Several Republican senators could derail the confirmation of President-elect Donald Trump's controversial Cabinet picks.
Since the election, Trump has tapped several polarizing figures for his Cabinet including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who the president-elect picked to run the Department of Health and Human Services, and former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who could serve as attorney general.
Four Republican senators would be enough to prevent Trump's nominees from getting confirmed, per The Hill. Two moderates, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski (R) and Maine Senator Susan Collins (R) have expressed concern about Gaetz running the Justice Department amid a federal sex trafficking investigation.
“I don’t think it’s a serious nomination for attorney general. We need to have a serious attorney general,” Murkowski said of Gaetz.
“I was shocked by the announcement,” Collins stated of Trump's attorney general pick. “I’m sure that there will be a lot of questions raised at his hearing. Obviously, the president has the right to nominate whomever he wishes, but I’m certain that there will be a lot of questions.”
Collins said she found several statements previously made by Kennedy, who has claimed that vaccines pose serious health concerns, “alarming.”
More Republican senators including, Utah's newly-elected John Curtis, could also pose a risk to Trump's picks getting confirmed.
During Curtis' campaign, Gaetz traveled to Utah to campaign against him in the Senate Republican primary. Gaetz accused Curtis of “weakness” and a “willingness to prioritize foreign interests abroad” and “special interests in the halls of Washington.”
Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, one of the few Republicans who voted to convict Trump on the impeachment charge of inciting insurrection, was among the GOP lawmakers who expressed bewilderment over Trump's choice to tap Pete Hegseth, a military veteran and Fox News host, to head the Department of Defense.
“Who?” Cassidy said when asked about Hegseth.
Iowa Senator Joni Ernst said Gaetz has an “uphill climb” to secure the votes needed to win confirmation. It's also unclear whether Ernst will back Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard, who Trump picked to serve as Director of National Intelligence.
When asked about Gabbard's past comments defending Russian President Vladimir Putin and Syrian President Bashar Assad, Ernst said, “We’ll have to talk about that.”
Texas Senator John Cornyn has called for the Senate Judiciary Committee to have full access to the findings of the House Ethics Committee's investigation of Gaetz for alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
If there's any evidence of wrongdoing, Gaetz could become “an embarrassment to the president.”
“We need to get access to everything,” Cornyn said.
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