Most Freepers may not know this, but in many of these cases the nominee's name hasn't even been formally submitted to the Senate for confirmation yet.
There was a months-long delay in the appointment process for the U.S. ambassador to Great Britain in 2017. Robert Wood Johnson -- the heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune and neighbor of Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey -- was named to this post in early 2017, but his nomination wasn't even submitted to the Senate for months because his immense wealth made his background check so complicated and time-consuming.
Here’s a running tally, including by department:
And here’s a summary explanation:
“As of 2016, there were around 4,000 political appointment positions which the incoming Trump administration needed to review, and fill or confirm, of which 1,212 required Senate confirmation.[1][2] The Washington Post has identified 705 key positions requiring U.S. Senate confirmation. As of September 7, 2018, 364 of Trump’s nominees for key positions had been confirmed, 181 were awaiting confirmation, and 7 had been announced but not yet formally nominated,[3] a total of 552 positions. Trump has said he intends not to fill many of the positions.[4] The rules of the Senate require that when the Senate expires (in the case of the 115th Congress, at noon on January 3, 2019), nominations then pending lapse and are returned to the president, who can resubmit them to the new Congress.[5]”
Political appointments by Donald Trump