Senate Majority Leader John Thune said it’s not yet clear whether President-elect Donald Trump’s most contentious Cabinet nominees will have the necessary support for confirmation.
When asked on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” whether Republican support may fall short for some of Trump’s more debated picks, Thune replied, “We don’t have, at this point, I don’t think, clarity on that.”
“We don’t know all the information about some of these nominees,” Thune added. “I think we know a lot about them, but they deserve a fair process. And that’s what we’ve committed to and promised.”
Thune noted that Trump’s nominees’ meetings with senators are going “very well,” but they’ll still need to prove themselves before their respective committees. Some nominees like Pete Hegseth for Defense secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services secretary, Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Kash Patel for FBI director, are expected to face varying degrees of uphill climbs.
Though Republicans hold a 52-seat majority — which will become 53 seats when Sen.-elect Jim Justice is sworn in later this month — moderate swing GOP votes could still tank some nominees, barring Democratic support.
