Trump hosts VA post hopefuls
Pence meets with security team one day after attacks.
PA L M B E A C H — P r e s i - dent-elect Donald Trump met Tuesday with c andidates for his unfilled Cabinet positions, including prospective hires to run the Department of Veterans Affairs, a beleaguered agency that the Republican businessman has vowed to overhaul.
Vice President-elect Mike Pence met with members of his national security team, including retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, the incoming national securit y adviser, a day after acts of violence rocked the world.
Trump met at Mar-a-Lago, his palatial Florida estate, with Luis Quinonez, who runs a company with military and health care ties and is said to be under consideration for VA secretary. He also met with Toby Cosgrove, the CEO of the Cleveland Clinic, who was a top contender to replace Eric Shinseki when he resigned at the VA in 2014. Cosgrove later withdrew from consideration.
Trump repeatedly pledged during the campaign to fix the woes at the department and said he would “take care of great veterans.” But he also came under scrutiny for being slow in paying out money he said he had raised for veterans groups and for suggesting that “strong” veterans don’t need treatment for mental health problems.
Others said to be considered for the post include former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, Florida U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller and Pete Hegseth, an Army veteran and former CEO of Concerned Veterans for America.
Trump is also considering Jovita Carranza, who worked in President George W. Bush’s administration, as his choice for U.S. trade representative. She served as deputy administrator of the Small Business Administration under Bush.
With just a handful of Cabinet posts to fill, Trump is facing some criticism for a l a c k of dive r s i t y i n hi s senior team, which currently includes no Hispanics.
T h e Nat i o n a l As s o c i a - tion of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials said Tuesday that it was “deeply concerned” at the lack of Hispanics considered for top jobs. Carranza was a member of Trump’s Hispanic advisory council during the campaign.
Pence, meanwhile, met in Washington with former Texas state official Susan Combs, who served both as state agriculture commissioner and comptroller.
Earlier Tuesday, Trump was back on Twitter after a suburban New York City newspaper quoted former President Bill Clinton as saying that Trump “doesn’t know much. One thing he does know is how to get angry, white men to vote for him.”
The Clinton campaign, Trump said, “focused on the wrong states.”
The t weets come after a rattling day of violence around the world — with Trump appearing to jump ahead of investigators to blame Islamic terrorists for deadly incidents in Turkey and Germany.