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Trump says he won’t require FBI vetting of nominees and wants Congress to adjourn so that he can appoint Cabinet chairs without Senate approval
By Miriam Raftery
Update November 22, 2024: Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration for the Attorney General appointment.
Photo: Rep. Matt Gaetz, Attorney General nominee, would oversee the Justice Department. He is accused of paying a trafficker for sex with women, including an underaged teen girl.
November 19, 2024 (Washington D.C.) – President-elect Donald Trump has announced many of his cabinet appointees, which require Senate confirmation, as well as other key positions in his next administration. While all are Trump loyalists, some nominees have experience and qualifications suited to the position. But other nominees have sparked bipartisan concerns. They include:
- An attorney general nominee who resigned from Congress after an investigation found evidence that he paid a trafficker to have sex with a minor;
- A Secretary of Defense nominee accused of raping a woman and having racist white nationalist beliefs;
- A director of national intelligence with a history of siding with Russia and other authoritarian regimes;
- A Secretary of Energy a fracking company CEO who claims there is no climate crisis
- A Secretary of Health and Human Services who is an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist
In an unprecedented action, Trump has demanded that the Senate adjourn and allow him to make recess appointments without Senate confirmation, ignoring the constitutional duty of the Senate to provide advice and consent for cabinet nominees. Trump has also indicated that he will prevent the FBI from conducting background checks on appointees, as has always been done to protect national security.
These actions are drawing bipartisan pushback from Congress, where Republicans will soon control both the House and Senate. Outgoing Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has said, “Each of these nominees needs to come before the Senate and go through the process and be vetted,” despite Trump’s call to the contrary. Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said the process won’t be easy, but insiders believe Thune, a McConnell ally, will not abdicate his responsibility to have the Senate hold hearings on those appointments requiring Senate confirmation.
As for Trump’s call for Congress to adjourn and allow him to make recess appointments, that would require approval by both Houses of Congress and according an analysis by Time Magazine, that is unlikely to happen given opposition by likely all Democrats and some Republicans who have voiced concerns over key appointments.
Here are details on cabinet nominees named by Trump to date:
Matt Gaetz, U.S. Attorney General
Gaetz resigned his seat in Congress after being nominated as Attorney General, days before the House Ethics Committee was slated to release recommendations based on its investigation into sexual misconduct and illegal drug use. According to witnesses and Venmo receipts, Gaetz paid a now-convicted sex trafficker to have sex with women at several parties, including an underage teen girl. As Attorney General, he would oversee the Justice Dept. which had also been investigating him for potential crimes, though he has not been charged and has denied the allegations. At least two Republican Senators, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, have voiced concerns over Gaetz’ nomination. Conversely, House Speaker Mike Johnson has urged the Ethics Committee not to make public its report on Gaetz, even though the committee has previously done so for some members after they left Congress. Gaetz has also been accused of anti-Semitism, according to several Jewish groups.
Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense
A National Guard officer and Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, Hegseth is best known as a Fox News co-host. He holds a master of public policy degree from Harvard University. In 2017,he was accused by a woman of raping her at a California golf resort. She reportedly suffered injury, but backed off suing Hegsdeth after he paid for her to stay silent. Hegsdeth has admitted making the payment but denied the sexual assault. With sexual assault of women in the military a hot button issue, criticism have been raised over having a Defense Secretary who has been accused of sexual assault.
Brendan Carr, Chair of the Federal Communications Commission
Carr wrote the chapter on FCC reforms for the controversial Project 2025, which called for banning Tik-Tok the FCC to reign in big tech companies such as Facebook and Google over perceived censorship of conservative voices. As Chair, critics fear he might support Trump’s calls to revoke broadcast licenses of TV and radio stations that have provided critical coverage of him, and to target media outlets that provide fact-checking. Carr is also an ally of Elon Musk and would be in a position to approve funding for Musk’s Starlink satellite internet company.
Marco Rubio, Secretary of State
The Republican Senator from Florida gained foreign-policy knowledge as vice-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He is expected to take a hardline stance on China, Iran and several other nations, potentially deepening tensions between the U.S. and China. Rubio has also called for a negotiated settlement to end the war in Ukraine, though Ukraine has opposed any settlement that calls for it to cede land seized by Russia during the invasion.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services
Kennedy, who dropped out of the presidential race to endorse Trump, is an outspoken opponent of vaccines, far beyond COVID. He has disseminated scientifically debunked, false claims that vaccines can cause autism and wants to revisit childhood vaccines that have prevented such diseases as polio, measles and whoping cough. He has also called for removing fluoride from drinking water, which is added to protect children’s teeth from cavities. Kennedy, who has admitted that a brain worm damaged his brain, would be overseeing the National Institute for Health, the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, among others. His nomination is strongly opposed by medical groups and public health experts.
Mehmet Oz, Director of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
The physician known for his appearances on the Oprah Winfrey show has been criticized for promoting vaccine deniers and bogus COVID cures, as well as hawking supplements through false advertising, which prompted a Congressional inquiry. In 2015, ten doctors wrote a letter urging Columbia University's medical school to fire him, arguing that much of the advice on his TV show has been found to be unsupported by scientific evidence, and in some cases, contradicted by it.
Chris Wright, Secretary of the Department of Energy
Wright is the CEO of a fracking company who has denied that climate change is a threat. He is expected to back Trump’s announced plans to roll back America’s clean energy policies and promote increased reliance on oil, gas and nuclear power.
Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator
Zeldin’s 15 years included a voting record of consistently supporting the fossil fuels industry, including supporting offshore drilling and opening oil reserves in Alaska. He has called for increasing energy independence and rolling back regulations as head of the agency that is supposed to protect our environment.
Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security
The South Dakota Governor would oversee agencies including Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Secret Service, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Noem has taken a hardliner stance on immigration but lacks any experience in immigration or national security. She drew controversy in her memoir, when she wrote of killing her young dog after it killed a neighbor’s chickens.
Sean Duffy, Secretary of Transportation
The former Wisconsin congressman and Fox News cohost is also a former prosecutor, athlete, district attorney, and reality TV personality. He sat on the House Financial Services Committee, but lacks any experience in federal transportation infrastructure.
John Ratcliffe, CIA Director
Ratcliff served as Director of National Intelligence during the first Trump administration. Previously he was on the House Intelligence and Juidicary Committees and was Cybersecurity Chairman on the Homeland Security Committee. He reportedly warned White House staffers against following through on efforts to overturn the 2020 election, but was a defender of Trump’s in Congress during the first impeachment hearing. He has denied Russian interference in Trump’s 2016 election and has called China the most serious security threat facing the U.S.
Doug Collins, Secretary for Veterans Affairs
The former Air Force Reserve Chaplain served in Iraq and later as a Congressman from Georgia, as ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.
Doug Burgum, Secretary of the Interior
A former Mirosoft executive, Burgum has ties to the energy sector and has no background in natural resource management or environmental policy. He is expected to back a pro-business, pro-fossil fuel agenda for America’s public lands.
Tom Homan, Border Czar
Homan was the architect of the controversial and brutal family separation policy as acting ICE director during Trump’s first term as president, when thousands of children were lost and many never located. A former Border Patrol Agent, he would once again oversee deportation policies—this time as Trump has pledged to use the military to round up and deport millions of immigrants. Unlike cabinet secretaries, this position is not subject to Senate confirmation.
Trump legal appointees
Trump has appointed attorneys who have represented him on criminal matters (most of which never reached trial due to numerous procedural delays). These include:
- John Sauer for Solicitor General; Sauer is best known for successfully arguing before the Supreme Court that presidents should have broad immunity for official acts.
- Todd Blanche as Deputy Attorney General: Trump’s personal lawyer was lead attorney in the New York hush-money case in which Trump was convicted of felonies..
- Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for New York’s southern district, chaired the Securities and Exchange Commission but has zero criminal prosecution experience.
- William Joseph McGinley, White House Counsel, most recently handled election integrity for the Republican National Committee.
Other nominees and appointments
Susie Wiles, Chief of Staff, was Trump’s 2024 campaign manager and long-time Republican strategist who has worked on Ronald Reagan’s campaign and Ron Desantis’ Florida gubernatorial campaign.
Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary, at age 27 would be the youngest to hold this role; she was assistant press secretary during Trump’s first term.
Stephen Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff, was a senior advisor in Trump’s first term, is a hardline anti-immigration advocate who was instrumental in rolling out the zero-tolerance family separation policy.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, coheads of a new Department of Government Efficiency, would work outside the government and beyond Congressional oversight to “drive large-scale structural reform and create an entrepreneurial approach to government,”according to Trump. Billionaire Musk owns Tesla, Space-X, and X (formerly Twitter) and was a major donor to the Trump campaign. Ramaswamy, who ran against Trump in the primary, made cutting government spending a hallmark of his campaign.
Steven Cheung, White House Communications Director, was a spokesperson for Trump’s 2016 campaign, famously calling opponents as “snowflakes” suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome.”
Steve Witkoff, special envoy to the Middle East, is a real estate executive and philanthropist who raised donations for Trump from Jewish donors and supports Trump’s strong backing of Israel, including Prime Minister Netanyahu’s military actions in Gaza.
Mike Huckabee, nominee for ambassador to Israel, is a Christian evangelist and former Arkansas governor who supports Trump’s policies toward Israel and Hamas. He has said any Palestinian state should be pushed into Egypt or Jordan, and opposes a cease fire with Hamas.
Elise Stefanik, U.N. ambassador nominee, has been a vocal critic of the United Nations. The New York Congressional member has called for a reassessment of U.S. funds for the U.N. due to the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to expel Israel from the General Assembly.
Sources:
Here Are the New Members of Donald Trump’s Administration So Far (Time Magazine)
Who has Donald Trump picked for his Cabinet so far? Here's what to know (USA Today)
Will Tulsi Gabbard bring Russian bias to intelligence reporting? (NBC)
Kristi Noem 'Knows Nothing' About Homeland Security: Ex-Trump Official (Newsweek)
‘We Are Reeling’: Trump’s Pick of Tulsi Gabbard Alarms Intelligence Community (Time Magazine)
Brendan Carr wrote the FCC chapter in ‘Project 2025.’ Now he’s Trump’s pick for the agency (CNN)
‘Who the f--k is this guy?’: Defense world reacts to Trump’s surprise Pentagon pick (Politico)
New Matt Gaetz Details Emerge Amid House Ethics Report Controversy (Newsweek)
Defense pick Peter Hegseth paid accuser to protect his career, his lawyer confirms (NPR)
Trump’s pick of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State ignites fears of fiercer U.S.-China rivalry (Independent)
Why Trump Picked Lee Zeldin to Lead the Environmental Protection Agency (The Nation)
Trump picks Dr. Oz to lead Medicare and Medicaid (NPR)
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