A cache of documents from the presidential transition in 2016-2017 was leaked this week to Axios and shared on that outlet’s HBO TV series, per The Inquisitr . Several of the documents showed that those doing the vetting for potential Trump administration appointees had concerns about several individuals considered for jobs in the incoming administration and some of those concerns were borne out by subsequent events.
It appears that the vetting story has reached into an unlikely realm – the history of World Wrestling Entertainment.
According to documents obtained by Axios and cited by Fightful , when the vetting team was considering the potential nomination of former WWE CEO Linda McMahon for a job in the administration, they pointed at several “red flags” from throughout WWE’s history.
These included everything from sexual harassment scandals to the steroid-related charges against a WWE-adjacent doctor to the large number of wrestler deaths to WWE’s alleged indifference to concussions to the scandalous story of Chris Benoit, the longtime wrestler who, in 2007, murdered his wife and son before killing himself. Also mentioned in the vetting were on-screen storylines that were denounced as racist and homophobic and the WWE’s past acceptance of public subsidies.
The documents, as with several others about individuals considered for Trump administration jobs, also noted that McMahon had made donations to Democratic candidates in the past and that she had made critical comments about Trump.
Despite any concerns that were had by the vetting team, McMahon was nominated and confirmed to the cabinet-level position of administrator of the Small Business Administration. McMahon had a relatively uneventful and uncontroversial tenure in that position; she resigned from the administration in March, per The Inquisitr , to “return to the private sector.” Reports at the time stated that McMahon was planning to take a role with the America First Action Super PAC, an outside organization advocating for the president’s re-election.
WWE’s History With Homophobia, Steroids, Death, Lawsuits, And More Re-Emerge In Linda McMahon Vetting Document https://t.co/HPQtyXYmCu
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) June 24, 2019
Linda McMahon also ran twice for the U.S. Senate in the state of Connecticut but lost both times.
The vetting documents were leaked to Axios by an unknown party. Among other determinations made by the vetting team, which consisted mostly of RNC staffers, were that future EPA head Scott Pruitt had “allegations of coziness with big energy companies” and HHS Secretary Tom Price had references to “criticisms of management ability.” Both would later resign from the Trump cabinet.
The release of more than 100 leaked documents, Axios said, “sheds light on the slap-dash way President Trump filled his cabinet and administration, and foreshadowed future scandals that beset his government.”
