White House insiders have spoken out about the behind-the-scenes carnage that’s seen more of Donald Trump’s political nominations fail than those of any other president since the early 1980s.
“Would I say some vetting has been questionable? One thousand percent,” one official close to the Oval Office told Politico on Monday, describing Paul Ingrassia’s nomination for Office of Special Counsel chief in particular as “a vetting nightmare that was only allowed to happen based on certain relationships and acquaintances with people that are making the decisions.”
Ingrassia, whose mother had lobbied hard for him to be given the gig, withdrew his nomination last month after top Republicans said they’d no longer vote to confirm him following a leak of text messages in which the White House aide described himself as having something of a “Nazi streak.”
Analysis in the weeks since has shown that Trump, with more than two months still to go in the first year of his second term, has withdrawn more nominees since January than any other U.S. president in the past 44 years, going all the way back to when Ronald Reagan first assumed office.
The total now stands at 57 pulled nominations, more than twice the number Trump pulled in the first 12 months of his first term and just under double those pulled by Joe Biden in 2020.
Reflecting on such a high rate of failure, Republican Sen. John Kennedy told the outlet: “It would appear that some nominees haven’t been vetted, and… somebody says, ‘Go with them anyways.”
But infighting has also apparently played a role.
A Senate aide with first-hand knowledge told Politico that in a number of cases, hats had been withdrawn from the ring because of disputes between warring factions within the administration.
A second source at the White House said the president’s personnel office had been forced to strengthen the process for carrying out background checks on political nominees.
That source said “not all of these nominations were done so in good faith” under former director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office Sergio Gor, who’s since been confirmed as the U.S. Ambassador to India.
It’s now on Gor’s successor, Dan Scavino, to ensure that fewer names end up getting pulled. “I think Dan is a little bit wiser and less inclined to give out jobs like candy to people who haven’t earned them or would not pass vetting,” that source said.
Sen. Thom Tillis and Sen. Mike Rounds both expressed “surprise” at the number of failed nominations during Trump’s first year in office, per Politico, with Tillis suggesting the sheer pace of nominations was likely what had resulted in reckless vetting.
“Obviously, when you move more quickly and you’ve got new folks in play, then you are going to run into people who have lifestyle issues,” he said.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment. A spokesperson told Politico the president is “nominating the most talented patriots to successfully carry out his America First agenda,” and that “under President Trump’s leadership, these appointees are delivering on his core campaign promises in record time.”
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