Trump makes a statement with aggressive Cabinet picks, fast-moving transition effort

The breakneck speed and diehard nature of Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks send a clear message that the Republican president-elect has an aggressive plan for major upheaval at the federal agencies his team will soon be leading, Trump allies with knowledge of the transition effort say.

Trump is filling his Cabinet at a much faster pace than other recent presidents, including when his own first term began eight years ago. He has a clear vision of what he wants now ? those with an appetite for blowing up the status quo, allies say. Critics fear he's really seeking retribution against political opponents.

The Cabinet taking shape is an unorthodox mix that includes billionaires, television personalities, outsider political figures and ultra MAGA firebrands. Trump is rewarding people who were most committed to his campaign and not taking the traditional steps to vet them, although some were scrutinized during his search for a vice presidential running mate.

The incoming president is forgoing other customary transition activities that would better prepare his administration to take over, potentially a sign of mistrust as he plots big changes. He has long criticized federal agencies and accused them of undermining his goals.

“The agenda is clear, business as usual is over,” former Trump White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said.

Some nominees' personal backgrounds have attracted negative attention and are causing Trump headaches, creating one of the more chaotic transitions in memory.

A series of potential Senate confirmation showdowns loom over getting controversial picks confirmed, like former congressman Matt Gaetz' bid for attorney general. Gaetz and Trump's nominee to lead the Defense Department, Pete Hegseth, are attracting outsized attention, allowing other nominees with baggage that might have drawn more scrutiny in years past to have an easier path.

Trump doesn’t care about the criticism of his nominees, and is focused on getting them in place, allies say.

More: Trump's takeover: Matt Gaetz to Elon Musk signal big ambition and combat ahead

The transition stands out for how clearly Trump is focused on disruption, delivering on campaign promises to overhaul law enforcement, the military, intelligence and other agencies. Trump has warred with these institutions for years.

Opponents say it is all part of Trump's plans to get back at his enemies, either by gutting their departments or perhaps seeking indictments and court-martials.

Trump "is operating with shock and awe," said Norm Eisen, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution who has written extensively on threats to democracy, arguing that the incoming president is trying to remove institutional checks on his power.

The incoming Republican president and his allies say he wants to reform a bureaucracy that has failed the American people, including attorneys general of both parties at the Justice Department.

"The bureaucrats are the ones who got us into this mess in the first place," said former Trump spokesman Hogan Gidley. "They have failed us in so many ways."

Gaetz, Trump’s most controversial pick, was arguably the most disruptive lawmaker in Congress before he resigned earlier this month just hours after his nomination became public. He led the effort to remove former GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and has irritated many Republicans with his behavior, which has regularly included criticism of lawmakers in his own party.

Gaetz has talked about firing people and eliminating entire law enforcement agencies under the Justice Department’s authority. He has been aggressive in going after Trump's critics, raising concerns that he could use DOJ to seek revenge against those the incoming president feels wronged by.

Elon Musk, the billionaire and now a top Trump adviser who will lead his effort to cut government spending, said on X that Gaetz has three "critical assets" for the attorney general's role: "A big brain, a spine of steel and an axe to grind."

Gaetz’s nomination has generated intense blowback, including among GOP senators who are noncommittal in whether they’ll confirm him. Hanging over Gaetz is a congressional ethics investigation revolving around sex-and-drug allegations.

The Justice Department investigated Gaetz over sex trafficking allegations involving a 17-year-old, but never charged him. He denies the allegations.

Hegseth, Trump's nominee for Defense secretary, faced accusations of sexual assault in 2017 and paid his accuser a financial settlement. He denies assaulting her and police did not pursue the case.

A former nanny accused Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, of sexual assault decades ago. He apologized to her in a text message and said he had no memory of the incident.

The concerns about Gaetz and other nominees aren’t dealbreakers for Trump.

“He obviously consumes a ton of media so he’s aware of concerns, but he is focused on moving forward and getting these folks confirmed,” Spicer said.

Asked Tuesday during a trip to Texas if he is reconsidering Gaetz's nomination, Trump said "no."

Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s victory gives him a “mandate” to implement his agenda and his Cabinet nominees “reflect his priority to put America First.”

"President Trump will continue to appoint highly-qualified men and women who have the talent, experience, and necessary skill sets to Make America Great Again," added Leavitt, who in January will serve as Trump's White House press secretary.

Trump's Cabinet nominees aren't getting FBI background checks, according to media reports, and the transition effort has forgone other typical procedures for the presidential handoff, including working with the General Services Administration. The transition has yet to reach an ethics agreement with the GSA, which would open the door to cooperation with the agency.

Asked for comment, a GSA spokesperson on Wednesday referred to a statement released after Trump's 2024 victory that the agency is "prepared to work with President-elect Trump's transition team."

Lawyers for the Trump-Vance transition "continue to constructively engage with the Biden-Harris Administration lawyers regarding all agreements contemplated by the Presidential Transition Act," said Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the president-elect's transition efforts, referring to the law governing the executive branch handoffs.

Reince Priebus, the first of Trump's first-term White House chiefs of staff, has spent time around the transition effort in Palm Beach. He said on ABC Sunday that criticism of Trump’s nominees is “not really penetrating there.”

“They’re pushing forward, they feel like they’ve got a mandate,” Priebus said.

Trump’s Cabinet picks shouldn’t be surprising, Priebus said. They were the people who appeared at his rallies and were beside him throughout the campaign.

They include people like Kennedy and Tulsi Gabbard, his nominee for Director of National Intelligence, who once ran for president as Democrats. Both delivered high-profile endorsements and made regular campaign appearances with Trump, helping him appeal to independent voters.

Trump also has nominated a trio of television personalities for key jobs: Hegseth, who worked as a weekend host on Fox News; Fox Business host and former Wisconsin GOP Rep. Sean Duffy to lead the Department of Transportation; and celebrity television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Other nominees include Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of State, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to lead the Interior Department and run a new National Energy Council, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security and Elise Stefanik as United Nations ambassador. Rubio, Burgum, Stefanik and Noem all were considered for the role of Trump’s running mate and campaigned with him extensively.

Trump announced 12 Cabinet picks within the first 12 days of his transition, a much faster pace of appointments than his first administration and other recent presidents.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden took nearly 40 days to make the same number of picks, according to an analysis done for Axios by David Marchick, dean of the Kogod School of Business at American University. Former President George W. Bush took more than 50 days during his transition, which was delayed by a little more than a month amid a dispute that went to the U.S. Supreme Court over Florida's final vote total.

Priebus said Trump is surrounding himself with “the most loyal people,” but Spicer said it goes beyond loyalty.

“It’s commitment to fighting for the agenda to make things happen,” Spicer said. “There’s a lot of people who are loyal to him who aren’t going to get things done.”

Trump wants people who will stand firm when the pressure mounts, he said.

"The last time, when the resistance pushed back on the agenda, he saw that a lot of people caved ... He wants people who will fight back,” Spicer said.

That could mean considerable upheaval at key federal agencies.

Jennifer Mercieca, a historian of American political rhetoric who teaches at Texas A&M University, noted Trump has campaigned for years on the idea that "American institutions are irredeemably broken and corrupted" and need to be purged. He now seems poised to act through Cabinet picks with little experience who will be "easily controlled" and act as "figureheads" with little power, she said.

"Trump's constant degradation of the government and his use of conspiracy lies to turn people against the government have worked to give him permission to destroy the government as it now stands," Mercieca said.

Trump has spent a lot of time in courtrooms in recent years and feels mistreated by the legal system, Priebus noted in discussing why he's targeting federal law enforcement. The now president-elect was indicted in four different criminal cases, including two cases brought by the Department of Justice over Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election and allegations he mishandled classified documents.

“He feels like he’s gone to hell and back ten times. So this is also a big middle finger to the DOJ and the FBI,” Priebus said.

Trump's transition has some predicting a presidency that takes American democracy in troubling direction.

Eisen said Trump is trying to emulate one of his supporters, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Orban gained and kept power by "hollowing out the institutions which serve to limit the absolute power of a tyrant," and dismantle a variety of rights, freedoms, and protections, said Eisen, a lawyer who counseled Democrats during Trump's first impeachment.

Trump, Eisen said, "wants to escape from those limits."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Inside Donald Trump's chaotic, controversial, aggressive transition