President-elect Donald Trump's early adopters endured months of ridicule from those who never expected the billionaire to win, but now they're positioned at the top of the Capitol Hill food chain.
"As the president-elect makes those Cabinet-level decisions, they cannot in New York be inundated with thousands of requests from people who want to serve somewhere in the Trump administration," Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., told Politico.
The former mayor of Hazleton, Penn., met Trump for the first time in 2015 while the subcommittee chairman oversaw his attempt to redevelop Washington's Old Post Office building into a member of his hotel line.
Barletta joined the Trump team in mid-August, and now helps the president-elect choose his cabinet appointees and other administrative positions.
Trump's first supporter in the House, Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., is poised to establish the "Trump Caucus" of early Trump backers.
Described by Collins as a "pretty lonely group," the Trump caucus includes Republican Reps. Tom Marino of Pennsylvania, Duncan Hunter of California, and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.
"As all these members are coming up to me, many of them seeking Cabinet-level positions, and a few agency heads, a couple ... undersecretary positions," Collins told Politico. "We're floating [names] back to the campaign."
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes of California wasn't an early endorser of Trump, but he did offer advice on national security to any of the Republican presidential candidates early this year. Trump took the offer.
After the election, Nunes joined Trump's transition team, according to the Los Angeles Times, and suggested Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., for a national security position. Pompeo has since been tapped for CIA director.
"Now that I'm on the [transition] executive committee, my phone is ringing off the hook from all over the country — people who know me are sending their résumés," Nunes told Politico.
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