After just several days of hearings, the contradictions between Donald Trump and his nominees have been piling up, ranging from his Defense pick refusing to name Jerusalem the capital of Israel to a near unanimous rejection of everything Trump has said about Russia.
But hey, what's a nominee to do when their boss is living in another world? Regardless of how murky Trump's agenda is becoming, one thing is crystal clear: either these appointees are lying or they'll make Trump an even bigger liar than he already is.
1. Building the Wall
Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, Department of Homeland Security nominee
“A physical barrier in and of itself … will not do the job,” Kelly said, when asked by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) whether he thought it was “necessary to have a secure border.”
“It has to be, really, a layered defense,” Kelly said. “If you were to build a wall from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico, you’d still have to back it up” with other elements, including coordination with law enforcement officials in countries as far south as Peru, Kelly explained.
2. Tearing up the TPP
Former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State nominee
Tillerson said he wasn't against TPP, a massive trade pact that Trump condemned as he made staunch opposition to free trade deals a centerpiece of his presidential campaign.
"I do not oppose" TPP, Tillerson told the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.
3. Muslims and Mexicans
Sen. Jeff Sessions, Attorney General nominee; Kelly; and Tillerson
Sessions: In his hearings for Attorney General before the Judiciary Committee, the Alabama senator said, “I do not support the idea that Muslims as a religious group should be denied entry to the United States.” He also said, “I would not favor a registry of Muslims in the United States, no I would not. … And I think we should avoid surveillance of religious institutions unless there’s a basis to believe that dangerous or threatening illegal activity is going on there.”
Kelly: Kelly said establishing a Muslim database or putting mosques under surveillance could be unconstitutional. He also said he was against banning Muslim immigration to the United States. “I don’t think it is ever appropriate to focus on something like religion as the only factor,” he said. [...]
Tillerson: “I would never characterize an entire population with any single term at all,” Tillerson said when asked if he would characterize Mexicans as “rapists” or “criminals.” “Mexico is a long standing neighbor and friend of this country.”
4. Waterboarding, sorry Trump
Sessions; Rep. Mike Pompeo, CIA director nominee; and Gen. Kelly
Sessions: “Congress has taken an action now that makes it absolutely improper and illegal to use waterboarding or any other form of torture in the United States,” Sessions said.
Pompeo: Pompeo said he would not obey orders if Trump asked him to torture. “I can’t imagine that I would be asked that by the President-elect,” he said.
Kelly: Kelly said he disagrees with Trump’s plan to expand acceptable torture methods. “I don’t think we should ever come close to crossing a line we Americans expect to follow in terms of interrogation techniques,” he said.
5. Everything Russia
The nominees were in near lock-step against almost everything Trump has said about Russian hacking and cozying up to Putin.
Retired Gen. James Mattis, Secretary of Defense nominee
At the top of the hearing, Mattis took a hard stance against Russia and Putin in answering a question from anti-Russia hawk, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain. [...]
"I've watched three presidents commit themselves to new relationships with Vladimir Putin. All three have been an abysmal failure," McCain said, asking Mattis what he would do.
"I think right now the most important thing is that we recognize the reality of what we deal with (in) Mr. Putin," Mattis said. "We recognize that he is trying to break the North Atlantic alliance, and that we take the steps, the integrated steps, diplomatic, economic, military and the alliance steps, working with our allies to defend ourselves where we must."
Pompeo and Kelly
Pompeo: In his CIA director hearings before the Intelligence Committee, Pompeo said he accepts the report that found Russia responsible for the hacks: “It is pretty clear what happened here,” he said. He also said it was “clear” that the hacking was designed to affect American democracy and that Russia is in “violation of law of war” for targeting civilians in Syria.
Kelly: Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security nominee told the Senate Homeland Security Committee that he believes the intelligence community’s findings on Russian hacks “with high confidence.”