Differences in opinion between Donald Trump and his Cabinet “will all get straightened out” once the next administration takes over, the president-elect told reporters on Friday.
Several of Trump’s Cabinet appointees faced confirmation hearings in the Senate this week, during which some expressed views that put them at odds with the incoming Republican president. The glaring policy breaks on issues like Russia, torture, NATO and immigration prompted a spate of unfavorable headlines for the president-elect and his team.
“10 Times Trump Picks Broke With Him This Week,” wrote NPR.
“Trump’s Cabinet picks aren’t standing by some of his controversial opinions – or even discussing them,” added the Los Angeles Times.
“Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees … have one after another contradicted the president-elect on key issues, promising to trim back or disregard some of the signature promises on which he campaigned,” said the Washington Post.
Trump, however, dismissed concerns that members of his Cabinet hold starkly different views on issues that will shape his administration’s foreign and domestic policy. In fact, he said, “I told them, ‘Be yourself and say what you want to say. Don’t worry about me.'”
The president-elect said he personally encouraged his nominees to stay true to their own convictions and the rest “will all get straightened out.”
“We want them to be themselves,” he said. “I’m going to do the right thing, whatever it is. I may be right, they may be right. But I said, ‘Be yourself.'”
“I could have said, ‘Do this, say that,’ [but] I don’t want that,” he noted. “I want them all to be themselves.”
Trump’s picks for secretaries of defense, state, transportation and housing and urban development, as well as his CIA director and attorney general all appeared before Senate committees this week. Nominees for the education, energy and commerce departments are set to appear for confirmation hearings next week.
