President-elect Trump is leaning toward coal-country Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin to head the Energy Department, say sources close to the transition team.
The senator from West Virginia would be the second Democrat that Trump is reportedly considering for a Cabinet post. The Trump team formally announced Thursday that Sen. Heidi Heitkamp from oil giant North Dakota, who opposes President Obama’s climate rules and supports the development of clean coal, will be visiting with Trump in New York on Friday.
Manchin told the Washington Examiner in a statement, “If I can do anything to help my state of West Virginia, and my country, I will talk to anybody about ways to do that.” But he would not confirm if a meeting was taking place or if he has been told about a possible position in the new administration. Helping his state was Manchin’s core message last month in an in-depth interview with the Examiner.
A source with close ties to the energy discussions at Trump Tower told the Examiner to expect an announcement next week on the president-elect’s picks for the Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Still, Manchin “is being considered to show the coal people how serious Trump is about coal,” a source told Politico.
Manchin’s office denies that he will meet Trump soon to discuss joining the incoming Cabinet.
For now, Manchin is saying no one from Trump’s team has contacted him or his staff, and he has no plans to visit Trump Tower in New York. “Our office is not scheduled to meet with the Trump transition team or President-elect Trump,” Jon Kott, Manchin’s communications director, told the Examiner.
Manchin’s state is home to the Department of Energy’s premier fossil energy laboratory, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, which is considered a leader on clean coal research and development. His state is also becoming a major natural gas producer through the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
He is a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and has been in close contact with Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, a renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist who runs the agency.
