President-elect Trump didn’t mind seeing two of his Cabinet nominees express views this week that put them at odds with him on Russia because “at the end of the day, each of them is going to pursue a Trump agenda,” transition officials told reporters on Thursday.
Secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson and defense secretary nominee Gen. James Mattis both veered from the president-elect’s positions on key foreign policy issues, including U.S.-Russia relations, during their separate confirmation hearings this week.
Tillerson, whose hearing on Wednesday lasted nine hours, told lawmakers that he favors keeping sanctions against Russia in place, even as Trump has hinted at reversing newly-imposed sanctions against Moscow once he takes office. The former Exxon Mobil CEO also disapproved of allowing some U.S. allies to acquire nuclear weapons and said developing a Muslim registry is unnecessary to keep Americans safe.
In his own hearing on Thursday, Mattis stood by Trump’s bid to thaw relations with Russia but said the U.S. must also “identify other areas where we cannot cooperate [and] confront Russia’s behavior and defend ourselves if Russia chooses to act contrary to our interests.”
“At the end of the day, each one of them is going to pursue a Trump agenda and a Trump vision,” incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters when asked if Trump was ruffled by the inconsistencies between himself and two of his top Cabinet nominees.
“I mean, I’m sure there is no one who is going to staff or serve in any administration who’s going to be 100 percent pure” in terms of agreeing with the commander in chief, Spicer said. “But at the end of the day, that’s what [Trump] wants and that’s why he chose them.”
