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You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration Transition - February 17, 2017
Trump Administration (first term)  Vice President Mike Pence Cabinet • White House staff • Transition team • Trump's second term |
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This is the February 17, 2017, edition of an email sent from November 2016 to September 2017 that covered Donald Trump's presidential transition, cabinet appointees, and the different policy positions of those individuals who may have had an effect on the new administration. Previous editions of "You're Hired" can be found here.
Replacing Michael Flynn as national security advisor
The Financial Times reported on Thursday that Vice Admiral Robert Harward had turned down President Donald Trump’s offer to replace Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as national security advisor. Flynn had resigned on Monday amid reports that he did not provide Vice President Mike Pence with accurate information about an exchange he had with a Russian ambassador concerning sanctions.
Read more about the circumstances of Flynn’s resignation.
Harward was reportedly concerned with being able to select his own staff and leaving his position as a senior executive at Lockheed Martin. He said in a statement, “Like all service members understand, and live, this job requires 24 hours a day, 7 days a week focus and commitment to do it right. I currently could not make that commitment. My thoughts and prayers are with those that carry such heavy burdens and responsibility for taking care of our country's national security concerns. God bless this great country of ours.”
With Harward out of contention, here is what you need to know about two of the candidates frequently mentioned as potential replacements for Flynn:
Former CIA Director David Petraeus
- During his military career, Petraeus held many staff and command appointments, including service as the leader of the U.S. Central Command and U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
- In 2011, Petraeus was appointed by President Barack Obama and unanimously confirmed by the Senate to serve as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
- In 2012, Petraeus resigned his post at the CIA after an extramarital affair with his biographer, Army Reserve Officer Paula Broadwell, came to light. During the course of the affair, Petraeus provided Broadwell with classified materials. Petraeus pled guilty to the misdemeanour charge of removing and retaining classified materials in 2015. He was sentenced to pay a $100,000 fine. As a result of his conviction, Petraeus is under probation until April 23, 2017.
- In an interview with The Atlantic in July 2015, Petraeus said the Islamic State was a greater threat to the United States than Iran. “It doesn’t take much, with what you can buy at a gun show in America, if you can open up on a mall or some public place that’s full of people. So it’s a significant danger. I don’t think it’s anywhere near the sophistication of a 9/11 attack. And to our allies, we’ve seen very vividly what has been done in Europe as a result of ISIS recruiting,” Petraeus said of an Islamic State attack on U.S. soil.
During the period of transition between the Obama and Trump administrations, Petraeus was under consideration for a high-level appointment in the Trump administration as secretary of state, a role eventually filled by ExxonMobil executive Rex Tillerson.
Retired Lt. General Joseph Keith Kellogg, Jr.
- Kellogg has been working as the acting national security adviser since Flynn’s resignation on Monday.
- He served in the U.S. Army from 1967 to 2003, where he earned the Silver Star and the Bronze Star.
- Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Kellogg was the chief operating officer for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, the country’s interim governing body.
- Kellogg co-wrote an op-ed with Flynn criticizing the Obama administration’s strategy in Mosul, Iraq. “The problem in Iraq is political; it always has been and cannot be solved through military means alone. Mr. Trump was also correct that the White House should not have announced previously, and in such detail, that the offensive was going to begin, instead stating that the element of surprise should have been considered,” they wrote.
Trump tweeted on Friday morning, “General Keith Kellogg, who I have known for a long time, is very much in play for NSA—as are three others.”
Israel and Palestine
Israeli PM meets with Trump
On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Trump at the White House to discuss U.S.-Israel relations. At a joint news conference, Trump commented on Israeli settlement activity, saying to Netanyahu, "I'd like to see you hold back on settlements for a little bit. We'll work something out, but I would like to see a deal be made."
Trump also said that he would accept either a one- or two-state solution if Israel and Palestine were both satisfied with the arrangement. "I'm very happy with the one that both parties like. I can live with either one. I thought for a while the two-state looked like it may be the easier of the two, but honestly if Bibi and if the Palestinians — if Israel and the Palestinians are happy, I'm happy with the one they like the best," he said.
Senate confirmation hearing for Israeli ambassador nominee
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a confirmation hearing for attorney David Friedman, Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Israel, on Thursday. Friedman was asked to explain previous statements he made about a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and his criticism of liberal American Jews, including calling some “far worse than kapos.” Here’s what we learned:
- On a two-state solution. In an op-ed for Israel News in August 2016, Friedman called the "two-state solution ... an illusion that serves the worst intentions of both the United States and the Palestinian Arabs. It has never been a solution, only a narrative. But even the narrative itself now needs to end.”
- At the hearing, Friedman said, “If the Israelis and the Palestinians were able, through direct negotiations, to achieve a two-state solution along parameters agreeable to them … I would be delighted to see peace come to this region where people have suffered on both sides for so long. I have expressed my skepticism about the two-state solution solely on the basis of what I have perceived as an unwillingness on the part of the Palestinians to renounce terror and accept Israel as a Jewish state. I think that in my view is a foundational problem, but I think it can be remedied and I hope it is.”
- On inflammatory language used to describe ideological opponents: ”Some of the language that I used during the highly charged presidential campaign that ended last November has come in for criticism and rightfully so. While I maintain profound differences of opinion with some of my critics, I regret the use of such language. I want to assure you that I understand the critical difference between the partisan rhetoric of a political contest and a diplomatic mission. Partisan rhetoric is not appropriate in achieving diplomatic progress, especially in a sensitive and strife-torn region like the Middle East.”
Read more about federal policy on Israel and Palestine.
Confirmation process
Labor nominee R. Alexander Acosta
Trump announced law school dean R. Alexander Acosta as his Labor secretary nominee during a press conference on Thursday. Acosta’s nomination came a day after Andrew Puzder, Trump's first pick for the position, withdrew from consideration following reports that he did not have sufficient support in the Republican-controlled Senate to be confirmed. Acosta was a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) where he was involved in more than 125 opinions.
Acosta has been confirmed by the Senate three times before following appointments to serve as an NLRB member, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and the assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.
Read more about the confirmation process for Trump's Cabinet nominees.
EPA nominee Scott Pruitt
Scott Pruitt, the attorney general of Oklahoma since 2011, was confirmed as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday afternoon by a vote of 52-46. Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) supported his confirmation, while Republican Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) opposed it. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) did not vote.
Pruitt was a vocal critic of environmental policy under the Obama administration, once calling himself a “leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda.” Read more about Pruitt’s positions in our January 19 edition.
Coming next week
New executive order on immigration
Trump is expected to issue a revised executive order on immigration early next week after the temporary restraining order preventing the ordered suspension of travel from seven countries in the Middle East was upheld in the Ninth Circuit. He said during a press conference on Thursday, “The new order is going to be very much tailored to what I consider to be a very bad decision.” The Justice Department announced on the same day that it would not pursue an en banc hearing of the case.
Read more about federal policy on immigration.
Changes to the Environmental Protection Agency
Reuters reported on Thursday that Trump was planning to sign two to five executive orders designed to transform the Environmental Protection Agency and roll back Obama-era climate change policies, potentially including the Clean Power Plan.
Read more about federal policy on energy and the environment.
See also
- You're Hired: Tracking the Trump Administration Transition
- Donald Trump presidential transition team
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