By Nikki
WASHINGTON — A trove of vetting documents leaked to the news organization Axios on HBO shows “red flags” the administration uncovered as President Trump put together his cabinet and the top levels of government following his shock White House win and his decision to fire transition director Chris Christie.
With Christie’s departure, much of the vetting of candidates was left up to “20-something [Republican National Committee] staffers,” according to Axios’ Jonathan Swan. The documents show what aides worried would be problematic. For instance, both Mick Mulvaney, now the acting White House chief of staff and former Defense Secretary James Mattis got dinged for previous criticism of Trump.
At the top of Mulvaney’s file is the fact that he once called then candidate Trump “not a very good person.”
National Security Advisor John Bolton’s had allegations in his vetting file that stated that he had a habit of “bullying career State Department” officials and claimed he had been accused of “accosting women on overseas trips.”
Former Environmental Protection Agency Scott Pruitt’s ethical problems were predicted in his file as staffers warned of his “coziness with big energy companies.” Pruitt produced a slew of swamp-ish headlines while at the job, including that he was getting a $50 a night sweetheart deal on a D.C. apartment owned by an energy lobbyist.
In other instances, vetting worked.
With former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani flirting with being Trump’s Secretary of State, staffers compiled an additional 25-page dossier listing his “foreign entanglements.” The documents also warned that Giuliani had only “limited to no international affairs experience.”
Talking to Axios, Giuliani called the document dump “gossip” that was “extremely unfair.”
“The extensive amount of work that I’ve done in the 80 or plus countries that I’ve been to in the last 17 years is what would’ve qualified me to be an excellent Secretary of State,” Giuliani said. “Would you prefer someone who hasn’t been overseas?” Giuliani asked.
Kris Kobach, who was being eyed for Department of Homeland Security head, had “white supremacy” listed as a problem, pointing to accusations coming from previous political opponents that he took contributions from white nationalists.
As for Christie, Axios reporter Swan showed the former New Jersey governor his own file. The biggest concern: would he be able to work in an administration alongside Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, after Christie put Kushner’s father in jail? And among the questions Christie was supposed to be asked: Do you believe your removal from the Trump transition team was orchestrated by Kushner?
“Yes, I do and the reason I do is because that’s what Steve Bannon told me,” Christie said.
Christie was fired two days after Trump’s election and with him went the transition team’s work.
“In the end, this is a monumental staff failure, that failed the president and as a result failed the country,” Christie said after seeing the poor job done on his own vetting file.
White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley called the president’s staff picks an “incredible team” and put down the leaker. “President Trump has done more to improve the lives of the American people in two years than past presidents have done in eight and no disgruntled establishment, D.C. swamp creature’s cowardly leaks can change that,” Gidley told Axios.
