Trump nominee prep: 30 mock hearings, 70 hours, 2,600 questions

Four of his picks for Cabinet jobs — transportation, state, justice and homeland security — appear to have have ably handled their confirmation hearings and three more — housing, defense and the CIA — are expected to clear hurdles Thursday.

Should they all win confirmation, as expected, it would equal the speed that President Obama’s cabinet was approved in 2009.

“President-elect Donald Trump continues to be impressed with the outstanding performances from his cabinet nominations that have testified before the Senate,” incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer told Secrets.

“Despite intense scrutiny at times, they have all proven themselves to be true leaders that America can count on to help lead this country,” he added.

Only Sen. Jeff Sessions, picked for attorney general, and Rex Tillerson, slated for secretary of state, have faced fire but the chairs of their confirming committees expect they to win full Senate approval.

Trump and his transition team have followed every minute of the hearings and credit the experiences of Sessions, Tillerson, transportation nominee Elaine Chao and Department of Homeland Security pick John Kelly, and their hearing preparation, for the glitch-free week.

“Our nominees have all weathered these hearings extremely well,” said a transition official. “This success just shows how well prepared and qualified these nominees are in coming through this intensely critical process intact. The American people will expect that they should confirmed by the United States Senate as soon as possible.”

Democrats had promised a tough vetting. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he would work to delay the confirmations, but so far has failed.

He also pledged to brake the GOP bid to repeal and replace Obamacare, which also failed when the Senate early Thursday made its first vote to kill the president’s signature plan and give Team Trump another victory.

Trump has called Schumer the Democrat’s “head clown” for his plan to fight the new administration.

Transition insiders said that they took the Democratic threats seriously and moved fast to prepare the cabinet picks for battle.

First, the picks were dispatched to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers. So far there have been more than 300 meetings with senators, including many with most Democrats.

Inside transition headquarters, a mock Senate committee room was built and 189 volunteers, even some GOP senators, were recruited to bark questions and create the real feeling of a confirmation hearing. Cabinet picks have participated in over 30 practice hearings including 15 during the first week of January.

During the murder boards, the cabinet nominees answered 2,604 questions during practice sessions over more than 70 hours, an average of about 120 questions per session.

The transition press team has also stepped up its game, pumping out positive comments about the Cabinet choices from senators, including Democrats like New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker who said this of Tillerson: “I expect that you at some point will be confirmed and I look forward to working with you.”

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]