() – Donald Trump is refusing to back down on his Cabinet picks in the first showdown of an epic battle he will wage against Washington when he takes office next year.
The coming days will show whether Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have staying power for confirmation fights in the new Republican Senate over their missions to safeguard the rule of law, the U.S. intelligence community. United, the armed forces and the health and well-being of all Americans.
Each of the most provocative picks faces criticism for lacking the knowledge and experience necessary to run the vast specialized bureaucracies that would be under their control.
And the debate over his prospects is intensifying after new revelations and accusations about his past, which will test Trump’s intention to exercise what he considers almost uncontrollable power from the Oval Office.
reported Saturday that Hegseth, Trump’s pick for defense secretary, paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault in a settlement agreement that included a confidentiality clause, according to Hegseth’s lawyer. The Fox News host denied assaulting the woman, according to the attorney, and was not charged in any criminal case or named as a defendant in any civil lawsuit in connection with the 2017 incident. The initial sexual assault allegation against Hegseth had taken by surprise to Trump’s team last week, after the president-elect had already chosen him.
Intrigue also deepened around a House Ethics Committee investigation into Gaetz, the prospective attorney general, after a lawyer representing two of the witnesses in the investigation said Friday that one of his Clients saw the Florida Republican, who resigned from Congress last week, having sexual relations with a minor. Gaetz denies any wrongdoing, including having sexual relations with a minor or paying for sex. He was not charged after a Justice Department investigation.
There is also growing scrutiny over Gabbard’s suitability for the job of director of national intelligence because of her positions that at times amplified the propaganda of one of the covert community’s main adversaries: Russia.
And some top medical experts are expressing concern about the qualifications of Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, to safeguard generations of medical advances as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, even though his outspokenness against processed foods found support among many prominent doctors.
Not all of Trump’s ads are causing a stir. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s selection for secretary of state received bipartisan praise, but in a conventional administration, controversies raging over at least four key Cabinet picks would be seen as a disaster.
Trump is convinced that he will not give up as he looks for people who will fulfill his objectives of overthrowing the Washington establishment in a second term that he promised to dedicate to revenge. A source told over the weekend that Trump views Gaetz as his top pick. The president-elect wants the former Florida congressman to be confirmed “100%,” the source said. “He’s not going to back down. “He is totally committed.”
Johnson tells that releasing Gaetz ethics report would open a Pandora’s box
Trump asked the Senate, if necessary, to cooperate with him to make recess appointments if nominees cannot be confirmed. Using that measure as a first resort rather than a last resort, as has happened in the past, would be a sign that Trump, with a complacent Republican Party, plans to bypass Congress’s constitutional checks and balances and act with broad and unfettered authority. as president.
The outcome of the upcoming confrontation will depend on whether Republican senators are willing to give up their own power to vet candidates and bow to the furious political pressure that the “Make America Great Again” movement is sure to exert on them. The issue represents the first political crisis facing South Dakota Sen. John Thune, who will take over as Republican Senate majority leader next year. And even if senators take a stance on one or two candidates they consider unqualified, they are unlikely to cause a defeat for the new president by ruling out all the most provocative candidates, meaning that some of them are almost certain to take office. the top of key government departments.
The storm over Trump’s election is deepening as the president-elect works to fill out his future administration team with positions such as Treasury secretary and U.S. trade representative that will be critical to carrying out his populist trade and economic policies, still pending.
Gaetz, a political firebrand who became famous for his open support of Trump and a series of political maneuvers, is attracting the most attention in part because of his decision to leave the House of Representatives just days before the Committee was expected to of Ethics will publish its report. Without him being a sitting member of Congress, the investigation will end with the report still under wraps, despite some Republican senators requesting to see its contents.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told ‘s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” this Sunday that the release of the report would open a “Pandora’s box” since Gaetz had left Congress, although such action would not be unprecedented. “The Senate has a role, an advisory and consenting role, under the Constitution, and it will play that role,” the Louisiana Republican said. “They will have a rigorous review and verification process in the Senate, but they do not need to rely on a report, or a draft report, a draft report, that was prepared by the Ethics Commission for its very limited purposes.” Johnson also said he had not discussed the matter with Trump.
Gaetz and several other Trump nominees caused consternation in some circles given questions about their qualifications and past behavior.
“I think the point of these selections, several of them, is that they are not qualified, that they are disqualified,” said Senator-elect Adam Schiff on the “State of the Union” program this Sunday. “That is Trump’s goal, because what he wants to do with these appointees is show that the United States Congress will not stand up to him with anything,” said the California Democrat. “If they confirm Matt Gaetz, they will do what he wants.”
Representative Jim Himes, a Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, warned this Sunday that Republican senators should focus on his legacy and not on Trump. “It is clear that these people are not qualified and are not prepared to lead the very complicated organizations that they have been asked to lead,” the Connecticut Democrat said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” He added: “A Republican senator who votes to consent to the appointment of Matt Gaetz – an agent of chaos, a social media actor who does not respect the rule of law – the Republican senator who votes to confirm Matt Gaetz, Robert Kennedy or “Tulsi Gabbard will be remembered by history as someone who completely handed over her responsibility to Donald Trump.”
During the election campaign, Trump made no secret of his plans if he won a second term. Many of its staunchest supporters consider the federal government to be a liberal deep state that failed to respond to their needs. Furthermore, Trump remains furious at the establishment’s attempts to rein him in during his first term in the White House. Therefore, the election of cabinet candidates who are considered unfit to lead their departments may be an attempt to deal a blow to the credibility of the government itself.
The strategy was explained by the president-elect’s son, Donald Trump Jr., on Fox Business’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “The reality this time is that we know what we are doing. We know who the good guys and the bad guys are. “We know who the fake ones are,” he said. “It’s about surrounding my father with people who are competent and loyal. They will keep their promises. They will fulfill their message. “They are not people who think they know better, like unelected bureaucrats.”
Trump Jr. also suggested that the scandal surrounding some of Trump’s chosen candidates was exactly why he chose them and that it proves his authenticity. “Many of them will face rejections for the same reasons. Once again, they will be true disruptors. “That’s what the American people want.”
It would take a handful of Republican senators to block Trump’s most provocative picks early next year, given that Democrats are likely to vote against him en masse. But several Republican senators made it clear Sunday that they had no problems with the people Trump chose to work in the government.
Senator Markwayne Mullin has a long-standing personal dispute with Gaetz and has in the past viewed his behavior as disrespectful. But the Oklahoma Republican said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he would give Gaetz a “fair shot.” He added: “I have a difficult situation… I have to put aside my personal situation with Matt and analyze the facts. If you’re qualified, you’re qualified.”
Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt said he believed Trump’s nominees would be confirmed. “It is necessary to have trusted people who go to these agencies and have a real reform agenda. And that’s why I think there’s a real push, a real push to get these nominations confirmed,” he said on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
However, on the same show, another Trump ally, Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, warned that there was “hard work” ahead in the confirmation process, but praised Gaetz as a “fighter” who was loyal to the president-elect. . “We have the numbers. Let’s step up, let’s do our job, because we have to get this country back on track in the right direction. President Trump only has a short period of time. “Four years is not much.”
On the other side of the political spectrum, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman looked at those four years and urged Democrats to recognize the bigger picture instead of playing into Trump’s hands in every controversy. He said on “State of the Union” that Gaetz’s picks and some others were “just absolute trolls” that suited Trump’s purposes. “He gets the kind of things he wanted, like panic… If we’re having crises with every tweet or every appointment or all those things, I mean, it’s going to be four years.”
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