Trump’s Enforcer Tells Nominees to STFU Amid MAGA Civil War
The Trump transition team has ordered its nominees for administration jobs to stop posting on social media without first obtaining approval from incoming White House counsel, according to a leaked memo.
The president-elect’s incoming chief of staff and former campaign co-chair Susie Wiles circulated a memo, dated Dec. 29 and obtained by the obtained by the New York Post, reminding all candidates that they do not speak for President-elect Donald Trump.
“While this instruction has been delivered previously, I am reiterating that no member of the incoming administration or Transition speaks for the United States or the President-elect himself,” Wiles wrote, adding that “accordingly, all intended nominees should refrain from any public social media posts without prior approval of the incoming White House counsel.”
The Trump transition team has not directly confirmed this policy, and did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
The memo arrived as some of Trump’s more controversial selections for Cabinet positions and the heads of federal agencies face uphill confirmation battles in the Senate. Some candidates, such former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, the nominee for director of national intelligence, and Pete Hegseth, the nominee for defense secretary, face skepticism from a handful of Republican legislators.
Republicans will only control a slim majority in the Senate, and Trump’s nominees can only afford to lose three votes and still get approval. Some nominees, including the former Fox News host Hegseth, have spent days on Capitol Hill over the last two months trying to shore up support with moderate Republicans like Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and at least one Democrat—Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman.
A source told the Post that the memo was not a response to the controversy sparked on social media by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy over H1-B visas on Friday. Musk and Ramaswamy were both tapped to lead the “Department of Government Efficiency,” which is not an official government department and therefore does not require congressional confirmation.
