Trump's call for a tax code overhaul. The president-elect wants to slash the nation's corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, while streamlining the tax code for America's households.

Trump also has called for $1 trillion in infrastructure spending, a move Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, oppose the measure.

http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/Mick-Mulvaney-Trump-Budget/2016/12/16/id/764413/

Dos Equis

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #183 on: December 19, 2016, 10:19:23 AM »
Trump's Army secretary pick is a billionaire NHL owner, West Point grad
By: Leo Shane III, December 19, 2016

President-elect Donald Trump on Monday nominated billionaire philanthropist Vincent Viola as the next secretary of the Army.

Viola, founder of digital stock trading firm Virtu Financial and owner of the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers, is a 1977 West Point graduate who rose to the rank of major in the Army Reserve.

If confirmed, he’ll effectively be the fourth new secretary for the service in the last two years.

Current Army Secretary Eric Fanning was nominated to replace John McHugh in late 2015, but did not officially take over the job until May because of a lengthy confirmation fight with Congress. Deputy Army Secretary Patrick Murphy served in an acting role for more than four months.

No timetable has been set for when Viola’s confirmation hearing may take place. In a statement, he called the responsibility of the role an honor and a challenge.

“If confirmed, I will work tirelessly to provide our president with the land force he will need to accomplish any mission in support of his national defense strategy,” he said. “A primary focus of my leadership will be ensuring that America’s soldiers have the ways and means to fight and win across the full spectrum of conflict.”

Trump praised Viola as “a man of outstanding work ethic, integrity, and strategic vision” who will help keep America safe.

“Whether it is his distinguished military service or highly impressive track record in the world of business, Vinnie has proved throughout his life that he knows how to be a leader and deliver major results in the face of any challenge,” he said in a statement.

Viola brings a wealth of business experience to Trump’s Pentagon, and will be a key figure in helping carry out the next president’s promises to cut waste and build up America’s armed forces.

The 60-year-old businessman is a former chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange and was serving in that role during the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

In response, he helped found the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, a privately funded research wing of the school focused on “counterterrorism policy and strategy” and “ways to confront the dynamic threat environment” facing America today.

He has also been a donor to numerous Army charities and support networks, including the Army Cyber Institute, the Modern War Institute and Army athletic programs.

He’s the son of Italian immigrants, and his father served in the U.S. Army during World War II.

The Army appointment will require Viola to step away from several of his business holdings, including his NHL franchise. In a statement, team officials said ownership of the Florida Panthers will remain in the Viola family, but the team’s vice chairman will take over operations responsibilities.

http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/vincent-viola-trump-army-secretary

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #184 on: December 22, 2016, 09:43:37 AM »
Trump Taps Peter Navarro, Vocal Critic of China, for New Trade Post
By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM
DEC. 21, 2016

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump on Wednesday named a strident China critic, Peter Navarro, to lead a new White House office overseeing American trade and industrial policy, in the latest sign that Mr. Trump is moving to reshape relations between the world’s two largest economies.

Mr. Trump also said the billionaire investor Carl Icahn would serve as a special adviser on regulatory issues, another area of economic policy in which the president-elect wants big changes.

The appointments reflect Mr. Trump’s ambition to increase economic growth by hammering at what he regards as critical roadblocks. He has promised to expand American manufacturing by reducing federal regulation and by preventing what he has described as unfair competition from Chinese manufacturers. The choices of Mr. Navarro and Mr. Icahn also reflect Mr. Trump’s manifest preference for advisers who are loyal, and who do not have government experience.

Mr. Navarro, 67, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, who holds a doctorate from Harvard, is the only credentialed economist in Mr. Trump’s inner circle. He is the author of a series of jeremiads, including a 2012 documentary film, “Death by China,” in which an animation of a Chinese knife stabs a map of the United States and causes blood to run freely. Mr. Navarro has said that China is effectively waging an economic war by subsidizing exports to the United States and impeding imports from it. Mr. Trump, influenced by Mr. Navarro’s work, described this on the campaign trail as “the greatest theft in the history of the world.”

Mr. Trump has said he will persuade Beijing to change its policies by applying pressure, including designating China a currency manipulator; enforcing existing trade laws more vigorously; and, if necessary, imposing a 45 percent tariff on Chinese imports. In a statement, Mr. Trump described Mr. Navarro as “a visionary economist” and said he would “develop trade policies that shrink our trade deficit, expand our growth and help stop the exodus of jobs from our shores.”

A wide range of economists have warned that curtailing trade with China would damage the American economy, forcing consumers to pay higher prices for goods and services. Experts on manufacturing also doubt that the government can significantly increase factory employment, noting that mechanization is the major reason fewer people are working in factories.

Mr. Navarro’s appointment reinforces a basic division among Mr. Trump’s economic advisers. The people he has chosen to oversee trade policy, Mr. Navarro and Wilbur Ross, another billionaire investor, both favor increased trade restrictions. But Mr. Trump’s broader circle of advisers is dominated by proponents of free trade, including Mr. Icahn; Gary D. Cohn, the president of Goldman Sachs, who will lead the National Economic Council; Rex W. Tillerson, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, who was tapped for secretary of state; and Gov. Terry Branstad of Iowa, Mr. Trump’s choice for ambassador to China. Mr. Trump is also considering the appointment of Larry Kudlow, a strong proponent of trade, to lead his Council of Economic Advisers.

Mr. Trump has also promised to edit the federal rule book, removing what he has described as overly burdensome restrictions. He said last month that the government would eliminate two regulations for each new rule it put on the books. For Mr. Icahn, who will not draw a salary, the new role formalizes his relationship with Mr. Trump, whom he advised on economic issues throughout the campaign. Mr. Icahn, 80, has no experience in government; like a growing number of Mr. Trump’s appointees, he was prized for his success as a businessman.

Mr. Icahn, a brash New York billionaire who vocally supported Mr. Trump during the campaign, made his fortune as a “corporate raider,” buying stakes in corporations and demanding changes to reward shareholders. “Carl was with me from the beginning, and with his being one of the world’s great businessmen, that was something I truly appreciated,” Mr. Trump said in a statement. “His help on the strangling regulations that our country is faced with will be invaluable.”

Outsiders, Insiders and Multimillionaires in Trump’s Cabinet
President-elect Donald J. Trump’s cabinet and top staff are shaping up to be a mix of wealthy Washington outsiders, Republican insiders and former military officers who have been critical of the Obama administration.

Mr. Icahn will also play a role in the selection of a new chairman for the Securities and Exchange Commission, the regulator that serves as the referee for his battles with corporations.

Mr. Icahn, the child of two New York schoolteachers, was not known for political activism before the 2016 campaign, and he has insisted that he wants to help the country, not himself. But Mr. Trump’s choice of a major corporate investor to play a role in rewriting regulations that could affect those companies renewed concerns about conflicts of interest in the next administration.

“The corrupt nature of this arrangement cannot be understated,” Eric Walker, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement about Mr. Icahn’s appointment. “Voters who wanted Trump to drain the swamp just got another face full of mud.”

Mr. Navarro has built a quiet career as an academic economist, publishing papers on subjects like why businesses give to charity, electricity deregulation and the economics of trash collection.

He also mounted four unsuccessful political campaigns as a Democrat between 1992 and 2001, including candidacies for mayor of San Diego and a House seat in Congress.

He has said that he started paying attention to China in the early 2000s because he noticed that graduates of the business school at California, Irvine, were starting to lose jobs as a result of globalization. In 2011, he wrote a letter to Mr. Trump about his book “Death by China,” which the movie was based on, and the men began to correspond. Over the past year, Mr. Navarro became an increasingly important campaign adviser on economic issues. But he and Mr. Trump had not met in person until September.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/21/us/politics/peter-navarro-carl-icahn-trump-china-trade.html?_r=0

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #185 on: December 22, 2016, 09:44:41 AM »
Trump taps Conway as counselor to president
Published December 22, 2016 
FoxNews.com

Kellyanne Conway, the indefatigable campaign operative who became the face of Donald Trump's successful presidential bid, has been named counselor to the president.

Conway, who joined Trump's team as campaign manager in August, announced earlier this week on Fox News she was moving from her New Jersey home to Washington, signaling a pending position in the incoming Trump administration. Thursday's announcement from the transition team laid out her new role.

TRUMP'S TEAM: WHO'S WHO IN PRESIDENT-ELECT'S CABINET, WHITE HOUSE

"Kellyanne Conway has been a trusted advisor and strategist who played a crucial role in my victory," Trump said in a statement released Thursday morning. "She is a tireless and tenacious advocate of my agenda and has amazing insights on how to effectively communicate our message. I am pleased that she will be part of my senior team in the West Wing."

Conway will work with senior administration officials to communicate and execute Trump's legislative priorities, the statement said.

Conway told "Fox & Friends" on Thursday that she will be in the West Wing to "continue my service" to Trump. She said she had weighed a number of factors including her family in considering a job, but described the West Wing-in-waiting as family friendly, saying, "So I'm fine on that score."

Calling the appointment "very humbling," she said: "It's difficult to pass that up. I know I've got his ear and his trust."

In a written statement, Conway also said: 

"A Trump presidency will bring real change to Washington and to Americans across this great nation. I am humbled and honored to play a role in helping transform the movement he has led into a real agenda of action and results."

Conway, 49, has a law degree from George Washington University Law School and is founder and owner of The Polling Company, a polling and research firm.

Thursday's announcement followed word Conway would relocate to the nation's capital.

“My family is going to move to Washington, D.C., and I will either stay outside and run the political super-structure, or I will go into the West Wing and take a position right next to the president,” Conway had told Fox News’ “Happening Now.”

Unlike positions on Trump's Cabinet, Conway's role is not subject to Senate confirmation.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/22/trump-taps-conway-as-senior-counselor.html?refresh=true

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #186 on: December 22, 2016, 11:56:39 AM »
This about the only selection I disagree with.  Should have been Laura Ingraham, unless she declined.

Trump picks Sean Spicer for press secretary
Published December 22, 2016
FoxNews.com

Republican Party communications chief Sean Spicer will be the voice of the Trump administration.

President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday that Spicer will get the coveted job of White House press secretary, as he announced the senior members of his communications team.

This also includes: Hope Hicks as director of strategic communications; Jason Miller as director of communications; and Dan Scavino as director of social media.

“Sean, Hope, Jason and Dan have been key members of my team during the campaign and transition. I am excited they will be leading the team that will communicate my agenda that will Make America Great Again,” Trump said in a statement.

Spicer was thought to have the inside track for the job, in part because of his ties to incoming White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, who currently runs the Republican National Committee.

Spicer worked alongside Priebus throughout the 2016 campaign as chief strategist and communications director at the RNC.

After the news was announced, Spicer thanked the incoming president for the “amazing honor.”

  Sean Spicer
✔  ‎@seanspicer 
Thank you @realDonaldTrump for this amazing honor. Excited to join Hope Hicks @DanScavino @JasonMillerinDC http://us14.campaign-archive1.com/?u=3a2a46a0ef67412eaa5d55987&id=8dbae3b9b4&e=ce56021058 … #MAGA
8:50 AM - 22 Dec 2016
 
Spicer has been a regular media presence throughout the rowdy presidential primary campaign and general election.

A commissioned officer in the Navy Reserves, Spicer previously served as Assistant United States Trade Representative (USTR) for Media and Public Affairs under the George W. Bush administration, and worked for the House Republican Conference before that.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/22/trump-picks-sean-spicer-for-press-secretary.html

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #187 on: December 26, 2016, 09:58:41 AM »
Trump Aide Jason Miller Says He Won't Take White House Job

Jason Miller, communications director for the Trump transition team. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
By Solange Reyner   |   Saturday, 24 Dec 2016

Jason Miller on Saturday backed out as White House communications director, telling Politico he was doing so for family reasons.

"After spending this past week with my family, the most amount of time I have been able to spend with them since March 2015, it is clear they need to be my top priority right now and this is not the right time to start a new job as demanding as White House communications director," Miller told Politico.

"My wife and I are also excited about the arrival of our second daughter in January, and I need to put them in front of my career. I look forward to continuing to support the President-elect from outside after my work on the Transition concludes."

Miller had been given the job two days ago.

He will be replaced by former RNC communications director Sean Spicer, who was tapped as Donald Trump's White House press secretary earlier this week.

Miller was the senior communications adviser during Trump's campaign and previously worked for Sen. Ted Cruz.

http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/trump-jason-miller-white-house-donald-trump/2016/12/24/id/765496/

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #188 on: December 26, 2016, 12:31:52 PM »
Trumps pick for ambassador to Israel sparks hot debate
Associated Press
December 26, 2016
Updated December 26, 2016
ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this photo provided by Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP, David Friedman, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for ambassador to Israel.

NEW YORK >> If President-elect Donald Trump wanted to show he planned to obliterate President Barack Obama’s approach to Israel, he might have found his man to deliver that message in David Friedman, his pick for U.S. ambassador.

The bankruptcy lawyer and son of an Orthodox rabbi is everything Obama is not: a fervent supporter of Israeli settlements, opponent of Palestinian statehood and unrelenting defender of Israel’s government. So far to the right is Friedman that many Israel supporters worry he could push Israel’s hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be more extreme, scuttling prospects for peace with Palestinians in the process.

The heated debate over Friedman’s selection is playing out just as fresh tensions erupt between the U.S. and Israel.

In a stunning decision Friday, the Obama administration moved to allow the U.N. Security Council to pass a resolution condemning Israeli settlements as illegal. The move to abstain, rather than veto, defied years of U.S. tradition of shielding Israel from such resolutions, and elicited condemnation from Israel, lawmakers of both parties, and especially Trump.

“Things will be different after Jan. 20th,” when he’s sworn in, Trump vowed on Twitter.

Presidents of both parties have long called for a two-state solution that envisions eventual Palestinian statehood, and Netanyahu says he agrees. Friedman, who still must be confirmed by the Senate, does not. He’s called the two-state solution a mere “narrative” that must end.

Under Obama, the U.S. has worked closely with J Street, an Israel advocacy group sharply critical of Netanyahu. Friedman accuses Obama of “blatant anti-Semitism” and calls J Street “worse than kapos,” a reference to Jews who helped the Nazis imprison fellow Jews during the Holocaust.

For decades, the U.S. has opposed Israeli settlement-building in lands it seized in the 1967 Mideast war. Friedman runs a nonprofit that raises millions of dollars for Beit El, a settlement of religious nationalists near Ramallah. Beit El runs a right-wing news outlet and a yeshiva whose dean has provocatively urged Israeli soldiers to refuse orders to uproot settlers from their homes.

So it’s unsurprising that Friedman’s nomination has already sharpened a growing balkanization of American Jews, between those who want the U.S. to push Israel toward peace and those who believe Obama’s approach abandoned America’s closest Mideast ally.

It’s a debate playing out even at Temple Hillel, near the Long Island-Queens border, where Friedman’s father was rabbi for almost half a century.

“Clearly, David’s opinions do not appeal to everybody in the synagogue, and they appeal to others in the synagogue,” said Ken Fink, the synagogue’s president and longtime congregant. “But there’s a huge amount of pride for the hometown boy.”

Thirty-two years before Trump’s election, President Ronald Reagan donned a yarmulke and noshed on chicken cutlets and noodle pudding at Rabbi Morris Friedman’s home, after a speech at Temple Hillel affirming the separation between church and state. Coming just two weeks before Reagan’s re-election, the attempt to woo Jewish voters struck some as opportunistic, and they protested on the streets of the heavily Jewish town of North Woodmere.

Seated at the Sabbath table with Reagan was David Melech Friedman — his middle name means “king” in Hebrew. The rabbi’s son went on to become Trump’s bankruptcy lawyer, an advocate for far-right policies on Israel, and now, Trump’s choice for ambassador, despite having no diplomatic experience.

Cindy Grosz, who said she’s known Friedman for nearly 50 years, recalled big parties with boisterous debates about Jewish issues held in his family’s sukkah, the outdoor hut Jews build during the harvest festival Sukkot.

“He still has the same best friends he’s had for over 30 years,” Grosz said.

At his midtown Manhattan law firm, Friedman opens his offices to those in mourning who need a minyan — a quorum of 10 men in Orthodox Judaism — to say the Mourner’s Kaddish, a prayer that observant Jews say daily for one year after a parent’s death.

And it was a parent’s death, in a way, that brought Friedman and Trump closer together. Over the years, Friedman has told friends the story of how the billionaire real estate mogul defied an oppressive snowstorm that had kept others away to “sit shiva” for Friedman’s father during the Jewish mourning period.

Educated at Columbia University and NYU School of Law, Friedman developed a reputation as an aggressive, high-stakes bankruptcy attorney, representing Trump when his Atlantic City casinos went through bankruptcy.

In the courtroom, he’s known as a formidable opponent, said attorney Tariq Mundiya, Friedman’s adversary in several cases. He said he’d been aware of Friedman’s advocacy on Israel but added, “When you’re in the fog of war with David, the last thing you’re talking about is the Middle East.”

Enraged by Trump’s pick, left-leaning groups and Palestinian officials have suggested his confirmation could spell the end of any serious discussions about peace.

Netanyahu has stayed publicly quiet about Trump’s pick. Friedman and Trump’s transition team didn’t respond to requests for comment.

http://www.staradvertiser.com/2016/12/26/breaking-news/trumps-pick-for-ambassador-to-israel-sparks-hot-debate/

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #189 on: December 27, 2016, 09:07:24 AM »
Trump Taps Bossert for Counterterrorism Post
Tuesday, 27 Dec 2016

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that Thomas Bossert, former deputy homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush, would be his White House adviser on security and counterterrorism issues, according to a statement.

As assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, Bossert would be Trump's top counterterrorism chief. He currently runs a risk management consulting firm and has a cyber risk fellowship with the Atlantic Council think tank.

http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/trump-bossert-security-adviser/2016/12/27/id/765697/

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #190 on: December 27, 2016, 04:38:41 PM »
Wash Examiner: Trump's New Trade Czar Opposed Real Estate Development
By Brian Freeman   |   Tuesday, 27 Dec 2016

President-elect Donald Trump's selection of California economist and author Peter Navarro as his trade czar, has a touch of irony — Navarro's early political career was marked by left-wing opposition to real estate development, the Washington Examiner reports.

Navarro, who will head a newly created White House National Trade Council to focus on strengthening the nation's trade policies and manufacturing sector, ran losing campaigns for both mayor of San Diego and Congress in the 1990s with the backing of the Democratic Party.

GOP operatives, who helped defeat him in those races, said Navarro was a liberal environmentalist who made opposition to residential and commercial development the main focus of his political activism.

As Trump was becoming famous in the 1980s as a major Manhattan developer, Navarro was the chairman of a group whose goal was the polar opposite to prevent San Diego from turning into another version of dense, fast-growing Los Angeles.

Trump said he chose Navarro, because he "read one of Peter's books on America's trade problems years ago and was impressed by the clarity of his arguments and thoroughness of his research.

"He has presciently documented the harms inflicted by globalism on American workers, and laid out a path forward to restore our middle class."

Navarro was a key adviser to Trump during the presidential campaign, particularly concerning his plan to impose tariffs on foreign imports from countries that he says have an unfair advantage over domestic manufacturers.

Navarro's longtime criticism of U.S. trade policy is especially harsh concerning China, and China Daily described his appointment as a concern, explaining that his hawkish views on Beijing will only harm the economies of both countries.

http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/Peter-Navarro-Trump-Trade-Czar-Opposed/2016/12/27/id/765737/

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #191 on: December 27, 2016, 08:07:01 PM »
Does anyone of you all recall a time when a President Elect's cabinet choices were so heavily reported and scrutinized? It appears Trump keeps changing his mind with regards to who is in and who is out (You're Fired!." He's a showman if nothing else. Maybe all this is just about the entertainment value, designed to keep us all engaged. Should this be the case, my hat is off to Trump and his advisors for engaging more of the populous who are otherwise traditionally numbed to it all.

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #192 on: January 04, 2017, 12:34:21 PM »
Trump to Nominate Wall Street Lawyer Clayton to Lead SEC
Wednesday, 04 Jan 2017

President-elect Donald Trump said on Wednesday he intends to nominate Walter "Jay" Clayton, an attorney who advises clients on major Wall Street deals, to lead the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

"Jay Clayton is a highly talented expert on many aspects of financial and regulatory law, and he will ensure our financial institutions can thrive and create jobs while playing by the rules at the same time," Trump in a statement.

"We need to undo many regulations which have stifled investment in American businesses, and restore oversight of the financial industry in a way that does not harm American workers."

Clayton is a partner in the New York office of law firm Sullivan & Cromwell who specializes in advising clients on public and private mergers and acquisitions and capital-raising efforts. He also helps companies navigate regulatory and enforcement actions, including a number of cases that involved mortgage securities.

Clayton has worked for high-profile clients, including the initial public offerings of Alibaba Group Holding Company and Oaktree Capital Group.

During the height of the 2008 financial crisis, Clayton also worked on major deals involving big banks, including Barclays Capital's acquisition of Lehman Brothers' assets, the sale of Bear Stearns to JP Morgan Chase, and the U.S. Treasury Department's capital investment in Goldman Sachs, according to his law firm's website.
 
By selecting an attorney who is deeply steeped in capital-raising deals, Trump is likely signaling that the SEC will be looking to scale back regulations that some critics see as burdensome and may be hindering corporate growth.

Many Republicans in recent years have criticized the SEC for focusing too much on enforcement, and not enough on its other missions, which include writing rules that help promote capital formation.

“In light of Jay’s vast experience in capital formation, his appointment as SEC Chair is a strong positive signal the economy is a top priority of President-elect Trump and his team, and that the SEC will work together with Main Street to meet the country’s economic goals of full employment and healthy growth," said Jonathan Macey, a professor at the Yale Law School.

http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/StreetTalk/jay-clayton-donald-trump-sec-chairman/2017/01/04/id/766761/

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #193 on: January 06, 2017, 09:46:17 AM »
Trump tells Obama's ambassadors to leave by Inauguration Day
By Jennifer G. Hickey  Published January 06, 2017 
FoxNews.com

President-elect Donald Trump is not allowing for any diplomatic dawdling. His transition team has issued a directive that all ambassadors appointed by President Obama must leave their posts by Inauguration Day, a source confirmed Friday.

While it is standard for politically appointed ambassadors to step aside at the end of a presidential term, past administrations have offered a grace period in certain cases. An individual with knowledge of the foreign service told FoxNews.com that Trump’s “unwillingness to consider individual cases or exigencies” appears to represent a break with protocol.

“[The directive] in itself is not that significant. But it is more unyielding than in the past,” he said.

The New York Times first reported that a State Department cable was sent to all ambassadors on Dec. 23 informing them they have to vacate their posts by Jan. 20 “without exceptions.”

Ronald E. Neumann, the president of the American Academy of Diplomacy, told the Times that he could not “recollect there was ever a guillotine in January where it was just, ‘Everybody out of the pool immediately.’”

However, Obama’s transition team sent out similar guidance -- eight years ago -- telling ambassadors appointed by President George W. Bush they had to leave their posts by Inauguration Day.

The Washington Post reported in December 2008 that ambassadors would not be permitted to stay on and that “the sweeping nature of the directive suggests that Obama has little interest in retaining any of Bush's ambassadorial appointees.”

Trump’s transition team has already named Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad as ambassador to China and bankruptcy lawyer David Friedman to fill that role in Israel.

Political appointees for ambassadorships under any administration are often well-connected donors or other officials who do not come from the career foreign service side. But despite the prospect of imminent vacancies at posts around the world, U.S. embassies are likely to retain leadership as deputies fill in for the short term.

“The number twos are career foreign service officers and more than capable of stepping into the roles,” said the source who spoke with FoxNews.com.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/01/06/trump-tells-obamas-ambassadors-to-leave-by-inauguration-day.html

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #194 on: January 10, 2017, 09:35:53 AM »
Rejected for Bush Pentagon Job, Ex-Sen. Coats Named National Intelligence Director by Trump
By John Gizzi   |   Saturday, 07 Jan 2017

Although it was barely reported, the widely-praised appointment Thursday of former Sen. Dan Coats (R.-Ind.) to be Director of National Intelligence had a sense of poetic justice.

Sixteen years before President-elect Donald Trump turned to the former senator and diplomat for the top intelligence post, Coats had been publicly considered and then rejected as secretary of defense under the last Republican president-elect.

In December, 2000, Coats, who had retired from the Senate two years before, was “at the top of [President-elect George W.] Bush’s list” to be secretary of defense, wrote Bob Woodward in his book "State of Denial."

A past Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Coats had the backing of conservatives within the Republican Party. Several news outlets reported his appointment to oversee the Pentagon was in the works.

“But Coats had not been impressive in his interview with Bush and Vice President-elect Dick Cheney,” reported Woodward, “Coats knew the new generals mostly from a distance and was lukewarm on the national missile defense system Bush had promised in the campaign.”

Bush’s new reluctance to name Coats secretary of defense gave Cheney the opening to suggest a candidate of his own: Donald Rumsfeld, Cheney’s old boss and mentor, who had been secretary of defense under President Gerald Ford from 1975-77.

In selecting the man who would be secretary of defense for the next six years and the face of his Administration in the war on terror, Bush defied his own father. Rumsfeld and former President George H.W. Bush, past rivals in Congress and the Ford Administration, “couldn’t stand each other,” according to Woodward.

During a lunch with this reporter in 2010 (when he ran successfully for his former Senate seat), Coats said “I thought I had it [the secretary of defense position].”

Coats, 76, now becomes principal advisor to Trump on all intelligence matters related to national security and will oversee the sixteen-agency intelligence community.

http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/sencoates-coates-donald-trump-trump/2017/01/07/id/767352/

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #195 on: January 10, 2017, 09:46:16 AM »
Jared Kushner to be named senior adviser to the president
By Sara Murray, Jeremy Diamond and Laura Jarrett, CNN
Updated Tue January 10, 2017

(CNN)Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will be senior adviser to the president, a senior transition official told CNN Monday.

The 35-year-old businessman-turned-political strategist played a key part in his father-in-law's presidential campaign and his new position is expected to test the limit of federal anti-nepotism rules. The move comes ahead of a Wednesday news conference in which Trump is expected to detail how he plans to manage his company's potential conflicts-of-interest after he enters the White House.

Kushner plans to resign from the management positions he holds at his companies, including as CEO of Kushner Companies, publisher of The Observer and positions with other organizations, and will divest from a "significant number" of his assets to comply with government ethics rules, Kushner's attorney Jamie Gorelick told CNN on Monday.

Kushner also will not take a salary as he steps into the West Wing job, an official who briefed on behalf of the transition told reporters later on Monday.
Top Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee issued a statement within hours of Kushner's appointment calling on the Justice Department and the Office of Government Ethics to review the appointment's legality in light of the anti-nepotism statute.

"There is a strong case to be made that the White House is an "agency" for purposes of the anti-nepotism statute and that it would apply to bar Mr. Kushner's appointment as a White House staff member," wrote Rep. John Conyers, the House Judiciary Committee's ranking member, and other top Democrats on the committee, in a statement released Monday evening.

Gorelick argued that the anti-nepotism statue which applies to presidential administrations excludes the White House office where Kushner would be based, though the statute is open to different interpretations. Kushner is related to the President-elect by marriage, but a 1967 law specifies "son-in-law" as a type of relative covered by the regulations.

"We have the better argument," Gorelick told CNN. "We are very confident in this position."

Gorelick added that she and transition officials have been in "pretty constant" communication with the Office of Government Ethics, which offered advice into how Kushner might best be able to divest his assets and comply with ethical requirements.

Kushner plans to recuse himself from "particular matters that would have a direct and predictable effect on his remaining financial interests," Gorelick said.
"He will also abide by federal rules requiring impartiality in particular matters involving specific parties. These steps are consistent with federal law and executive branch practice and evidence Mr. Kushner's commitment to public service," Gorelick added in a statement provided by the Trump transition.

Larry Noble, general counsel of the Campaign Legal Center and a CNN consultant, said while Kushner may be perfectly qualified "the problem is that when you hire relatives it raises questions about why."

"A classic abuse of hiring authority is hiring your own relatives," he said, adding that a court could find that the anti-nepotism law applies in this case, but the "practical reality" is that these issues don't come up very often.

Noble said if he was advising the President-elect and his son-in-law his advice would be: "Follow the anti-nepotism laws, they are meant to apply to the President. The point of the statute was to stop the President from hiring relatives, including son-in-laws."

Ivanka Trump, meanwhile, is likely to simply retain the title of "first daughter" without taking on an official staff title, a transition official told CNN on Monday. The source said it hasn't been decided yet whether she will have a West Wing office and her specific portfolio likely won't be announced for a while.

Even as the Trump transition is expected to announce how Kushner's appointment won't violate anti-nepotism laws, Kushner, who owns his own real estate development firm, has continued to chase deals that raise questions about conflicts of interest.

Kushner met with a powerful Chinese business magnate in the week after his father-in-law's election as he sought to finalize a deal for the purchase of one of his most prized properties on Fifth Avenue, the New York Times reported, raising ethical questions.

Neither Kushner nor Trump have publicly commented on the concerns of nepotism.

Kushner, who is an observant Jew, first took a role in his father-in-laws' presidential campaign advising him on US policy toward Israel and helped write the speech Trump delivered to AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby.

But his role quickly ballooned from there as he became a hugely influential figure in his father-in-law's campaign, wielding power over much of the campaign's strategy and data operation.

Since then, Kushner has become a key adviser and power broker to the President-elect during the transation, serving as a point of contact for powerful business interests, foreign governments and other powerful figures.

Kushner and Ivanka Trump recently picked a Washington home to move into, making a role for Kushner in the White House almost inevitable.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/09/politics/jared-kushner-to-be-named-senior-adviser-to-the-president/

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #196 on: January 12, 2017, 01:44:33 PM »
David Shulkin tapped as Trump’s VA secretary
By Lisa Rein January 11, 2017

President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he has tapped David Shulkin, a physician who is currently serving in the Obama administration as VA undersecretary, to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The decision ends a protracted search for a head of the second-largest federal agency and would make Shulkin the first VA secretary who had not served in the military. Trump said he and his transition team had interviewed “at least 100 people” in their search for an executive to carry out multiple promises he has made to improve the care of veterans. In the end, they looked inside.

Shulkin, 57, who would be the first Obama administration holdover for Trump, was confirmed unanimously for his post as undersecretary in charge of the Veterans Health Administration in June 2015, a sign he could breeze through the Senate confirmation process.

[Here are the people Donald Trump has chosen for his Cabinet]

“I have no doubt Dr. Shulkin will be able to lead the turnaround our Department of Veterans Affairs needs,” Trump said at his first news conference since his election, calling him an “incredibly gifted doctor.”

“His sole mandate will be to serve our veterans and restore the level of care we owe to our brave men and women in the military,” Trump said. “Sadly our great veterans have not gotten the level of care they deserve, but Dr. Shulkin has the experience and the vision to ensure we will meet the health-care needs of every veteran.”

Shulkin is an internist who came to government with 30 years’ experience leading private hospitals. He has led the sprawling veterans health system — the country’s largest, with 1,700 clinics and hospitals — for 18 months, working to improve patients’ access to care after a nationwide scandal over fudged wait lists for medical appointments.

During his campaign, Trump called VA a “broken” system that treats illegal immigrants “better than our vets.”

Shulkin is in line to run an agency beset by challenges, including a backlog in disability claims that has shifted in recent years from initial applications to appeals; a rising suicide rate; overuse of opiates; and a shortage of doctors and nurses.

“We are both eager to begin reforming the areas in our Veterans Affairs system that need critical attention, and do it in a swift, thoughtful and responsible way,” Shulkin said in a statement released by the transition team.

In keeping Shulkin, Trump passed over the current secretary, Robert McDonald, a Republican appointed by Obama in 2014 after the wait-times scandal forced out his first VA chief, retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki. Washington’s large and influential veterans service organizations had pushed Trump unsuccessfully to keep McDonald in the job.

Trump also passed over a favorite of some of his top aides, Fox News Channel contributor and Iraq War veteran Pete Hegseth. Hegseth is a former president and chief executive of Concerned Veterans for America, a conservative group backed by the billionaire Koch brothers. Hegseth had pledged to make it easier to fire poor performers and significantly expand VA medical care to private doctors outside the system. But he had not run a large organization comparable to the veterans system.

Expanding private care is one of Trump’s biggest priorities for veterans, and it is unclear how Shulkin would approach such a change. After some members of the congressionally created commission on VA health care called last year for drastically reducing the federal role in veterans’ medical care, Shulkin told the Daily Press in Virginia the idea was “terrible.”

“This would be a terrible mistake, a terrible direction for veterans and for the country, to essentially systematically implement recommendations that would lead to the end of the VA health-care system,” he said.

A specialist in health-care quality, Shulkin held leadership positions at the Drexel University College of Medicine, Temple University Hospital and the Medical College of Pennsylvania before coming to government. He founded a now-defunct company, DoctorQuality, that provided information for patients on health-care safety and quality.

He received his medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania, completed his internship at Yale School of Medicine and his residency and fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Presbyterian Medical Center.

His selection drew praise from some of the largest veterans groups as a welcome sign of continuity.

“The VFW is proud to support the nomination of Dr. David Shulkin as the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and we are most appreciative of his willingness to continue serving veterans and making the VA better,” Brian Duffy, national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said in a statement.

Mark Lucas, executive director of Concerned Veterans for America, said in a statement: “It is no secret that the VA has been failing veterans for years. While Shulkin already holds a leadership position at the VA, as Secretary, he will now have ultimate responsibility over the agency and we are hopeful he will take it in a new direction.”

Louis Celli, legislative director for the American Legion, said in an interview that Shulkin has had an open door not just to veterans groups but to his staff at the Veterans Health Administration.

Shulkin’s selection “says to me that Trump has faith in the direction VA is going with health care,” Celli said. “I think this is a huge reality check for a group of people who want to privatize VA.”

Of all the day-to-day operations of government that Trump criticized, VA, with its vast management challenges, came under special scrutiny. Finding the right person for the job was one of the president-elect’s biggest challenges.

In recent weeks, Trump had met with retired military leaders, politicians and health-care executives, some of whom would help diversify a Cabinet he is under pressure from some on his team to make more inclusive. Trump extended preliminary offers to several qualified contenders, but they turned him down, citing other commitments.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/01/11/david-shulkin-tapped-as-trumps-va-secretary/?utm_term=.75e2840dcffd

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #197 on: January 18, 2017, 12:29:06 PM »
Who is the dummy who voted no?? 

Senate panel approves Mattis for defense post

By: The Associated Press,  January 18, 2017
The Senate Armed Services Committee has overwhelmingly approved President-elect Donald Trump's pick for defense secretary.

The Republican-led panel voted 26-1 Wednesday to recommend that the full Senate consider the choice of retired Marine Gen. James Mattis to run the Pentagon.

Mattis retired from military service in 2013 after a 41-year career in uniform.

Congress last week approved legislation that grants a one-time exception for Mattis from the law that bars former service members who have been out of uniform for less than seven years from holding the top Pentagon job. The restriction is meant to preserve civilian control of the military.

The committee's vote means that when Mattis is formally nominated by Trump the appointment will be sent directly to the Senate for a confirmation vote.

http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/caroline-kennedy-boosted-us-japan-ties-as-us-ambassador

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #198 on: January 18, 2017, 07:31:16 PM »
Who is the dummy who voted no??  

Senate panel approves Mattis for defense post

By: The Associated Press,  January 18, 2017
The Senate Armed Services Committee has overwhelmingly approved President-elect Donald Trump's pick for defense secretary.

The Republican-led panel voted 26-1 Wednesday to recommend that the full Senate consider the choice of retired Marine Gen. James Mattis to run the Pentagon.

Mattis retired from military service in 2013 after a 41-year career in uniform.

Congress last week approved legislation that grants a one-time exception for Mattis from the law that bars former service members who have been out of uniform for less than seven years from holding the top Pentagon job. The restriction is meant to preserve civilian control of the military.

The committee's vote means that when Mattis is formally nominated by Trump the appointment will be sent directly to the Senate for a confirmation vote.

http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/caroline-kennedy-boosted-us-japan-ties-as-us-ambassador

From what I just heard, many of Trump's cabinet appointments have yet to be adequately vetted. Besides that the incoming administration has failed to appoint positions previous administrations had in place shortly following the presidential election. This oversight leaves important security positions vacant, thus making the U.S. all the more vulnerable to our enemies during the transition.

This is happening right now. Yahya Jammeh,Gambia's President, in power 22 Years, loses election and has refused to relinquish his position. Senegal's forces are at the Gambian border and will enter at midnight if veteran Gambian President Yahya Jammeh refuses to leave power. The U.S. cannot address this as we currently do not have the personnel. This is because of our transition to a new administration and because as of 12:30 p.m. on Friday, there will be no appointees or personnel in place. It may only be a coup or a small war, but the fact remains that everything of this nature that happens throughout the world affects us. Senegal's military far outnumbers the military forces of Gambia.

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Re: Trump's Cabinet
« Reply #199 on: January 19, 2017, 05:05:16 PM »
From what I just heard, many of Trump's cabinet appointments have yet to be adequately vetted. Besides that the incoming administration has failed to appoint positions previous administrations had in place shortly following the presidential election. This oversight leaves important security positions vacant, thus making the U.S. all the more vulnerable to our enemies during the transition.

This is happening right now. Yahya Jammeh,Gambia's President, in power 22 Years, loses election and has refused to relinquish his position. Senegal's forces are at the Gambian border and will enter at midnight if veteran Gambian President Yahya Jammeh refuses to leave power. The U.S. cannot address this as we currently do not have the personnel. This is because of our transition to a new administration and because as of 12:30 p.m. on Friday, there will be no appointees or personnel in place. It may only be a coup or a small war, but the fact remains that everything of this nature that happens throughout the world affects us. Senegal's military far outnumbers the military forces of Gambia.

I actually think the vetting is more extensive than what Obama's appointees received.  The hearings are definitely longer.