Mike Theiler/Reuters
President Trump, who still needs to fill hundreds of vacancies in the federal government, is having trouble getting appointees to commit over the growing Russia scandal, Politico reports. “It’s an additional factor that makes what was an already complicated process of staffing the government even harder,” said Max Stier, who advised the Trump transition team on hiring. The White House has announced nominees for only 117 out of 559 Senate-confirmed posts. George W. Bush and Barack Obama had both nominated about twice as many people by the same period in their first terms. “There’s no doubt in my mind that people are being very cautious, to put it mildly,” said one lawyer, who represents prospective political appointees. “You’re going to have a situation where they’re going to have trouble getting A-list or even B-list people to sign up,” the lawyer added.