Free Republic

WASHINGTON ― The possibility of someone lying to Congress used to be frowned upon by Republicans. How can anyone forget the chairmen of two committees referring perjury charges against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the FBI over her clashing email explanations? But that was before Donald Trump won the presidency, and before the alt-fact era. Now two of Trump’s nominees who arguably lied to Congress are not facing perjury referrals but are on the verge of being confirmed to lead the nation’s departments of the Treasury and Health and Human Services. To recap: Treasury nominee Steven Mnuchin told...

Washington (CNN)Donald Trump is eager for Jeff Sessions to become his attorney general, but not a moment too late. Trump is pushing his final Cabinet nominees through the Senate, including Sessions, but Republicans are staggering the confirmation votes to keep the Alabama senator in his seat for as long as they need him. And for now, Republicans need his vote. After sitting out the confirmation process for his fellow Trump nominees, Sessions emerged Thursday to cast a key committee vote on behalf of Mick Mulvaney, the President's pick to run the Office of Management and Budget. The Senate Budget Committee...

Republicans on a Senate committee on Thursday suspended panel rules to force a vote on President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) nominee over a Democratic protest. Republicans on the Environment and Public Works Committee, led by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), changed the rules governing a quorum so that only the panel’s Republicans needed to be in attendance to approve Scott Pruitt’s nomination to lead the EPA. The committee’s full roster of Republicans — including Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), whose nomination to be attorney general is awaiting consideration on the Senate floor — attended Thursday’s hearing and approved Pruitt on an...

Liberal firebrand and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren slammed President Trump Cabinet picks Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) and Steven Mnuchin Wednesday in a series of tweets accusing Trump of neglecting his promise to "drain the swamp." The Democratic senator accused both Price and Mnuchin of lying during their hearings as nominees to lead the Health and Treasury departments, respectively. "This isn't a game Senate GOP. The safety of our economy and health of our people could be in the hands of two men who lied to the US Senate," Warren said. .@HHSGov nom Price lied to the Senate about a sweetheart...

Rex Tillerson's speech to assembled employees at the US State Department. He noted that his wife said in urging him to accept the nomination that "Your career until now has been a 41 year training program for this job." https://www.facebook.com/newshour/videos/10155043859978675/

Full out war between Democrats and the White House broke out today when Senate Democrats on Tuesday refused to attend a committee vote on two President Trump’s more controversial nominees, effectively delaying their consideration. Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee boycotted votes to advance Tom Price, Trump’s pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services, and Steven Mnuchin, his selection to head the Treasury Department. Since at least one democrat must be on present for the vote to be held, the move will effectively delay and potentially prevent the confirmation votes on Mnuchin and Price. The duo is...

Senate Democrats on Tuesday refused to attend a committee vote on two of President Trump’s more controversial nominees, effectively delaying their consideration. Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee boycotted votes to advance Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), Trump’s pick to head the Department of Health and Human Services, and Steven Mnuchin, his selection to head the Treasury Department. The pair had been among some of the more contentious selections to join Trump’s Cabinet.

Tillison now Secretar of State!!!

There are now over a dozen cabinet members and appointments working in the Trump administration with just about as many waiting in the aisles. And all the while the executive orders are flying off the desk and into the faces of incredulous Democrats who still don't understand what has happened. The swamp draining has apparently started, with the firing of U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan. Six senior officials in charge of management at the State Department have reportedly resigned. The Washington Post is concerned. Everyone else, not so much. The anti-Trump angst continues to inflict its silliness on a...

This is Trump's cabinet if everyone is confirmed. The little yellow numbers are their respective number in line of succession.

Re riots in Portland and the police responding. I was thinking that perhaps the police were threatened by O-Me-Me when protesters walked on the freeway and so forth - that he would sic Loretta Lynch on them. Then I realized that no new AG has been voted in yet, right? Does that mean that Lynch is still in the position? Or is there a pro temp person in right now?? tx

WASHINGTON (AP) – The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee will request a delay on the confirmation vote on President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general. That will push the panel vote until Jan. 31. The Judiciary panel is scheduled to vote Tuesday on Sen. Jeff Sessions’ nomination. But committee rules allow any member of the panel to hold a vote over until the next week, and members of both parties frequently do. A spokesman for California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Monday that she will request the extra week “to give the committee more time to conduct its due...

Lou Dobbs just broke in with the report that Mike Pompeo now has 56 votes for confirmation, and has been confirmed by the Senate.

Submitted by John Mauldin via MauldinEconomics.com,I have been in Washington DC for the last three days. The ostensible reason was to participate in a board meeting of a public company, Ashford Inc. (AINC). We manage hotel REITs that own three hotels here in DC, and the group decided to move our board meeting up a few weeks and hold it in DC during the inauguration. That gave me the opportunity to set up a few meetings to try to gain some insight into what the first 100 days, the first six months, and the first year of the Trump...

President Donald J. Trump Our Final Show…. LIVE Saturday (1/21) 8 AM EST On Friday, Donald J. Trump will be sworn into office as the 45th President of the United States of America. During the darkest days of the Obama administration, it was at times hard to believe that the system could be overcome. But America came together once more to elect a fiercely patriotic man who loves this country, and has vowed to “Make America Great Again!” We at the USA Transnational Report could not be happier! This Saturday, we’ll bring you the latest news about Trump’s cabinet nominees,...

One week of confirmation hearings is down -- and there are just a few more days to go before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in. With President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration just three days away, another round of his top Cabinet nominees are about to undergo their confirmation hearings in the Senate this week. As a reminder, Congress can’t officially confirm Mr. Trump’s nominees until after he’s sworn in, but senators can hold hearings to help expedite the process and get nominations ready for Inauguration Day -- which is why this coming week has such a packed schedule of hearings. Senate...

It would be easy to see the Trump-Obama transition as a mess for the president-elect. He continues to face criticism for his extraordinary breach of traditional financial disclosure norms, not only failing to release his taxes but making only the cursory moves toward separating himself from his businesses. Trump has had to contend with an imbroglio over an unconfirmed dossier assembled by his political opponents. His poll numbers are low for a president-elect, with only a minority Americans thinking his transition is going well. The mainstream media is shocked, shocked that many of Trump’s cabinet nominees oppose some of his...

Sessions, Tillerson, Pompeo, Mattis testify before Senate Trump to CNN: “You are fake news!” LIVE Saturday (1/14) 8 AM EST Trump’s future cabinet is cruising through Senate confirmation. And with the world in the state that it is, not a moment too soon. Terrorism once again strikes Israel in the form of a truck attack. Sound familiar? Of course, the widow of the terrorist is already collecting a pension courtesy of the Palestinian Authority. Yet these people allegedly want peace? In Hungary, the Orban government takes the dramatic step of targeting George Soros’s network of NGOs. Good for them –...

This was supposed to be the week President-elect Trump's nominees endured tough grilling and determined opposition in Senate confirmation hearings. "Trump Cabinet picks face extreme vetting ahead of confirmation," USA Today reported last month, predicting that several Trump picks could face a very difficult time on Capitol Hill. Now Week One is ending, and the tough grilling mostly didn't materialize. And all of Trump's first week of nominees seem headed toward confirmation. Seven Trump picks — Attorney General-designate Jeff Sessions, Homeland Security Secretary-designate John Kelly, Secretary of State-designate Rex Tillerson, Transportation Secretary-designate Elaine Chao, Defense Secretary-designate James Mattis, Housing and...

Hillary Clinton’s political career is probably over, but just because she lost the presidential election to Donald Trump doesn’t mean she wasn’t prepared to win. Axios reporter Mike Allen has revealed Hillary’s list of prospective nominees for important cabinet posts in her administration, and it includes a number of interesting choices. John Podesta, her campaign chairman who accidentally exposed his entire email account to Russian hackers, was listed as the frontrunner to be Hillary Clinton’s secretary of state. Vice President Joe Biden was reportedly also being considered for the position.Facebook executive and Lean In author Sheryl Sandberg was in line...