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Thune: Confirming Trump’s Most Controversial Cabinet Picks Is ‘Not Gonna Be Easy’

November 15, 2024

Over the course of the week, President-elect Donald Trump has named a broad number of individuals to varying positions in his administration and Cabinet. Some of those nominations, however, have proven controversial, raising questions about how or even if they might survive the Senate confirmation process.

Former congressman Matt Gaetz’s appointment to the role of U.S. Attorney General and environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination as the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) have proven the most problematic so far, although the nominations of military veterans Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense have also raised some eyebrows.

Newly-minted Senate Majority Leader-elect John Thune (R-S.D.) spoke Thursday night about the possibility of confirming Trump’s more controversial nominees, admitting that the task would not be “easy” but committing to doing whatever he could to confirm the president-elect’s Cabinet picks. “The president got a big mandate, and the American people want change in this country, they’re tired of the Biden-Harris-Schumer agenda, and they want President Trump to fix some things,” Thune said.

He continued, “He wants to get a team in place that can do that, and we’re gonna work with him to see that he gets his team installed as quickly as possible so he can implement his agenda.” However, Thune did note, “All these people have a process they’ve got to go through, all these nominees. … It’s advice and consent, that’s the Senate’s constitutional role when it comes to confirmation of nominations to the executive branch of the government.” The senator added, “We are not going to allow the Democrats to obstruct or block President Trump and the will of the American people.”

Thune also reaffirmed his commitment to use recess appointments if necessary, saying that “all options are on the table.” He explained that he would like to conduct confirmation hearings prior to Trump’s inauguration on January 20. Once the confirmation process reaches the Senate floor, it will become “a question of how much do the Democrats resist or object or try to block those nominations from going forward,” he said. Thune added, “We’re gonna grind them out. We’re just gonna keep consistently moving and we’ll see what kind of cooperation we get.”

Regarding recess appointments, Thune noted that some Republican senators may try to thwart the process. “You have to have all Republicans vote to recess,” he observed. “So the same Republicans … that might have a problem voting for somebody under regular order probably also have a problem with voting to put the Senate into recess,” Thune pointed out. However, he reiterated that “we’re not taking any options off the table” and recess appointments may become a necessity.

One of Trump’s most controversial nominations was Gaetz as Attorney General. Even some Senate Republicans balked at the prospect of the Florida firebrand running the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), for example, was reportedly “exasperated” upon learning of Gaetz’s nomination and stood “stonefaced for 30 seconds.” Another Republican senator, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told a reporter that Gaetz “will never get confirmed” despite the Republican majority in the Senate. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) told the press that he doesn’t believe Gaetz will get “across the finish line,” citing the former congressman’s opposition in the House of Representatives to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and allegations against Gaetz of sexual impropriety.

The DOJ had previously investigated Gaetz in connection with allegations of sex trafficking a minor, but eventually concluded its investigation without pressing charges, determining that the credibility of the sources upon whom the case rested was faulty. The chief source in the case, Florida tax collector Joel Greenberg, was eventually sentenced to 11 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release for crimes including sex trafficking minors, using government funds to pay women to have sex with him, and creating fraudulent IDs to facilitate the sex trafficking of minors. Gaetz has maintained that he never engaged in the crimes of which he has been accused and that the allegations and investigation were an effort by a DOJ official to extort him and his father, demanding $25 million to make the unsubstantiated allegations disappear.

After the DOJ closed its investigation, the House Ethics Committee opened its own probe into the same allegations. The committee was allegedly preparing to release its report on Gaetz’s behavior on Friday but, since being nominated as Attorney General, Gaetz resigned his House seat on Thursday morning, a move which current Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said was made in order to allow time for a new Republican to be elected to the empty seat in time for the start of the new Congress. The Ethics Committee has announced that it will not release the report now, since Gaetz is no longer a sitting representative and is therefore outside the jurisdiction of the House. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) insisted that the report “shouldn’t go public” as it would be a violation of House rules.

Some senators, however, have demanded that the House Ethics Committee release its report to be used in Gaetz’s hearing. “My guess is at some point it gets out there,” Thune said of the report. He continued, “These confirmation hearings, they are fairly comprehensive in terms of the vetting process that nominees go through.” Thune admitted that “none of this is gonna be easy” but reiterated, “President Trump had a huge mandate from the American people — not only the popular vote, the electoral vote — they were historic. And the people in this country want change, he wants to bring that about.”

The senate majority leader-elect added, “I always believe that you defer to a president when it comes to the people they want in their Cabinet and to do a lot of these important jobs. But obviously, there is a process whereby we get down and scrub all these nominees and figure out … are they qualified and are they people fit to hold these offices.”

S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.



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