Leaked Trump transition vetting documents prove he doesn’t choose ‘only the best’ people

When he was running for president, Donald Trump often said that if he was elected, he would fill his administration with “only the best” people who would help him make the right decisions that would benefit the country.

Now, however, we know that the promise of “only the best” people was nothing more than another lie from a man who has told over 10,000 of them since taking office.

Axios received leaked vetting documents from the 2016 Trump transition team, and the pattern from them is clear: Trump surrounds himself with people as unqualified, bigoted, and cruel as he is. Take a look at what Axios found:

  • The first red flag for Rex Tillerson, who became Trump’s first Secretary of State, was about Russia. “Tillerson’s Russia ties go deep,” it read.
  • One red flag for Fox News host Laura Ingraham, considered for White House press secretary: “Ingraham said people should wear diapers instead of sharing bathrooms with transgender people.”
  • One heading in the document about Kris Kobach, in the running for Homeland Security Secretary, listed “white supremacy” as a vulnerability. It cited accusations from past political opponents that he had ties to white supremacist groups.

Another pledge Trump repeatedly made during the 2016 race (and continues to make at political rallies) is that he will “drain the swamp.” But the people he’s hired are some of the swampiest of swamp creatures:

  • Seema Verma, who Trump appointed as the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, had this paragraph near the top of her vetting form: “Verma was simultaneously advising Indiana ($3.5 million in contracts) on issues impacting how it would spend Medicaid funds while she was also being paid by a client that received Medicaid funds. Ethics experts have called the arrangement a conflict of interest that potentially put Indiana taxpayers at risk.”
  • Sonny Perdue, Trump’s pick for Agriculture Secretary, had a vetting form with sections labeled “Business conflicts of interest” and “Family conflicts of interest.” It noted that “Perdue is the owner of Houston Fertilizer and Grain, a company that has received contracts from the Department of Agriculture.”

How did the administration react to the Axios report? By telling more lies, of course. Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley remarked:

“President Trump has assembled an incredible team throughout the federal government who — in spite of 93% negative news coverage — has accomplished undeniable successes like tax cuts, record employment levels, a booming economy…rebuilding the military and crushing ISIS.”

In other words, the vetting documents are real and the administration doesn’t want to talk about it.

Featured Image Via CNN Screenshot