Cabinet
Agency: CIA | Commerce | Defense | Education | Energy | EPA | Health & Human Services | Homeland Security | HUD | Justice | Labor | Small Business | State | Transportation | United Nations | VA
Trump nominees requiring Senate confirmation | ||||||||
| position | name | background | confirmation issues | views | notes | worth | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State
[Hearing: 1/11. Questioned about ties to Russia, climate change] Confirmed by Senate 2/1/17 56-43 vote. See the vote |
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Rex Tillerson | CEO of ExxonMobil. Not an experienced diplomat; Putin "pal" | Ties with Russian President Putin may draw scrutiny during confirmation process. | Has been publicly skeptical of sanctions against Russia. (ExxonMobil has billions of dollars in oil contracts that can go forward only if the United States lifts sanctions against Russia) | $325 million [Forbes]. Presided over operation that generated $34 billion in net income in the past year, and paid more than $80 billion in taxes [Forbes]. | ||
| Defense [Hearing: 1/12. Questioned about Russia and NATO, taking diff views than DT.] Confirmed 1/20 |
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James Mattis | Ret Marine General, Commander of U.S. Central Command 2010-2013 | Sat on board of major Pentagon contractor, General Dynamics | On the record against waterboarding/torture | Would need a waiver from Congress to lead the Pentagon because he has been out of uniform for less than seven years. | $5 million [Forbes] | |
| CIA [Hearing: 1/12. Said he would look into Russian interference in US election; would not endorse torture (change from previous position)] Confirmed by Senate 66-32 See the vote |
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Mike Pompeo | US Rep, Kansas 4th dist, 2011-Present | Member of the House Intelligence Committee | Called for Edward Snowden's execution; pro-waterboarding. | Spoke at a conference organized by ACT! For America, which has been designated an extremist anti-Muslim hate-group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. In 2012 published Politico op-ed: "Stop harassing the Koch brothers" | ||
| Homeland Security
Moved to Chief of Staff July 28, 2017 Confirmed by Senate 88-11 See the vote |
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John F. Kelly | Ret four-star Marine general | Rejects human rights concerns regarding treatment of detainees as "foolishness" | Son was killed in combat in Afghanistan | $4 million [Forbes] | ||
| Attorney General [Hearing: 1/10-11. Questioned by Rep John Lewis and Cory Booker re racial insensitivity.] Confirmed 2/9, 52-47 see vote |
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Jeff Sessions | Alabama Senator. | Rejected for confirmation as a federal judge in 1986, after testimony that he said the Ku Klux Klan was "OK until I found out they smoked pot” and called a black attorney “boy” (he denied the latter). [The Guardian] | -Voted against the Violence Against Women Act.
-Voted to defund Planned Parenthood. -Opposed the McCain-Feinstein amendment, banning CIA from using torture |
Once prosecuted civil rights activists for registering black voters. Sessions indicted the three activists on charge that this assistance was a crime, despite its protection under the Voting Rights Act. Moreover, Sessions declined to investigate similar activity among groups working with white candidates.10 Opposed by over 1,100 law school professors.8 | $6 million [Forbes] | |
| VA
Confirmed unanimously |
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David Shulkin | Served as the Under Secretary of Health for the US Department of Veterans Affairs 2015-2017 in the Obama administration. | "Veterans groups and members of Congress have credited him with making real, if ponderous, progress in improving care in the veterans' vast health system" [NY Times] | Vowed at confirmation hearing to reform — but not privatize — veterans' health care. [NY Times] | |||
| Energy [Hearing: 1/19] |
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Rick Perry | Former Texas Governor | No experience! Would be responsible for protecting and managing the nation's arsenal of nuclear weapons. Proposed scrapping the Dept of Energy while seeking Republican nomination for president. (But couldn't remember its name during debates) | Family hunting cabin where he hosted lawmakers know as "Niggerhead"7 | $2 million [Forbes] | ||
| Labor [Hearing: 2/2] Withdrawn as nominee 2/15/17 |
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Andrew Puzder | Fast-food mogul | Strongly opposed by Labor organizations. | Opposed minimum wage; talks fondly about the day robots will replace workers at his restaurants. | The new secretary will be in charge of keeping Trump's promise to dismantle many Obama-era rules [what rules?] covering federal contractors.
Republican senators turned sharply against him. Issues included resurfaced spousal abuse accusations and employment of an undocumented immigrant as his housekeeper. |
$45 million [Forbes] | |
| Small Business [Hearing: 1/24 ] Confirmed 81-19 See vote |
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Linda McMahon | Former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO | ? | Long association w Trump. Donated $6 million to Trump's campaign | Husband, billionaire WWE promoter, Vincent McMahon, net worth estimated at $1.16 Billion by FORBES. | ||
| EPA [Hearing: 1/18. Said Climate Change "not a hoax," wants state, not federal environmental regs.] Confirmed 52-46 See vote |
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Scott Pruitt | Oklahoma Attorney General | Climate-change denier who sued the EPA as Oklahoma attorney general | Close ally of the fossil fuel industry. | |||
| Treasury [Hearing: 1/19] Confirmed 53-47 See vote |
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Steven Mnuchin | Former Goldman Sachs exec | Deep roots in Hollywood but no government experience. | Said "our number one priority is tax reform" -- would reduce corporate taxes to 15%, cut taxes for the middle class, and simplify the tax system. | His bank foreclosed on 37,000 homeowners after the housing crash | $300 million [Forbes] | |
| Transportation (includes Maritime Administration) [Hearing: 1/11. Faced little opposition.] Confirmed 1/31 by Senate 93-6 |
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Elaine L. Chao | Labor secretary under President George W. Bush | Family has shipping business | Married to the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell | Daughter of a shipping magnate | $24 million [Forbes] | |
| Health & Human Services
Resigned 9/29/2017 Confirmed 52-47. See vote |
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Tom Price | 6-term Republican congressman from Georgia | Has led opposition to the Affordable Care Act; wants to privatize Medicare | Traded stocks in dozens of health-related stocks while pushing bills that would benefit those companies. 11 | Voted to defund Planned Parenthood; opposes LGBT rights | $10 million [Forbes] | |
| Commerce [Hearing: 1/18.] Confirmed 72-27. See vote |
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Wilbur Ross | Investor, owned coal mine where 12 workers were killed in 2006. | Has advocated threats to impose steep tariffs on China | Quote from Sen Elizabeth Warren: "Mr. Ross has extensive ties to Russia. He plans to keep making money from his major oil shipping companies while working as Commerce Secretary. He's made billions off the backs of struggling homeowners. He is practically a cartoon stereotype of a Wall Street fat cat." | [Both Virginia Senators voted to confirm him.] | $2.9 billion [FORBES]. Art collection valued at $150 M. | |
| Education [Hearing: 1/17; 1/31 committee approved 12-11 vote] Confirmed by Senate 2/8, 51-50, see vote |
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Betsy DeVos | Former chair of the Michigan Republican Party. No experience as an educator. Education activist for "school choice." | Family donated over $818k to 20 senators, including $250k+ to members of the Committee overseeing her confirmation. | Sent her children to private schools and has crusaded to privatize public education. Daughter of Edgar Prince, contributor to the Family Research Council, which advocates against LGBT rights, abortion. Daughter-in-law of Amway co-founder. Brother is Erik Prince, former Blackwater CEO. | Pres-elect has said he wants to drastically shrink the Education Department | Family worth: $5.1 billion9 | |
| U.N. Ambassador [Hearing: 1/18. Faced little opposition. She criticized the UN's relationship with Israel and said Russia was guilty of war crimes in Syria.] Confirmed by Senate 96-4 See the vote |
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Nikki Haley | Governor of South Carolina | Daughter of immigrants from India | ||||
| HUD [Hearing: 1/12. questions re remarks on dangers of federal assistance. "Safety net programs are important," he said. ... ] Confirmed by Senate 58-41 See the vote |
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Ben Carson | Former neurosurgeon | Zero experience in housing or urban development | Appears to oppose Fair Housing laws. | Previously said he did not want to work in government | $29 million [Forbes] | |
| Agriculture [Hearing: TBD] |
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Sonny Perdue | Former Governor of Georgia; trained as a veterinarian | |||||
Trump appointees: not requiring Senate confirmation | ||||||||
| position | name | background | qualifications | views | Notes | Worth | ||
| Chief Strategist
Dismissed 8/18/17
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Stephen Bannon | Right-wing media executive and the chairman of the president-elect's campaign | Bannon imperiled his standing by giving an interview to the American Prospect magazine, "in which he sniped by name at his enemies within the White House including Gary Cohn, the National Economic Council director, and publicly contradicted the administration’s stance on North Korea." [Washington Post] | ||||
| National Security Adviser
Resigned 2/14/17
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Michael T. Flynn | Ret Army Lieutenant General and former Defense Intelligence Agency Director | Tweeted obviously fake news re H Clinton6
1/22/2017: The Wall Street Journal reported Flynn was under investigation by US counterintelligence agents for his communications with Russian officials.12 Flynn resigned February 13, 2017. |
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| Chief of Staff
Resigned 7/31/2017
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Reince Priebus | Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Unsuccessful Wisconsin state Senate candidate, 2004 | |||||
| White House Communications
Fired 7/31/2017
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Anthony Scaramucci | His job only lasted 10 days. | |||||
| White House Chief of Staff
Replaced Reince Priebus 7/2017 |
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John F. Kelly | Retired four-star Marine Corps general | |||||
| Counselor |  |
Kellyanne Conway | Was CEO of The Polling Company Inc./Woman Trend, political commentator on CNN, Fox News, Fox Business, etc. Senior Advisor, Campaign Manager on Trump campaign. | JD, GWU | January 26 2016, Conway criticized Trump's use of eminent domain, saying "Donald Trump has literally bulldozed over the little guy to get his way." [Bloomberg] | |||
| Senior adviser to the president |  |
Jared Kushner | Ivanka T. husband. Real estate investor and developer, publisher. | AB Harvard, major in Government. JD, MBA NYU. | Thought to be (but denies being) behind the firing of New Jersey governor Chris Christie as head of the transition team | $200 M | ||
Sources
2. The Nation, https://www.thenation.com/article/democrats-should-fight-all-of-trumps-nominees-yes-all-of-them/
3. Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/11/30/donald-trump-is-assembling-the-richest-administration-in-modern-american-history/?utm_term=.82bae733d523
4. ACLU Transition Watch, https://www.aclu.org/feature/trump-transition-watch
5. Michael D. Shear, Maggie Haberman And Michael S. Schmidt, " Critics See Stephen Bannon, Trump's Pick for Strategist,'as Voice of Racism'. New York Times, Nov. 14, 2016.
6. Andrew Kaczynski, CNN, "Michael Flynn quietly deletes fake news tweet about Hillary Clinton's involvement in sex crimes," http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/14/politics/kfile-flynn-deleted-tweets/index.html.
7. McCrummen, Stephanie (October 1, 2011). "Rick Perry family's hunting camp still known to many by old racially charged name". The Washington Post. Retrieved Jan 4, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/rick-perry-familys-hunting-camp-still-known-to-many-by-old-racially-charged-name/2011/10/01/gIQAOhY5DL_story.html
8. More than 1,100 law school professors nationwide oppose Sessions's nomination as attorney general, Sari Horwitz, Washington Post, January 3.
9. Trump's education nominee and her family members are major donors to the senators who will vote on her confirmation, Emma Brown, Washington Post, January 7.
10. Jeff Sessions Fights for Racist Outcomes. Who Cares What's in His Heart?, Jamelle Bouie, Slate, 1/11/2017.
11. HHS nominee’s mix of investments, donations, legislation keeps raising questions, Kimberly Kindy and Amy Goldstein Washington Post, January 23, 2017.
12. U.S. Eyes Michael Flynn’s Links to Russia, CAROL E. LEE, DEVLIN BARRETT and SHANE HARRIS, Wall Street Journal, Jan. 22, 2017