Trump Finally Holds First Full Cabinet Meeting, Almost Two Months Later Than Obama

For the first time since moving into the White House, President Donald Trump on Monday met with all 15 members of his cabinet and Vice President Mike Pence. The meeting comes six months into his presidency, and is about two months later than his predecessor, President Barack Obama, held his first full cabinet meeting.

Obama met with his cabinet for the first time on April 20, 2009, and discussed ways to reduce the national deficit by cutting government spending by $100 million.

ISIS and beefing up the workforce were two topics discussed at Trump's first full cabinet session. According to White House reporters at the meeting, the president blamed the "ethics committee" for delaying the filling of his subcabinet,

Trump's full cabinet was not confirmed by the Senate until April 27, and he had voiced his frustrations over the lengthy cabinet confirmation process by blaming Democrats for trying to block a number of his picks.

"It is a disgrace that my full Cabinet is still not in place, the longest such delay in the history of our country. Obstruction by Democrats!" Trump wrote on Twitter in February, at which time only seven of his cabinet positions had been filled.

Only two of Trump's cabinet members had been approved by the time of his inauguration in January, while Obama had six members confirmed when he first took his oath of office. Before him, President George W. Bush already had seven members of his cabinet confirmed on his first day in office.

However, Obama's full cabinet still took the longest to confirm among the five most recent administrations. It took the Senate a day longer to confirm all 15 of Obama's executive cabinet members than it took for Trump's.

Apart from groaning about the Office of Government Ethics delaying his efforts to fill his cabinet, Trump reportedly announced that in two weeks he would give a press conference responding to the Islamic State's recent attacks. On May 21 he gave the same two-week promise of an ISIS-related press conference, but it never came to fruition.

Trump noted that his first foreign trip has already proved beneficial, saying several world leaders have revved up their efforts to prevent terrorism funding.