How Senators Are Responding to Trump’s Cabinet Selections So Far

The U.S. Capitol building during fall in Washington on Oct. 23, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

As President-elect Donald Trump’s administration selections roll in, senators—who will decide whether the candidates should be confirmed—have been expressing reactions to them.

The Republican Party will have control of the Senate starting on Jan. 3, 2025.

So far, Trump has chosen House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to be ambassador to the United Nations, former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) to be Environmental Protection Agency administrator, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary, former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John Ratcliffe to be CIA director, and Fox News commentator Pete Hegseth as defense secretary.

Trump has also chosen Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to be secretary of state, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to be attorney general, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) to be director of national intelligence, former Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) to be Veterans Affairs secretary, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to be interior secretary.

Trump also named Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff and Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) as his national security adviser. Neither will need Senate confirmation.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) sounded like they were going to go along with Trump’s nominees.

He also said the Senate will move expeditiously to confirm them—which Mullin concurred with while appearing on Fox News on Nov. 14.

On Fox News on Nov. 14, Thune said that recess appointments should happen if the Democrats are uncooperative, though he acknowledged that enough Republicans could join all Democrats in preventing a majority vote to recess.

Additionally, he said that some of the nominations will not be a cakewalk.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) applauded Trump’s selection to represent the United States in Israel, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, calling him “a great pick.”

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) has already objected to Hegseth’s nomination, saying on CNN that he is “wholly unqualified.”

Duckworth warned that were Hegseth to be confirmed, morale would decline and there would be “a mass exodus of professional military officers” in addition to “a hollowing out of our military.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is against Gaetz’s nomination to be America’s top law enforcement officer.

“No question about Matt Gaetz’s qualifications—totally lacking. His only relevant law enforcement experience is as a target of a criminal investigation,” he wrote in a post on X on Nov. 13, referring to a Justice Department investigation of Gaetz over allegations of statutory rape and human trafficking.

The DOJ declined to charge him.

Blumenthal said that Gaetz would “weaponize DOJ for political ends” and that he would “be a national security risk—ill-equipped to be in charge of prosecuting espionage, terrorism, drug trafficking, and more.”

On the other hand, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) came out in support of Gaetz’s nomination, calling him “qualified.”

Appearing on Fox News on Nov. 13, Graham had a message for his fellow Republicans.

“Please follow process to give President Trump the ability to pick the people he thinks can do the job and give Matt a chance to prove himself,” he said.