President-elect Donald Trump aide Kellyanne Conway said Friday that it is a “refreshing departure” to have Trump appointing generals to his administration instead of “rewarding donors or personal friends.”
“I say this is a refreshing departure from rewarding donors or personal friends with Cabinet positions as you’re forming your government,” Conway, Trump’s former campaign manager, said on Fox News’s “Fox and Friends” Friday.
{mosads}Trump has picked several generals for posts in his administration, though he has also picked a number of friends and donors to serve, including Wilbur Ross as Commerce secretary, Steven Mnuchin as Treasury secretary and Linda McMahon to helm the Small Business Administration.
Betsy DeVos, another big GOP donor, is set to be nominated as secretary of Education.
Trump has appointed one general to serve as his national security adviser and has nominated two others to lead the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security.
“There is no quota for the number of tough-minded, accomplished people who are qualified to do these jobs,” she added. “I think that’s one of the many specious attacks being put forward by election deniers, one month in.
“Generals are serious people. These are folks who have proven themselves literally on the battlefield or figuratively with their distinguished service in the military or on behalf of our nation.”