As President-elect Donald Trump prepares a return to the White House, advisers thinking about how to staff his administration are weighing the merits of stacking Trump’s future Cabinet with elected officials versus the mix of business people, political outsiders and loyalists that fill up his Rolodex, three sources engaged in discussions around the transition said.
Two sources involved in the transition process said Trump is expected to place a premium on Cabinet selections from outside of government service, as opposed to sitting lawmakers, for two reasons. He sees some of his first-term outside selections, including investor Steven Mnuchin, whom Trump appointed to lead the Treasury Department, and Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon nominated to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as more successful and more loyal than several lawmakers he plucked from Congress to serve in his administration.
Trump never forgave Jeff Sessions, the Alabama senator who became Trump’s first attorney general, for recusing himself from the Department of Justice’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Former Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., who was appointed secretary of Health and Human Services, and Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, who served as Interior secretary, were dogged by scandal over how they ran their departments and used government resources.
Trump is also wary of special elections to replace sitting lawmakers, especially in the Senate. “He doesn’t want a Roy Moore situation,” said one of the sources. Moore was the Republican nominee in the special election to replace Sessions in the Senate, which saw Democrats win a rare and dramatic victory in Alabama in 2017.
No decision is final or forecloses on the possibility that Trump will select particular members of Congress to enter his administration. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., is among those under consideration for attorney general, according to multiple sources. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is among those who have made clear they’d be ready to serve in any capacity Trump needs.
But already, a potential contender has bowed out. A prominent surrogate during Trump’s campaign, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton has conveyed that he is not interested in entering the Trump administration, according to three sources familiar with the decision. Along with Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., and Mike Pompeo, who was secretary of state and CIA director in Trump’s first term, Cotton was tipped as a top candidate to serve in a Trump administration as discussions began to pick up in the final months of the campaign.
Cotton, a senator from Arkansas, has two young children and weighed the potential impact on his family significantly in deciding to remove his name from consideration for a Cabinet post, according to a source familiar with his thinking. Cotton is running for a Senate leadership post.
As the Trump team weighs its personnel decisions, top of mind is what each pick would mean for the returning president’s agenda.
A campaign official said that pulling too many sitting lawmakers from Congress into the administration would impact Trump’s ability to get things done during his first 100 days in office.
And two sources also noted the role of Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., as someone with potential veto power over the decision-making. In a recent interview with NBC News, Trump Jr. said he would work to stop people who could hamper Trump’s agenda.
“My job is going to be taking out and stopping the people who will just slow roll — who are going to be doing the bidding of the swamp, not doing the bidding of the duly elected President of the United States,” Trump Jr. said in October.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Rubio, a prominent surrogate for Trump in the final days of the campaign, has been coy about what could come next and has said he has not spoken directly to Trump about a potential slot but made it clear he’d be open to a position if asked.
“I’m in public service. I’m not trying to play quiet,” Rubio said in an interview on the Today Show Wednesday morning. “I’m in public service, I like to serve our country.”
A source close to Rubio told NBC News that the senator is in a prime position to be selected because his lengthy public service and his recent vetting as a potential running mate to Trump would make the preparation process for an appointment short. Rubio would also have a relatively easy confirmation process because of his time in the Senate and his relationships with fellow members.
But as Trump’s team narrows the field, the calculation includes memories of how many people Trump plucked from the ranks of Congress in his first term, with the exception of Pompeo, ended up being disappointments and future political liabilities for him.
Several also threw into peril their Republican-held seats.
An adviser to Trump in 2016, Sessions was one of his earliest supporters when Trump elevated him from the Senate to run his Justice Department. Not only did the special election to replace Sessions turn into an embarrassment for the GOP, Sessions handling of his department frustrated Trump, and Session ultimately resigned the post. Trump endorsed against him when Sessions later tried to run for his old seat.
After spending lavishly on chartered flights, Price ran afoul of Trump and his promise to “drain the swamp,” ultimately forcing his resignation. The special election to replace Price also turned into a centerpiece of Democratic organizing against Trump. Though the GOP won the special election narrowly, Republicans lost Price’s congressional seat in the midterms and then watched the state turn blue in 2020.
Zinke’s tenure at the Department of the Interior was short-lived. Amid misconduct allegations, Zinke, two years in, said he would step aside. Zinke narrowly won reelection to Congress in 2022, where he eked out a 3-point win against an environmental lawyer. He won a broader re-election victory this week.
As far as Rubio and his seat are concerned, the source close to the Florida senator waved off concerns about him in the Senate, in particular given Sen. Rick Scott’s 13-point win in Florida’s other Senate seat.
