Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On President-Elect Trump’s Unqualified Cabinet Nominees

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor to address the unqualified Cabinet nominations put forth by President-elect Trump and discussed his meeting yesterday with President-elect Trump’s nominee for CIA Director, John Ratcliffe. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

If one thing is clear from this week’s Cabinet hearings, it’s that Donald Trump is not building a Cabinet to serve the American people – he’s building a Cabinet to serve the special, big, powerful interests.

The American people deserve to know if the President-elect’s nominees will bring costs down and protect America, or cut sweetheart deals for the most well-off Americans, while making America less safe.

Yesterday, I met with John Ratcliffe, the President-elect’s nominee for CIA Director. I raised my concerns about some of his positions, and challenged him to be rock-ribbed when it comes to the integrity of the CIA, a place where facts, not lies, must prevail, for the security of America.

I also told Mr. Ratcliffe about my very grave concerns regarding the nomination of Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, because I believe her tenure could be colossally disruptive to our intelligence agencies, where so many thousands work so hard and many risk their lives to protect us.

I told Mr. Ratcliffe that I thought it would be best if he told President-elect Trump that Tulsi Gabbard should not have the job. I also told Mr. Ratcliffe that he need to be rock-ribbed and strong, when she presents falsities about intelligence, which given her past, she almost will inevitably do.

Unfortunately, I found his answers about Ms. Gabbard to be insufficient.

Candidly, the truth is that many of the President-elect’s nominees are just not fit for the job, not just Ms. Gabbard.

As we continue with hearings next week on important positions like UN Ambassador, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of the Army, Democrats will continue to hold the President-elect’s nominees’ feet to the fire, to show the American people who Donald Trump’s nominees are really fighting for.

Will Donald Trump’s nominees focus on cutting costs, or will they be more interested in cutting sweetheart deals for big businesses?

Will they protect our communities, or will they focus more on protecting special interests?

Will they serve middle-class and working families, or will they serve the swamp?

It seems all too likely the wrong answer on each of these questions might be very, very real.

Should the time come that some of these nominees fail on the job – which, given their lack of qualifications, sadly seems likely – Democrats will continue to make it clear that there were red flags all along.

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