5 key takeaways from Senate confirmation hearings for RFK Jr., Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard
Learn more about what happened at the latest round of Senate confirmation hearings for Trump Cabinet picks RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel.
WASHINGTON — In a crucial day for President Donald Trump's nominees, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel descended on Capitol Hill for confirmation hearings Thursday.
Kennedy, the nominee for health and human services secretary; Gabbard, chosen for director of national intelligence; and Patel, selected for FBI director, have all generated controversy for a similar reason: Each has launched searing criticisms of the entities they’ve been chosen to lead. Trump is testing the Republican-controlled Senate on where it will draw the line between disruption and institutionalism.
They all sought to clarify or downplay past stances or remarks that have landed them in hot water with senators who will decide whether they're confirmed.
Here are five takeaways from the day's Senate committee hearings.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, issued some pointed remarks at the end of the hearing about Kennedy's long history of anti-vaccine rhetoric. Cassidy, a doctor, said that he agrees with Kennedy on issues like processed food and obesity but that Kennedy has used "selected evidence to cast doubt" on proven treatments.
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