EXCLUSIVE: President Donald Trump’s administration is being staffed by the White House Presidential Personnel Office at a quick pace, yet as individuals go through a rigorous screening method, which includes a test of their “loyalty” to the leader.  ,
On the first day of business, the government’s personnel office filled more than 1,300 executive branch vacancies, including those for the 1,600 Cabinet officials and various nominees who needed confirmation.
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More presents have been prepared, according to those authorities, but they cannot be extended until the Senate continues to work through its barrier of contenders, which is currently sitting at close to 200 as of Tuesday.
For comparison, Joe Biden, the president, announced on April 21, 2021 that he would send 233 Senate nominees and fill roughly 1,500 political positions within his first 100 days in office. Presidential administrations typically fill just 35 % of senior leadership positions by May 1 and just 80 % by the August recess, according to the National Academy of Public Administration.
One PPO established advised,” Consider of us as customer service if DOGE is White House technology support,” adding that the company maintains contact with individuals throughout the interviewing process. The office’s approach to hiring candidates is modeled after the” sherpa” system, which pairs cabinet nominees with party insiders to guide them through their Senate confirmations.
Trump has put a lot of emphasis on the crucial function that PPO will perform in his next administration. The president claimed in a 2024 interview on the Joe Rogan Experience that hiring “bad people or hostile people” was his first administration’s “biggest error” in hiring “bad people or hostile people.”
However, critics have voiced concerns about the new employee qualifications that the current administration is putting forth, which is essentially a “loyalty check for all candidates.”
PPO officials refuted reports that leadership employees are required to “pledge” their loyalty to Trump, but they confirmed that “loyalty” is carefully evaluated throughout the applicant vetting process.
According to those authorities, any gifts to or previous positions held by Trump’s 2024 opponents or his political rivals automatically disqualify candidates for the hiring process. But, there does appear to be some pardonation below, as Tricia McLaughlin, the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, did before he dropped out of the 2024 Republican primary and endorsed the leader.
Additionally, PPO authorities check published works, public and private social media posts, and, in the case of attorneys, past investigations of potential recruits before beginning the meeting process. Individuals are subsequently subjected to eight interviews, and any “gray place” found to be in the candidate’s immediate neighborhood is sent to PPO Director Sergio Gor or Deputy Director Trent Morse for their approval or disapproval.
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One top PPO official rated loyalty as” apparently becoming a frightening word.”
According to the interviewer,” It’s never different than your typical getting process,” adding that they are committed to employing the “most qualified” individuals who best meet the president’s “mission.”
PPO representatives did point out that, like with secret organizations, personal and criminal history is taken into account and that candidates must pass an FBI background check before being offered an employment.
The similar PPO leaders claimed that their business is conducting staffing more “hands-on” than it did Trump’s second term in office. That includes the chairman himself, who PPO authorities claim is going over two to three contenders handpicked by Gor. There is a high focus on filling any federal security-related jobs as quickly as possible, as with almost every other management.
Before being recommended to Trump, Gor speaks to alternate Cabinet members each day to keep up with PPO staff’s expectations for new hires, and appointments below the assistant director degree must also be agreed upon by both the White House and office or organization authority.
Before joining Trumpworld in 2020, Gor worked for Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY ) for seven years. He co-founded the Winning Team Publishing impression alongside Donald Trump Jr. during the Biden administration and served as the head of Trump’s SuperPAC.
He stated in a statement to the Washington Examiner that” President Trump was given a mission by the American people to carry out his America First plan.” We are focused on collecting an administration that is ready and totally committed to carrying out the president’s mandate.
Additionally, the Trump presidency is looking for potential hires both with and without prior state experience. According to a PPO standard, the “best prospects” are being considered regardless of their backgrounds. Some new recruits in the private market take a pay cut as a result. All executive branch jobs have salary cap, and White House authorities claimed they are hiring employees at the lowest possible salaries, including some appointees who aren’t getting paid for their federal job.
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One top White House aide remarked,” Clearly, there are maximums that you can spend appointees, and quite frequently, we just paid the maximum that you can,” adding that. It’s now being much more personalized to examine your previous income history. So, if you’re making an average of [$ 110, 000] at your last four jobs, you won’t get the maximum.
The appointment of Trump’s political appointees, including office and company heads, chiefs of staff, push secretaries, and policy experts, is crucial, according to White House aides, especially as the president prepares to start a series of common firings of career governmental employees.
Last week, the Office of Management and Budget and Office of Personnel Management from the White House instructed all federal agencies to create two-phased” Agency Reorganization Plans” for the White House by March 13 and April 14, respectively. The “large-scale reductions” of the federal workforce that must be implemented no later than September of this year should be included in those plans.
Trump’s presidential appointees, or anyone else PPO recommends hiring, will be exempt from those workforce downsizing plans.
” It’s dry and cut.” We need to “get our people in the door,” a White House aide told the Washington Examiner.
PPO has made progress in filling out the executive branch, but little is known about the size of its staff.
PPO had a staff of about 30 people under the first Trump administration. Just six out of 53 career and political positions were filled as of Tuesday, according to Leadership Connect, a government tracking tool. The Washington Examiner confirmed, however, that some PPO employees have not yet been made publicly known.  ,
Every White House has been required to release a detailed list of all White House employees, including their salaries, since 1995, but that list won’t be made public until June or July, when the report is typically released.
Four other PPO employees, including Gor and Morse, are publicly nested within PPO, including Morgan DeWitt, Brand Kroeger, and Saurabh Sharma.
In particular, Sharma has assisted PPO in establishing its landmark status. He founded American Moment in 2021, a group that assembled a database of more than 1,500 young Republicans who had been pre-screened to work in junior or midlevel positions immediately in a second Trump administration.
Senior PPO officials confirmed to the Washington Examiner that they used American Moment’s database and other similar lists created by outsiders to find candidates.
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However, it seems unlikely that Trump will fill all 4, 000 of the openings he faced as president.
PPO officials told the Washington Examiner that they are also pursuing a president’s request to reduce the federal workforce, just like they did the Department of Government Efficiency. That means combining the responsibilities of some positions and eliminating some as much as possible.
