By Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, U.S., October 30, 2024.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team said Tuesday that it reached an agreement with the Department of Justice that sets the stage for the department to conduct background checks and start the security clearance process for Trump administration nominees.
The agreement comes amid controversy over some of Trump’s picks for top positions in the government, including the leadership of the Defense Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, the FBI, and the post of director of National Intelligence.
Susie Wiles, the incoming White House chief of staff, in a statement, said, “The agreement with the Department of Justice will ensure President Trump and his team are ready on Day 1 to begin enacting the America First Agenda that an overwhelming majority of our nation supported on Election Day.”
The Trump transition team said its memorandum of understanding with the DOJ “allows the transition team to submit names for background checks and security clearances.”
“Ultimately, this will afford the transition process additional insights, and it facilitates our agency landing teams gaining access to the information they need to prepare for leadership of the federal agencies and departments,” the transition team said in a statement.
The MOU was announced a day after an article in The New Yorker detailed allegations of alcohol abuse, sexual impropriety and mismanagement of two non-profit veterans groups by Pete Hegseth, who Trump has tapped to become the next Defense secretary.
Shortly after Trump announced his planned nomination of Hegseth, news broke that the former Fox News anchor had been investigated, but not criminally charged, for an alleged sexual assault of a woman at a Republican event in California in 2017. Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing.
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