Donald Trump Struggling With Diversity in His Administration, Cancels Meeting with NYT Over 'Conditions' and More

As president-elect Donald Trump prepares to leave New York City on Tuesday for Thanksgiving festivities at Mar-a-Lago, his club in Palm Beach, Florida, he does so with only a handful of Cabinet picks in place.

Trump spokesman Jason Miller told reporters on a conference call that the New York businessman met with a “high-caliber and broad and diverse group” of potential advisers in recent days and said that the choices he will ultimately make “will be very broad and diverse, both with the Cabinet and the administration.”

On that same call, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway seemingly acknowledged a dearth of gender and racial and ethnic diversity in the president-elect's choices thus far, which amounts to five white men at this time.

She clarified: “And diversity means meeting with people across the aisle who are traditionally more Democratic, who are coming together and wanting to offer him advice, perhaps vie for a spot in his Cabinet,” said Conway. “But willing to give him counsel and willing to share experiences and have candid conversations about their views and their backgrounds.”

Top Stories

Trump Is Seeking to Build a Diverse Administration, Aides Say: "Though President-elect Donald Trump’s first five picks for top jobs in his administration have all been white men, transition officials insisted Monday that the team he ultimately puts together will represent a cross-section of America." (The Washington Post)

Trump Cancels Meeting With NYT, Claims 'Conditions' Changed: "President-elect Donald Trump has canceled a planned meeting with reporters and editors from the New York Times, a frequent target of criticism by the Manhattan billionaire, because he was upset with a supposed change in the terms of the meeting." (Politico)

Trump Down to Two Choices for Treasury Secretary: "President-elect Donald Trump has narrowed the field of candidates for Treasury secretary to Steven Mnuchin and Jonathan Gray, multiple sources tell CNN. Mnuchin, 53, is a former Wall Street exec turned Hollywood producer. And Gray, 46, is a billionaire in charge of real estate for the Blackstone private equity firm." (CNN)

Civil Rights Groups Call on Trump to Denounce Racism of Alt-Right: "Civil rights groups called on President-elect Donald J. Trump on Monday to publicly condemn extremist movements that are espousing racism in his name after hundreds of white nationalist sympathizers spent the weekend in Washington debating ways to preserve white culture." (The New York Times)

From the Twitterverse

President-elect Donald Trump on his potential conflicts of interest:

Today's Numbers

• The U.S. just recovered $30 million in counterfeit money.
• A 6.9 magnitude earthquake strikes off Japan.
• Qatari sisters robbed of $5.3 million in valuables near Paris.
• Superintendent says 5 students were killed in Chattanooga school bus crash.

Quote of the Day

Sen. Bernie Sanders of New York on Hillary Clinton's loss:

“It is not good enough for someone to say, ‘I’m a woman! Vote for me!’ No, that’s not good enough. What we need is a woman who has the guts to stand up to Wall Street, to the insurance companies, to the drug companies.”

Allen McDuffee is a politics and policy reporter, investigative journalist, blogger and podcast host. He has written for The Atlantic, Wired and The Washington Post. Follow him on Twitter: @AllenMcDuffee

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons