Thread: Report: Kobach demanded perks, top Cabinet post to become Trump's 'immigration czar'

Report: Kobach demanded perks, top Cabinet post to become Trump's 'immigration czar'

By Eli Watkins, CNN
Updated 7:16 PM ET, Mon May 20, 2019

Washington (CNN)Former Kansas GOP Secretary of State Kris Kobach gave the White House a list of demands for perks, status and authority if he were to accept the role of "immigration czar," The New York Times reported Monday.

Kobach's demands included a promise for Trump to nominate him to be head of the Department of Homeland Security by November of this year -- provided Kobach did not want to instead continue in the czar role -- as well as around-the-clock access to a government jet and generally being able to take weekends off at his home in Kansas.

The Times said three people described the demands to the paper and that some people in the Trump administration were surprised by the "presumptuousness" of Kobach's list.

According to the Times, Kobach also demanded to be the main television spokesman for the administration on immigration, a guarantee of deference from Cabinet secretaries on immigration and symbols of top White House status, including a staff of seven, being able to walk into the Oval Office at will and a commensurate title "at the highest pay level" for White House senior staff.

Kobach has been among the most prominent supporters of Trump's hardline approach to immigration and national security. Shortly after Trump's election, Kobach was photographed holding a document labeled his "strategic plan" for the first year of the Trump administration, and early on into Trump's presidency, Kobach was named the head of the since-defunct commission on voter fraud, which Trump formed after making repeatedly debunked claims about illegal voting.

CNN previously reported that the White House was considering appointing a "border or immigration czar" and that Kobach was under consideration for that role.

Kobach also emerged as a potential choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security after the ouster of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen last month. He said in an April interview on Fox Business Network that it was "possible that the White House might want a border czar," but said at the same time that the position might not be necessary depending on who led DHS.

Kobach lost a bid for governor last year to Democrat Laura Kelly, which was the first statewide loss for a Republican in the reliably red state of Kansas in almost a decade.

CNN's Maegan Vazquez contributed to this report.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/20/polit...use/index.html

It's a shame he lost his race for Governor, he would have been a good Governor for Kansas. I understand why they request planes and the ability to go home for the weekends when they take a post in DC.

Kris Kobach Won't Join the Trump Administration Without a Private Jet

Kobach's radioactive career isn't stopping him from demanding to be treated like White House royalty.

by Alison Durkee
May 20, 2019 10:16 pm

ormer Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach's career hasn't fared so well as of late, as he suffered an embarrassing court defeat against his signature voter fraud law before going on to lose his gubernatorial bid to a Democrat in deep-red Kansas. Yet that apparently isn't stopping the embattled Trump ally from reaching for the stars with his next role. The New York Times reported Monday that Kobach is apparently being considered as President Donald Trump's new “immigration czar”—but he won't accept the position unless his lengthy list of demands are met.

Per the Times, Kobach has given the White House a list of 10 conditions for him to accept the new immigration czar role, which would coordinate the Trump administration's hard-line immigration policy across federal agencies and “minimize the influence of cabinet officials.”

The list has reportedly become known amongst White House staffers for its “presumptuousness”—and in reading through the conditions, it's not difficult to see why. Among the demands that Kobach makes are 24/7 access to government jets, the highest pay level for White House staffers, “walk-in privileges” with Trump, and his own security detail. Kobach also clearly views the role as a way to expand his own public profile and move up the ranks; his list includes a request to be “the face of Trump immigration policy,” along with a promise that Kobach will be nominated to head the Department of Homeland Security by November of this year.

Here's the full list, which also includes a demand that Trump force his cabinet secretaries to do whatever Kobach says “without delay”:

Office in the West Wing.
Walk-in privileges with the president.
Assistant to the President rank - at highest pay level for WH senior staff.
Staff of 7 people (2 attorneys, 2 research analysts, 1 scheduler, 1 media person, 1 assistant).
POTUS sits down individually with Czar and the secretaries of Homeland Security, Defense, Justice, Ag, Interior, and Commerce, and tells each of the Secretaries to follow the directives of the Czar without delay, subject to appeal to the President in cases of disagreement.
24/7 access to either a DHS or DOD jet. Czar must be on the border every week.
Ability to spend weekends in KS with family on way from border back to DC, unless POTUS needs Czar elsewhere.
Security detail if deemed necessary after security review.
Serve as the face of Trump immigration policy - the principal spokesman on television and in the media.
Promise that by November 1, 2019, the president will nominate Kris Kobach to be DHS Secretary, unless Kobach wishes to continue in Czar position.

Kobach's lofty demands, of course, stand in stark contrast to the former secretary of state's recent string of career failures. The Kansas official, who became known for evangelizing against the largely-nonexistent issue of voter fraud, previously headed Trump's “election integrity” commission, which was disbanded after states refused to go along with the Trump administration's attempt to collect voter information.

Kobach then went on to lose his gubernatorial bid and go to court to defend Kansas's proof-of-citizenship voter law. Not only did that law get struck down, but Judge Julie A. Robinson also took aim at Kobach specifically for his conduct during the trial, finding him in contempt of court and declaring as part of her ruling that Kobach must take continuing legal education classes. American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Dale Ho called the June 2018 decision “a stinging rebuke of Kris Kobach,” and Democratic state legislator Rep. John Carmichael mused to the Wichita Eagle after the ruling, “I have a very difficult understanding why someone with Kris Kobach’s educational pedigree can make such poor judgments repeatedly.”

None of that, of course, seems to bother Trump, who's found his policy soulmate in Kobach, a man whose campaign slogan was “Make Kansas Great Again” and is currently involved in a private effort to secure border wall funding. “I hope he loses because I want him so badly,” Trump even admitted while campaigning for Kobach's gubernatorial run.

According to the Times, the idea of Kobach becoming immigration czar came about specifically because of the Kansan's radioactive career, as Trump raised the role with him after realizing that Kobach would have trouble being confirmed as D.H.S. Secretary.

Whether the president wants Kobach badly enough that he'll acquiesce to his lengthy list of conditions, though, remains to be seen; the Times reported that other candidates are being considered for the czar role, and Kobach is also considering running for the U.S. Senate. (Fellow Republicans, the Times noted, “are hoping to keep him from winning the party’s nomination if he does run.”)

Yet there still seems to be a sense of inevitability that, as long as Trump remains in the White House, Kobach is bound to end up there again eventually. “President Trump is very supportive of Kris Kobach,” Kansas GOP Chairman Kelly Arnold told the Associated Press after Kobach's gubernatorial loss. “And I expect a place will be found for him.”

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019...n-czar-demands