Trump yet to fill top jobs as many fail loyalty test

February 21, 2017

Washington, Feb 21: During President Donald Trump's transition to power, his team reached out to Elliott Abrams for help building a new administration. Abrams, a seasoned Republican foreign policy official, sent lists of possible candidates for national security jobs.

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One by one, the answer from the Trump team came back no. The reason was consistent: This one had said disparaging things about Trump during the campaign; that one had signed a letter opposing him. Finally, the White House asked Abrams himself to meet with the president about becoming deputy secretary of state, only to have the same thing happen – vetoed because of the past criticism.

Abrams' experience has become a case study in the challenges Trump still faces in filling the top positions a month into his presidency.

Trump remains fixated on the campaign as he applies a loyalty test to some prospective officials. Many Republicans reacted to what happened to Abrams with dismay, leaving them increasingly leery about joining an administration that cannot get past the past.

As Trump brings candidates for national security adviser to meet with him in Florida this weekend, he presides over a government where the upper echelons remain sparsely populated.

Six of the 15 statutory cabinet secretaries are still awaiting Senate confirmation as Democrats nearly uniformly oppose almost all of the president's choices. Even some of the cabinet secretaries who are in place may feel they are home alone.

It is not just Secretary of State Rex W Tillerson who has no deputy secretary, much less Trump-appointed undersecretaries or assistant secretaries. Neither do the heads of the Treasury Department, the Education Department or any of the other cabinet departments. Only three of 15 nominees have been named for deputy secretary positions.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has a deputy only because he kept the one left over from President Barack Obama's administration.

That does not even begin to cover the rest of the more than 4,000 appointments that a president typically makes. In some cases, the Trump administration is even going in reverse. A senior political appointee at the housing department, who had started the job, was fired this past week and marched out of the building when someone discovered his previous statements critical of Trump.

The president's top Latin America official at the National Security Council was likewise fired after just weeks on the job for complaining about internal dysfunction at an off-the-record discussion at a Washington research organisation, according to officials, who confirmed a Politico report.

The State Department has laid off six top career officials in recent days, apparently out of questions about their loyalty to Trump.

“Many tough things were said about him and by him” before the last year's election, Abrams, who served as President Ronald Reagan's assistant secretary of state and President George W Bush's deputy national security adviser, said in an interview.

“I would have hoped he would have turned toward just hiring the most effective people to help him govern rather than looking back to what we said in that race.”

Trump faces other hurdles, too. With no cadre ready to go from past political service, he has been starting from scratch. His team has been slow to vet candidates, and in some cases his choices have had troubles with their business backgrounds or other matters.

And Democrats have mounted a wall of resistance to his nominations, slowing the process down.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment, but Trump has disputed reports of troubles.

“The White House is running so smoothly, so smoothly,” he told a rally of supporters in Melbourne, Florida, on Saturday. “And believe me, we inherited one big mess, that I can tell you.”

The ill will between Trump and much of the Republican establishment works both ways. Many Republicans who might have agreed to work for the president have been turned off by what they consider his sometimes erratic behaviour and the competing power centres inside his White House.

After firing his first national security adviser, Michael T Flynn, Trump found that his initial choice for a replacement, Robert S Harward, a retired vice admiral, would not take the job.

“The problem is that with each successive episode, it raises the stakes for the next one,” said Peter D Feaver, a Duke University professor who was a strategic planning adviser to Bush.

“It's going to be hard for the next outsider to accept the national security job and not request the ability to make personnel changes.”

Richard N Haass, a former Republican official and now president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said Trump had “ruled out much of an entire generation of Republican public policy types” and alarmed others with his empowerment of Stephen Bannon, his chief strategist, to shape national security. Even some cabinet secretaries appear unable to pick their own staff.

“This is unprecedented, it's untraditional, it's outside the mainstream,” said Haass, whose own name had been floated for a position.

“And so it's just that you'd be signing on for, at a minimum, tremendous uncertainty, and quite possibly for being associated with a set of policies you deeply disagree with.”

Stuart Holliday, an ambassador under Bush, said many Republicans would want to work for Tillerson or Mattis.

“However, the Republican foreign policy bench is not that deep at senior levels,” he said, “especially if you factor in people who took themselves off the field.”

Former Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said the business veterans that Trump had enlisted for his cabinet were “the most positive thing about his administration so far.”

But he added that the president's disregard for advice could complicate his efforts to fill posts.

“You get the feeling that he's still flying by his own experiences,” he said, “and that's got to concern anyone who cares about these issues.”

For Trump, the challenge is more pronounced because he and his advisers feel they cannot trust some of the senior career professionals still working at the White House or cabinet departments.

Opposition within

Leaks about Flynn and Trump's phone calls with foreign leaders have convinced White House officials that they face an opposition within.

“You have a new administration that also has a fewer people familiar with the processes and systems of government, including the importance of the vetting process,” said Max Stier, chief executive of the Center for Presidential Transition at the Partnership for Public Service.

“You can't operate as they did in the campaign context, with a smaller than usual group – it doesn't work.”

Trump's failure to vet candidates in advance has led to some stumbles. A White House scheduler was fired this past week because of an issue that surfaced in her background check, something that normally would have been completed weeks ago.

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July 2,2020

Geneva, Jul 2: The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated the overall number of coronavirus cases globally at 10,357,662, with 508,055 people having died from the disease.

The UN health agency said in the situation report published on late Wednesday that 163,939 new cases had been recorded in the past day, while further 4,188 patients had died.

Americas continue to lead the count with over 5.2 million cases, followed by Europe with more than 2.7 million.

The WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11.

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June 11,2020

Jun 11: The total death toll in the US from the novel coronavirus pandemic could hit the grim figure of 200,000 by September and expecting a dramatic decrease in COVID-19 cases in the country will be a "wishful thinking , an eminent Indian-American professor has warned.

Ashish Jha, the head of Harvard's Global Health Institute, told CNN on Wednesday that he is not trying to scare people to stay at home rather urged everyone to wear masks, adhere to the social distancing rules and called for ramping up testing and tracing infrastructure.

Anybody who's expecting a dramatic decrease in cases is almost surely engaging in wishful thinking. And if it (COVID numbers) stays just flat for the next three months, we're going to hit 200,000 deaths sometime in September and that is just awful, Jha said.

Jha said the 200,000 death toll is not just a guess . Currently 800-1000 people are dying daily in America from the virus and all data suggest that the situation is going to get worse.

We're gonna have increases, but even if we assume that it's going to be flat all summer, that nothing is going to get worse... even if we pick that low number of 800 a day, that is 25,000 (deaths) a month in three and a half months. We're going to add another 88,000 people and we will hit 200,000 sometime in September, Jha said.

The United States is by far the hardest-hit country in the global pandemic, in terms of both confirmed infections and deaths.

According to data by the Johns Hopkins University, the number of coronavirus cases in the US currently is nearly two million and about 112,900 people have died in the country, the most in the world.

When asked about an improvement in states like New York, which had been the epicenter of the COVID19 pandemic in the US, Jha said while coronavirus cases are declining in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, the numbers are increasing in states such as Arizona, Florida, Texas, North and South Carolina while the country as a whole is pretty flat.

He said, people should take measures as that will help suppress the virus and ensure people could get back outside safely but he voiced concern that this was not the situation in reality.

We're not doing that and so we're going to unfortunately have another 25,000 deaths a month until September, and then it'll keep going. It's not going to magically disappear. We've got a turn around. This is not the future I want, he said.

Jha said he had expected the situation to improve in the summer months but on the contrary the numbers have continued to rise even in the warm weather.

Summer was supposed to be our better months - warmer weather, people outside, a little less transmission. This is not the time (summer) I was expecting a lot more cases. We're seeing a lot more cases, especially in states like Arizona where the numbers look really scary, he said.

Jha added that he was hopeful that maybe the summer months would give us more of a break. I think I may have been too optimistic on that.

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July 20,2020

Islamabad, Jul 20: Six advisors of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan posses dual citizenships and several of top 20 aides have admitted of owning movable and immovable assets worth millions of dollars abroad.

The list was published on the official website of Pakistan government's cabinet division.
All the dual nationals were working as special assistants to the prime minister (SAPM). 

These people include SAPM on Overseas Pakistanis Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari (UK), SAPM on Power Division Shahzad Qasim (US), SAPM on Petroleum Nadeem Babar (US), SAPM on Political Affairs Shahbaz Gill (US), SAPM on Parliamentary Coordination Nadeem Afzal Gondal (Canada) and SAPM on Digital Pakistan Tania Aidrus (Canadian citizenship by birth).

According to Gulf News report, the wealthiest SAPM is Power Division and Mineral Resources Assistant Shahzad Syed Qasim who has assets worth over Rs 4 billion followed by SAPM on Petroleum Nadeem Babar with assets worth Rs 2.75 billion. Meanwhile, Adviser for Overseas Pakistanis Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari's net assets is estimated over Rs 2 billion.

Giving further details of the wealthiest SAPM, the official website stated that the PM's aide on Power Division and Coordination of Marketing and Development of Mineral Resources owns assets in Pakistan, UAE and US. His three properties in UAE include two villas in Jumeirah Golf Estates and Sienna Lakes, Jumeirah Golf Estates and an apartment at Park Towers, DIFC - all worth Dh20,688,000. He has three cars in the UAE worth Dh400,000 and in the US, he has property worth US$865,000 while he has Rs 4 billion in various local and foreign bank accounts and retirement funds including $2.1 million in US.

Meanwhile, Nadeem Babbar, who is Special Assistant on Petroleum Division, owns assets worth over Rs 2.7 billion, including several properties in Pakistan and abroad and stakes in more than 30 local and foreign companies.

The Gulf News further reported that in the list Dr Moeed Yusuf's, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Security Division and Strategic Policy Planning, the name was also included but was later withdrawn as it was clarified that he had the US residency and only holds the citizenship of Pakistan as per the affidavit submitted to the government. "I have not returned to the US since I took up my current responsibility, have no employment or income in the US nor do I have any millions worth properties abroad" Dr Yusuf was quoted as saying.

The latest list on PM Imran Khan's advisors possessing dual nationalities has sparked strong criticisms by the Opposition leaders.

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