in addition to his vice president, mike pence, the majority of donald trump's transition team and the leading candidates for top jobs in his administration are white men. | ap photo the all-white, all-male lineup comes amid a major initial test of trump<u+2019>s pledge to be a president for 'all americans.' by andrew restuccia 11/18/16 03:45 pm est of president-elect donald trump's first appointments <u+2014> his chief of staff, chief strategist, attorney general, cia director and white house national security adviser <u+2014> all five are white men. so is vice president-elect mike pence, and so are many of trump's key advisers, including son-in-law jared kushner, who is eyeing a job in the white house. the all-white, all-male lineup comes amid a major initial test of trump<u+2019>s pledge to be a president for <u+201c>all americans<u+201d>: winning over the majority of women <u+2014> and even larger majority of minorities <u+2014> whom he failed to convince during a divisive campaign in which he faced accusations of racism and misogyny. story continued below trump aides insist that they are casting a wide net as they vet potential cabinet nominees. <u+201c>the president-elect is a man of action, and we<u+2019>ve got a great number of men and women with great qualifications [who] look forward to serving in this administration, and i am just humbled to be a part of it,<u+201d> pence said friday. trump spokesman jason miller told reporters on a conference call that the president-elect is "bringing together a broad and diverse team." people close to trump said aides have been contemplating how to bring women into the administration since the presidential campaign, when trump's lewd comments about women became front-page news and he was accused of varying degrees of sexual misconduct by nearly a dozen women. (trump has denied the allegations.) trump also came under fire for his comments about mexicans and his proposal to restrict muslims from entering the united states, drawing accusations of racism and xenophobia. while aides privately worried the comments could drive away experienced female potential appointees, high-profile public figures like south carolina gov. nikki haley, a one-time trump critic, have begun to come around. a handful of women have met with the president-elect at trump tower in recent days, including haley, a potential secretary of state nominee, oracle corp. co-ceo safra catz and success academy charter school ceo eva moskowitz, who has since said she's not interested in joining the administration. and trump is slated to meet on saturday with two women seen as possible contenders for education secretary: education activist betsy devos and michelle rhee, the former chancellor of washington, d.c.<u+2019>s public schools. trump's top advisers aren't all men. trump's campaign manager, kellyanne conway, is a woman and his daughter, ivanka, is an influential force in trump's orbit. she even sat in on trump's thursday meeting with japan's prime minister, shinzo abe. and they aren't all white either: ken blackwell, the former ohio secretary of state, is a top official on trump's presidential transition team. blackwell, who met with trump this week, is seen as a contender for a position in the administration. former presidential candidate ben carson has also advised trump, though he has ruled out joining the administration. and trump is set to meet on saturday with bob woodson, the president of the center for neighborhood enterprise, who is black. still, the majority of trump's transition team and the leading candidates for top jobs in his administration are white men. <u+201c>he<u+2019>s said he wants to be president for all of america, so he needs to have women as part of his inner team now and for his cabinet going forward," lisa brown, a top official on barack obama's presidential transition team, told politico. by elana schor , kyle cheney , alex isenstadt and louis nelson other former transition officials said it<u+2019>s too early to judge trump<u+2019>s commitment to diversity. <u+201c>the first five out of 1,000-plus senate-confirmed positions is nothing to be concerned about,<u+201d> said clay johnson, who helped lead george w. bush<u+2019>s presidential transition effort. while decisions on cabinet nominees are still being made, people closely tracking the process said women could be tapped as education secretary or epa administrator, among other jobs. but it remains unclear if trump will nominate a women for top-tier cabinet positions like defense secretary, secretary of state or treasury secretary. trump is reportedly considering richard grenell, an openly gay man, for u.s. ambassador to the united nations. in contrast, hillary clinton pledged that half her cabinet nominee's would be women and she was expected to tap mich<u+00e8>le flournoy, an obama administration defense department official, as the country's first female defense secretary. a majority of women and nonwhite voters backed clinton, according to exit polls. women accounted for about 21 percent of trump's transition team as last week, according to a politico analysis , though the team's roster is in flux. seven of the 25 members of the trump transition's national security " landing team " are women. the national security team also has a number of nonwhite members, including hoover institution fellow kiron skinner, republican national committee aide ashley bell and consultant sergio de la pe<u+00f1>a. the landing teams are tasked with going into federal agencies to prepare for the handoff of power. nancy cook contributed to this report. by bill scher by thomas wright by joshua zeitz by jack shafer
white men dominate trump<u+2019>s early staff selections - politico
andrew restuccia elana schor kyle cheney alex isenstadt louis nelson jack shafer