Trump picks Obamacare critic Tom Price to head HHS
Pence hints at a host of ‘very important’ announcements
“If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal.” Donald Trump
In a sign of plans to roll back President Obama’s health care law, President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate Georgia congressman and outspoken Obama critic Tom Price to be secretary of Health and Human Services, officials said.
Ex-House speaker Newt Gingrich, a frequent Trump adviser, tweeted that Price will make a “great” HHS secretary, and “is the right leader to help Congress replace Obamacare.”
A transition official confirmed the planned nomination, speaking on condition of anonymity until the announcement is made official, perhaps on Tuesday.
Price, who serves as chairman of the House budget committee, is an orthopedic surgeon, policy wonk and a staunch opponent of Obamacare who could prove crucial in Trump’s efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act if confirmed.
Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who is leading Trump’s transition team, told reporters Monday night to expect “a number of very important announcements tomorrow.” He didn’t elaborate.
While conducting an unusually public search for secretary of State, Trump again threatened Monday to terminate emerging diplomatic relations with Cuba if it does not somehow reform.
“If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal,” Trump tweeted two days after the death of former Cuba leader Fidel Castro.
Interviews at Trump Tower on Monday included one with retired general and ex-CIA director David Petraeus, a potential pick in the battle for secretary of State.
On Tuesday, Trump is scheduled to meet with another State Department possibility, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The president-elect also has a second interview lined up for 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, whose possible appointment as secretary of State has drawn criticism from Trump backers.
“It’s going to be a busy week,” Pence told reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower en route to meetings. “Get ready. Buckle up.”
Petraeus told reporters that he and Trump spoke for about an hour, and the president-elect “showed a great grasp of a variety of the challenges that are out there, and some of the opportunities as well.”
Calling it a “very good conversation,” Petraeus said that “we’ll see where it goes from here.” One challenge is Cuba. The Obama administration has engaged in a series of diplomatic moves with the Cuban regime, from agreeing to commercial flights to the opening of embassy offices in each nation’s capital.
Trump, who made a similar claim regarding Cuba during the presidential campaign, has not specified how he might roll back these initiatives.
The president-elect’s latest moves came a day after he used Twitter to expound conspiracy theories about alleged voter fraud, suggesting that is the reason he lost to Democrat Hillary Clinton by more than 2 million votes in the latest tallies.
After a series of tweets criticizing Clinton and aides for participating in a vote recount in Wisconsin, Trump said in another post: “In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”
He provided no evidence for that assertion, popular among conspiracy theorists.
Trump also claimed voter fraud in the states of Virginia, New Hampshire, and California, again without evidence.