WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following reports that President-elect Trump’s Cabinet nominees have not yet provided the relevant Senate Committees with important documentation, such as a completed financial disclosure statement, ethics agreement signed by the Office of Government Ethics, and more ahead of their confirmation hearings, the Democratic Ranking Members of 16 Committees in the United States Senate Thursday issued the following joint statement of principles for vetting the President-elect’s nominees:
Statement of Principles for Vetting Cabinet Nominees of President-elect Donald J. Trump
“The United States Senate has a rich, bipartisan tradition of vetting nominees to the President’s Cabinet. We hope to continue that tradition with our colleagues in the Republican Majority because the American people are entitled to a fair and open consideration process for all executive nominations. Therefore, a Cabinet nomination should only proceed to a mark-up in Committee if:
- The nominee has cleared an FBI background check
- The nominee provides a completed financial disclosure statement and ethics agreement signed by the Office of Government Ethics
- The nominee has satisfied reasonable requests for additional information and Members have time to review that material.”
“Senate Democrats are right on target about this pattern of ‘slow-walking’ required submissions by Trump’s Cabinet nominees,” said Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron. “One of the most egregious examples is Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions, who has left out entire decades of his career in responding to his Senate Judiciary Questionnaire. For example, he reported no radio or print interviews before 2002 or television interviews before 1998, no records of any speeches after June 2016, and no record of half of his published op-eds, although the SJQ asks for a complete history of speeches and media hits. We fully support Senators who are insisting not only that Sessions and fellow nominees complete their applications, but that Senators then get adequate time to review the material submitted.”
