As Republican senators returned to Washington after the Thanksgiving break to answer questions about President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, a familiar refrain emerged: Trust the confirmation process.
“So we’re going to take the normal process, look at all the candidates and give everybody an opportunity to ask those questions in a hearing,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said when asked about it. New allegations about Pete HegsethTrump’s pick for Secretary of Defense.
“That’s why our process is so important,” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said when asked about it. controversial reports near Hegseth.
A view of the dome of the US Capitol in Washington on November 24, 2024.
Benoit Tessier/Reuters
“The president is allowed to have nominees that we will have to look at,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, RW.Va., said when asked about Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI, Kash Patel. “I don’t know Kash Patel, we have to go through the process.”
“Like every other candidate, he’s going to get a process and a confirmation hearing and vetting and everything else. They’ll all have to go through it, and we’ll see where the process takes us,” Senate Republican Leader John Thune said in an introduction. he said of Patel.
The responses were glowing endorsements of some of Trump’s nominees. And while many Republicans are calling for the regular process to continue as these nominations are considered, there remains at least one disagreement about what a normal order process would look like.
Senators under fire for FBI background checks
Even though nomination vetting usually includes an FBI background check, Republican senators are 100% torn about the required confirmation.
Thune told ABC News that the issue of background checks will be “fixed.” While he noted there are “other alternatives” to obtaining information, Thune said FBI background checks are “historically” the best route.
“I think, I hope at some point they’re going to fix this background check issue. I don’t know exactly how it’s going to be fixed at this point, but I think they will. The administration understands that there needs to be a thorough. look at all these names,” Thune said. . “And that, you know, historically, the best place to do that has been through the FBI. They have other alternatives, you know, obviously, I think the chairman of our committee will want to make sure they have the background. They need to carefully evaluate those names.”
The seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the Edgar Hoover FBI Building on June 2, 2018, in Washington.
STOCK PHOTO/Adobe Stock
Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which will handle Hegseth’s nomination, told ABC News that the panel is “looking at the way it’s traditionally done and getting information about who orders the FBI background check. .”
But when asked if he wanted to see an FBI background check, he said he would.
“I would prefer a full background check, yes,” Wicker said.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said he believes there will be background checks and would like to see them.
“My preference would be an FBI background check, and I don’t, I don’t know that we won’t have an FBI background check. I know we have a very good staff and we have very good investigators, and they work very closely together. The FBI, so I’m not at all concerned about — the background check lack of vetting — not just those candidates, but any candidate nominated by a president, I think that’s a bogus issue,” Kennedy said.
Some senators closed their cards on this issue.
Cornyn ignored questions about whether he wanted to see an FBI background check on candidates like Patel.
But others are ready to follow Trump’s lead.
“My position is whatever President Trump decides I support,” said Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho.
Members of Parliament react to the appointment of Kash Patel
No Republican senator has outright ruled out Patel as Trump’s choice to lead the Justice Department, though many have said they will wait until Patel goes through the Senate Judiciary Committee before making a decision on him.
But in the end, in order for Patel to be installed, current FBI Director Chris Wray would have to be fired or resign.
Former Chief of Staff to the United States Secretary of Defense Kash Patel speaks during a campaign rally for former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Oct. 24, 2024, in Las Vegas.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
There seems to be a general sense among Republicans that they would be okay with Wray being forced out.
“I am, I am,” Capito said when asked if Trump would be comfortable removing Wray to install Patel.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said she likes Patel, adding that the FBI needs someone new to “come in and clean it up.”
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said it’s reasonable for Trump to want to put in someone he’s comfortable with after his experiences in his first administration and the years since.
“Think about what this guy’s been through, he’s had his house raided, he’s been indicted, so I think he’s probably in a situation you know, and then think about his first term, he had a special prosecutor, so he thinks he’s probably going to be someone who’s loyal that he wants,” Scott said.
