Why is Trump announcing FERC nominees now?

Earlier this year, the White House inexplicably broke the tradition of pairing bipartisan nominees to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. And on Monday, the administration announced the paired nominations of Democrat Allison Clements and Republican Mark Christie to fill the commission’s vacancies. POLITICO’s Gavin Bade, on how the move could keep the commission in Republican control until the end of 2021 even if Democrats win the White House. Anthony Adragna is an energy reporter for POLITICO.Carlos Prieto is a Politico podcast producer.Jenny Ament is the senior producer of POLITICO audio.Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO audio.