President Donald Trump blamed "obstructionists" for holding up his appointment process, leaving many positions in his administration vacant.
"I am waiting right now for so many people, hundreds and hundreds of people, and then they'll say why isn't Trump doing this faster?' You can't do it faster because they're obstructing. They're obstructionists," Trump told Fox Business on Wednesday. "So I have people, hundreds of people, that we're trying to get through. I mean, you see the backlog. Can't get them through."
Trump has nominated 24 people for the 553 appointments that the Senate is required to approve, with 22 confirmed. By April 7 of their first terms, former President Barack Obama had 54 people confirmed, George W. Bush had 32 and Bill Clinton had 44, according to Politico.
"The newspapers will say 'Trump doesn't get them through.' Well, it's nothing to do with me. Statutorily, you have to go through this process," he added. "So it's been a lousy process. It's taken a long time to get my Cabinet done, and as you know, it's not even done now. This is record stuff. We're talking about records in terms of time, and it's very sad."
"It's taken a long time to get my Cabinet done, and as you know, it's not even done now," he concluded. "This is record stuff. We're talking about records in terms of time, and it's very sad."
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