WASHINGTON ― If two of President Donald Trump’s Cupboard nominees signify the political positive aspects he’s revamped the course of his decade in politics, it will be a pair of former Democrats who endorsed him in 2024 and are actually up for prime jobs in his administration: Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Each Gabbard, a former Hawaii congresswoman nominated to be director of nationwide intelligence, and Kennedy, the anti-vaccine activist who’s Trump’s choose to steer the Division of Health and Human Companies, have affirmation hearings scheduled this week. And the twin symbols of Trump’s increasing coalition face resistance from what stays of the old-line Republican Occasion, doubtlessly sufficient to sink their nominations.
The opposition reveals the bounds of Trump’s purported ideological transformation of the GOP. Conservative teams are working tv advertisements attacking Kennedy for his help of abortion rights, whereas the Senate GOP’s nationwide safety hawks are skeptical of Gabbard’s previous criticism of federal surveillance applications and her fondness for dictators.
“There’s obviously significant questions that we all probably ask in private that will come before the committee,” acknowledged Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who helps each nominees.
Republicans would possibly ask Gabbard about pro-Russia statements she’s made and her secret assembly with former Syrian dictator Bashar Assad in 2017.
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Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee that may query Gabbard, informed The Hill newspaper this week she’s additionally involved about Gabbard’s previous requires eliminating the important thing authorities surveillance program generally known as Part 702. Gabbard has since recanted and expressed help for this system, which permits the federal government to trace foreigners exterior the U.S. however may also catch communications from U.S. residents.
A number of different Republican members of the Senate Intelligence Committee haven’t but introduced whether or not they are going to help Gabbard, producing hypothesis about her path to affirmation.
“It’s really kind of hard to tell because there’s some of the published reports, but I haven’t seen the FBI background investigation,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) informed HuffPost on Friday. “I don’t know what other information is out there. And then, of course, the hearing is so that those questions can be explored.”
Gabbard has one factor going for her, aside from Trump’s help. She’ll be launched at her affirmation listening to by former Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier than he retired from Congress in 2023. Burr, who voted to convict Trump in his 2021 Senate impeachment trial following the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on Congress, is effectively appreciated by GOP senators, and his help for Gabbard may calm his occasion’s nerves.
“Richard Burr is going to introduce her, and he’s one of my dearest friends. So we’ll see,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) mentioned Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Since Republicans maintain 53 seats within the Senate, with all Democrats voting no, nominees can survive solely three Republican defections and nonetheless get confirmed.
Final week, Trump’s nominee for protection secretary, Pete Hegseth, was narrowly confirmed after Vice President JD Vance broke a tie vote within the Senate, an indication that different controversial Trump nominees is probably not out of the woods but. That nationwide safety hawk and former Senate GOP chief Mitch McConnell (Ky.) joined Sens. Collins and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in opposing Hegseth may open the door to extra GOP shock votes towards Gabbard and RFK Jr.
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McConnell hasn’t mentioned how he’d vote on Kennedy, a distinguished skeptic of vaccines, however the Kentucky Republican put out an announcement final yr that was sharply essential of anti-vaccine rhetoric ― a potential indication he would oppose Kennedy’s nomination.
“Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed ― they’re dangerous,” McConnell, who suffered from polio as a toddler, mentioned in an announcement in December. “Anyone seeking the Senate’s consent to serve in the incoming Administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts.”
In current weeks, Kennedy has sought to minimize his opposition to vaccines, however the public report is replete together with his anti-vax statements. “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective,” he mentioned on a podcast in July 2023, as an example. In 2019, he led a public marketing campaign towards vaccines in Samoa; later that yr, a measles epidemic killed dozens of youngsters.
Different Republicans share McConnell’s help for obligatory public vaccination, some of the efficient public well being interventions in human historical past. Sen. Invoice Cassidy (R-La.), the chairman of the Senate Health, Training, and Labor Committee, which can hear Kennedy testify on Thursday, mentioned the nominee is “wrong” about vaccinations.
“I agree with him on some things and disagree on others,” Cassidy informed Fox Information earlier this month. “The food safety, I think the ultra-processed food is a problem. Vaccinations, he’s wrong on.”
Democrats have panned Kennedy.
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spread conspiracy theories to discourage uptake of the measles vaccines, including traveling to Samoa to spread lies about its safety, fueling an outbreak that took 80 lives in Samoa,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Sick.) mentioned on the Senate ground on Monday, additionally criticizing Kennedy for his opposition to including fluoride to consuming water to forestall tooth decay.
One other bother spot for Kennedy: his help for abortion rights. Advancing American Freedom, a conservative advocacy group based by former Vice President Mike Pence, has urged the Senate to reject Kennedy on the grounds that he’s insufficiently towards abortion. The group has additionally highlighted Kennedy’s previous heroin use and his help for liberalizing drug legal guidelines.
However the White Home isn’t backing down, suggesting the affirmation of each former Democrats would fulfill Trump’s guarantees to individuals who supported him within the 2024 presidential election.
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“President Trump built the broadest, most diverse and incredible political coalition in the history of the Republican Party. It is imperative that the Senate confirm a cabinet that honors, cements and ratifies that extraordinary winning coalition to save America,” senior White Home adviser Stephen Miller wrote in a publish on-line.
