Trump's cabinet nominees face Senate grilling as confirmation hearings begin

Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees go under the microscope in a frenzied week on Capitol Hill starting Tuesday, as US senators hold confirmation hearings that could make or break their political careers.

Thirteen nominees will be grilled before 11 committees, and while many will sail through, others face controversies ranging from alleged sexual assault and heavy drinking to their relationships with dictators and vaccine skepticism.

The Trump picks have been in stringent preparations, taking part in mock hearings and coaching on how to negotiate tough questions while still maintaining unswerving loyalty to the president-elect.

“This time, people view the nominees as an extension of Donald Trump and his agenda,” Sean Spicer, Trump’s first White House spokesman, told CNN.

“They’re not there to defend their own views. They’re there to defend Trump’s policies.”

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Senate Republicans are keen for Trump’s national security nominees to be confirmed quickly and Democrats may agree to fast-track some. But they are determined to throw up roadblocks in front of candidates they see as unfit.

One of the first on the docket will be one of the most controversial – Pete Hegseth, the former Army National Guard officer and ex-Fox News host nominated for secretary of defense.

Hegseth, whose hearing is on Tuesday morning, has faced allegations of sexual assault, financial misconduct and excessive drinking, and lingering questions over his views on women in the military. He also has no comparable management experience.

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Senator Elizabeth Warren, a member of the Armed Services Committee, described Hegseth as “a guy with a track record of being so drunk at work events that he needed to be carried out on multiple occasions.”

“Can we really count on calling Hegseth at 2AM to make life and death national security decisions? Nope,” she said on X.

Hegseth can only afford three Republican rejections and still be confirmed, should every Democrat and independent vote against him.

Fiery hearings

But he has maintained Trump’s support while the excoriating headlines have multiplied and Senate Republicans appear open to hearing him out.

Former Democratic congresswoman turned Trumpist Tulsi Gabbard is another candidate whose lack of qualifications and experience have raised alarm bells, as well as her attitudes toward US adversaries.

Gabbard met then Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in 2017 and declared him “not the enemy.” She has also voiced sympathy for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Opposition appears to be softening however after she flipped her stance to support a controversial government intelligence-gathering program that she tried to repeal in 2020.

Some pressure on the nominees is expected from both sides of the aisle, especially for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee for secretary of health and human services and an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist.

But former Florida senator and foreign policy hawk Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for secretary of state, is a sure bet with bipartisan support, and will likely be confirmed before Trump takes office on January 20.

Rubio gets his hearing Wednesday, along with homeland security secretary nominee Kristi Noem, attorney general nominee Pam Bondi and CIA pick John Ratcliffe, who has been confirmed by the Senate before, as director of national intelligence.

Bondi was Trump’s second choice after his initial pick, former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, withdrew from consideration after facing sexual misconduct and drug-taking allegations.

Some of the most potentially fiery hearings are yet to be scheduled, including for Kennedy and Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to run the FBI.

Patel – a conspiracy theorist who vowed in a podcast that Trump would “come after” journalists, lawyers and judges he believes haven’t treated him fairly – is not expected to get his confirmation hearing until February.

Early Tuesday, Trump’s team lost a bid to prevent the release of a report by then-special counsel Jack Smith detailing the incoming president’s alleged criminal effort to overturn the 2020 election result that saw Joe Biden win.

The report said Trump would have been convicted at trial – had Smith not dropped the case after the Republican was elected president in November last year.