Sonny Perdue’s staffers nervous over White House handling of confirmation process

.@realDonaldTrump’s nominees gripe the White House isn’t protecting them https://t.co/NJJo94Jig3 pic.twitter.com/eIC9CaMbwf

— POLITICO (@politico) February 22, 2017

WASHINGTON D. C. (WDEF) – We have some behind-the-scenes hand ringing from the folks who want to join the Trump Team in Washington.

A new report in Politco claims Trump nominees, including Georgia’s Sonny Perdue, are unhappy with how the White House is (or is not) protecting them during the confirmation process.

The former Georgia Governor is nominated for Secretary of Agriculture, one of the least controversial appointments.

But the concern is growing after Labor Secretary nominee Andrew Puzder quit during his tough confirmation.

From the article “nominees like Perdue don’t have the same sort of baggage Puzder had. Perdue and others are concerned about his lack of contact with White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and his office, according to two sources close to him.”

The President and his nominees are blaming Democrats for slowing down the nominating process in an effort to find more dirt on them.

And they are, just like Republicans did eight years ago to President Obama’s nominees.

It’s the same old Washington game for a new President, but some staffers for the nominees say the new White House staff isn’t playing it very well.

Here is a breakdown of the complaints:

1) Transition Blues: The transition team did a better job prepping nominees than the White House staff is doing. Early nominees were sat down by pros who grilled them with tough questions in prep sessions. But when the job moved from the transition team to the new White House, much of that support ended. Immigration, travel bans, Obama-care and job meetings are the priorities now.

2) Will someone pick up a phone? Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and his team aren’t responding to calls from the media or even the nominees themselves. It is no secret that the Trump team isn’t friendly with the media these days, but not talking means no one is defending the nominees. The nominees themselves and their staff are prohibited from talking to the media (this policy is typical for new President’s, not just Trump). So if the White House won’t defend them, who can?

3) Trump Tweets: The President’s morning tweets often set the agenda for what gets covered and talked about in Washington that day. But nominee staffers complain the President isn’t using his Tweet power for them. He uses it to tackle the media, NSA leaks, Democrats and even Meryl Streep. But not much defending his nominees. Visiting heads of state have gotten more praise than his own team.

One thing I will say about Rep. Keith Ellison, in his fight to lead the DNC, is that he was the one who predicted early that I would win!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2017

The general angst on these staffs seems to be that the longer a nominee waits, the more likely opposition research will turn up something on them. They would like the White House and Chief of Staff to put them higher on the priority list, so they don’t get another Andrew Puzder-like resignation.