- The Washington Times - Monday, December 16, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump’s iconoclastic approach to nominations isn’t just the people he is picking; it’s also the people he is looking to fire.

Mr. Trump named nominees for at least two positions that aren’t scheduled to be vacated for several years, but the president-elect said he would fill them anyway.

Commissioner Danny Werfel’s five-year tenure at the IRS has three more years, but Mr. Trump plans to install a former congressman to replace him.

At the FBI, Mr. Trump said he would seat a new director to replace Christopher A. Wray, a Trump appointment from 2017 with more than two years left on his 10-year term. Mr. Wray has bowed to the pressure and said he will resign, removing the need for Mr. Trump to fire him.

The theory behind these fixed-term appointments was to put them beyond the daily political fray.

Mr. Trump is following a different philosophy: the “unitary executive” theory of government, which has gained currency among conservatives. It holds that the president is in charge of all executive functions and must put his people in place to have accountability to voters.


SEE ALSO: Trump wants to fire federal workers who don’t return to office, calls telework deal ‘ridiculous’


That means ousting fixed-term officeholders when needed.

“Historically, there was more of a political constraint on removing someone before their term was over unless there was some bad behavior,” said David Lewis, a political scientist at Vanderbilt University who studies presidential nominations. “The political handbrake is eroding, and it may be no longer functioning.”

Staffing a new administration is always fraught with questions and challenges.

The heads of major departments go, as a matter of course, unless the incoming president explicitly asks them to stay. President Obama kept on President Bush’s defense secretary, for example. U.S. attorneys traditionally offer their resignations so the incoming president can install his preferred people as the top prosecutors in the 93 offices across the country.

Fixed-term offices are at single-head agencies such as the IRS, FBI, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Social Security Administration. The Federal Election Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Labor Relations Board also have fixed-term leaders.

Experts said Mr. Trump has been eyeing fights over some of those panels, particularly the NLRB, where Democratic appointees have a 3-2 advantage and five-year terms. Some conservatives urged the president-elect to fire members and create openings.


SEE ALSO: Trump says GOP senators with ‘unreasonable’ opposition to Cabinet picks could face primaries


The urgency of that plan dissipated this month after Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, failed to renew the term of a Democratic-appointed chair. Mr. Trump can now fill that spot, giving Republican appointees a 3-2 advantage.

Mr. Lewis said the theory behind fixed-term appointments was to insulate them from the vagaries of politics. He said Social Security checks or IRS audits shouldn’t vary depending on which party controls the White House.

“The downside of that is when you make agencies independent, they may go rogue in ways that are inconsistent with what elected officials or voters want,” Mr. Lewis said. “The president-elect feels like the FBI has gone rogue and feels like it needs to be brought to heel.”

Mr. Trump isn’t blazing new ground.

In 2017, he ousted FBI Director James B. Comey, an Obama appointee whose handling of investigations into Mr. Trump and Hillary Clinton drew condemnation and repeated rebukes by an inspector general.

Four years later, President Biden fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, whom Mr. Trump appointed.

Mr. Biden’s replacement at Social Security, Martin O’Malley, has resigned, clearing the way for Mr. Trump to install banking executive Frank Bisignano.

Mr. Trump said he would not attempt to push the issue with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, another fixed-term officeholder.

In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he signaled an understanding of the thorny issues involved in asking Mr. Powell to go.

“I think if I told him to, he would. But if I asked him to, he probably wouldn’t. But if I told him to, he would,” Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Trump has said he hopes to install former Rep. Bill Long to replace Mr. Werfel at the IRS.

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over the IRS, said Mr. Werfel has overseen significant improvements to customer service and increased audits and deserves his full five-year term.

“If Trump fires Mr. Werfel, it won’t be to improve on his work; it will be to install somebody Trump can control as he meddles with the IRS,” the senator said. “It’s public knowledge that Trump sought to sic the IRS on people he saw as political enemies during his first term. There is no reason to believe he’ll behave any differently in his second.”

The incoming president has tapped Kash Patel, who has experience as a congressional staffer at the Justice Department and on the White House National Security Council, to take over at the FBI. Democrats complain and Republicans hope that he will be a wrecking ball.

Mr. Trump named Mr. Wray in 2017 after he fired Mr. Comey. Republicans hoped Mr. Wray would restore the bureau’s reputation but have been deeply disappointed.

Mr. Wray announced this month that he would step down at the end of Mr. Biden’s tenure.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.

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