President-elect Donald Trump’s team is ordering cabinet nominees to cease all social media posts ahead of their confirmation hearings, according to reports.
The New York Post first reported this directive, noting that Susie Wiles, Trump’s former campaign manager and incoming chief of staff, sent out the order on Sunday. In the memo, she also noted that none of the nominees speak for Trump.
“While this instruction has been delivered previously, I am reiterating that no member of the incoming administration or Transition speaks for the United States or the President-elect himself,” Wiles wrote, urging nominees to “refrain from any public social media posts without prior approval of the incoming White House counsel.”
The Post confirmed that nominees seem to have been adhering to the ask, which was delivered December 29:
Those who could face tough questioning — such as former Democrats like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, tapped to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of National Intelligence, respectively — have also quieted down since Christmas.
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The Senate confirmation hearings begin in January. Article II Section 2 of the Constitution reads [emphasis added]:
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.
For example, Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense — who has come under a range of smears from critics — has his confirmation hearing scheduled for January 14, six days ahead of Trump’s inauguration.
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