Nearly half of Trump's Cabinet is now 'acting'

Trump and his "acting" Cabinet
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

President Trump starts 2019 with a bunch of new faces in his Cabinet, though almost all of them have "acting" appended to their titles. At a rambling, televised 95-minute Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal notes, Trump was surrounded by Acting Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, and Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.

Some of the acting officials have been acting for a while, like Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, who's nearing the end of his allowed 210 days as acting EPA chief. Others, like Bernhardt, took over more recently; his predecessor, Ryan Zinke, left his office Wednesday after writing an official resignation note in red Sharpie. The rules about how long someone can serve in an acting capacity are kind of complicated, but you can puzzle through them at Lawfare.

Subscribe to The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.