Everything You Need To Know About the Confirmation Hearings of Trump’s Cabinet Nominees

The circus is coming to town, but this one doesn’t have just three rings. Try 15. The 119th Congress is set to hold confirmation hearings beginning this week for President Trump’s nominations to head the 15 Cabinet positions. Republicans will control the Senate 53 to 47 seats once Jim Justice of West Virginia is sworn in later this month and Governor DeWine appoints a senator to fill Vice President Vance’s seat.So that means the nominees — who first have to emerge sufficiently unscathed from a committee vote to reach a full floor vote — should get through. Yet Democrats, as they are wont to do, will seek to blow up the proceedings, as they’ve done with Supreme Court nominees for the Supreme Court and cabinet nominees in Trump’s last term.Some nominees will sail through, like Senator Rubio, who enjoys some bonhomie with his former colleagues and should waltz into the Secretary of State slot. Yet others — like Defense Secretary nominee Peter Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard — will face combative hearings. Here’s a look and who’s nominated, when their hearings are, and what’s likely to happen.Peter Hegseth — Defense Secretary — January 14The former Fox News host and veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was nominated to run the Pentagon and lead 1.3 million active-duty troops. “Pete is tough, smart, and a true believer in America First,” Trump said when nominating him. “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice — our military will be great again, and America will never back down.”Upon his nomination, Mr. Hegseth, 44, who is a graduate of Princeton University, was immediately hit with charges of sexual harassment and other accusations. Trump doubled down in his support, and the firestorm that once burned over his nomination seems to have ebbed.The war veteran is likely, though, to face tough questions from lawmakers who have served in the military, as well as rebukes over his lack of experience in leadership. Several Republicans initially were hesitant to back Mr. Hegseth, but that was before Trump doubled down. Mr. Hegseth appears to be the sacrificial lamb Democrats will make.Prediction: Even odds.Marco Rubio — Secretary of State — January 14The Florida senator is likely to breeze into the post to head the Department of State. Some Democrats, including Senator Fetterman, have expressed their support. Senators usually go easy on former members of the elite club, and Mr. Rubio has been a member since 2010. His bona fides are real: He was a senior member of the Committee on Foreign Relations and vice chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence.What’s more, Mr. Rubio, 53, has taken a aggressive stance toward Communist China, Iran, and Venezuela, some of the countries that Candidate Trump frequently criticized on the campaign trail. Mr. Rubio has been banned from China after some fiery criticism, and he has vocally opposed aid to Ukraine, which may prompt Democrats’ angst.Prediction: Win.Pam Bondi — Attorney General — January 15Pam Bondi, 59, is President-elect Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Justice. she was nominated only after the incoming president bailed on his first pick, Congressman Matt Gaetz, who dropped out after a firestorm about sex allegations.She has long been in Team Trump. She served on the president’s legal team during his first impeachment and has worked as a lobbyist for Ballard Partners, run by a close associate and fund-raiser for the 45th president, Brian Ballard.Ms. Bondi also served as Florida’s attorney general between 2011 and 2019, the first woman ever elected to the post. Yet that won’t stop Democrats from hammering her because she once supported Trump’s claims that he lost in 2020 because of election fraud.Prediction: Win expected.Scott Bessent — Treasury Secretary— January 16Scott Bessent, 62, is the billionaire founder of the investment firm Key Square Capital Management and has served as an economic adviser to President-elect Trump. His agenda matches the president’s. He backs cutting government subsidies and deregulating the economy while pushing for increased domestic energy production. Like the president-elect, Mr. Bessent backs the use of tariffs, which the president pressed for throughout the 2024 campaign.“Scott is widely respected as one of the World’s foremost International Investors and Geopolitical and Economic Strategists,” the president-elect said in a statement. “Scott’s story is that of the American Dream. Together, we will Make America Rich Again, Prosperous Again, Affordable Again, and most importantly, Great Again,” Trump said.The nominee could face some questions from Republicans, as he once served as a protégé of the billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, and he was his top money manager for years. While he has been a longtime Republican donor, Mr. Bessent has contributed to some Democrats, including Senator Clinton and President Obama.Prediction: Win.Tulsi Gabbard — Director of National Intelligence — No date setThe Senate hearing for Tulsi Gabbard, 43, could rival that of Mr. Hegseth. While she has qualifications to serve as director of national intelligence, she is also a former Democratic congresswoman who left the party and became an outspoken advocate for Candidate Trump.Ms. Gabbard was a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve who served in Iraq. She has long been a critic of the foreign policy establishment, which dovetails nicely with the views of the man who nominated her and who, in his nomination announcement, praised her “fearless spirit” and played up Ms. Gabbard’s departure from the Democratic Party, saying she joined the GOP “because of President Trump’s leadership and how he has been able to transform the Republican Party, bringing it back to the party of the people and the party of peace.”Ms. Gabbard will face tough questioning on her judgement on meeting President al-Assad of Syria, as well as her prior support of Russia and her vocal opposition to sending more money to Ukraine.Prediction: Win expected.Kristi Noem — Secretary of Homeleand Security — January 15Kristi Noem, 53, would leave her current post as governor of North Dakota to become the head of the Homeland Security Department. Along with new Border Czar designate, Tom Homan — who does not need Senate confirmation — Ms. Noem will play a key role in security at the American-Mexican border.President-elect Trump, in his nomination announcement, called Ms. Noem “very strong on border security,” and in her own statement, she pledged to “secure the border and restore safety to American communities so families will again have the opportunity to pursue the American Dream.”During his first term, President Trump hired and fired six homeland security leaders. Yet Ms. Noem, like many of the others, is a hardcore Trump loyalist and should get better treatment should she get the post. And so far, there has been little grumbling about her nomination.Prediction: Win.Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — Secretary of Health and Human Services — No date setRobert F. Kennedy Jr., 70, will likely be the subject of the biggest ring in the confirmation circus. He’s painted as a anti-vaccine activist and a conspiracy theorist, but he’s served as a environmental lawyer and he’s an expert on America’s food supply.Being anti-Big Pharma in front of a bunch of lawmakers elected with huge money from the pharmaceutical industry could prove to be a tough sell. The press has long portrayed Mr. Kennedy as a fringe figure and will likely do the same throughout his Senate confirmation hearing.Mr. Kennedy could also draw ire over his heavy criticism about what he sees as a revolving door between industry and government, pledging to “free the agencies from the smothering cloud of corporate capture so they can pursue their mission to make Americans once again the healthiest people on Earth.”If confirmed, Mr. Kennedy would control a department with 80,000 employees who regulate the food and medicine Americans encounter every day. He’d also decide if Medicare and Medicaid will pay for certain medicines and hospital services, as well as fund billion-dollar medical research programs.A handful of Senate Democrats “are said to be leaving the door open to voting for” Mr. Kennedy, according to a report last week by the Hill, and there has been no vocal opposition from GOP members.Prediction: Win expected.Linda McMahon — Secretary of Education — No date setLinda McMahon, 76, may be the most prepared for the circus — she’s a former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment. She is another loyalist as a longtime close friend and donor to Trump. She’ll face tough questioning over her lack of teaching or administrative experience, although she did lead the Small Business Administration between 2017 and 2019 in President Trump’s first term.She could prove to be an unpopular figure in the Senate chambers because throughout the 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly called for a dissolution of the Department of Education, which could be doomed by the fact that such a move would require congressional approval.Still, President-elect Trump said his nominee “will fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families.” That should win support from Republican senators, none of whom so far have expressed a lack of support for her.And Democrats seem resigned to Ms. McMahon being confirmed. “She definitely wouldn’t be my first choice or my second choice, or third choice, or fourth choice, or fifth choice, or sixth or seventh,” Mr. Fetterman told ABC News, then added, “But I forgot they won, so, they can pick these kinds of things.”Prediction: Win.Chris Wright — Secretary of Energy — January 15President-elect Trump has nominated the chief executive of Liberty Energy, a fracking company based at Denver, Chris Wright, as his pick for secretary of energy.Mr. Wright, 59, upset Democrats last year when he posted a video on LinkedIn in which he said, “There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition either.” So he’ll no doubt be targeted by climate alarmists and progressives during his confirmation hearing.Trump praised him in his nomination, saying, “he has worked in nuclear, solar, geothermal, and oil and gas. Most significantly, Chris was one of the pioneers who helped launch the American shale revolution that fueled American energy independence, and transformed the global energy markets and geopolitics.”The rest of Trump’s energy team — Trump’s Interior secretary nominee, Governor Burgum, and the president’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Congressman Lee Zeldin — are expcted to breeze to confirmation.Prediction: Win.John Ratcliffe — Director of the CIA — January 15President-elect Trump’s nominee to lead the Central Intelligence Agency is a former congressman of Texas who served as the director of national intelligence during the president’s first term, John Ratcliffe.Mr. Ratcliffe, 59, is another Trump loyalist. As a lawmaker, he supported investigations into the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and dismissed the validity of probes into alleged ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign.Yet the CIA nominee is a realist: As DNI, he acknowledged Russia was trying to adversely affect President Biden’s 2020 campaign and also exposed an Iranian plot to influence voters in Florida.And Mr. Ratcliffe didn’t always do everything Trump wanted. The president wanted to release some classified material gathered from intelligence files by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, but the CIA opposed the release, a stance supported by Mr. Ratcliffe.The CIA nominee also “would push for aggressive spy missions against high-level officials in China and for covert operations intended to counter Beijing’s growing influence around the world,” the Wall Street Journal reported.Prediction: Win.While Trump looks likely to get his nominees approved, there’s little doubt that it will be a circus — or, in the words of Senator Cornyn, “a little bit of a train wreck.”

Everything You Need To Know About the Confirmation Hearings of Trump’s Cabinet Nominees

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