Christian Hudson is a former Emmy winning television producer for CNN now in private law practice.

One need look no further than any cable news outlet for proof that confirmation season is upon us. But the past two weeks have marked only the first round of Senate hearings for the Trump administration’s most high-profile nominees. There are many more administration positions left to fill—and the people hoping to do so are just beginning to start the intense process required of them.

Cabinet positions generally get the headlines, but during every presidential transition season, hundreds upon hundreds of ambassadors, senior level Cabinet officials and heads of administrative agencies must be thoroughly vetted—by everyone from their own personal lawyers to the presidential transition team to the FBI to congressional committees—before they get approved by the Senate. (As of now, Trump has filled fewer than 30 of these slots.) This process, in which miles of tax returns, résumés and investments are laid bare, is not easy to go through. No party out of power will miss an opportunity to use a nominee’s vetting process and confirmation hearing to either embarrass the incoming president or as a negotiating tactic to exact some concession from the executive branch.


Having spent almost a decade as a lawyer based in Washington, D.C., often advising aspiring nominees on how to navigate the trying process ahead (and over a decade before that as a television news producer covering politics), I have come up with a list of truths that I tell everyone who’s about to enter their name into the nomination lists. Some take my counsel and survive; others decide not to go through the process after hearing what I have to say. But my advice still stands: If you want to survive the vetting process to serve in government, you must remember these seven simple truths.

1. You are (mostly) on your own.

If there is one thing each nominee should remember, it is this: The administration’s press staff is not your press staff, and the administration’s lawyers are not your lawyers. Your interests may be aligned, which could provide a veneer sufficient to get you confirmed so long as the waters remain still and glassy. But the staff’s job is to worry about the administration’s reputation and legal risk, not yours.

Simply put, the vetting process is in place to increase the likelihood you are confirmed and hopefully save the administration from embarrassment. Notably, this is very different from saving you from embarrassment; that is up to you. You will be expected to hire counsel to review your financial, business and legal records, and if you are smart you will devise a political and media strategy for your hearing so that you can control your life’s story in an arena that is largely not in your control.

2. You are the story.

The press has only one bias, which is toward a good story, and the party out of power has only one desire, which is to serve up a good story: you.

3. The press is your frenemy.

The business of journalism isn’t to destroy nominees; however, destruction can be a byproduct of journalists conducting their business. If, for example, the press officer at the agency to which you are nominated makes a mistake in a statement about you or is even opaque in a response to the press and doesn’t quickly clean it up, it takes only one website to publish a story, and, like wildfire, the news coverage can take on a life of its own. No immediate cleanup? Then you will be engaging in reputation tattoo removal. It’s messy and bloody, and you’ll be relying on the political flak who made the initial mistake to fix it. This problem is complicated by the fact that reporters, in their deadline rush, may never even call you for a comment; instead, they will use quotes from Trump’s press officers, as well as your critics, of course (both cited and anonymous).

On the other hand, if that agency flak is disciplined in telling your story, reporting about you will be much more likely to be accurate. This is why controlling your message is essential to making it through your confirmation process. To do that, you must craft a consistent narrative about your life story and your qualifications. Any deviations from that narrative are at best a distraction, and at worst will allow others to tell your life story for you but in a way that suits them and their goals—resulting in the increased possibility of your nomination being pulled or otherwise failing. And then you must make sure people are disciplined in pushing out that narrative, first by having legal counsel review statements for legal risk, second by reaching out to media organizations that are certain to cover you and provide them with your personal story, and third by closely monitoring those media organizations that might cover you and engaging with them only at the point they are highly likely to cover you (there is no reason to put yourself on the radar of a reporter unnecessarily).

4. You are a pawn.

The sooner you recognize that people are going to use the press to leverage you and distort your background, career and personal relationships for political gain, the easier it will be for you to anticipate the hits. Maybe your business rival decides that a strategic press leak can give him a leg up, or a Senate staffer leaks derogatory information about you so that his boss can grandstand during the hearing, or the opposition party aims to use you to embarrass the incoming administration. (And, by the way, at least one news outlet will post an anonymously sourced story about you, making it easy for anyone who wants to plant an obstacle in your path.) When any of the above happens, you need both the agency flak handling your nomination and a well-prepared personal legal and press team to push back swiftly.

5. It’s all politics.

The people sifting through your background aren’t just looking for scandals; they are looking for how your record might diverge from the president’s, or how it squares with the most controversial political issues from the campaign—in this case, everything from immigration and Russia to NATO and trade. Thus, you will be well served to analyze how your record fits into this past year’s campaign themes, and based on this analysis prepare your responses to likely questions about where your positions are both consistent and inconsistent with the president’s. Your answers must maintain the consistency of your life story without creating headlines and headaches for the Trump transition team.

6. Senators aren’t speaking to you.

The senators in your confirmation hearing care most about pleasing their own audience (their constituents) or projecting power. Which is why, if you are faced with withering examination on a topic that doesn’t relate to political positions you have taken or your résumé, it’s probably not about you. Rather, the senator is hoping a live or recorded picture of him grilling you will present a powerful image to his voters, donors and even the White House. If you understand your inquisitors’ motivations before you step into the ring, you have the best chance of countering these attacks with poise and confidence.

7. Look to John Roberts.

Both Republicans and Democrats seeking my advice on how to navigate the confirmation process always ask who provides the best example of how to handle oneself during a hearing. I always say the same thing: Go back and watch Chief Justice John Robert’s confirmation hearing from 2005, and see him simultaneously project a mix of humility and deference to the Senate Judiciary Committee while projecting a calm confidence in his answers—an air that comes only from intense and thorough preparation. Aim for that.