New Analysis Catalogs Trump's
Controversy-Riddled Cabinet-Level Selections
As the heads of Veterans Affairs and the Environmental Protection Agency face
intense scrutiny over taxpayer-funded travel decisions, a new analysis by the Washington Post reveals
that more than 40 percent of President Donald Trump's initial
cabinet-level selections have faced ethical or other controversies.
Aaron Blake at the Post found
that nine out of the 22 people whom the president initially chosen for
cabinet-level positions have faced some degree of public criticism for their
actions, highlighting "what has been a pretty rocky first year-plus for
the Trump cabinet" and demonstrating how Trump has failed to deliver on
his oft-repeated campaign promise to "drain the swamp."
Veterans Affairs
Secretary David Shulkin: A
report by his agency's inspector general found that Shulkin and top aides edited an email and made false
statements "to create a pretext for taxpayers to cover expenses for the
secretary's wife on a 10-day trip to Europe last summer," according to
another Post story.
Environmental
Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt: As Common Dreams reported, Pruitt is in
hot water for "taking expensive first class flights and staying in
luxury hotels on the taxpayer's dime...to avoid uncomfortable interactions with people
who are mad at him for trying to destroy the planet."
Former Health and
Human Services Secretary Tom Price: He resigned in September amid a growing scandal that invovled
using tax dollars to travel throughout the country in pricey private jets.
Interior Secretary
Ryan Zinke: As Price was
submitting his resignation, Zinke was ridiculed for taking, according to Politico,
"several flights on private or military aircraft, including a $12,000
charter plane to take him to events in his hometown in Montana," which
subsequent reports revealed belonged to fossil fuel
executives.
Two are in trouble for
making false statements:
Chief of Staff John
Kelly: Women's
advocates and others have called for Kelly—who initially served as
Trump's Homeland Security secretary—to resign amid criticism that he ignored
and improperly handled allegations of domestic violence levied
against former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, who resigned following a
series of reports about the alleged abuse. Kelly reportedly instructed aides to lie and claim he
took immediate action to address the allegations.
Attorney General Jeff
Sessions: The nation's top
attorney had to recuse himself from the investigation
into alleged election interference by Russians—and claims that members of the
Trump campaign colluded with Russians and obstructed justice—after it was
discovered that during his Senate confirmation hearing, Sessions failed to disclose his communication with
Russian officials, potentially committing perjury.
Two have faced
personal controversies:
Labor secretary
nominee Andrew Puzder: The
fast food executive withdrew his nomination to lead the Labor
Department amid charges that he had made "derisive
public comments about his restaurants' employees and other low-wage
workers" as well as "concerns about past employment of an undocumented housekeeper and
later-recanted domestic violence accusations from an ex-wife."
Housing and Urban
Development Secretary Ben Carson: Despite warnings from the department attorneys, Carson let
his son organize an agency "listening tour" in Baltimore last summer,
which might have violated federal ethics ruled, according to documents obtained by
the Post, because "local businessman Ben Carson Jr., and
daughter-in-law were inviting people with whom they potentially had business
dealings."
"The repeated
travel controversies, in particular, suggest the administration isn't running a
particularly tight ethical ship or that there is a ton of overcompensation for
Trump's promise to 'drain the swamp,'" Blake notes. "His cabinet
picks are proving a particularly stark example of where that effort has come up
short."