NATION/WORLD
Thursday, February 16, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 7A
A crush of crises all but buries the young Trump White House
By JONATHAN LEMIRE
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Less than
a month into his tenure, Donald
Trump’s White House is beset by a
crush of crises.
Divisions, dysfunction and
high-profile exits have left the young
administration nearly paralyzed and
allies wondering how it will reboot.
The bold policy moves that marked
Trump’s first days in office have
slowed to a crawl, a tacit admission
that he and his team had not thor-
oughly prepared an agenda.
Nearly a week after the admin-
istration’s travel ban was struck
down by a federal court, the White
House is still struggling to regroup
and outline its next move on that
signature issue. It’s been six days
since Trump — who promised
unprecedented levels of immediate
action — has announced a major
new policy directive or legislative
plan.
His team is riven by division and
plagued by distractions. This week
alone, controversy has forced out
both his top national security aide
and his pick for labor secretary.
“Another day in paradise,”
Trump quipped Wednesday after
his meeting with retailers was inter-
rupted by reporters’ questions about
links between his campaign staff and
Russian officials.
Fellow Republicans have begun
voicing their frustration and open
anxiety that the Trump White House
will derail their high hopes for legis-
lative action.
Sen. John Thune of South Dakota
demanded Wednesday that the White
House “get past the launch stage.”
“There are things we want to
get done here, and we want to have
a clear-eyed focus on our agenda,
and this constant disruption and
drumbeat with these questions that
keep being raised is a distraction,”
said Thune.
Sen. John McCain of Arizona
blasted the White House’s approach
to national security as “dysfunc-
tional,” asking: “Who is in charge? I
don’t know of anyone outside of the
White House who knows.”
Such criticism from allies is rare
during what is often viewed as a
honeymoon period for a new pres-
ident. But Trump, an outsider who
campaigned almost as much against
his party as for it, has only a tiny
reservoir of good will to protect him.
His administration has made uneven
attempts to work closely with
Puzder withdraws
nomination to be
labor secretary
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File
In this Jan. 28 file photo, President Donald Trump accompanied by, from second from left, Chief
of Staff Reince Priebus, Vice President Mike Pence, White House press secretary Sean Spicer and
then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn speaks on the phone with Russian President Vladimir
Putin, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington.
“There are things
we want to get done
here, and we want
to have a clear-eyed
focus on our agenda.”
— Sen. John Thune,
Republican, South Dakota
lawmakers and its own agencies.
Officials have begun trying to
change some tactics, and some
scenery, with the hope of steadying
the ship. The White House
announced Wednesday that Trump,
who has often mentioned how much
he loves adoring crowds and affirma-
tion from his supporters, would hold
a campaign-style rally in Florida on
Saturday, the first of his term.
The event, according to White
House press secretary Sean Spicer,
was being “run by the campaign”
and it is listed on Trump’s largely
dormant 2016 campaign website.
No other details were offered.
To be sure, pinballing from one
crisis to the next is not unprece-
dented, particularly for a White
House still finding its footing. But
the disruptions that have swirled
Open Your
around Trump achieved hurricane
force early and have not let up.
On Wednesday as his choice for
labor secretary, fast food CEO Andy
Puzder, withdrew his nomination
while the administration continued
to navigate the fallout from the
forced resignation of national secu-
rity adviser Michael Flynn. Flynn
was ousted on the grounds that he
misled the vice president about his
contacts with a Russian ambassador.
Flynn’s departure marked the
return of an issue Trump is not likely
to move past quickly. The presi-
dent’s relationship with Moscow
will continue to be scrutinized and
investigated, sometimes apparently
fueled by leaks from within his own
administration.
Trump on Wednesday blasted
what he called “illegal leaked”
information.
Not just leaks, but also legal
woes, have derailed Trump’s early
efforts.
After the 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals rejected his immigration
ban last week, Trump emphatically
tweeted “SEE YOU IN COURT!”
and the administration vowed that it
would re-appeal the block and either
revise its original executive order or
CD
Today...
write a new one from scratch.
But confusion soon followed.
After first indicating they would not
take a temporary restraining order to
the Supreme Court, administration
staffers squabbled audibly, behind
closed doors, over the accounts
emerging in news reports.
When the dust settled, a new
statement was printed out and
handed to journalists, stating, “to
clarify,” that all options were on the
table. But despite Trump’s vow to
have a plan in place by Tuesday, one
has not emerged.
The collapse of the ban, which
poured fuel on simmering staff
rivalries, was followed by a period
of stark inaction by a White House
suddenly put on the defensive. Trump
did sign legislation Tuesday that
rolled back a financial regulation, but
his administration has not issued any
executive orders in days.
House Republicans have been
nudging the White House to get
behind Speaker Paul Ryan’s tax
overhaul, which includes a border
adjustability plan of which Trump
has been skeptical. GOP aides
believed they were making progress,
but the matter has been overshad-
owed by the flood of controversies.
WASHINGTON (AP) —
President
Donald
Trump’s
nominee for labor secretary
abruptly withdrew his nomination
Wednesday after Senate Repub-
licans balked at supporting him,
in part over taxes he belatedly
paid on a former housekeeper not
authorized to work in the United
States.
Fast-food executive Andrew
Puzder issued a short statement
abandoning the effort, saying
he was “honored to have been
considered by President Donald
Trump to lead the Department of
Labor.”
White House spokesman Sean
Spicer declined to comment on
possible replacements, but said
late Wednesday that the White
House had seen the writing on the
wall.
“We know how to count,” he
said.
Puzder’s nomination became
part of a streak of contentious
confirmation
battles
and
haphazard White House actions,
including a botched rollout of
Trump’s executive order on
refugees and the ouster of national
security adviser Michael Flynn.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, who
would have chaired Puzder’s
confirmation hearing Thursday,
issued a terse statement saying
the nominee would have made
an “excellent” labor secretary,
but “I respect his decision” to
quit pursuing the post. Puzder
spokesman George Thompson
said his boss was a victim of “an
unprecedented smear campaign.”
What
troubled
majority
Republicans most of all was
Puzder’s acknowledgment that
he had not paid taxes on the
housekeeper until after Trump
nominated him to the Cabinet post
Dec. 9 — five years after he had
fired the worker.
Thompson said in an e-mail
that Puzder informed the White
House of the housekeeper matter
“after the nomination.” People
interviewed during the transition
period said they were not asked by
Trump’s team to provide vetting
information, raising questions
about the level of scrutiny.
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