特朗普说服共和党人忽视他的不当行为。但他能为他的提名人做同样的事情吗？
【中美创新时报2024 年 11 月 23 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）自唐纳德·特朗普赢得总统大选以来的两周内，他试图通过任命忠诚者担任高级政府职位来展示自己的主导地位，尽管许多人缺乏专业知识，有些人面临性行为不端的指控。他经常似乎在挑战国会反对他的决定。美联社记者CHRIS MEGERIAN 和 COLLEEN LONG 对此作了下述报道。
但在周四，特朗普试图不受惩罚地采取行动的行为出现了裂痕，因为他选择的司法部长马特·盖茨退出了考虑。
特朗普任命佛罗里达州众议员盖茨担任该国最高执法官员，尽管他的同事普遍不喜欢他，法律经验很少，还被指控与未成年女孩发生性关系，但他否认了这一指控。在第一次总统任期内受到调查的困扰后，特朗普希望在他的第二任期内有一个忠诚的盟友来负责司法部。
然而，盖茨能否赢得足够的立法者支持，获得司法部长的任命从未显而易见。特朗普选择了前佛罗里达州司法部长帕姆·邦迪作为继任者，邦迪在第一次弹劾审判期间为特朗普辩护，并支持他对选民欺诈的虚假指控。
现在的问题是，盖茨是否特别令人讨厌，或者特朗普的其他选择是否超出了他的政党忽视问题的能力，这些问题在之前的政治时代可能会让提名人沉沦。
下一个考验可能是皮特·赫格塞斯，尽管特朗普否认了性侵犯指控，但他仍希望他领导五角大楼。到目前为止，共和党人都支持陆军老兵、前福克斯新闻主持人赫格塞斯。
参议院司法委员会成员、北卡罗来纳州共和党参议员汤姆·蒂利斯表示，盖茨的争议对特朗普的其他选择影响不大。他说，他们会“一次一个地”考虑。
康涅狄格州民主党参议员理查德·布卢门撒尔则持相反观点，称“多米诺骨牌正在倒下”。
“证据和真相的滴滴滴落最终会毁灭其他人，”他说。
特朗普的选举胜利表明，美国政治中可能没有多少红线了。尽管有独裁、种族主义和厌女主义的言论，更不用说多年来关于选举舞弊的谎言以及他在引发 2021 年 1 月 6 日美国国会大厦袭击事件中的作用，他还是赢得了总统竞选。他还因伪造商业记录支付封口费而被定罪，并在民事案件中被判犯有性虐待罪。
选民们忽视了他的不当行为，将他视为强大的变革推动者，特朗普在努力填补第二届政府职位时，没有表现出对华盛顿规范的尊重。过渡团队没有对特朗普的人事选择进行联邦背景调查。虽然他挑选的一些人在他们被选为领导的领域拥有丰富的经验，但其他人是私人朋友和福克斯新闻的名人，多年来给特朗普留下了深刻的印象并奉承他们。
有几人面临性行为不端的指控。
继盖茨之后，赫格塞斯面临着最严格的审查。特朗普宣布赫格塞斯为五角大楼负责人的提名人后，有指控称他在 2017 年在加州对一名女性实施了性侵犯。
根据本周公布的一份警方报告，这名女性说他拿走了她的手机，堵住了酒店房间的门，拒绝让她离开。
报道称，赫格塞斯当时告诉警方，这次接触是双方自愿的，并否认有任何不当行为。然而，他在 2023 年向该女子支付了一笔保密和解金。赫格塞斯的律师表示，这笔钱是为了避免毫无根据的诉讼威胁。
特朗普选择的卫生与公众服务部部长罗伯特·F·肯尼迪 (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) 也面临不当行为的指控。一名曾为他和他的第二任妻子照看孩子的女子告诉《名利场》杂志，肯尼迪在 1990 年代末对她进行了猥亵，当时她 23 岁。
肯尼迪没有否认这一指控，并在文章发表后向该女子发了道歉短信。这并不是肯尼迪面临的唯一障碍；多年来，他一直在传播有关疫苗的错误信息和阴谋论，这引发了人们对他是否会成为新政府高级卫生官员的担忧。
被特朗普选为教育部长的琳达·麦克马洪正在打一场与她以前的公司世界摔跤娱乐有关的诉讼。她被指控早在 1980 年代就故意纵容一名员工对儿童进行性剥削，但她否认了这些指控。
塔尔西·加巴德是另一个可能面临艰难确认战的人，但原因截然不同。这位前夏威夷民主党众议员一直是特朗普的直言不讳的盟友，特朗普选择她担任国家情报局局长。但立法者和国家安全官员对加巴德附和俄罗斯宣传的历史深表担忧。批评人士说，她会危及与美国盟友的关系。
盖茨曾因性交易而受到联邦执法部门的调查，但该案未受到指控就结案了，共和党人阻止了众议院道德委员会发布相关报告。
然而，一些指控被泄露，包括盖茨向女性支付性费用。据该女性的律师称，其中一名女性向委员会作证说，她看到盖茨与一名 17 岁女孩发生性关系。
本周，盖茨与参议员会面时，很明显他将面临议员们的顽固抵制，他们担心他的行为，认为他没有资格管理司法部。
盖茨在宣布退出时在社交媒体上写道：“虽然势头强劲，但很明显，我的确认不公平地分散了注意力。”
印第安纳州共和党参议员迈克·布劳恩表示，他认为有四到六名党团成员会投票反对盖茨，这很可能使他失去提名，而且“计算起来太难了”。
他说，围绕盖茨的一些问题和指控“可能超出了可接受的范围”。
“我认为事情太多了，就像一条漏水的堤坝，你知道，它破裂了，”布劳恩说。
特朗普在他的社交媒体网站 Truth Social 上发帖感谢盖茨，但没有谈及针对他的指控的实质。
“他做得很好，但同时，他不想分散政府的注意力，他对政府非常尊重，”特朗普写道。
美联社记者玛丽·克莱尔·贾洛尼克、斯蒂芬·格罗夫斯和丽莎·马卡罗在华盛顿撰稿。纽约的吉尔·科尔文和佛罗里达州劳德代尔堡的阿德里安娜·戈麦斯·利肯也参与了撰稿。
题图：2 月 23 日，众议员马特·盖茨在马里兰州奥克森山国家港口举行的保守党政治行动会议 CPAC 2024 上发言。Alex Brandon/美联社
附原英文报道：
Trump convinced Republicans to overlook his misconduct. But can he do the same for his nominees?
By CHRIS MEGERIAN and COLLEEN LONG The Associated Press,Updated November 21, 2024
Representative Matt Gaetz speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2024, at the National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Md., on Feb. 23.Alex Brandon/Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the two weeks since Donald Trump won the presidency, he’s tried to demonstrate his dominance by naming loyalists for top administration positions, even though many lack expertise and some face sexual misconduct accusations. It often seems like he’s daring Congress to oppose his decisions.
But on Thursday, Trump’s attempt to act with impunity showed a crack as Matt Gaetz, his choice for attorney general, withdrew from consideration.
Trump had named Gaetz, a Florida congressman, to be the country’s top law enforcement official even though he was widely disliked by his colleagues, has little legal experience and was accused of having sex with an underage girl, an allegation he denied. After being plagued by investigations during his first presidency, Trump wanted a devoted ally in charge of the Justice Department during his second.
However, it was never obvious that Gaetz could win enough support from lawmakers to get confirmed as attorney general. Trump chose for a replacement Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general who defended him during his first impeachment trial and supported his false claims of voter fraud.
Now the question is whether Gaetz was uniquely unpalatable, or if Trump’s other picks might exceed his party’s willingness to overlook concerns that would have sunk nominees in a prior political era.
The next test will likely be Pete Hegseth, who Trump wants to lead the Pentagon despite an allegation of sexual assault that he’s denied. So far, Republicans are rallying around Hegseth, an Army veteran and former Fox News host.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the controversy over Gaetz would have little bearing on Trump’s other choices. He said they would be considered “one at a time.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, suggested otherwise, claiming “the dominoes are falling.”
“The drip drip of evidence and truth is going to eventually doom some others,” he said.
Trump’s election victory was a sign that there may not be many red lines left in American politics. He won the presidential race despite authoritarian, racist and misogynist rhetoric, not to mention years of lies about election fraud and his role in sparking the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. He was also criminally convicted of falsifying business records to pay hush money, and he was found liable for sexual abuse in a civil case.
Empowered by voters who looked past his misconduct and saw him as a powerful agent of change, Trump has shown no deference to Washington norms while working to fill his second administration. The transition team hasn’t pursued federal background checks for Trump’s personnel choices. While some of his selections have extensive experience in the areas they’ve been chosen to lead, others are personal friends and Fox News personalities who have impressed and flattered Trump over the years.
Several have faced allegations involving sexual misconduct.
Hegseth is facing the most scrutiny after Gaetz. Once Trump announced Hegseth as his nominee for Pentagon chief, allegations emerged that he sexually assaulted a woman in California in 2017.
The woman said he took her phone, blocked the door to the hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a police report made public this week.
Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and denied any wrongdoing, the report said. However, he paid the woman a confidential settlement in 2023. Hegseth’s lawyer said the payment was made to head off the threat of a baseless lawsuit.
Trump’s choice for secretary of health and human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has faced allegations of misconduct too. A woman who babysat for him and his second wife told Vanity Fair magazine that Kennedy groped her in the late 1990s, when she was 23.
Kennedy did not deny the allegation and texted an apology to the woman after the article was published. That isn’t the only hurdle for Kennedy; he’s spent years spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories about vaccines, raising fears about making him a top health official in the new administration.
Linda McMahon, chosen by Trump to be education secretary, is fighting a lawsuit connected to her former company, World Wrestling Entertainment. She’s accused of knowingly enabling sexual exploitation of children by an employee as early as the 1980s, and she denies the allegations.
Tulsi Gabbard is another person who could face a difficult confirmation battle, but for very different reasons. The former Democratic representative from Hawaii has been a vocal Trump ally, and he chose her to be national intelligence director. But there’s grave concern by lawmakers and national security officials over Gabbard’s history of echoing Russian propaganda. Critics said she would endanger relationships with U.S. allies.
Gaetz was investigated by federal law enforcement for sex trafficking, but the case was closed without charges and Republicans have blocked the release of a related report from the House Ethics Committee.
However, some allegations leaked out, including that Gaetz paid women for sex. One of the women testified to the committee that she saw Gaetz having sex with a 17-year-old girl, according to a lawyer for the woman.
As Gaetz met with senators this week, it became clear that he would face stubborn resistance from lawmakers who were concerned about his behavior and believed he was unqualified to run the Justice Department.
“While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction,” Gaetz wrote on social media when announcing his withdrawal.
Sen. Mike Braun, an Indiana Republican, said he believed there were four to six members of the caucus who would have voted against Gaetz, likely dooming his nomination, and “the math got too hard.”
He said some of the issues and allegations around Gaetz were “maybe beyond the pale.”
“I think there were just too many things, it was like a leaky dike, and you know, it broke,” Braun said.
Trump thanked Gaetz in a post on Truth Social, his social media website, without addressing the substance of the allegations against him.
“He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the Administration, for which he has much respect,” Trump wrote.
Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Stephen Groves and Lisa Macaro contributed from Washington. Jill Colvin in New York and Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, also contributed.
