Tag Archives: Trump cabinet

CNN reports: The Senate voted to confirm Wednesday Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke to lead the Department of the Interior. he vote was 68-31. During his confirmation hearing, the Republican congressman promised to review Obama-era actions limiting oil and gas drilling in Alaska and said he rejected President Donald Trump’s past comment that climate change is a “hoax.” Like many of …

Remember the thing that Sean Spicer screamed “100% won’t happen”? Well, it’s happening: President Donald Trump’s nominee for Navy secretary, investor Philip Bilden, is expected to withdraw from consideration, sources familiar with the decision told POLITICO, becoming the second Pentagon pick unable to untangle their financial investments in the vetting process. Bilden’s withdrawal could come as early as today, the …

The New York Times reports: A fight over a draft order that would rescind protections for transgender students in public schools has erupted inside the Trump administration, pitting Attorney General Jeff Sessions against the secretary of education, Betsy DeVos. Ms. DeVos initially resisted signing off on the order and told President Trump that she was uncomfortable with it, according to …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump, living alone inside the White House, often hungers for friendly interaction as he adjusts to the difficult work of governance. At his clubs, he finds what’s missing. That showed last November at a cocktail and dinner reception celebrating longtime members of his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club. Deep into the process of meeting potential Cabinet …

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump will announce Alexander Acosta as his new Labor Secretary choice on Thursday afternoon, NBC News confirmed. Trump is set to announce the pick at a Thursday afternoon press conference. CKE Restaurants CEO Andy Puzder withdrew his nomination Wednesday ahead of his confirmation hearing amid mounting bipartisan opposition. In a statement, Puzder did not specify why …

McClatchy reports: The Senate confirmed Steven Mnuchin as Treasury secretary in a vote Monday evening, adding the former Goldman Sachs executive to President Donald Trump’s Cabinet. The 53-47 vote, which fell largely along party lines, makes Mnuchin the 10th of Trump’s Cabinet nominees to be confirmed in three weeks. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) was the only Democrat to support …

Has she ever been to a public school before? The Hill reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was greeted with protesters when she tried to enter a Washington middle school on Friday morning. A video from the scene shows DeVos walking away from one entrance of Jefferson Middle School after being physically blocked from the entrance. One protester stood in front …

The Washington Post reports: The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Jeff Sessions as the next attorney general, following a bitter debate in the chamber that saw Republicans formally rebuke Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) for the manner in which she criticized her colleague from Alabama. Sessions, a four-term U.S. senator, was the first senator to endorse Trump in February 2016, and his …

At this writing Democrats are still at the podium railing against Sessions. NBC News reports: The Senate is set to vote on the confirmation of Sen. Jeff Sessions to become the nation’s attorney general Wednesday evening after three contentious days of partisan acrimony over President Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees. Democrats have spent more than 50 consecutive hours on the Senate …

The New York Times reports: The Senate confirmed Betsy DeVos on Tuesday as education secretary, approving the embattled nominee only with the help of a historic tiebreaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence. The 51-to-50 vote elevates Ms. DeVos — a wealthy philanthropist from Michigan who has devoted much of her life to expanding educational choice through charter schools and …

The Washington Post reports: The Senate is moving toward a noon vote Tuesday on confirmation of Betsy DeVos as education secretary, with the outcome expected to be the narrowest approval of a Cabinet nominee in the nation’s history. The entire Democratic caucus of 48 senators is expected to vote against DeVos, as are two Republicans, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and …

Mic.com reports: Democrats pulled an all-nighter on the Senate floor Monday to try and block Betsy DeVos from becoming secretary of the Department of Education, assailing her credentials — or lack thereof — in an effort to convince their GOP colleagues to vote against her nomination. One by one, Senate Democrats took to the floor throughout the night to make …

Mother Jones reports: Senate Democrats have announced a plan to hold the Senate floor for the next 24 hours to speak against President Donald Trump’s pick for education secretary, Betsy DeVos. “In my mind, she is the least qualified nominee in a historically unqualified cabinet,” Sen. Chuck Schumer said from the floor on Monday. “On conflicts of interest, she ranks …

Sen. Susan Collins today became the first GOP member of the Senate to publicly announce that she will vote against billionaire Education Secretary nominee and anti-LGBT activist Betsy DeVos. It appears that GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski may follow suit shortly. The vote will surely be very close and it’s possible that DeVos will be the only Trump cabinet nominee to …

The Hill reports: A Senate committee voted to confirm Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to be attorney general on Wednesday, two days after the growing controversy surrounding President Trump’s travel ban on seven Muslim nations led to the firing of an acting attorney general for insubordination. Sessions’ nomination now goes to the floor, where he is widely expected to be confirmed …

The Week reports: Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee advanced President Trump’s nominee for treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, and Trump’s nominee for health secretary, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), on Wednesday with zero Democrats present. To do so required committee chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) to suspend the committee rules, which normally require a quorum of at least one Democrat in …

ABC News reports: President Donald Trump’s nomination of Betsy DeVos to be education secretary was sent today to the full U.S. Senate for confirmation on a tight 12-11 party line vote in committee after a fractious debate over her qualifications. The vote on the nomination of DeVos, a controversial figure in Michigan politics and education, raised hackles among Democrats in …

It appears that the anti-LGBT activist who wants to run America’s schools copied her homework. The Washington Post reports: President Trump’s nominee for education secretary, in written responses to questions from senators, appears to have used several sentences and phrases from other sources without attribution — including from a top Obama administration civil rights official. The responses from nominee Betsy …

The hearing is already underway. Surely this will come up: Well, this is awkward. Video of Sally Yates’ Deputy Attorney General confirmation hearing in 2015 shows Sen. Jeff Sessions — Trump’s pick for the country’s top legal position — grilling her about her responsibility to the then-President, Barack Obama, should he require her to execute “unlawful” views. “You have to …

In advance of tomorrow’s Senate vote on the confirmation of Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos, YouTube comedian Vic Berger has created a supercut of the many times DeVos smiled broadly as she dodged direct questioning during her hearing. Watch it. The Washington Post today reports on the last-minute push to reject her: More than 300 state lawmakers hailing from all …