How carefully is Trump's team vetting his Cabinet nominees?

Donald Trump and his aides are reportedly speeding through the vetting process for top political nominees, marking a break with past presidential transition teams that have sometimes put months into the effort of digging up nominees' possible black marks. "You would think that these people have been in public life and under scrutiny for so long that there wouldn't be anything to find," a person who served on George W. Bush's transition team explained to Politico. "But sometimes there are surprises."

In the past, transition teams have tried to preempt discovering flaws in a candidate's history before announcing the nomination; President Obama's vetting document, for example, included 63 detailed questions including inquiries about candidates' social media posts. Trump, on the other hand, is reportedly relying on recommendations and forgoing lengthy paperwork — and he could already be behind on initial vetting after the removal of Gov. Chris Christie from the head of his transition team.

A heavy amount of the vetting could now come down on the federal government, including the FBI and the Office of Government Ethics. "OGE was like an appellate court [during Obama's transition]. It sounds like now they're more like a trial court," a lawyer closely tracking the transition told Politico. "I think it's been a big burden on OGE."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The Republican Senate is still expected to approve Trump's nominees without much complaint. Read more about Trump's vetting process, and what potential surprises could be in store, at Politico.