Yesterday’s news that former national security advisor Michael Flynn belatedly registered as a “foreign agent” after having been paid $530,000.00 for work carried out for a firm linked to the Turkish government points the spotlight on how the Oval Office chooses its nominations for important positions.
White House
The admission yesterday by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer that President Donald Trump did not know that Michael Flynn was a “foreign agent” offers proof that the Oval Office does not carry out thorough checking of its nominees.
Michael Flynn had been forced to resign in February due to his contacts with Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s Ambassador to the United States.
While the ostensible reason for the resignation was his having lied to Vice President Mike Pence about the contents of these discussions, specifically the sanctions placed on Russia by the Obama Administration, the revelation of his new status displays a worrying low level of control by the White House of its nominations for important positions.
This week’s news reported in the Guardian that Heather Wilson may withdraw from consideration as the new Air Force Secretary due to possible ethics reasons following the previous withdrawals by Vincent Viola for the Army and Philip Bilden for the Navy for the same reasons only confirm this impression of incomplete background checks before their names are even considered.
Surprises
The new Administration has had what can only be described as an unorthodox, stormy and controversial start, adding to the mix suspect nominations only creates more confusion that is impeding proper government of the country.
In his tweets President #Donald Trump states that his staff and Administration are running smoothly, yet there are nearly three thousand positions yet to be filled and a shadow still hangs over Attorney General #Jeff Sessions over his own contacts with Russian Ambassador.
This is not the picture of a well oiled machine at work, but of one missing quite a few pieces. The country can only hope that when the pieces are finally inserted that they have been properly checked and certified as suitable for their role and that they do not become other sources of unpleasant news in the future.
The United States has already seen too many surprises since the Inauguration on January 8th. We can all hope that there will not be any more in at least the immediate future, beginning in the White House.
