SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
President-elect Donald Trump has now finished making all of his major cabinet nominations. So the action now heads to the Senate, which will hold confirmation hearings. NPR's Luke Garrett is here with the latest on all of this. Hey, Luke.
LUKE GARRETT, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: Let's start with Trump's pick for attorney general, which is now Pam Bondi because former Congressman Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration.
GARRETT: That's right. President-elect Trump initially pick Gaetz and threw his full support behind him for the job of attorney general. And on Tuesday, Gaetz went down to Capitol Hill to meet with Republican Senators to get their support. But by Thursday, Gaetz stepped down. Worth noting that a day before Gaetz withdrew, the House Ethics Committee voted to complete a report that's investigating alleged sexual misconduct with a minor and illicit drug use by Gaetz. His removal from the cabinet is a reminder that the Senate really does have power here over who Trump picks. In response, Trump quickly tapped Pam Bondi for his attorney general. She used to be Florida's attorney general and, relative to Gaetz, has more of a background for this job.
DETROW: The other week, we had talked about how the Gaetz nomination would really be a key barometer of whether the Senate would still wield power here. It looks like it did. So that leads to another controversial pick Pete Hegseth, for defense secretary.
GARRETT: Right. Hegseth, a Bronze Star veteran and weekend Fox News host, had an equally tough week. He had been accused of sexual assault back in 2017, and a police report on this incident was released and reviewed by NPR. In the report, an unnamed woman says Hegseth allegedly blocked her from leaving his hotel room and took her phone before a sexual encounter. Hegseth visited Capitol Hill on the very day this report was released, and here was his response.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PETE HEGSETH: I was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared. And that's where I'm going to leave it.
GARRETT: And today on ABC News, Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty says he's standing with Hegseth and expects him to get Senate approval.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BILL HAGERTY: I'm not expecting anything to sort of see drop, as you say, or that type of thing. What I expect is to see a thorough hearing take place, to see the Senate do its work. And I expect to see Pete Hegseth confirmed as the next secretary of defense.
GARRETT: Now, Hagerty has said similar things about Gaetz, who is no longer, you know, standing. So we'll have to wait and see. Republicans have a three-seat majority in the Senate, so they can only lose four votes. All eyes are now on those Republican moderates.
DETROW: One other interesting nomination to talk about and that is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's pick to head Health and Human Services. RFK Jr. has, of course, spread vaccine misinformation among other things. How is the Senate reacting to Kennedy?
GARRETT: Right. Kennedy has received bipartisan criticism for these antivaccine stances. He hasn't yet visited Capitol Hill or met with senators. But since his nomination, he has found some support or just openness among bipartisan members of Congress. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker posted a video on social media criticizing U.S. food systems, saying, quote, "food in America is making us sick" - end quote. While Booker did not mention RFK Jr. by name, this message does echo portions of Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again agenda. So, you know, during his confirmation hearing, Kennedy is going to face a lot of questions from a lot of different sides in the Senate.
DETROW: That is NPR's Luke Garrett. Luke, thanks so much.
GARRETT: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
