Trump Cabinet
The Cabinet of the United States (Wikipedia) is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States, who are generally the heads of the federal executive departments.
Cabinet members
- Alexander Acosta, Nominee for Secretary of the Department of Labor.
- Ben Carson, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Elaine Chao, Secretary of the Department of Transportation
- Dan Coats, Nominee for Director of National Intelligence
- Betsy DeVos, Secretary of the Department of Education
- John Kelly, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security
- James Mattis, Secretary of the Department of Defense
- Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Department of the Treasury
- Mike Pence, Vice President
- Sonny Perdue, Nominee for Secretary of the Department of Agriculture
- Rick Perry, Secretary of the Department of Energy
- Tom Price, Secretary of Department of Health and Human Services
- Mike Pompeo, Director of the Central Intelligency Agency
- Alexander Acosta, Nominee for Secretary of the Department of Labor
- Wilbur Ross, Secretary of the Department of Commerce
- Jeff Sessions, Attorney General
- David Shulkin, Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs
- Rex Tillerson, Secretary of the Department of State
- Ryan Zinke, Secretary of the Department of the Interior
Cabinet-level officials
- Nikki Haley, Ambassador to the United Nations
- Robert Lighthizer, Nominee for United States Trade Representative
- Linda McMahon, Administrator of the Small Business Administration
- Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget
- Reince Priebus, White House Chief of Staff
- Sean Spicer, White House Press Secretary
Other high-level administration officials
- Don McGahn, White House Counsel
- Steve Bannon, chief strategist
- Ken Blackwell, domestic policy adviser
- Kellyanne Conway, Counselor to the President
- H.R. McMaster, national security adviser
- Jared Kushner, senior adviser
- Stephen Miller, senior adviser
- Scott Pruitt, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
- Michael Flynn, former national security adviser
Rejected or Withdrawn Appointments
- Andrew Puzder, former nominee for Secretary of the Department of Labor
- Monica Crowley, former nominee for Deputy National Security adviser for the National Security Council
Timeline
| 2017 | Many Trump cabinet nominees have made political contributions to lawmakers voting on their appointments. opensecrets.org (See also Conflicts of Interest) |
| 2017.01.04 | Despite Trump's Campaign promise to "Drain the Swamp" nearly one third of his transition team have connections to the Koch Brothers billion dollar political and financial network. medium.com |
| 2017.01.06 | National Council of Churches condemns Trump's nominees and attacks on the social safety net. nationalcouncilofchurches.us |
| 2017.01.07 | A top ethics official has warned against plans to confirm Trump's cabinet choices before background examinations are complete. washingtonpost.com (See also Conflicts of Interest) |
| 2017.01.07 | A top ethics official warns that plans to confirm Trump's Cabinet choices before background checks are complete is unprecedented. washingtonpost.com (See also Conflicts of Interest) |
| 2017.01.07 | Senate Confirmation Hearings to Begin Without All Background Checks mobile.nytimes.com The leader of the Office of Government Ethics said he knew of no occasion when the Senate had held a confirmation hearing before his office completed its review. |
| 2017.01.08 | Former Obama Ethics Czar posts an old letter from Mitch McConnell to Harry Reid demanding "Financial disclosures must be complete... prior to hearings being scheduled." twitter.com (See also Conflicts of Interest) |
| 2017.01.09 | A guide to this week's confirmation hearings: Jeff Sessions, Rex Tillerson and more pbs.org |
| 2017.01.10 | GOP Senator: ‘Yeah,’ Trump’s Cabinet Picks Should Be Treated Differently talkingpointsmemo.com Jim Inhofe (R-OK) said flat-out on Monday that Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees should be subject to less exacting vetting standards than those of previous administrations despite having demanded full compliance with the law in the case |
| 2017.01.10 | Trump's cabinet nominees donated money to senators responsible for reviewing their appointments. wsj.com (See also Jeff Sessions, Conflicts of Interest, Tom Price, Mike Pompeo, Dan Coats, Mike Mulvaney) |
| 2017.01.11 | Full Schedule of Cabinet hearings and what to look for. upi.com |
| 2017.01.11 | Who's in Donald Trump's Cabinet? theatlantic.com |
| 2017.01.17 | Ethics paperwork still missing for Trump's billionaire Cabinet picks. cnn.com (See also Federal Departments, Conflicts of Interest) |
| 2017.01.17 | Rebecca Leber: Tillerson only intends to stay away from State decisions benefiting Exxon for one year. twitter.com (See also Rex Tillerson, Conflicts of Interest) |
| 2017.01.30 | White house releases statement that Senate Democrats are obstructing President Trump’s nominees. whitehouse.gov (See also First 100 Days, Assaults on Government) |
| 2017.01.31 | Progressives cheer Democratic obstruction — and aim at Supreme Court washingtonpost.com (See also First 100 Days) |
| 2017.02.04 | New fraud allegations surface against Trump's Treasury Secretary nominee. wsj.com (See also Steven Mnuchin, Department of the Treasury, First 100 Days) New allegations surfaced against Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin Friday in a lawsuit against him and others who invested in the nearly defunct movie studio Relativity Media. |
| 2017.02.06 | Hundreds of current and former EPA employees urge Congress to reject Scott Pruitt's nomination. washingtonpost.com (See also Scott Pruitt, Environmental Protection Agency, First 100 Days) |
| 2017.02.26 | Philip Bilden withdraws from nomination as Secretary of the Navy to avoid conflicts of interest. nytimes.com (See also Rejected or Withdrawn Appointments, Conflicts of Interest) |
| 2017.03.10 | U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee votes overwhelmingly in favor of Trump's national intelligence director nominee, former Republican Senator Dan Coats, sending his nomination to the Senate floor. reuters.com (See also First 100 Days, Dan Coats) |
| 2017.06.17 | Republicans won't work for the Trump administration. washingtonpost.com (See also Administration Errors, Federal Departments) Trump has 43 confirmed appointees to senior posts, compared with the 151 top political appointees confirmed by mid-June in President Barack Obama’s first term and the 130 under President George W. Bush, according to data tracked by the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service’s Center for Presidential Transition. |
Assessments
Evan Osnos – The New Yorker
On Jan. 10, 2016, Osnos examined Republican efforts to sidestep basic vetting and procedure in confirmation hearings.
"But the most remarkable thing about McConnell’s desire to “get past” the process of vetting before the vetting has happened is not what it says about his commitment to political tribalism above all other values. That was already well-established, after all. No, the truly remarkable story it reveals involves the sheer recklessness of the incoming Administration. The vetting process is not, as some of Trump’s neophyte advisers might suspect, just a ritual performed for weak-kneed “goo-goos,” the good-government types in comfortable shoes. On the contrary, it is meant to be a cold-eyed political demolition derby: a controlled explosion that can protect an Administration by preventing a problem appointee from getting inside the inner sanctum."