President-elect Trump’s transition team has tapped Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist who has worked on Capitol Hill, to advise them on the tough confirmation fight ahead for some of Trump’s nominees.
Bonjean will serve as a communications adviser focused on defending the president-elect’s appointments against Democratic attacks, a source at his firm Rokk Solutions confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
Politico first reported the partnership.
Bonjean has served as the lead spokesman for Republican leaders in both the House and Senate, serving as communications director to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert and to former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. In 2014, Bonjean advised the National Republican Senatorial Committee in its successful quest to wrest control of the upper chamber from Democrats.
Several of Trump’s most high-profile nominees, such as Sen. Jeff Sessions, Rep. Tom Price and Rex Tillerson, have begun to draw increasingly bitter attacks from Democrats in the Senate who will soon watch their GOP colleagues confirm the appointments.
Thanks to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Republicans need only 51 votes to confirm each of Trump’s picks, rather than the traditional 60 votes. That means Democrats, with just 48 senators, can’t block any Cabinet appointments.
However, Democrats have worked to ensure some of the controversial selections, such as Steven Mnuchin for treasury secretary, will face resistance in the form of negative press and partisan attacks on their records.
