Congress
The Office of Government Ethics has not cleared Trump’s nominees, most of whom failed to submit complete answers to the office’s questionnaires.
In a letter to Senators Chuck Schumer of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the leader of the Office of Government Ethics, Walter M. Shaub Jr., said on Friday that “the announced hearing schedule for several nominees who have not completed the ethics review process is of great concern to me.”
He said the packed schedule had put “undue pressure” on the office to rush its reviews of the nominees and he knew of no other occasion in the office’s four decades when the Senate had held a confirmation hearing before the review was completed.
Nevertheless, Cabinet confirmation hearings will begin Tuesday.
“All of these little procedural complaints are related to their frustration at having not only lost the White House, but having lost the Senate,” Mr. McConnell said.
Unprecedented lack of vetting is a little procedural complaint? Reminder: McConnell has declined to recuse himself from his wife’s confirmation hearing.
Trump
Trump Calls for Closer Relationship Between U.S. and Russia (on Twitter, natch)
President-elect Donald J. Trump called on Saturday for a closer relationship between the two nations, saying only “stupid” people or “fools” would think this was unwise.
The United States, Mr. Trump wrote in a series of Twitter messages Saturday morning, has “enough problems around the world without yet another one.” He pledged that Russia would “respect us far more than they do now” after he is sworn in as president, and said that the two nations could perhaps work together on the international stage.
Trump is planning to violate federal nepotism law and add Jared Kushner to his staff.
Mr. Kushner, who declined to be interviewed for this article, has hired a leading Washington law firm, WilmerHale, to advise him on how to comply with federal ethics laws should he join the White House staff as an adviser to the president. The firm has concluded that one potential sticking point, a federal anti-nepotism law, is not applicable, though not all ethics experts agree. While the law prohibits federal officials from hiring relatives for agencies they lead, Mr. Kushner’s lawyers argue, among other things, that the White House is not an agency and is therefore exempt.
Transition Team & Cabinet Appointees
Trump national security pick Monica Crowley plagiarized multiple sources in 2012 book.
Trump’s transition team is standing by Crowley. “Monica’s exceptional insight and thoughtful work on how to turn this country around is exactly why she will be serving in the Administration,” a statement from a transition spokesperson said.
Previously, in Monica Crowley’s Greatest Hits: refugees are jihadists; if the Clinton Foundation wouldn’t release its financials, Putin would have to do it; and, on a visit to the Berlin Wall, “walls work.”
Office of Government Ethics Director writes, “we seem to have lost contact with the Trump-Pence transition since the election.”
Lest you come away from these posts with the idea that only rabid liberals oppose Trump’s proposed cabinet, here’s a statement from the National Council of Churches:
These objectionable nominees represent a bygone era of hatred that we have denounced and worked tirelessly to eradicate. Their corrupted credentials, which include condoning and supporting racist, anti-Semitic, white supremacist, xenophobic, and anti-Muslim ideologies, are not only unacceptable but they should disqualify them for service as public officials. We urge the President-Elect to protect the integrity of our nation by replacing these nominees with candidates who represent shared American values for the common good.
Protests
Two Dakota Access Pipeline protesters unfurled a “DIVEST” banner from the rafters of the US Bank Stadium during the Bears/Vikings game on Sunday.
Other Fascist Nonsense
The FBI paid informants in Best Buy Geek Squads. Take your computer in for repair, subject your hard drive to an illegal search!
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