BANKING/EX-IM BANK/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The U.S. Senate Banking Committee rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the U.S. Export-Import Bank, but approved four other board nominees, enough to restore the trade bank’s full lending powers upon their confirmation by the full Senate. The committee voted 13-10 against Scott Garrett as EXIM president. Garrett is […]
Category: Nominations
12/18/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Matthew Petersen, the judicial nominee who was widely ridiculed last week after a video went viral of him struggling to answer basic legal questions at his Senate confirmation hearing, withdrew from consideration on Monday. Petersen, a member of the Federal Election Commission, said in his resignation letter to President Donald Trump […]
12/15/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “It was one of the more painful Senate hearings in recent memory. Matthew S. Petersen, a member of the Federal Election Commission, was one of five of President Trump’s judicial nominees being questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday [12-12-17] when Senator John N. Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, singled him […]
12/13/2017
GOP/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Two of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees will not be confirmed by the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate following criticism over controversial statements they made, a White House official said. The official said on Wednesday [12-13-17] that the two nominations ‘will not be moving forward’ in the U.S. Senate. One of the nominees, Brett […]
12/11/2017
AMBASSADOR/NOMINATIONS/SOUTH KOREA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration will nominate as ambassador to Seoul a prominent Korea expert who favors a tough line on Pyongyang, filling a yearlong vacancy at the front lines of President Donald Trump’s biggest foreign-policy challenge. The appointment of Victor Cha, a Georgetown University professor who served in the George W. Bush […]
12/6/2017
EX-IM BANK/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Export-Import Bank faces a crucial test as early as next week, with a Senate panel weighing a vote on his nomination. A majority vote against the troubled pick, Scott Garrett, could effectively end his candidacy. Sen. Mike Crapo (R., Idaho), the chairman of the […]
12/5/2017
DHS/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Senate voted on Tuesday [12-5-17] to confirm Kirstjen Nielsen as the secretary of homeland security, elevating a top White House aide and former agency official to oversee the department central to President Trump’s plan to crack down on illegal immigration and beef up border security. The vote was 62 to 37. […]
12/5/2017
BANKING/FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Senate Banking Committee voted Tuesday [12-5-17] to advance the nomination of Federal Reserve governor Jerome Powell to be the next chairman of the U.S. central bank. All but one of the panel’s Democrats— Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.)—joined Republicans to approve Mr. Powell’s nomination by a 22-1 vote. ‘His years […]
12/4/2017
NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/USDA: “Morale among many of the Agriculture Department’s legal staff has plummeted since Stephen Vaden, the Trump administration’s nominee to be USDA General Counsel, assumed leadership in March, say several agency attorneys from across the country. Vaden, who arrived at USDA in January as part of President Donald Trump’s beachhead team and was […]
12/1/2017
CONSUMER PROTECTION/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The White House on Friday [12-1-17] appointed Brian Johnson, a Republican congressional lawyer, to assist the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new interim chief, Mick Mulvaney, as he takes charge of the agency. Mr. Johnson, an aide to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R., Texas), will serve as senior adviser […]
12/1/2017
EX-IM BANK/NOMINATIONS/TAXES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “U.S. taxpayers could be on the hook starting next year for operating expenses at the Export-Import Bank, a trade-finance agency that can’t generate enough revenue because its leadership is in limbo due to congressional inaction. C.J. Hall, the government agency’s acting chairman, who is stepping down Saturday [12-2-17], said in an […]
11/30/2017
MIKE POMPEO/NOMINATIONS/REX TILLERSON/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The White House has developed a plan to force out Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, whose relationship with President Trump has been strained, and replace him with Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director, perhaps within the next several weeks, senior administration officials said on Thursday [11-30-17]. Mr. Pompeo would be […]
11/30/2017
LEGAL/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “As President Donald Trump moves aggressively to advance a legal agenda with racial dimensions, he is simultaneously setting records for the percentage of white people nominated for lifetime appointments to the federal courts. Of the nearly 60 individuals Trump has nominated to preside over the US justice system, only one is black. […]
11/29/2017
FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump nominated Marvin Goodfriend, a former Federal Reserve economist and current Carnegie Mellon University professor, for a spot on the central bank’s board of governors on Wednesday. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Goodfriend would fill one of three vacancies on the Fed’s powerful seven-member board… Mr. Goodfriend, a […]
11/29/2017
FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump on Wednesday [11-29-17] nominated Marvin Goodfriend, a leading critic of the Federal Reserve’s actions since the 2008 financial crisis, to serve on the Fed’s board of governors. The choice of Mr. Goodfriend, a professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University, is a victory for conservatives who want to reshape […]
11/29/2017
DRUGS/HHS/NOMINATIONS/PHARMA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Alex Azar, a former drug industry executive who Republicans have nominated to run the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, on Wednesday [11-29-17] promised to lower drug prices that he said are too high, saying he would look at abuse of patent laws that delays generic competition. Azar, who worked at […]
11/28/2017
BANKING/FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Jerome H. Powell, nominated by President Trump to lead the Federal Reserve, presented himself as a pragmatic moderate who would largely continue the Fed’s current policies at a confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday [11-28-17]. Mr. Powell, a Fed governor since 2012, defended the Fed’s approach to financial […]
11/28/2017
CONSUMER PROTECTION/LEGAL/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration urged a federal judge to reject an Obama-era official’s attempt to assert command over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, arguing in a court filing it had properly installed its own official to run the agency. In an overnight filing Monday [11-27-17], the Justice Department said the CFPB’s deputy […]
11/27/2017
CONSUMER PROTECTION/LEGAL/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “On Monday [11-27-17], Mick Mulvaney, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, brought in doughnuts. Around the same time, Leandra English, the agency’s other acting director, sent an all-staff email thanking employees for their service. Awkward. And so it goes in a capital city defined by its dysfunction, at […]
11/27/2017
BANKING/FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Federal Reserve governor Jerome Powell heads to Capitol Hill on Tuesday [11-28-17] for what could be one of the least contentious confirmation hearings for a Fed chair nominee since the financial crisis. The Senate Banking Committee is considering Mr. Powell’s nomination to succeed Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen when her term as […]
11/26/2017
CONSUMER PROTECTION/LEGAL/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The battle over who will lead the federal government’s top consumer financial watchdog agency is now headed to court. The extraordinary fight, which intensified on Sunday [11-26-17] night, adds to the uncertainty over the fate of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a regulator created in the aftermath of the global financial […]
11/26/2017
CONSUMER PROTECTION/MICK MULVANEY/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “An Obama-era official at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued the Trump administration on Sunday [11-26-17] night to block budget director Mick Mulvaney from taking control of the agency. Leandra English, a career staffer appointed Friday to lead the CFPB by former director Richard Cordray, filed the lawsuit in federal […]
11/21/2017
NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration is leaning toward naming Thomas Brunell, a Texas professor with no government experience, to the top operational job at the U.S. Census Bureau, according to two people who have been briefed on the bureau’s plans. Brunell, a political science professor, has testified more than half a dozen times on […]
11/20/2017
GOP/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Republican head of the Senate Judiciary Committee has curtailed one of the last legislative limits on a president’s power to shape the federal courts, giving Donald Trump more freedom than any U.S. president in modern times to install his judges of choice, legal experts said. Last week, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., […]
11/17/2017
NOMINATIONS/SUPREME COURT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “In a move certain to please conservatives, President Donald Trump on Friday [11-17-17] added five names to his list of candidates for a prospective U.S. Supreme Court vacancy as he presses ahead with a campaign to move the federal judiciary to the right. Two of them are appellate judges who were […]
11/16/2017
BUDGET/CONSUMER PROTECTION/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “White House budget director Mick Mulvaney is expected to be tapped by the White House to serve as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau when the agency’s current head, Richard Cordray, resigns from his post later in November, according to a person familiar with the matter. The move could […]
11/16/2017
NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Senator John McCain warned President Donald Trump on Thursday [11-16-17] against nominating any more defense industry insiders to top Pentagon posts, as his committee questioned an executive from Lockheed Martin Corp about potential conflicts of interest. Concern over the close relationship between the Pentagon and arms manufacturers has existed for decades but […]
11/14/2017
GOP/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The American Bar Association has been a key gatekeeper for the federal courts since it began evaluating judicial nominees in the 1940s, but it is losing influence among Republicans in the U.S. Senate who view it as a liberal group. Tensions between Senate Republicans and the association, the largest organization of […]
11/14/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/LEGAL/NOMINATIONS/TRANSPORTATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A former government official criticized for being the principal author of the legal justifications for ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ was narrowly confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday as the top lawyer for the U.S. Department of Transportation in the Trump administration. Steven Bradbury, a Washington lawyer at Dechert LLP who was a […]
11/14/2017
FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The White House is considering economist Mohamed El-Erian as one of several candidates to serve as the Federal Reserve’s vice chairman, according to a person familiar with the matter. The process of selecting the central bank’s No. 2 official began this month after President Donald Trump nominated Fed governor Jerome Powell […]
11/14/2017
DRUGS/HHS/NOMINATIONS/PHARMA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump tweeted Monday [11-13-17] that his nominee for HHS secretary, Alex Azar will ‘be a star for … lower drug prices!’ But the record of the former top executive for Eli Lilly, which tripled the price of a top-selling insulin drug while he led its U.S. operation, suggests a different […]
11/13/2017
CONFLICT OF INTERESTS/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “One of President Trump’s most controversial judicial nominees did not disclose on publicly available congressional documents that he is married to a senior lawyer in the White House Counsel’s Office. The nominee, Brett J. Talley, is awaiting a Senate confirmation vote that could come as early as Monday [11-13-17] […]
11/13/2017
HHS/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump on Monday nominated former pharmaceutical executive Alex Azar to be his next Health and Human Services secretary, moving to stabilize the agency at the center of his administration’s biggest domestic policy failure. Azar, a veteran of George W. Bush’s administration, would succeed Tom Price, who resigned after POLITICO reported […]
11/13/2017
HHS/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Happy to announce, I am nominating Alex Azar to be the next HHS Secretary. He will be a star for better healthcare and lower drug prices!” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, Nov. 13, 2017 09:57am […]
11/10/2017
GOP/NOMINATIONS: “The Republican Party’s Senate campaign wing has severed its fundraising deal with Alabama Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore, Politico reported on Friday [11-10-17], a day after allegations emerged that he initiated a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl when he was 32. Politico said Federal Election Commission paperwork filed on Friday showed the National […]
11/10/2017
NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Brett J. Talley, President Trump’s nominee to be a federal judge in Alabama, has never tried a case, was unanimously rated ‘not qualified’ by the American Bar Assn.’s judicial rating committee, has practiced law for only three years and, as a blogger last year, displayed a degree of partisanship unusual for a […]
11/9/2017
FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal this month expect that a Federal Reserve led by Jerome Powell would mean little change in monetary policy and a less aggressive approach to financial regulation. Most survey respondents expect the Fed to raise short-term interest rates next month and lift them three times […]
11/8/2017
DEMS/POLITICS/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Tuesday’s [11-7-17] elections favoring Democrats could give conservative forces more urgency in an area President Donald Trump is already moving on aggressively: reshaping the federal courts. Trump and his advisers are moving at break-neck speed compared with past presidents. Republicans pushed four conservative US appeals court judges through the Senate last week, […]
11/8/2017
DHS/DREAMERS/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security offered a degree of assurance to Senate Democrats critical of the administration’s tough immigration enforcement agenda during a confirmation hearing Wednesday [11-8-17]. Kirstjen Nielsen told members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee she would prioritize the arrest of […]
11/2/2017
FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Today, it was my pleasure and great honor to announce my nomination of Jerome Powell to be the next Chairman of the @FederalReserve. https://t.co/6aDuRy3zws” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, Nov. 2, 2017 05:35pm […]
11/2/2017
NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/USDA: “Former Trump campaign aide Sam Clovis, who has been swept up in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, has withdrawn from consideration to be the Department of Agriculture’s chief scientist, according to a letter Clovis sent on Wednesday to President Donald Trump. Clovis had been under criticism for months for his lack […]
11/1/2017
FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The White House has notified Federal Reserve governor Jerome Powell that President Donald Trump intends to nominate him as the next chairman of the central bank, according to a person familiar with the matter, a move likely to combine continuity on interest-rate policy with perhaps a lighter touch on financial regulation. […]
11/1/2017
NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Thanks to @SenateMajLdr McConnell and the @SenateGOP we are appointing high-quality Federal District… and Appeals Court Judges at a record clip! Our courts are rapidly changing for the better!” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, Nov. 1, 2017 05:03pm and 05:03pm […]
11/1/2017
FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he thought Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen was ‘excellent’ but declined to say who was his pick to lead the U.S. central bank ahead of a planned announcement on Thursday afternoon. ‘I think Janet Yellen is excellent,’ Trump told reporters during a meeting with cabinet […]
11/1/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday [11-1-17] announced his choices to lead U.S. attorney offices in California, Maryland, Connecticut, Texas, New Mexico and Louisiana, the White House said in a statement. The White House said Trump will nominate John Anderson for U.S. attorney for New Mexico; John Durham for Connecticut; Brandon […]
10/31/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Senate on Tuesday [10-31-17] confirmed University of Notre Dame law professor Amy Barrett for a federal appeals court judgeship, closing for now a debate about whether it is appropriate for lawmakers to ask a nominee questions about their religious faith. Ms. Barrett was confirmed to the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court […]
10/31/2017
EX-IM BANK/NOMINATION/SCOTT GARRETT: “A long-brewing fight over former Rep. Scott Garrett’s candidacy to lead the Export-Import Bank, an agency he has twice voted to shut down, will come to a head this week when he testifies in front of a Senate panel reviewing his nomination. President Donald Trump’s decision to nominate Mr. Garrett, a New […]
10/30/2017
HHS/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Five months after President Donald Trump nominated Stephen Parente to be an assistant secretary for Health and Human Services, the nation’s largest health insurer quietly gave a $1.2 million gift to a tiny academic research center that Parente helped found and served as director over the past decade. Parente, who is still […]
10/29/2017
FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump is likely to announce Federal Reserve governor Jerome Powell as his nominee to be the next chairman of the U.S. central bank next week, according to a person familiar with the matter. The president hasn’t made a formal decision and could still change his mind, several people familiar […]
10/27/2017
FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “People are anxiously awaiting my decision as to who the next head of the Fed will be…. ?https://t.co/PEj1KNYcAO” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, October 27, 2017 04:17pm […]
10/27/2017
FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump is expected to announce his choice for the next leader of the U.S. central bank next week, a person familiar with the matter said Friday [10-27-17]. The person cautioned that the president hasn’t made an official decision on the choice. But he is expected to make clear for […]
10/24/2017
FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The two men that President Trump is considering as replacements for Chairwoman Janet L. Yellen of the Federal Reserve have sharply different views on monetary policy, offering a stark test of Mr. Trump’s economic priorities. The choice pits a status quo candidate, a current Fed governor, Jerome H. Powell, against a […]
10/24/2017
FEDERAL RESERVE/GOP/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump on Tuesday [10-24-17] asked Republican senators for a show-of-hands poll on two candidates he is considering to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve. The president, who was on Capitol Hill at a Senate GOP caucus lunch, asked the group which candidate they preferred to lead the […]
10/23/2017
FEDERAL RESERVE/MIKE PENCE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Kevin Warsh, a candidate for the Federal Reserve chairmanship, met with Vice President Mike Pence last week to talk about the central-bank job, according to a White House aide. Mr. Warsh visited Thursday [10-19-17]—the same day Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen was in the Oval Office interviewing for the same job […]
10/20/2017
NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration is pushing the limits of an obscure federal law that restricts nominees from serving in federal positions before they’re approved by the Senate. A POLITICO review has identified four officials at three different agencies doing substantially similar work to the position for which they have been nominated – despite […]
10/19/2017
FTC/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump will nominate antitrust attorney Joseph Simons as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, moving to install a hand-picked leader at the consumer protection agency that’s been without a permanent head for 10 months. He also will nominate Noah Phillips, chief counsel for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), for the FTC […]
10/19/2017
FEDERAL RESERVE/GOP/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “After criticizing the Federal Reserve for the past eight years, Republicans have a chance to change the course of the central bank when President Donald Trump nominates someone to take the helm in early 2018. But they are divided over which direction monetary policy should take. GOP efforts to subject the […]
10/17/2017
NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Rep. Tom Marino is the eleventh nominee to withdraw from consideration for a Trump administration post, according to CNN’s nomination tracker… Once he formally withdraws, Marino will become the twelfth recalled nomination by the Trump administration. This number is not unprecedented, according to the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan nonprofit […]
10/17/2017
DRUGS/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s pick for White House drug czar removed himself from consideration after a backlash over his role in passing a law that made it tougher to limit the spread of opioid drugs. In a Twitter post Tuesday [10-17-17] morning, the president said that Rep. Tom Marino, a Pennsylvania Republican, ‘informed […]
10/17/2017
DRUGS/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Rep.Tom Marino has informed me that he is withdrawing his name from consideration as drug czar. Tom is a fine man and a great Congressman!” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, October 17, 2017 07:39am […]
10/17/2017
GOP/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump has nominated 50 candidates to lifetime appointments to the federal bench — including a man who asserted transgender children were evidence of ‘Satan’s plan,’ one deemed unqualified by the American Bar Association and a handful of prolific bloggers. And the GOP has unanimously stuck by Trump’s judges. Senate […]
10/16/2017
AMBASSADOR/NOMINATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The U.S. Senate on Monday [10-16-17] voted to confirm President Donald Trump’s nomination of Callista Gingrich to be the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican. Gingrich, 51, an author, documentary filmmaker and former congressional aide, is the wife of former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, a vocal Trump ally. […]
10/16/2017
DRUGS/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday [10-16-17] he would review a report that his nominee for drug czar championed a law that weakened the government’s ability to fight the nation’s opioid epidemic, and said he could consider jettisoning the pick… Asked if the report had undercut his confidence in his nominee […]
10/12/2017
CONFLICT OF INTERESTS/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “As a top executive at AccuWeather, Barry Myers has pushed for limits on the kinds of products that the National Weather Service offers to the public, saying they offered unfair competition to his industry. Now, President Donald Trump’s nomination of Myers to lead the weather service’s parent agency could allow […]
10/12/2017
FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump is nearing a decision on whom to pick to lead the Federal Reserve, and met Wednesday [10-11-17] with one of four candidates, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Trump met with Stanford University economist John Taylor, a White House official said. Mr. Taylor has criticized the […]
10/11/2017
GOP/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, reiterated his authority to handle judicial nominations Wednesday [10-11-17], after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would end the practice of securing home-state senators’ approval before advancing judicial nominees. Mr. McConnell (R., Ky.) told The Weekly Standard he would no longer […]
10/11/2017
DHS/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump is expected to nominate Kirstjen Nielsen to run the Department of Homeland Security, possibly as soon as Wednesday [10-11-17], according to two administration officials and three outside advisers familiar with the process. Nielsen served as White House chief of staff John Kelly’s top aide during his time as DHS […]
10/10/2017
NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Hogan Gidley, a former press secretary for Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign, will start as the deputy White House press secretary on Wednesday [10-11-17]. Gidley will serve under White House press secretary Sarah Sanders — who is Huckabee’s daughter. He previously worked as an aide to Rick Santorum and is the former executive […]
10/10/2017
HHS/NOMINATIONS/TOM PRICE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump has appointed Eric Hargan as acting Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), the White House said on Tuesday [10-10-17]. Hargan, the deputy secretary of HHS, formerly served on Trump’s transition team for HHS. The appointment follows Tom Price’s resignation as HHS Secretary late in September over his […]
10/10/2017
FDA/NOMINATIONS/SCOTT GOTTLIEB: “U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, considered a potential successor to recently departed Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, said on Tuesday [10-10-17] he believed he could best serve the Trump administration in his current role… He declined to say whether he had been approached about the job by the […]
10/10/2017
NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump told Forbes in an interview published Tuesday [10-10-17] that the size of some federal agencies is ‘unnecessary,’ offering an explanation as to why he has left so many positions requiring a presidential appointment vacant… According to a database maintained by The Washington Post and the Partnership for Public Service […]
10/9/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is moving to head off a public fight with conservative outside groups that have become increasingly frustrated over the Senate’s sluggish pace in confirming President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees. The influential Judicial Crisis Network had planned on launching a $250,000 ad buy in Washington on […]
10/5/2017
FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Senate on Thursday [10-5-17] voted to confirm Randal K. Quarles as the Federal Reserve’s vice chairman for supervision, an important victory for the Trump administration in its campaign to reduce financial regulations put in place in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Mr. Quarles is the first person to […]
10/5/2017
EPA/LOBBYING/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump on Thursday nominated Andrew R. Wheeler, a coal lobbyist with links to outspoken deniers of established science on climate change, to help lead the Environmental Protection Agency. In announcing Mr. Wheeler, a former aide to Senator James M. Inhofe, to be deputy administrator of the agency, the White House tapped […]
10/2/2017
FCC/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The U.S. Senate confirmed on Monday [10-2-17] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to serve another five-year term on the telecommunications regulatory panel. Pai won confirmation 52-41 over objections from Democrats, who criticized him for moving to dismantle Obama-era internet access rules and taking other steps to deregulate U.S. telecommunications rules but […]
9/29/2017
FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS/STEVEN MNUCHIN/TREASURY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met with former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh on Thursday [9-28-17] to discuss his potential nomination as the next Fed chairman, a White House official said, signaling that the West Wing is moving ahead with a process that the president has said […]
9/28/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/NOMINATION/RELIGION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “One of President Trump’s judicial nominees became something of a hero to religious conservatives after she was grilled at a Senate hearing this month over whether her Roman Catholic faith would influence her decisions on the bench. The nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, a law professor up for an appeals court seat, […]
9/28/2017
FCC/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Senate on Thursday [9-28-17] advanced the nomination of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai for another term, making it more likely that the FCC will move forward with a number of regulatory moves, including a rollback of Obama-era net-neutrality rules. The procedural vote to advance the nomination for a second five-year […]
9/28/2017
DHS/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration is hitting reset on its search for a permanent Department of Homeland Security secretary due to White House aides’ dissatisfaction with the slate of candidates, according to two people familiar with the process. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul had been considered the front-runner for the job, but […]
9/27/2017
NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The U.S. Senate on Wednesday [9-27-17] confirmed President Donald Trump’s nomination of Makan Delrahim to be the antitrust chief at the Justice Department, setting the stage for a new period of Republican enforcement after eight months of limbo. Mr. Delrahim, 47 years old, arrives at the Justice Department amid public uncertainty about […]
9/21/2017
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Justice Department’s antitrust efforts is facing an extended limbo in the Senate, prolonging uncertainty for potential mergers, including AT&T Inc.’s bid to acquire Time Warner Inc. The delay in Makan Delrahim’s nomination is due in part to objections raised by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., […]
9/20/2017
NOMINATIONS/TRUMP PEOPLE/VOTER FRAUD: “As President Trump’s voter integrity commission looks under rocks for possible voter malfeasance, its members might want to examine a presidential nominee awaiting confirmation by the Senate Finance Committee. Documents indicate that Jeffrey Gerrish, the president’s pick to be a deputy United States Trade Representative, moved from Virginia to Maryland last year, […]
9/19/2017
AMBASSADOR/NOMINATIONS/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to Russia, said on Tuesday [9-19-17] there was ‘no question’ Moscow meddled in the 2016 U.S. election, and pledged to bring up the matter with the Russian government… Many members of Congress, including several of Trump’s fellow Republicans, are concerned […]
9/15/2017
ECONOMY/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump named Richard Burkhauser, an economist who is professor emeritus of policy analysis at Cornell University, as the final member of his Council of Economic Advisers. Mr. Burkhauser’s research has focused on how government tax and spending policies address income inequality and how public policies shape economic behaviors and the […]
9/14/2107
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Senate Judiciary Committee approved four of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees on Thursday [9-14-17], amid a stir caused by a recent back-and-forth over the relationship between a nominee’s religious beliefs and her potential performance as a judge. At a hearing last week, the committee heard from several nominees including Amy […]
9/12/2017
NOMINATIONS/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Hope Hicks, who was named interim White House communications director in August, will now hold the job on a permanent basis, a White House spokesperson told CNN Tuesday [9-12-17]. Hicks, a longtime aide to President Donald Trump who was one of the first staffers to join Trump’s 2016 campaign, became the interim communications […]
9/7/2017
NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Two Senate Democrats said Thursday [9-7-17] they will block yet another nominee from President Donald Trump to the nation’s powerful appellate courts — inflaming a growing battle between Democratic senators and the White House over judicial candidates. The White House nominated Ryan Bounds to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on […]
9/7/2017
DHS/JOHN KELLY/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Texas Rep. Mike McCaul has emerged as a leading candidate in the White House’s search for a homeland security secretary, according to three people familiar with the conversations. The White House hasn’t rushed to fill the post — which was vacated in July when President Donald Trump tapped John Kelly, who […]
9/6/2017
ECONOMY/FEDERAL RESERVE/GARY COHN/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump is unlikely to nominate Gary Cohn, his top economic adviser, as the next Federal Reserve chairman, according to people familiar with the president’s thinking, adding to the uncertainty over the U.S. central bank’s leadership and policies next year. Mr. Trump told The Wall Street Journal in July that […]
9/6/2017
NOMINATIONS/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Conservative pundit Mercedes Schlapp, wife of American Conservative Union chairman Matthew Schlapp, is expected to join the White House in a senior role in the communications department, according to three White House officials with knowledge of the situation. The role for Mercedes Schlapp, a former Fox News contributor who served in the George […]
9/2/2017
NASA/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Republican Rep. Jim Bridenstine, named on Friday [9-1-17] as President Donald Trump’s choice to head the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, faces tough policy, personnel and political challenges repositioning the agency in an era of booming commercial space ventures. The decision to nominate the former Navy aviator and three-term Oklahoma lawmaker, a […]
8/31/2017
NOMINATIONS/SEC/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to nominate Columbia University law professor Robert Jackson to be a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday. Jackson is expected to be formally nominated on Friday, the source said. He would fill a vacant spot […]
8/30/2017
NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “When President Donald Trump asked Hope Hicks to step into the role of communications director, his longtime aide hesitated before taking on a management position overseeing more than 40 staffers who work in White House media relations… After a summer of distracting staff churn, the communications director job is just one […]
8/29/2017
ENERGY/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump’s appointee to a Department of Energy post says inflammatory comments that appeared to have been made by him online were the result of ‘cyber attacks and Internet crimes’ committed against him over the past several years by ‘imposters in social media.’ William C. Bradford, Trump’s appointee to head the Energy […]
8/29/2017
NOMINATIONS/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “.@foxandfriends We are not looking to fill all of those positions. Don’t need many of them – reduce size of government. @IngrahamAngle” -Donald Trump, Twitter.com, August 29, 2017 07:26am […]
8/24/2017
FEDERAL RESERVE/NOMINATIONS: “The prospect of a second term for Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen won’t be on the agenda at the central bank’s annual retreat this week at Grand Teton National Park, but the question of whether she could be asked to stay on—and whether she would accept—will be hanging over the confab. Ms. Yellen […]
8/21/2017
EXPORT-IMPORT BANK/GOP/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s nomination of former Rep. Scott Garrett to lead the Export-Import Bank has opened up yet another front in the Republican Party’s civil war. Pro-business trade groups, free-market advocates and even social conservatives and gay-rights activists are targeting GOP senators with competing lobbying efforts as they clash over Garrett’s […]
8/21/2017
AGRICULTURE/LGBTQ/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Sam Clovis, Donald Trump’s pick to be chief scientist for the Department of Agriculture, has argued that homosexuality is a choice and that the sanctioning of same-sex marriage could lead to the legalization of pedophilia, a CNN KFile review of Clovis’ writings, radio broadcasts, and speeches has found. Clovis made the comments […]
8/14/2017
ECONOMY/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump named Tomas Philipson, an economist at the University of Chicago who has specialized in health-care policy, to the three-member Council of Economic Advisers on Monday [8-14-17]. Mr. Philipson briefly served as an adviser to the Trump transition team last fall on health-care matters and was a senior economic […]
8/10/2017
ATTORNEY GENERAL/JEFF SESSIONS/NOMINATIONS: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions is urging the White House to nominate a federal judge and tough-on-crime ex-prosecutor once nicknamed ‘Hang ’Um High’ Henry Hudson to an independent, bipartisan panel that issues sentencing guidelines. Mr. Sessions’ recommendation for one of three openings on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, confirmed by people familiar with the […]