Senate Republicans reportedly “heavily lobbied” President Trump during the transition to nominate Senate Democrats to Cabinet positions, in the hope that they could be succeeded by Republicans — giving Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell more wiggle room in getting legislation passed.
According to Axios, citing party sources, Senate Republicans pushed Trump to nominate their Democratic counterparts in red states to cabinet spots. The theory was that once the Democrats were in the Cabinet, their successors would likely be Republicans — giving the GOP a bigger edge in the Senate.
Trump apparently rejected such advice and has nominated no Democratic lawmakers to his Cabinet so far. Axios claims this decision is partly to blame for the failure of the Senate to pass an ObamaCare repeal bill last week.
The outlet reports that the main target was Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D), who was tipped as a possibility for Secretary of Agriculture. North Dakota’s governor is a Republican (Gov. Doug Burgum) and therefore would have been able to appoint a successor.
Axios also mentioned Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) for Energy Secretary. In that instance, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice is a Democrat, but the outlet speculated that his close relationship with McConnell may have offered a “conservative replacement.”
Should Trump be interested in such an unorthodox tactic, he may get the chance soon. Bloomberg News reported that Trump is considering reshuffling his Cabinet to move current Energy Secretary Rick Perry to the Department of Homeland Security — to take the place of Gen John Kelly, who became the White House chief of staff on Monday. That would leave an opening at Energy, where Trump could nominate Manchin if he wanted.
Axios notes that any such appointments would have likely resulted in a successor who would have voted in favor of ObamaCare repeal. However, Republicans already had enough Republicans in the Senate to overhaul the law — but Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and John McCain (R-AZ) all defected from the final “skinny repeal” bill.
Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY
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