Three Trump Nominees May Be In Trouble

It looks like three Trump nominees for cabinet positions may be in trouble – Andy Puzder, Betsy DeVos, and Tom Price. Puzder is already reported to be looking to back out and information about Price and DeVos seem to comes out daily that compromises those candidates more and more.

Already, Monica Crowley has withdrawn from consideration for a communications position at the National Security Council after it was revealed that large parts of her Ph.D. thesis was plagiarized as was portions of her 2012 book.

Puzder is reportedly not happy with the financial disclosures he will have to make and the amount of heat he is getting now that some of his positions toward employees are being exposed. He was already carrying baggage from accusations of domestic abuse documented in at least three instances. In addition, his companies have settled lawsuits for millions of dollars in cases where employees were cheated out of earnings. According to a Republican source, “He may be bailing. He is not into the pounding he is taking, and the paperwork.” Other sources say Trump is pushing Puzder to stay the course, saying, “Trump loves it and wants the fight.” One serial domestic abuser to another…

Meanwhile, Betsy DeVos is already in hot water for blatantly violating campaign finance laws while leading a PAC supporting school vouchers. After getting a ruling from the elections commission in Ohio that the PAC could only contribute $10,000, DeVos ignored that ruling and spent over $850,000. When she was caught for violating the campaign finance law, she initially refused to pay the over $5 million fine imposed and then eventually dissolved the PAC without paying the fine. Now it has come to light that DeVos gave monetary support to a group, the Acton Institute, that encourages child labor. Devos also served on the organization’s board for a decade. The Institute is “dedicated to the study of free-market economics informed by religious faith and moral absolutes.” Yes, absolutism will fit in nicely in a Trump administration. A recent post by the Institute originally entitled “Bring Back Child Labor: Work is a Gift Our Kids Can Handle”, declared, “In our policy and governing institutions, what if we put power back in the hands of parents and kids, dismantling the range of excessive legal restrictions, minimum wage fixings, and regulations that lead our children to work less and work later?…Let us not just teach our children to play hard and study well, shuffling them through a long line of hobbies and electives and educational activities. A long day’s work and a load of sweat have plenty to teach as well.” Nice. That will certainly take care of the problems in public education – send them to work instead.

Lastly, Tom Price seems to have had difficulty in not mixing his legislative efforts with the stock holdings in his portfolio. It had already been disclosed that he had traded in up to forty stocks of companies who had legislation potentially effecting them under consideration by the House Budge Committee which Price chaired. Now it has come out that Price purchased shares in a medical device manufacturer just days before introducing legislation that directly benefited the company. Later, Price sent a letter to the agency responsible for a ruling that would effect that same device manufacturer. In the letter, Price asked for a delay which would have benefitted the company. Two days later, he received a campaign donation from the device manufacturer’s PAC. It seems pretty clear that the purchase of shares directly before introducing legislation is a violation of the STOCK Act that prohibits Congress and the executive branch from essentially insider trading. And the timing of the campaign donation certainly looks like “pay to play”. Price has vowed to divest his stock holds if he is confirmed as HHS Secretary, but that is simply normal procedure for all cabinet officers and the executive branch (until Trump came along). And that divestiture does not offset the fact that Price quite probably broke the law by violating the STOCK Act.

I’m sure Trump and the GOP will still try to ram these nominees through. But it does show that constant vigilance and continual pressure on the GOP will reap some rewards.