Trump avoids ‘you’re hired’ with acting appointments

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

As President Donald Trump looks to reshape the executive branch, he’s avoiding the words “you’re hired.”

Trump’s choice of Kevin McAleenan as acting replacement for Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen spotlights the president’s increasing reliance on a once-obscure federal statute that governs how to fill vacant federal posts. It also raises fresh questions about his reliance on temporary appointments for key security roles. The reality-star president, who once made staff churn into prime-time television, has overseen massive turnover in just two years in office. But he’s shown little concern for creating uncertainty about the leadership of some of the country’s most important agencies.

Disordered departures have become the rule in the Trump administration, with aides and even Cabinet officials pushed out at a record pace, often with no clear replacement plan in place. And when he does have a plan, Trump has made a habit of taking the creative route, going around in-place deputies to select other officials he believes are more loyal or amenable to his agenda.

Officials with “acting” titles abound in key roles, from the secretary of defense to the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and even the White House chief of staff. And when Linda McMahon’s resignation as Small Business Administrator takes effect later this week, that agency will be led by yet another acting official. Trump has announced his intention to nominate Jovita Carranza, the current treasurer of the United States, for the role.

The Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 gives a president wide berth to fill openings across the executive branch and he’s used it without restraint to re-jigger the succession plans of the Departments of Justice and Veterans Affairs.

But in selecting McAleenan, Trump will have to go even further. The agency’s undersecretary of management, Claire Grady, is technically next in line for the job. She will need to resign – or more likely be fired – in order for McAleenan to assume the acting position under the act.

Allowing individuals to fill roles in an acting capacity allows the White House to avoid Senate confirmation battles. Trump has seen several high-profile nominations founder, and others that have become distracting political fights.

“I like acting. It gives me more flexibility. Do you understand that?” Trump said in January, facing questions about acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.

“I like acting. So we have a few that are acting. We have a great, great Cabinet.”