US President-elect’s cabinet line-up faces challenges

The President elect is facing difficulties in having his invitations to join his administration accepted by the well experienced. He has not finalized his cabinet line-up details.

US President elect Donald Trump is expected to choose at least 4,000 people to serve the new administration, including the top rankings at the White House. Key positions such as the Secretaries of State and Defense as well as the US Treasurer have not been identified.

Mr. Trump has met the 2012 Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The meeting could result in Mitt Romney being named Secretary of State. Although Romney stated that his meeting with the President elect was complete and in depth, he refused to comment on a possible offer from Trump. 

Earlier on November 17, the NBC News quoted sources as saying that Mr. Trump has selected his former rival his Secretary of State despite Romney had scathingly criticized Trump during the campaign race.

On November 18, Donald Trump chose Alabama Senator, Jeff Sessions, for attorney general, House of Representative for Kansas, Mike Pompeo, for CIA Chief and retired general, Michael Flynn, for national security advisor.

Mr Sessions, 69, served as a high ranking member of the US Senate Committee for the Armed Services. He was known as the closest ally and most persistent during Mr Trump’s presidential campaign. 

The Senator strongly opposed illegal immigration, prioritized budget reduction and pushed for hard-line stances on crimes. 

In 1986, his nomination to become federal judge was blocked by congressional opposition due to his racial comments.  

Flynn, 57, was the former Chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2012 to 2014. 

During Mr Trump’s Presidential campaign, Flynn served as his advisor in national security issues. In the army, he was known as a sharp and candid intelligence general. 

Following his retirement in 2014, Flynn became a strong critic of Obama Administration in global issues and its campaign against IS.

Pompeo, 52, was a conservative Republican senator and a member to United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He criticized harshly the US signing of a nuclear deal with Iran. Pompeo earned a law degree from the Harvard School and graduated from West Point. 

For Donald Trump, running the White House is far from a corporate experience while he took the highest political position in the US without politician background.