As President-elect Donald Trump prepares a return to the White House, advisers thinking about how to staff his administration are weighing the merits of stacking Trump’s Cabinet with elected officials versus the mix of businesspeople, political outsiders and loyalists who fill up his Rolodex, three sources engaged in discussions about the transition said.
Two sources involved in the transition process said Trump is expected to place a premium on Cabinet selections from outside of government service, as opposed to sitting lawmakers, for two reasons. He sees some of his first-term outside selections, including investor Steven Mnuchin, whom he appointed to lead the Treasury Department, and Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon nominated to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as more successful and more loyal than several lawmakers he plucked from Congress.
Trump never forgave Jeff Sessions, the senator from Alabama 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, R-Ga., 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 is also wary of special elections to replace sitting lawmakers, especially in the Senate. “He doesn’t want a Roy Moore situation,” one of the sources said. Moore was the Republican nominee in the special election to replace Sessions in the Senate, which Democrats won in a rare and dramatic victory in Alabama in 2017.
No decision is final or forecloses on the possibility that Trump will select particular members of Congress. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., is among those under consideration for attorney general, according to multiple sources. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is among those who have made it clear they’d be ready to serve in any capacity Trump needs.
But already, a potential contender has bowed out. A prominent surrogate during Trump’s campaign, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. has conveyed that he is not interested in entering 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 tipped as a top candidate to serve in a Trump administration as discussions began to pick up in the final months of the campaign.
Cotton, who has two young children, weighed the potential impact on his family significantly in deciding to remove his name from consideration for a Cabinet post, according to a source familiar with his thinking. Cotton is running for a Senate leadership post.
As Trump’s team weighs its personnel decisions, top of mind is what each pick would mean for his agenda.
A campaign official said pulling too many sitting lawmakers from Congress into the administration would affect Trump’s ability to get things done in his first 100 days in office.
And two sources also noted the role of Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., as someone with potential veto power over the decision-making. In a recent interview, Trump Jr. said he would work to stop people who could hamper Trump’s agenda.
“My job is going to be taking out and stopping the people who will just slow roll — who are going to be doing the bidding of the swamp, not doing 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 surrogate for Trump in the final days of the campaign, has been coy about what could come next and has said he has not spoken directly to Trump about a potential slot, but he made it clear he’d be open to a position if he is asked.
“I’m in public service. I’m not trying to play quiet,” Rubio said in an interview on NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday morning. “I’m in public service. I like to serve our country.”
A source close to Rubio said he is in a prime position to be selected because his lengthy public service and his recent vetting as a potential running mate to Trump would shorten preparation for an appointment. Rubio would also have a relatively easy confirmation process because of his time in the Senate and his relationships with fellow members.
But as Trump’s team narrows the field, the calculation includes memories of how many people Trump plucked from the ranks of Congress in his first term, except for Pompeo, ended up being disappointments and future political liabilities.
Several also threw their Republican-held seats into peril.
Sessions, an adviser to Trump in 2016, was one of his earliest supporters when Trump elevated him from the Senate to run his Justice Department. Not only did the special election to replace Sessions turn into an embarrassment for the GOP, but Sessions’ handling of his department also frustrated Trump, and Session ultimately resigned. Trump endorsed against him when Sessions later tried to run for his old seat.
After having spent lavishly on chartered flights, Price ran afoul of Trump and his promise to “drain the swamp,” ultimately forcing his resignation. The special election to replace him also turned into a centerpiece of Democratic organizing against Trump. Though the GOP won the special election narrowly, Republicans lost Price’s congressional seat in the midterms and then watched Georgia turn blue in 2020.
Zinke’s tenure at the Interior Department was short. Amid misconduct allegations, Zinke said two years in that he would step aside. He narrowly won re-election to Congress in 2022, when he eked out a 3-point win against an environmental lawyer. He won a broader re-election victory this week.
As far as Rubio and his seat are concerned, the source close to him waved off concerns about him in the Senate, in particular given Sen. Rick Scott’s 13-point win in the race for Florida’s other Senate seat.
