Trump’s picks contradict his positions
Nominees are ‘more reasonable’ than he is, Democrat says.
WA S H I N G TO N — P r e s i - dent-elect Donald Trump is shrugging off contradictions with his own Cabinet picks that have been on display during Senate hearings this week.
“All my Cabinet nominees are looking good and doing a great job. I want them to be themselves and express their own thoughts, not mine!” Trump said via Twitter early Friday.
T h e c o m m e n t c o m e s after members of Trump’s future Cabinet, in confirmation hearings this week, diverged from the president-elect’s positions on a series of issues, including Russia, torture and Muslim immigration.
Partly as a result, the nominees have gotten mostly gentle treatment from Senate Democrats who say they’ve found the Cabinet choices more pal a t a bl e t han t he future president himself.
“As I meet members of the Cabinet, I’m puzzled because many of them sound reasonable, far more reasonable than their president,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, picked for attorney general, said he’s against any outright ban on immigration by Muslims, in contrast to Trump’s onetime call to suspend admittance of Muslims. Secretary of State candidate Rex Tillerson affirmed U.S. commitments to NATO and took a relatively hard line on Russia, both in contrast to Trump — though Tillerson irked GOP Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida by refusing to label Vladi- mir Putin a “war criminal.”
And CIA pick Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kans., affirmed his opposition to torture and said he would refuse any Trump order to torture, adding he could not imagine Trump would give such a directive. Trump, while campaigning, suggested bringing back waterboarding and more.
“The purpose of confirmation hearings is to examine the record and views of potential nominees and I think that’s what these hear- ings are doing,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. “I think it’s likely that all of the Cabinet nominees are going to be confirmed. I think the hearings have gone quite well this week.”
T h e o u t i n g s a l s o l a c k drama due to Democrats’ decision while in the Senate majority to lower the vote threshold for Cabinet nominees and others from 60 votes to 50, allowing Republicans to ensure approval as long as they can hold their 52-seat majority together.
There could be fireworks yet to come because several of the most potentially explosive hearings are still pending, including for former Goldman Sachs partner Steven Mnuchin for Treasury secretary.
Democrats have set up a website to solicit stories from the thousands of people whose homes were foreclosed on by OneWest Bank while Mnuchin headed a g r o u p o f i nv e s t o r s wh o owned the bank.
Also pending are hearings for Rep. Tom Price for Health and Human Services; Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, a vocal denier of climate change science, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency; and fast-food executive Andrew Puzder to head the Labor Department.