President Trump Holds His 1st Official Cabinet Meeting

Nearly two months into his administration, President Donald Trump was finally able to convene his first official Cabinet meeting—but he did it without several key members of his Cabinet-level staff.

The president laid the blame squarely where it belongs—with Senate Democrats.

“We have four empty seats—which is a terrible thing—because the Senate Democrats are continuing to obstruct the confirmation of our nominees for the Department of Labor, the Department of Agriculture, the Director of National Intelligence and the United States Trade Representative, somebody I want very badly,” he said. “We’re in the midst of getting going, [Secretary of Commerce] Wilbur [Ross], and they won’t approve somebody who is highly qualified, and everybody understands that. The main victim of this very partisan obstruction is the American public.

Yet in spite of all of this, we’ve assembled a great team and already made historic progress in delivering results. We’re rolling back job-crushing regulations at a faster clip than ever before by far; and we’re seeing companies like Exxon, Walmart, Intel, Ford, Fiat Chrysler and so many others announcing that they will keep and create tens of thousands of jobs in the United States. Many, many companies are not moving now, which normally they would have been out of here a long time ago. They’re not moving because they understand there are going to be consequences. If they move, that’s fine, but there will be consequences. It’s not going to be so easy. They’re not going to fire our people and move and think they’re going to ship their jobs back here and we won’t be doing anything about it.

The president also made it clear, from the onset of the first meeting, who’s in charge. He said the Cabinet is “here to serve and protect the American people” and noted that’s what his administration has been doing, adding “more so than anybody would understand.”

Before shooing the media out of the Cabinet room, the president said he hoped the meeting would be historic “in the sense that we’re going to do a fantastic job for the American people, for our country and for the future of our country.” {eoa}