Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trump predicts his picks will win
Despite facing serious tests, he voices confidence
NEW YORK — Facing a week of high-profile tests for his administration-inwaiting, President-elect Donald Trump predicted Monday that all of his Cabinet picks would win Senate confirmation even as Democrats charged that Trump’s team was ignoring standard vetting protocol.
“I think they’ll all pass,” Trump said of his wouldbe Cabinet, describing them as “all at the highest level,” in between private meetings in his Manhattan skyscraper.
Trump’s confidence comes as lawmakers in both parties eagerly await the submission of background material from Cabinet picks, including billionaires whose extensive personal financial dealings have never faced public scrutiny.
Senate Democrats urged GOP leaders to slow their aggressive hearing schedule, which includes Trump’s picks for the nation’s top diplomat, lead law enforcement officer and head of homeland security, among others.
“Bear in mind Presidentelect Trump’s nominees pose particularly difficult ethics and conflict-of-interest challenges,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York said. “They come from enormous wealth, many have vast holdings and stocks, and very few have experience in government.”
Trump’s incoming press secretary, Sean Spicer, insisted Monday, “Everyone who has a hearing this week has their paperwork in.”
It’s unclear, however, whether each had submitted the extensive list of requirements that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell requested of President Barack Obama’s nominees eight years ago. Those included an FBI background check, detailed questionnaires and financial disclosure statements that included tax returns, according to a 2009 letter from McConnell that Schumer read Monday on the Senate floor.
“Everybody’ll be properly vetted as they have been in the past,” McConnell told reporters Monday after meeting privately with the president-elect in Trump Tower.
On Friday, however, Office of Government Ethics Director Walter Shaub said in a letter to congressional leaders that his office “has not received even initial draft financial disclosure reports for some of the nominees scheduled for hearings.”
Among the committees that haven’t yet received the forms was the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which has scheduled a hearing this week for Betsy DeVos, Trump’s pick to lead the Education Department.
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee said it had also not received the forms for Trump’s pick for commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, though a spokeswoman said they’re expected soon.
Committee aides said they had received ethics forms for Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump’s pick for attorney general; Rex Tillerson, Trump’s choice for secretary of state; James Mattis, his pick for defense secretary; Rep. Mike Pompeo, his choice for director of the Central Intelligence Agency; and Elaine Chao, his pick for transportation secretary.
Other confirmation hearings this week include retired Marine Gen. John Kelly for homeland security secretary and Ben Carson for housing secretary. Committees handling those nominations declined to comment on the record.
McConnell said he hopes that up to six or seven of Trump’s picks, “particularly the national security team,” will be “in place on Day One.”
The Senate cannot vote on any Cabinet pick until after Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20.
Trump’s selections, meanwhile, have been going through extensive preparation in the days leading up to the hearings.
Transition officials said the nominees have spent more than 70 hours participating in full-blown mock hearings, with volunteers playing the role of senators asking questions.
“They’re listening, they’re learning, they’re preparing,” Spicer said.