All articles tagged with #cabinet appointments and nominations
President Trump is expected to nominate Heidi Overton, a top aide at the White House’s Domestic Policy Council, to be the next FDA commissioner, replacing Marty Makary who resigned in May. The nomination would require Senate confirmation, and Kyle Diamantas is currently serving as acting FDA chief.
The Senate narrowly confirmed Todd Blanche, President Trump’s former criminal-defense lawyer, as attorney general in a 50-49 vote, giving him a full term at the Justice Department amid vacancies and ongoing controversy surrounding the department.
Sen. Bill Cassidy said he will vote to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general, giving President Trump’s pick the last expected GOP vote needed to win Senate approval, even as Lisa Murkowski and other Republicans express opposition over concerns about Blanche’s handling of an IRS deal and DOJ politicization.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche formally rescinded the Trump-era plan for an $1.8 billion fund meant for people who claim political prosecutions, as part of a deal to advance his Senate-confirmed nomination to head the Justice Department, after Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis threatened to oppose the nomination without concessions.
President Trump announced Nicole Saphier, a radiologist and Fox News contributor, as the new surgeon general, ending Casey Means’s nomination after nearly a year of stalled confirmation amid Republican concerns about her credentials. Saphier is Trump’s third choice for the post and was praised by the president as an effective communicator; Means’s nomination had faced scrutiny and delays in the Senate.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, President Trump’s pick to head the Department of Homeland Security, has highlighted overseas “special assignments” and Afghanistan experiences to justify his qualifications, but offered few concrete details ahead of his confirmation hearing; his spokeswoman says he was doing mission work and joining congressional trips, leaving lawmakers to scrutinize his national-security credentials and overseas background.
Gen. Joshua M. Rudd was confirmed as the head of the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command, ending nearly a year of leadership limbo and placing a career Special Operations commander in charge of the nation’s largest spy agency and its offensive cyber arm.