The returning to the White House next January, Trump posted on a social media platform on the 11th, publicly demanding that the next Republican Senate Majority Leader must support the "recess appointment", so that the President can bypass the Senate vote and directly make personnel appointments, allowing his preferred new cabinet members to take office quickly.
Since Trump had previously promised that on his first day in office, he would set out to fire the current chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, Cointelegraph pointed out today that Trump may also plan to accelerate the appointment of the new SEC chairman through a "recess appointment" to replace Gensler, who is known for his hawkish enforcement against the cryptocurrency industry.
SEC The new chairman may replace Gensler through a 'recess appointment'
In his tweet on the 11th, Trump wrote:
"Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more."
He pointed out that sometimes the Senate's votes on personnel cases can take two years or longer, and the Democrats used this delaying tactic four years ago to block appointments, and Trump does not want a repeat of this during his term.
Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10, 2024
What is a 'recess appointment'?
A "recess appointment" is a way for the President to bypass Congress and directly appoint cabinet members, judges, and ambassadors. The U.S. Constitution stipulates that the President has the power to make appointments to fill any vacancies that may arise during the Senate's recess, and these appointments will expire at the end of the next session. However, appointments made during the recess are temporary and cannot replace the Senate's approval.
However, CNN reports that in recent years, recess appointments have often been blocked by the minority party, as both the House and Senate must pass a resolution to enter a recess period, which gives the Democrats the opportunity to obstruct the resolution and fundamentally prevent the recess appointment from going through.
Currently, three Republican senators who are interested in running for Senate Majority Leader have expressed support for Trump's "recess appointment", including Florida Senator Rick Scott, who is supported by Musk, as well as John Thune of South Dakota and John Cornyn of Texas. The Republican senators will vote for the new leader this week.
Who will replace Gary Gensler?
Trump will be sworn in on January 20th next year, and although the President cannot directly fire Gensler from the SEC, SEC chairmen typically follow the Washington tradition and choose to resign on or before the new President's inauguration day. For example, Jay Clayton, the former SEC chairman appointed by Trump during his first term, resigned in December 2020, and Biden nominated Gensler in 2021, whose term runs until June 2026.
It is currently unclear whether Gensler will resign early as per tradition, and Trump has not yet officially announced his preferred candidate for the new SEC chairman.
The Washington Post on Monday cited information from five informed sources, saying that Trump's advisers are considering placing current regulatory officials, former federal officials, and financial industry executives in key leadership positions, many of whom have publicly expressed support for cryptocurrencies.
Potential candidates to lead the SEC and other regulatory agencies include:
- Former SEC official Daniel Gallagher: Currently the General Counsel of the well-known U.S. online brokerage and cryptocurrency trading platform Robinhood, he has criticized the SEC's "scorched earth" policy towards cryptocurrencies.
- Republican SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce: Known as the "Crypto Mom" in the crypto community, she is a well-known SEC-friendly official who has repeatedly criticized the SEC under Gensler's leadership for its enforcement-focused approach to crypto, lacking clear rules. After Trump takes office, Peirce may be appointed as the interim SEC chairman and could potentially lead a federal cryptocurrency policy task force in the future.
- Republican SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda: He recently expressed a desire to help Trump fulfill his promise to end the Biden administration's "crypto war".
Other potential candidates include former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins and the former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Christopher Giancarlo, who is nicknamed the "Crypto Dad" by the community.
During the campaign, Trump made a series of crypto-friendly promises, including firing SEC Chairman Gary Gensler on his first day in office, commuting the sentence of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, establishing a Presidential Cryptocurrency Advisory Council, repealing SAB 121, ending Operation Choke Point 2.0, making the U.S. a Bitcoin mining powerhouse, and establishing a national strategic Bitcoin reserve. The crypto community is watching to see if the Trump administration will fulfill these promises in his second term.
