Page 12A
NATION
East Oregonian
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Recounts loom; Trump fills more roles
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Presi-
dent-elect Donald Trump pressed forward
Friday with two more administration
picks, as failed Green Party candidate Jill
Stein took new steps to force recounts
across key Midwestern battlegrounds
that could complicate Trump’s push for
national unity.
Stein, who earned little more than
1 percent of the national vote, formally
requested a Wisconsin recount Friday
afternoon, vowing to do the same in the
coming days in Michigan and Pennsyl-
vania. There is no evidence of election
tampering in the states where Trump
scored razor-thin victories, but Green
Party spokesman George Martin insisted
“the American public needs to have
it investigated to make sure our votes
count.”
“We’re doing this to ensure the integ-
rity of our system,” he said.
Trump’s team ignored questions about
the looming recounts. Set to assume the
presidency in 55 days, he was focused
instead on the daunting task of building
an administration from scratch.
Gathered with family at his Mar-a-
Lago Palm Beach estate for the holiday
weekend, the incoming president made
two senior-level staff appointments and
scheduled meetings with several more
prospective administration officials.
He tapped Fox News analyst Kathleen
Troia “KT” McFarland to serve as deputy
national security adviser and campaign
attorney Donald McGahn as White
House counsel. In a statement, Trump
cited McFarland’s “tremendous experi-
ence and innate talent” and said McGhan
“has a brilliant legal mind, excellent
character and a deep understanding of
constitutional law.”
Having faced criticism about the inex-
perience of his initial picks, Trump finds
in McFarland someone who previously
worked under three presidents, although
none since Ronald Reagan. McGhan,
a veteran Republican election lawyer,
served as Trump’s attorney during the
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File
In this Nov. 19 file photo, President-elect Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos
pose for photographs in Bedminster, N.J. Trump has chosen charter school
advocate DeVos as Education Secretary in his administration.
campaign.
Trump transition spokesman Sean
Spicer said the president-elect scheduled
Monday meetings with eight more
prospective administration hires, a group
that includes several business leaders,
Pennsylvania Rep. Lou Barletta, and
David Clarke, the Wisconsin sheriff who
is an aggressive opponent of the Black
Lives Matter movement.
Facing external pressure from Stein,
there were also signs of internal discord
within the president-elect’s small inner
circle as Trump weighed his choices for
secretary of state.
The options for the nation’s chief
diplomat include former New York City
Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who lacks foreign
policy experience but was intensely
loyal to Trump, and 2012 Republican
presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who
aggressively opposed Trump’s candidacy
but is largely regarded as more qualified.
Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne
Conway took the unusual step of shining
light on the controversy over the Thanks-
giving holiday, tweeting that she had
been “receiving a deluge of social media
& private concerns re: Romney Some
Trump loyalists warn against Romney as
sec of state.”
Meanwhile, Stein announced on her
website she has raised enough money to
fund recounts in Wisconsin and Penn-
sylvania and was pursuing additional
funding to do the same in Michigan.
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton
leads the national popular vote by close
to 2 million votes. Trump scored narrow
victories in key battleground states,
however, giving him the necessary 270
electoral votes to assume the presidency.
He won in Pennsylvania. He won
in Wisconsin, breaking a Democratic
winning streak dating back 32 years. He
holds a slim lead in Michigan, where a
Republican presidential candidate hadn’t
won since 1988.
Oil pipeline: Trump’s
stock in company
raises concern
WA S H I N G T O N
(AP) — President-elect
Donald Trump holds stock
in the company building
the disputed Dakota
Access oil pipeline, and
pipeline opponents warn
that Trump’s investments
could affect any decision
he makes on the $3.8
billion project.
Concern about Trump’s
possible conflicts comes
amid protests that unfold
daily along the proposed
pipeline route. The dispute
over the route has intensi-
fied in recent weeks, with
total arrests since August
rising to 528.
Trump’s most recent
federal disclosure forms,
filed in May, show he
owned between $15,000
and $50,000 in stock
in Texas-based Energy
Transfer Partners. That’s
down from between
$500,000 and $1 million a
year earlier.
Trump also owns
between $100,000 and
$250,000 in Phillips 66,
which has a one-quarter
share of Dakota Access.
While Trump’s stake
in the pipeline company is
modest compared with his
other assets, ethics experts
say it’s among dozens of
potential conflicts that
could be resolved by
placing his investments in
a blind trust, a step Trump
has resisted.
The Obama admin-
“ WE BEAT
MY CANCER
TOGETHER.”
CAROLYN OLSEN – BEND, OREGON
It was just before Christmas in 2008 when Carolyn Olsen of Bend spoke to her
doctor. The news was bad: multiple myeloma, a cancer that attacks blood cells.
Treating it meant traveling to OHSU. She’d have to be away from home for months.
But she knew she could not be away from Dennis, her husband. Throughout her
treatment, he was always with her. Reading to her, giving support, being there.
According to Carolyn, being together made all the difference.
“ The new OHSU guest house will be very
important, not just for patients, but also
To help others like Carolyn and Dennis, we’re building the Gary & Christine Rood
Family Pavilion, a new five-story guest house on Portland’s South Waterfront. Where
children and adults, facing the most serious health crises, can rest, heal and support
each other. Because people heal better when loved ones can be close.
Please make a gift today. Help OHSU build a new home for healing.
OnwardOHSU.org/HomeForHealing
ONWARD // THE CAMPAIGN FOR OHSU
for their loved ones. So together you can
concentrate on getting well.”
– CAROLYN OLSEN
istration said this month
it wants more study
and tribal input before
deciding whether to allow
the partially built pipeline
to cross under a Missouri
River reservoir in North
Dakota.
The delay raises the
likelihood that a final
decision will be made
by Trump, a pipeline
supporter who has vowed
to “unleash” unfettered
production of oil and gas.
He takes office in January.
“Trump’s investments
in the pipeline business
threaten to undercut faith
in this process — which
was already frayed — by
interjecting his own
financial well-being into
a much bigger decision,”
said Sharon Buccino, a
director at the Natural
Resources
Defense
Council.
Trump holds ownership
stakes in more than 500
companies worldwide. He
has said he plans to transfer
control of his company to
three of his children, but
ethics experts have said
conflicts could engulf
the new administration if
Trump does not liquidate
his business holdings.
Trump provided a
statement: “We are in the
process of vetting various
structures with the goal
of the immediate transfer
of management of The
Trump Organization.”