Trump weighs outsiders and elected officials in forming new Cabinet

As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House, advisers pondering how to staff his administration are weighing the benefits of filling Trump’s Cabinet with elected officials and the mix of businessmen, political outsiders and loyalists who fill his Rolodex, three sources said. participating in the transition discussion.

Two sources involved in the transition process said Trump is expected to place more emphasis on non-government cabinet nominees over incumbent lawmakers for two reasons. He believes some of his first-term outside picks, including investor Steven Mnuchin, whom he nominated to head the Treasury Department, and Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon nominated to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, are more successful and more loyal than the few legislators he selected from Congress.

Trump has never forgiven Jeff Sessions, the Alabama senator who became his first attorney general, for recusing himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Former Rep. Tom Price, a Georgia Republican who was appointed secretary of Health and Human Services, and Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana, who was Interior secretary, were dogged by scandal over how they ran their departments and used government resources.

Trump also fears special elections to replace sitting lawmakers, especially in the Senate. “He doesn’t want a Roy Moore situation,” one source said. Moore was the Republican nominee in the special election to replace Sessions in the Senate that Democrats won in Alabama in 2017, in a rare and dramatic victory.

No decision is final and does not rule out the possibility that Trump will choose specific members of Congress. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., is among those being considered for attorney general, according to multiple sources. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is among those who have made clear they are willing to serve in whatever capacity Trump needs.

But the potential contender has already left. A prominent Trump campaign surrogate is Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. said he was not interested in joining the Trump administration, according to three sources familiar with the decision. Along with Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., and Mike Pompeo, who was secretary of state and CIA director in Trump’s first term, Cotton was considered the best candidate work in the Trump administration as discussions began to intensify in the final months of the campaign.

Cotton, who has two young children, seriously weighed the potential impact on his family in deciding to withdraw his name from consideration for a Cabinet post, according to a source familiar with his thinking. Cotton is running for a Senate leadership position.

As Trump’s team weighs its personnel decisions, the focus is on what each choice will mean for his agenda.

A campaign official said bringing too many sitting lawmakers from Congress into the administration would hurt Trump’s ability to get things done in his first 100 days in office.

The two sources also noted the role of Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., as a potential veto power over decision-making. In a recent interview, Trump Jr. said he would work to stop people who could interfere with Trump’s agenda.

“My job will be to destroy and stop the people who are just going to roll slowly — who are going to do the bidding of the swamp rather than do the bidding of the duly elected President of the United States,” he said in October. .

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Rubio, a prominent Trump surrogate in the final days of the campaign, was cagey about what might come next and said he had not spoken directly with Trump about the potential seat but signaled he would be open to a position if asked.

“I am in public service. I’m not trying to be quiet,” Rubio said in an interview with NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday morning. “I am in public service. I love serving our country.”

A source close to Rubio said he is in a better position to be elected because his lengthy public service and recent vetting as a potential running mate for Trump will curtail preparations for the nomination. Rubio will also have a relatively simple confirmation process due to his tenure in the Senate and his relationships with other members.

But as the Trump team narrows the field, the calculation includes memories of how many of the people Trump pulled from the ranks of Congress in his first term, with the exception of Pompeo, ended up being disappointments and future political liabilities.

Some have also put their Republican-held seats in jeopardy.

Sessions, an adviser to Trump in 2016, was an early supporter when Trump nominated him from the Senate to lead the Justice Department. Not only did the special election to replace Sessions turn out to be an embarrassment for the GOP, but Sessions’ treatment of his department also upset Trump, and Sessions eventually resigned. Trump supported him when Sessions later tried to run for his old seat.

After spending lavishly on charter flights, Price clashed with Trump and his promise to “drain the swamp,” which ultimately forced him to resign. The special election to replace him has also become a centerpiece of Democrats organizing against Trump. Although the GOP narrowly won the special election, Republicans lost Price’s congressional seat in the midterm elections and then watched Georgia turn blue in 2020.

Zinke’s tenure at the Interior Department was short-lived. Amid allegations of misconduct, Zinke said he would resign in two years. He narrowly won re-election to Congress in 2022 with a 3-point victory over an environmental lawyer. He won a wider re-election victory this week.

As for Rubio and his seat, a source close to him brushed off concerns about him in the Senate, especially given Sen. Rick Scott’s 13-point win in the race for Florida’s other Senate seat.