How Trump’s ‘cabinet in waiting’ has lived up to its reputation
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(WASHINGTON) — Since launching in 2021, America First Policy Institute has been known colloquially around Washington, D.C., as Donald Trump’s “cabinet in waiting” should the former president return to office. And now, as Trump’s second administration takes shape, AFPI seems poised to live up to its reputation.
Financial disclosure forms released over the past week show how people aligned with AFPI and its political arm, America First Works, are flooding into the upper echelons of Trump’s new administration.
Several Cabinet-level officials, including the incoming secretaries of education, agriculture, veterans affairs and housing, have worked for AFPI. Trump tapped the group’s president, Brooke Rollins, to lead the Department of Agriculture, and the chairwoman of its board, Linda McMahon, to run the Department of Education.
Rollins reported earning more than $1 million from AFPI in 2024, according to financial disclosures, and earned $560,000 the previous year. McMahon has not yet released her financial disclosures.
Trump’s pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, reported earning $520,000 from the group last year. John Ratcliffe and Kash Patel, Trump’s incoming directors of the CIA and FBI, respectively, served as members of the group’s American Security Team. Ratcliffe has reported earning $180,000 from AFPI in financial disclosures.
Other incoming administration officials aligned with AFPI are Lee Zeldin, selected to run the Environmental Protection Agency; Scott Turner, tapped for secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development; Doug Collins, picked for secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs; and Matthew Whitaker, Trump’s choice for U.S. ambassador to NATO.
All told, according to financial records disclosed so far — and many remain outstanding — AFPI doled out nearly $2.6 million to incoming Trump administration officials in recent years.
In its first years of operation, AFPI, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, emerged as a fundraising behemoth. According to its most recent tax forms, filed in November, the group raised roughly $30 million in 2023 and spent $23 million of that.
The Texas-based group regularly hosts forums and issues policy directives in line with the first Trump administration’s vision on foreign policy, national security, economic policy, justice reform and education. It also reportedly hosted training sessions last year for aspiring public servants in a second Trump administration.
At a women’s event hosted by AFPI in April 2024, Rollins revealed that the group has “298 executive orders drafted and ready for day one of the next president.”
Here’s a partial list of AFPI-affiliated picks and their recent earnings based on disclosure forms:
Brooke Rollins, Department of Agriculture: $1,610,000 (two years) Pam Bondi, Department of Justice: $520,000 (one year) Kash Patel, FBI: (Not filed) Linda McMahon, Department of Education: (Not filed) John Ratcliffe, CIA: $180,000 (two years) Matthew Whitaker, NATO: (Not filed) Doug Collins, Department of Veterans Affairs: $104,000 (two years) Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency: $144,999 (two years) Scott Turner, Department of Housing and Urban Development: $24,000 (one year)
(WASHINGTON) — Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio is no stranger to grilling nominees during confirmation hearings, but on Wednesday he is the one in the hot seat as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be the top U.S. diplomat moves forward.
Rubio is appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on which he’s served since 2011 and is expected to sail through the confirmation process with bipartisan backing, potentially becoming the 72nd secretary of state as soon as Inauguration Day.
But that doesn’t mean his testimony and questioning before his colleagues in the Senate won’t produce any fireworks.
Here’s what to watch for:
New territory
Rubio’s well-documented public record, along with support from colleagues on both sides of the aisle, may clear the way for lawmakers to ask the nominee more targeted questions about the foreign policy of the president he’ll serve under.
Wednesday’s hearing is set to be the first time Rubio faces extensive questioning about Trump’s territorial ambitions — and whether he would work to make them a reality as secretary of state.
“I would imagine he’s going to be deferential to the president-elect,” said Richard Goldberg, a former official at the National Security Council and Senate foreign policy adviser. “These are his policy decisions, these are the president-elect’s statements.”
“[Rubio] will hopefully articulate what the American interest is in all of these places in a circumspect way,” Goldberg, who is also a senior advisor at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, added.
On the Panama Canal, Trump has used overblown claims about China’s involvement in its operations to justify his interest in overtaking it — falsely claiming earlier this month that the waterway, which is operated by the Panamanian government, is actually run by Beijing.
But Rubio — a son of Cuban immigrants who has paid close attention to Latin America during his political career — has expressed fact-based concerns about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) influence over the Panama Canal that may resurface during the hearing.
“The Panama Canal is as an important transit route to intercept illicit activities, yet the canal is surrounded by #CCP enterprises,” he tweeted in 2022. “We must continue to make clear that Panama is an important partner & warn against CCP attempts to establish a foothold in our region.”
In early 2024, Rubio also led a bipartisan group of senators in urging the government of Panama to investigate tankers accused of smuggling Iranian through the canal.
“I think he has the experience, the depth of knowledge, and the political expertise to take any question and handle it pretty well,” Goldberg said.
Converging and contrasting views
Rubio — long known as a Russia and China hawk in the Senate — has been accused of dialing back his interventionist foreign policy approach to align with Trump’s positions and may face fresh criticism from opponents who believe he might prioritize serving as a yes man to president over serving the country.
However, on Wednesday he painted a dark picture of the future he says the U.S. is facing if Beijing goes unchecked.
“Virtually everything that matters to us in life will depend on whether China will allow us to have it or not,” he said during the hearing, noting that if the U.S. doesn’t change course on China, “we are going to live in a world where much of what matters to us on a daily basis, from our security to our health, will be dependent on whether the Chinese allow us to have it or not. That’s an unacceptable outcome.”
In the early phase of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Rubio was a staunch supporter of Kyiv’s war efforts. But over time, as Trump became a more outspoken critic of continuing American aid to Ukraine, Rubio appeared to change his position — eventually calling for a negotiated settlement to end the conflict.
“I think it should be the official position of the United States that this war should be brought to an end,” he said Wednesday. “And the question becomes, what role can we play?”
He added that there is “no way Russia takes all of Ukraine” but said it is “unrealistic” to think Kyiv can fully defeat Moscow, pointing to the dearth of Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines of the fight.
There are still many foreign policy topics where there’s still plenty of distance between Rubio and Trump. While the president-elect is a near-constant critic of NATO, Rubio co-sponsored legislation with Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine aimed at preventing any commander in chief from exiting the alliance.
“First, let me say that President Trump has appointed an ambassador nominee for NATO, which clearly indicates his role to engage in that,” Rubio responded. “Second is — the law is what it is. So it’s tough to say I’m not in support of a law that I helped to pass.”
But ultimately, Goldberg said, Rubio’s role in the incoming administration will be advising the president on foreign policy matters and then carrying out what Trump decides.
“That’s the job he’s signing up for,” Goldberg said. “Ultimately, this President Trump’s secretary of state — no one else’s.”
In his prepared opening statement, Rubio says, “Ultimately, under President Trump, the top priority of the United States Department of State must be and will be the United States.
“The direction he has given for the conduct of our foreign policy is clear. Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?” he’s expected to say.
The ‘deep State’ Department?
Rubio’s confirmation may also present an opportunity to gain insight into how he intends to lead the State Department’s roughly 77,000 employees — and whether he might attempt to purge its ranks of those he or the president-elect view as political enemies, as incoming national security Adviser Mike Waltz reportedly plans to do at the National Security Council.
In an opinion piece published in The Federalist in April 2024, Rubio said there were many government employees who “do good work, day in and day out, but expressed concern about “others who act as self-appointed “protectors” of institutions against politicians they don’t like.”
“Looking ahead to another Trump administration, it’s clear why liberal elites want to protect the ‘deep state.’ They hate Donald Trump and everything he stands for,” Rubio wrote.
(WASHINGTON) — In his farewell address, an emotional Attorney General Merrick Garland sought to encourage an embattled Department of Justice facing uncertainty and to unabashedly defend his tenure and their work.
“I know that you have faced unfounded attacks simply for doing your jobs. At the very same time, you have risked your lives to protect our country from a range of foreign and domestic threats,” Garland said. “But the story that has been told by some outside of this building about what has happened inside of it is wrong. You have worked to pursue justice — not politics. That is the truth. And nothing can change it.”
He took head-on the criticism that has been leveled at his leadership of the DOJ from both sides of the political aisle.
“But I also know that a lot has been said about this department by people outside of it — about what your job is and what it is not and about why you do your work the way you do,” he added. “I know that, over the years, some have criticized the department, saying that it has allowed politics to influence its decision-making. That criticism often came from people with political views opposite from one another, each making the exact opposite points about the same set of facts.”
Without ever mentioning President-elect Donald Trump’s name, Garland discussed the DOJ’s historic investigation of Jan. 6, which led to the now-closed prosecution of the incoming president.
“You charged more than 1,500 people for criminal conduct that occurred during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, as well as in the days and weeks leading up to the attack. You brought to justice those who kicked, punched, beat and Tased law enforcement officers protecting the Capitol that day. And you pursued accountability for that attack on our democracy wherever it led — guided only by your commitment to follow the facts and the law,” Garland said.
“Our norms are a promise to treat like cases alike — that we will not have one rule for the powerful and another for the powerless, one rule for friends and another for foes,” he said earlier in the speech.
Speaking to the over 114,000-person career workforce that will remain into Trump’s next tenure, he urged them to retain the DOJ’s independence, no matter the challenge.
“We know that only an independent Justice Department can protect the safety and civil rights of everyone in our country. And we know that only an independent Justice Department can ensure that the facts and law alone will determine whether a person is investigated or prosecuted,” Garland said. “It is the obligation of each of us to adhere to our norms even when — and especially when — the circumstances we face are not normal.”
And he was adamant that there are times when the attorney general has to have the backs of a department that will often do things that will make people angry on the Left and the Right.
“The attorney general must not just lead this department’s workforce but must respect it and, when necessary, defend it. It is the responsibility of every employee of the Justice Department to do what is right. And it is the obligation of the attorney general to have their backs when they do,” Garland said. “That is what you have done. And that is the kind of attorney general I have tried to be.”
Asif William Rahman is charged with willful transmission of national defense information, according to a court documents.
The documents are vague about what exactly he allegedly shared, but sources have confirmed that the charges are related to the leak reported widely last month — although it’s not immediately clear whether Rahman is believed to be the primary source of the leak.
On Tuesday, Rahman was arrested in Cambodia and brought to Guam, according to the charging documents.
In October, documents purporting to be Israel’s retaliation plans were leaked on the internet, possibly exposing plans for the American ally – a deep breach of national security.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters in October that they are taking the situation “very seriously.”
The New York Times was first to report on Rahman’s arrest.
