Senate Republicans derailed President-elect Donald Trump’s first jaw-dropping pick for attorney general, Matt Gaetz. But it’s unclear if they will be able to block any other controversial nominees despite skepticism from some rank-and-file Republicans.
In the weeks since Trump’s dramatic election victory, the power struggle between the president-elect and independent-minded Senate Republicans has been playing out in plain view. There had been questions about whether the new Senate GOP majority would simply kowtow to Trump, the party’s most dominant figure, and toss aside its constitutional duty of advise and consent.
Instead, a handful of GOP senators flexed their muscles and rejected Gaetz. Now their political resolve will be tested several more times as Trump’s frustration builds and the MAGA base demands that Republicans rally behind Trump and quickly get his team in place.
Senators are getting a brief reprieve from questions about Trump’s nominees as they celebrate Thanksgiving. But when they return next week, the scrutiny will intensify and focus on a trio of Cabinet picks who are raising alarm bells on Capitol Hill and beyond: Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence; Pete Hegseth for defense secretary; and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health and human services secretary.
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With the media spotlight off Gaetz, some Republican senators conceded that Trump’s other embattled picks will now be under the microscope. Hegseth, for example, is facing questions about a 2017 incident where a woman told police he took her phone and blocked her from leaving his hotel room before sexually assaulting her. Hegseth was not charged and has denied the allegations while confirming he paid the accuser in a confidential settlement, but the issue has come up in his meetings with Armed Services Committee members whose votes he will need.
“Well, it’s a pretty big problem, given that we have … a sexual assault problem in our military,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., who added that he backed bipartisan legislation by Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., to prevent sexual assault in the military.
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“This is why you have background checks, this is why you have hearings, this is why you have to go through the scrutiny,” Cramer continued. “I’m not going to pre-judge him, but yeah, it’s a pretty concerning accusation.”
Political capital
Before Gaetz withdrew his name, Cramer had warned that the Trump transition team was at risk of spending too much “political capital” fighting for a doomed Cabinet pick before the party even begins tackling its 2025 legislative agenda. The former Florida congressman had too much baggage, Cramer and others said — stemming from a yearslong sexual misconduct ethics probe and Gaetz's successful campaign to topple GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year — to win the 51 votes needed to be confirmed as the nation’s top law enforcement official.
Republicans will control 53 seats in the new Senate, meaning they can only afford three GOP defections on any vote to confirm a nominee or pass legislation with Vice President JD Vance serving as the tie-breaker.
Rather than drag out the fight for several more weeks, Gaetz dropped out of contention Thursday, paving the way for Trump to name former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead the Justice Department. The Bondi choice was cheered by Republicans, and she is expected to have a much easier path to confirmation.
How much political capital Trump is willing to burn on other picks with baggage of their own is still an open question. Some Senate Republicans who leveled some of the strongest criticism at Gaetz said they could live with Hegseth, despite the 2017 assault allegations.
“He wasn’t charged. He wasn’t even kind of charged in this. There was no crime committed. The police dropped everything there. …” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., a Trump ally and vocal Gaetz critic, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday. “And so that doesn’t prevent Pete from moving forward in this.”
Potential red flags
Kennedy and Gabbard have their own past controversies that could become red flags for senators. Kennedy, whom Trump picked to be one of his top health officials, has made numerous false or misleading claims about vaccines, fluoride, raw milk and other things that would come under his purview if confirmed. As HHS secretary, Kennedy would oversee 13 federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health.
Asked about RFK Jr’s position on vaccines, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, a member of the Senate Health committee that will host Kennedy’s confirmation hearing, told reporters that “as a parent” she would continue to advocate for the “benefits of modern medicine.”
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., a close Trump ally, said on Fox News on Sunday he’s done an “unofficial whip count” on RFK, adding that he’s heard concerns but felt assured that the soon-to-be HHS nominee should be “confirmed quite easily.”
Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman who changed parties and endorsed Trump, has faced scrutiny by Democrats — as well as some Republicans — for making positive comments about Russia and meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2017.
“I think she’s compromised … Russian-controlled media called her a Russian asset,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., a decorated Iraq War veteran and Armed Services member, said on CNN Sunday.
She added that she didn’t think Gabbard could pass an FBI background check.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., shot back on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” labeling Duckworth’s insults about Gabbard “a slur.” “There’s no evidence that she’s an asset of another country,” he said.
In a statement, Trump communications director Steven Cheung said, “President Trump is nominating high-caliber and extremely qualified candidates to serve in his Administration.”
No vetting
FBI background checks are typically conducted on executive branch nominees and appointees. But the Trump team has yet to submit any of his picks for such vetting.
On Sunday, Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., defended the move, saying Americans do not care about who conducts the vetting process.
“I don’t think the American public cares who does the background checks. What the American public cares about is to see the mandate that they voted in delivered upon,” Hagerty, Trump’s former ambassador to Japan, said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Democrats say that FBI background checks may save Trump and his team a lot of hassle and embarrassment.
“He may have still decided to nominate Matt Gaetz, but if they did a thorough vetting, he may have decided not to,” Sen.-elect Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said on NBC’s “Meet the Press" on Sunday.
“That vetting process, having the FBI review potential nominees, is not only to protect the public interests, it’s to protect the president-elect’s interests, to make sure that he’s not embarrassed by nominating someone like Matt Gaetz.”
Gabe Gutierrez, Ryan Nobles, Julie Tsirkin, Kate Santaliz and Hallie Jackson contributed.
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