President-elect Donald Trump wants to assemble a Cabinet full of TV personalities, MAGA loyalists and rabble-rousers straight from central casting, but some of his more controversial picks could face a brutal confirmation process.
Republicans will control the Senate in January, but some have indicated they could be willing to thwart the Republican president-elect and even block some of his Cabinet nominees.
Trump’s choice for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, his choice to lead the Health and Human Services Department (HHS), Robert Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth, who is being tapped to lead the Defense Department, have emerged as the nominees most likely to face intense scrutiny.
When it comes to betting odds, Hegseth is seen as the candidate least likely to be confirmed to the Senate, with only 56 percent placing bets in his favor, according to Polymarket.
It comes after MAGA favorite Matt Gaetz withdrew his name as a candidate for attorney general in a shocking move last week. Some Republicans behind closed doors said they could not support him because of allegations of sexual misconduct involving a minor.
Trump instead named another close ally, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, as his nominee for top law enforcement official to replace Gaetz.
Many Republican senators have praised the choices, while some Democrats have sounded the alarm.
But Republicans only have a 53-seat majority in the Senate, meaning that if just four lawmakers disagree with a nominee, their confirmation could be blocked.
GOP senators including Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, James Lankford of Oklahoma and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota are among those posing challenges to Trump’s nominations.
Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman, is one of the names that has drawn the harshest criticism from Democrats, and even Republicans are questioning her choice as Trump’s top intelligence official.
Trump’s former UN ambassador Nikki Haley called her a “Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer” on her radio show last week.
Asked about her nomination on CNN on Sunday, Lankford did not definitively speak for or against her confirmation.
“We’re going to have hearings. We’re going to get everything out. We’re going to get facts and information and the whole story,” he said.
When asked about concerns, Lankford said he has “a lot of questions.” He specifically mentioned her meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in 2017.
Gabbard’s confirmation could turn exceptionally ugly as senators criticize her for her past comments, as well as going after each other.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said Sunday she is concerned that Gabbard is a Russian asset.
“The U.S. intelligence community has identified her as having a problematic relationship with America’s enemies, so I’m concerned she may not pass a background check,” Duckworth said.
“I think she is someone who fully supports Russian President Putin, and I worry that she may not have America’s best interests at heart,” she argued.
Former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is Trump’s pick for Director of National Intelligence
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) fired back at Duckworth’s comments as “ridiculous” and “downright dangerous.”
“If she was compromised, if she couldn’t pass a background check, if she couldn’t do her job, she still wouldn’t be in the military,” he claimed. “Tammy is completely wrong about this, and she should retract those words.”
Another nominee headed for a nasty confirmation battle is Hegseth, who has been nominated for secretary of defense.
The TV personality and veteran was accused of sexual assault in California in 2017, but no charges were filed.
DailyMail.com exclusively revealed on Sunday that Hegseth had also had a baby with his Fox News producer just weeks before the alleged attack.
He also faced fierce criticism for controversial comments that women should not serve in combat.
Pete Hegseth spoke to reporters while on the Hill Nov. 21 meeting with senators as he tries to drum up support for his confirmation as defense secretary. He is accused of sexual abuse, but denies the accusations
But close Trump ally Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) defended Hegseth on Sunday.
‘Don’t let these accusations distract us. What we need is real significant change. The Pentagon has focused more on pronouns than on their lethality over the past four years. We need to get back to work, and I think Pete is the right person to do that,” Hagerty said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) argued that the reason for the confirmation process is to get the full story. He said it would allow senators to ask questions and give Hegseth the opportunity to respond.
He claimed Hegseth was never charged, and even before the hearings he said he already planned to support confirmation.
“I’m a yes to Pam Bondi, I’m a yes to Pete Hegseth, I’m a yes to Tulsi Gabbard, absolutely,” Schmitt told NBC’s Meet the Press.
While Gaetz withdrew before he could land in the hot seat for the senators, Bondi is expected to face a grilling during her nomination.
But the criticism is expected to come largely from Democrats, who would not have the power to block her confirmation on their own.
Bondi served as Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019. Democrats’ biggest concerns center on her close ties to Trump and whether she would use the office to do his bidding.
She argued in 2020 that Trump won Pennsylvania even though he didn’t. She was also one of his lawyers in his 2020 impeachment trial.
Now that she is being named Trump’s new pick to lead the Justice Department, her comments on Fox News declaring that “the prosecutors will be prosecuted” have resurfaced.
Some Democrats have even acknowledged that Bondi is technically qualified for the job, but focused on her relationship with the newly elected president.
They previewed some of the questions she could face during the confirmation, which will likely revolve around whether she still believes Trump won the 2020 election against President Biden and how she plans to leave office to use.
But as Democrats gear up for a nail-biting confirmation battle for some of Trump’s more controversial nominees, they have signaled there are those who could move quickly through confirmation with bipartisan support.
Newly elected Sen. Adam Schiff (D-California) told NBC News Meet the Press on Sunday that Sen. Marco Rubio is well qualified to become secretary of state. He didn’t come right out and say he would vote to confirm Rubio, but he did lean toward it.
But Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said he plans to vote to confirm Rubio and is open to confirming other nominees.
Democratic senators signal that Senator Marco Rubio will be confirmed as secretary of state with bipartisan support
Fetterman made it clear on Fox News on Sunday that he is not committed to supporting his former Senate rival, Dr. Mehmet Oz, but he is open to it. Oz was appointed by Trump to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“I’m open to a dialogue about what he has to say about these things,” he said. “I’m not sure why that’s controversial.”
A more controversial choice by the president-elect is his choice of Kennedy Jr. to lead HHS for a range of reasons, including its anti-vaccination stance.
It remains to be seen whether Kennedy can gain sufficient support among Republicans.
Among those who could play a key role in whether he is confirmed is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a polio survivor who is stepping down as leader of the Republican Party but remains continues to exert great influence in his caucus.
So far, McConnell has not expressed his own support for Trump’s nominees, but he has said it is important that the Senate do due diligence in vetting his picks.
But new polls show that Republicans overwhelmingly support Trump’s nominees named so far Republicans could tread lightly at this early stage.
The CBS News poll found that 75 percent of Republicans said Rubio was a good choice, while 71 percent favored Trump’s nomination of Gabbard as their nominee.
80 percent of Republicans said Kennedy was a good choice. A smaller but still clear majority of 64 percent of Republicans said Hegseth was a good choice.
But overall, Americans still want the Senate to hold confirmation hearings. 76 percent said hearings should take place. Only 24 percent said Trump should be able to appoint people without them.
Even a majority of Republicans said there should be hearings in the Senate, with 55 percent backing 45 percent who said Trump should be able to appoint people without those hearings.