A former legal adviser to Donald Trump during his first term in office has defended the lack of diversity among the Republican's proposed cabinet members, the majority of which are white men.
The former and future president's top team, which will go to through the Senate confirmation process in early 2025, includes people such as television host Sean Duffy, businessman Chris Wright, former Georgia Representative Doug Collins, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, meaning there are currently more white men called Doug for the Senate to approve than there are African-Americans, and Trump's new Cabinet is on track to be the least representative this century.
A Trump ally hit back at these criticisms during an appearance on CNN Wednesday.
"The American people voted precisely against dividing, us labeling us, on the basis of our race and our sex," said May Mailman, a former White House attorney. "Instead, we just want the government and the economy to work for us."
"We are less interested in what somebody looks like or what their sex is, and we are far more interested in whether they're going to execute the president's agenda and whether they are going to unleash American businesses, whether they're going to weaponize the Department of Justice against people who don't agree with them politically and against businesses that don't agree with them politically," she said.
"If we are going to celebrate things on the basis of diversity, then you can't gain the respect that you want and you deserve," Mailman added. "If the president put someone somewhere it is because he trusts them, because he thinks that they are going to do a great job and that is empowering."
Newsweek contacted the Trump transition team for additional comment on the president-elect's selection process via email.
Yesterday, Trump announced three more nominations in the form of celebrity doctor and erstwhile Senate candidate Mehmet Oz to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, and the billionaire co-chairs of his presidential transition team, Linda McMahon and Howard Lutnick as secretary of education and secretary of commerce, respectively.
The most controversial of Trump's picks so far has been former Florida Representative Matt Gaetz as attorney general, who has faced allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. Notably, he was under federal investigation for alleged involvement in sex trafficking of a minor, though the Department of Justice concluded the investigation without pressing charges. Additionally, the House Ethics Committee conducted its own probe into these allegations, though Gaetz resigned from Congress shortly before the committee was set to release its report, leading to debates over whether the findings should be made public.
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