Trump praises Cabinet-in-waiting as it stirs controversy in Washington

MAR-A-LAGO, Fla. – President-elect Donald Trump heaped praise Thursday night on several members of his Cabinet-in-waiting during a gala here supporting his transition to the White House, while many of those choices were already embroiled in controversy in Washington.

And he made one new move: picking Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota and a former presidential candidate, to head the Interior Department, which manages U.S. lands and natural resources.

Earlier Thursday evening, Trump had appointed three of the lawyers from his criminal trials to top Justice Department jobs, putting them in position to oversee the federal prosecutors and agents who brought two of the cases and to argue on behalf of his administration before the Supreme Court.

But Trump, clad in a tuxedo and surrounded by supporters here after being introduced by actor Sylvester Stallone, seemed undeterred by any dust his nominations might have kicked up in the nation’s capital.

Burgum may raise fewer eyebrows than Trump’s selection of another ex-presidential rival – vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy – to head the Department of Health and Human Services. His selection drew worry and skepticism from some Democrats and public health advocates.

“I just look at the news reports – people like you, Bobby,” Trump teased from the lectern. “Don’t get too popular, Bobby. We want you to come up with things and ideas . . . I think you’re going to do some unbelievable things.”

The president-elect also singled out for praise former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, whom he nominated to be director of national intelligence, remarking that she was a former Democrat who is “loaded up with common sense.” Gabbard has been criticized for a 2017 meeting with and defending Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, an ally of President Vladimir Putin.

Trump also noted the presence of Elon Musk, the SpaceX founder and Tesla chief who has become a Mar-a-Lago fixture and self-described “first buddy,” as well as ex-presidential rival Vivek Ramaswamy. Musk and Ramaswamy have been tapped to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency designed to slash government spending.

In his own speech before Trump’s remarks, Ramaswamy thanked Trump for empowering him and Musk to facilitate the “mass deportations of millions of unelected bureaucrats.” “He doesn’t bring a chisel, he brings a chainsaw,” Ramaswamy added of Musk.

Trump appeared at an event put on by the America First Policy Institute, a think tank working to support the transition process. Attendees at the gala were given goody bags, and copies of Trump’s book “Save America” were waiting at their seats.

He used the forum to make some news in announcing Burgum as his next Cabinet pick. The governor and businessman ran against Trump in the Republican presidential primary, offering cash to small donors to help him reach the debate stage. His personal fortune comes from selling a software company to Microsoft.

Burgum dropped out in December when he didn’t qualify for more primary debates and endorsed Trump ahead of the first nominating contest in Iowa. Trump considered Burgum as one of the finalists for his running mate, along with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

The mutual kudos were a celebration at Trump’s private Florida club of the naming of a barrage of loyalists to the incoming administration’s top jobs. Some – such as Kennedy, Gabbard and Matt Gaetz, the ex-Florida House member whom Trump nominated as attorney general – drew immediate backlash in Washington, while others such as Rubio and Burgum are likely to garner less opposition.

Trump’s Cabinet appointees – as well as many other political nominations – require confirmation by what will be a GOP-controlled Senate, though they will only need 50 votes. But there was evidence on Thursday that Gaetz, at least, was struggling to reach that bar, after being the subject of an unreleased House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations that he might have engaged in sexual misconduct, illegal drug use and improper gift acceptance.

The Justice Department previously investigated, but then dropped, a probe into allegations Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct with a minor. Gaetz said these are “invented” allegations designed to “smear” him.

It wasn’t the only move the president’s team made to staff up the Justice Department. Shortly before his Florida speech, Trump said he would nominate Todd Blanche for deputy attorney general – the second-most powerful Justice Department position – and appoint Emil Bove as principal associate deputy attorney general. D. John Sauer will be nominated for solicitor general, the government’s top advocate before the Supreme Court and the fourth-highest-ranking Justice Department job.

Blanche, a graduate of American University and Brooklyn Law School, has led Trump’s defense in three of his four trials: the federal election interference case in D.C., the federal mishandling of classified documents case in Florida, and the state-level hush money and business fraud case in New York. Bove, who worked on the New York and Florida cases, will serve as acting deputy attorney general while Blanche awaits Senate confirmation, Trump said.

Blanche and Bove worked together for years as federal prosecutors in the prestigious U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York before entering private practice. When he began representing Trump, Blanche started his firm, which Bove eventually joined.

At the same time, Blanche and Bove have spent much of their careers as respected prosecutors and have never before served in politically appointed positions. They would bring a traditional prosecutor background to the job – as well as the experience of having Trump as their client.

Sauer successfully represented Trump at the high court last term, winning a ruling that grants presidents broad immunity for their official acts and essentially halted Trump’s election-obstruction case in D.C. He served as a law clerk for the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia and was solicitor general for the state of Missouri for six years.

Trump first sought legal help from Blanche in February 2023, after New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg appeared close to charging Trump for allegedly falsifying documents in connection with a 2016 hush money payment.

Blanche – then a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, New York City’s oldest law firm – had caught Trump’s attention when he helped Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, avoid state charges of mortgage fraud after Manafort was convicted at trial on similar federal counts. He had also represented Trump aide Boris Epshteyn when Epshteyn was questioned in a Justice Department investigation involving the former president.

Blanche and Bove’s strategy in Trump’s criminal cases has been to wield every possible legal tactic to dismiss or delay the cases until after the election. The strategy has been largely successful, with only the New York one going to trial before Trump was elected.

He was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up the hush money payment ahead of the 2016 election. Blanche and Bove are seeking to get that verdict overturned based on the Supreme Court immunity decision that Sauer litigated, or – if the judge does not toss the case – to push off Trump’s scheduled sentencing until after he completes his second presidential term.

Federal guidelines say that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted, and that policy likely applies to state-level cases as well, according to legal experts. That means that as a result of Trump’s election victory, the two federal cases and a Georgia state election interference case against Trump probably won’t ever go to trial.

Blanche has long wanted to have a top role in the Justice Department under a Trump administration, people familiar with those conversations have said. He clashed with Trump at times during the New York trial, but won his trust with his handling of the federal cases.

Sauer’s appearance on Trump’s behalf in April was only his second argument before the Supreme Court, but he seemed at ease as he fielded the justices questions. His assertions seemed to persuade the 6-3 majority that sided with Trump. Sauer argued that presidents from both parties would be consumed by the threat of prosecution after leaving office if the court did not ensure a measure of immunity.

“Could President Biden someday be charged with unlawfully inducing immigrants to enter the country illegally for his border policies?” Sauer asked at one point.

That depiction was picked up by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who worried about presidents going after political opponents and “a cycle that destabilizes the functioning of our country as a democracy.”

In a statement announcing his selection, Trump called Sauer, a graduate of Duke University and Harvard Law School, “a deeply accomplished, masterful appellate attorney.”

While the most visible part of the solicitor general role is presenting the government’s views at the Supreme Court, that appointee is also responsible for the department’s broader appellate strategy.

If confirmed, Sauer would have to decide whether to maintain the Biden administration’s positions in several high-profile cases before the high court this term, including on gun restrictions and gender-affirming care for minors, among other topics.

As Missouri’s solicitor general, Sauer tried unsuccessfully to get the Supreme Court to intervene on behalf of several states challenging the 2020 election results in battleground states Trump lost.

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Isaac Arnsdorf and Josh Dawsey contributed to this report.