Washington: The White House on Wednesday asserted that all political appointees must believe in and support the vision and agenda of US President Donald Trump.
The Trump Administration is in the process of filling nearly 4,000 positions in various departments and wings of the federal government whose term would expire with that of the US President.
"They're called political appointees for a reason. The idea is that people who come into this government should want to support and enact the President's agenda that he campaigned on with the American people," the White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at his daily news conference.
"One of the reasons that you see in recent polls is people, even if they don't agree with the President, they give him high marks for following through on the promises that he's made to the American people and getting things done that he actually said, which is not always the case here in Washington," he said.
"We want to make sure that the people who staff a Trump administration are committed to a Trump agenda and that's, so Cabinet secretaries and other administrators and directors have broad discretion," he added.
"But I think at the end of the day, no matter what position you have, whether it's the lowest or the highest in the White House or in a department or agency, we should be making sure that people who are coming in as appointees of the President, support the President's agenda," Spicer said.
Filling up these 4,000 posts, he said, is not about getting a job as a federal employee where one is subject to certain restrictions as to what one can and can't do is a benefit of being a federal employee.
"These are political appointees, and so I think that there is obviously -- we are going to ensure that people who are political appointees share the vision and agenda that the president campaigned on and is implementing," said the White House Press Secretary.
This is what the White House is trying to do, he said responding to a question on reports that the White House in interfering in political appointees of various departments of the US Government.
"It's not a question of trust, it's a question of just making sure that we are all on the same page and committed to the same agenda that the president has set forth. This process is probably no different than we've seen in previous administrations," he insisted.
Cabinet secretaries come to the president with recommendations on who they want, and it depends on the position, obviously, he said.
"But in certain cases, if they're going to fulfill a job that is key area that the President has very specific goals to enact that he promised the American people, you want to make sure that the person that is fulfilling that job actually is committed to the agenda and vision that the president set forth and promised the American people," Spicer said.
"That's something that we're always gonna be making sure is in alignment," the White House Press Secretary said.
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