LEILA FADEL, HOST:

President-elect Donald Trump has introduced extra selections for who he needs to serve in his cupboard.

ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:

He is filling high positions for all the pieces from the Division of Treasury and Labor to who will head up the CDC and the FDA. A Republican-controlled Senate is anticipated to contemplate these nominees early subsequent yr.

FADEL: NPR congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh joins us now with extra on what’s forward. Good morning, Deirdre.

DEIRDRE WALSH, BYLINE: Good morning, Leila.

FADEL: So let’s begin along with his decide for legal professional common, Pam Bondi, who was named simply hours after Matt Gaetz dropped out final week. Now, she appears to be getting a a lot better response, proper?

WALSH: Positively. Senate Republicans level out her expertise. She was a prosecutor eight years as Florida’s legal professional common. Like Matt Gaetz, she’s seen as a powerful Trump loyalist. She defended him as a part of his impeachment workforce protection workforce again in 2019. Bondi simply does not have the identical type of political baggage that Gaetz had. Home Ethics Committee investigated him for allegations of intercourse trafficking. That simply made his nomination an uphill battle from the day he was picked. When it comes to the Justice Division, Pam Bondi is more likely to pursue the identical type of agenda Trump campaigned on and Gaetz was promising, reforms on the division and retribution in opposition to Trump’s political opponents.

FADEL: Now, are there some nominees that would face challenges within the Senate from Republicans in addition to Democrats?

WALSH: There’s already extra consideration on Pete Hegseth, Trump’s decide to steer the Pentagon. He is a former Fox Information host who served within the Military Nationwide Guard. He was accused of sexual assault in 2017. NPR has seen the police report from the Monterey, California, police. Hegseth argues he was cleared. There have been no costs filed, and his lawyer confirmed to NPR that Hegseth settled with the accuser to forestall her from submitting any lawsuit. He already has some vital assist. Senior Republicans on the Armed Companies Committee and the brand new No. 2 GOP chief, John Barrasso, has endorsed him.

Trump’s decide for director of nationwide intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard – she’s a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii – is one other nominee going through some scrutiny. Oklahoma Republican Senator Jim Lankford, who sits on the Intelligence Committee, mentioned on CNN yesterday there are many questions for Gabbard. He pointed to a visit she took again in 2017 when she was serving in Congress to Syria, the place she met with the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. All these nominees are anticipated to undergo some background checks in some kind. And Barrasso mentioned they’ll begin hearings on January 3, and he expects some votes on nominees on Inauguration Day.

FADEL: Now, as we talked about, Republicans will management the Senate with 53 seats. And for cupboard nominees to be accepted, they simply want a easy majority. That is 51 votes.

WALSH: Proper.

FADEL: Does this make it possible that a lot of the president’s picks will get via?

WALSH: I count on most will. I imply, even when three Republicans break and vote in opposition to a nominee, Vice President JD Vance, who may even be serving as president of the Senate, can break a tie. If 4 Republicans oppose a nominee, they’ll fail. There are a gaggle of senators we’re keeping track of who’ve raised questions on nominees and wish to see extra data – folks like Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, incoming Utah Senator John Curtis, who replaces Mitt Romney, and Mitch McConnell, who stepped down from management however continues to be within the Senate. All of those senators are saying the identical factor. The president will get to appoint who he needs, nevertheless it’s the Senate’s job to advise and consent. Some nominees can have bipartisan assist. Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who’s up for Secretary of State, is well-known. And a few Democrats I talked to say they might see voting for him.

FADEL: That is NPR’s Deirdre Walsh. Thanks, Deirdre.

WALSH: Thanks, Leila.

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