Treasury and Other Trump Nominees, Fluoride Policy in Florida
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Who has been nominated for Treasury Secretary?
President-elect Donald Trump has announced his choice for Treasury Secretary.
Scott Bessant, a hedge fund manager, will be expected to try to sell Trump's populism to Wall Street.
I'm Ayesha Roscoe.
And I'm Scott Simon, and this is Up First from NPR News. Scott Bessant once had ties to Democrats, but has emerged as a key Trump advisor in the past year.
He's defended tariffs, which many in the business community oppose.
What are Scott Bessant's ties to Trump?
Plus Trump's nominees for several other top positions.
And Florida's Surgeon General urges communities to stop adding fluoride to their drinking water.
What is Florida's Surgeon General's stance on fluoride?
That's despite decades of research that shows the mineral helps prevent tooth decay.
Stay with us. We have the news you need to start your weekend. One top Trump nominee for a cabinet position has withdrawn.
But the president-elect has put forth a replacement.
And he's named picks for many other offices at a rapid rate, all with plenty of time before inauguration.
NPR senior editor and correspondent Ron Elving joins us. Ron, good to have you.
What cabinet positions are still open after nominations?
Good to be with you, Scott.
Several cabinet nominations last night, Treasury, Labor, Moore. Which name stood out to you?
Treasury is the crown jewel in this collection. It's one of the original four cabinet positions, all the way back to George Washington choosing Alexander Hamilton. Trump has chosen billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Besant. Most people have not heard of him, but that's going to change. He's going to be in charge of imposing tariffs that Donald Trump insists he wants to have on foreign goods, especially from China. And he'll also be pushing the renewal of Trump's tax cuts from 2017, which are about to expire at the end of 2025. The new boss at the Office of Management and Budget is Russell Vogt. Not a surprise. He had the job for a while in the first Trump term. He's one of the prime authors of the Project 2025 agenda. That's what the Conservative Heritage Foundation produced as a blueprint for a second Trump term. Trump himself disavowed that document many times during the campaign, but we've already seen some of its authors entering his new administration.
And vote in particular will be in a key position to change the way the federal government does business.
What about labor secretary?
Lori Chavez de Riemer is a Republican member of the House from Oregon who just lost her reelection bid earlier this month, so she will be available in January. She had the backing of Teamsters President Sean O'Brien and was seen as the most pro-labor of the prospects for this job. You may remember O'Brien addressing the GOP convention last summer. and Housing and Urban Development. Scott Turner was in the first Trump White House. He was director of the Opportunity Revitalization Council there. His job was helping attract business investment to depressed urban areas. Before that, he played for several teams over a nine-year career in the National Football League.
Matt Gaetz this week pulled himself out of consideration for attorney general. Of course, he was the subject of a prolonged House Ethics Committee investigation with very serious allegations, including sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, obstructing government investigations. What does his decision to remove himself from the process tell us now?
For the moment, it suggests there is a limit to what Trump can demand from Republicans, even in this, his moment of maximum triumph. Gates said he stepped out so as not to be a distraction, but it's widely reported Trump called Gates the morning he withdrew and told him the votes just weren't there in the Senate to confirm him. But we don't know if this Gates case was a one-off or if it established some kind of precedent by which the Senate will try to push back Again, Trump quickly replaced Gates with former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. They have a political connection going back a decade and more. She was mentioned for this job eight years ago, and she was on Trump's defense team during his first impeachment trial. The Washington Post is reporting that Trump plans to have Bondi clean out all the justice attorneys who built the criminal cases against him.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
Who has been nominated for Treasury Secretary?
0:02–0:30
2
What are Scott Bessant's ties to Trump?
0:30–0:38
3
What is Florida's Surgeon General's stance on fluoride?
0:38–1:17
4
What cabinet positions are still open after nominations?
1:17–9:44
5
How does Scott Bessant plan to address tariffs?
9:44–13:42
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from Up First from NPR
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