After Gaetz, other controversial nominees test Trump's sway with Senate Republicans
After Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration for attorney general, Senate Republicans are weighing Donald Trump's other controversial picks for his Cabinet.
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.
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.
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