Trump’s secretary of energy pick Chris Wright’s senate confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee began with opening statements from chairman Sen. Mike Lee.
— Ece Yildirim
Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis.
Andrew Harnik | AP
The Senate Commerce Committee kicked off its confirmation hearing for Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Transportation, former Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wisc.
The airline industry has pushed back on a host of Biden-administration rules for air travelers, including automatic refunds for customers, and Duffy’s approach will be a key topic, closely watched by consumer advocates and airline executives.
Duffy nodded to a major industry concern: a shortfall of air traffic controllers in his opening testimony and he vowed to “restore global confidence in Boeing and to ensure our skies are safe,” pointing to ongoing struggles of the aerospace giant and top U.S. exporter.
— Leslie Josephs
US Senator Marco Rubio arrives for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination to be Secretary of State, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 15, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | Afp | Getty Images
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee began its hearing on Rubio’s nomination for secretary of state.
“Marco sees the values of our allies and democratic leaders who will stand up to our adversaries and who will work with the United States to deny footholds to communist China, Iran and Russia,” said Sen. Rick Scott, Rubio’s fellow Florida Republican.
– Dan Mangan
President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for CIA Director John Ratcliffe arrives for a Senate Intelligence confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on January 15, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images
The Senate Intelligence Committee began its hearing on whether to confirm John Ratcliffe to lead the CIA.
— Kevin Breuninger
The National Border Patrol Council backed Bondi to be U.S. attorney general, saying in a statement that she “will ensure that our nation’s borders are not ignored anymore.”
— Kevin Breuninger
Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi arrives for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on her nomination to be US Attorney General, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 15, 2025.
Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty Images
In her prepared opening remarks, Bondi praises Trump and vows to end “the partisan weaponization of the Department of Justice.”
Bondi says her “overriding objective” is to “return the Department of Justice to its core mission of keeping Americans safe and vigorously enforcing the law.”
She also echoes a version of Trump’s campaign slogan, saying that, “If confirmed, I will do what it takes to make America safe again.”
— Kevin Breuninger
Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi concludes her remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, U.S. February 26, 2021.
Octavio Jones | Reuters
The Public Citizen advocacy group says Bondi is unsuitable as attorney general because of potential “multiple conflicts of interest for her and the” DOJ due to her prior work for 30 corporate and foreign lobbying clients.
“When Pam Bondi left her post as Florida Attorney General, she went right to work as a registered lobbyist for big corporations and registered foreign agent serving foreign interests,” said Public Citizen democracy advocate Jon Golinger. “The U.S. Attorney General should be the American people’s lawyer – not a corporate lobbyist with a closet full of conflicted clients, many of whom seek government contracts or are being investigated by the very Justice Department Bondi now seeks to lead.”
Public Citizen’s co-president, Lisa Gilbert, is scheduled to testify as a witness on Thursday at Bondi’s second confirmation hearing.
– Dan Mangan
Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi arrives for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on her nomination to be US Attorney General, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 15, 2025.
Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty Images
Trump’s attorney general pick Pam Bondi has arrived at the Hart Senate Office Building for her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
— Ece Yildirim
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Attorney General Pam Bondi meets with incoming Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) in his office at the Hart Senate Office Building on December 02, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images
Pam Bondi wasn’t Trump’s first choice to lead the Department of Justice — she replaced former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who withdrew his bid for attorney general amid a swirl of sexual misconduct allegations and other controversies.
Bondi, the former AG of Florida and lobbyist, is a much safer pick by comparison. But she is likely to face intense scrutiny from Democrats over the extent of her loyalty to Trump, given their fears about how the incoming president might seek to wield the government’s justice system against his foes.
Bondi, 59, had helped lead the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump think tank, and defended Trump during his first Senate impeachment trial in 2020.
She has also criticized the criminal cases that Trump faced prior to his election, including those brought by former special counsel Jack Smith, claiming that the legal system was weaponized.
— Kevin Breuninger
The process of appointing Trump’s Cabinet kicked off Tuesday with a contentious Senate confirmation hearing for Defense Secretary hopeful Pete Hegseth, one of the president-elect’s most controversial picks.
Despite Democrats’ best efforts to grill Hegseth on his relative lack of experience and a series of allegations about his past, the former Fox News host emerged from the hearing likely to be confirmed.
There were some tense moments, however. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., zeroed in on Hegseth’s admitted past infidelities and a 2017 sexual assault accusation against him.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and others pressed Hegseth about his past comments opposing women in combat.
But Hegseth got a warm embrace from Republicans. A key GOP holdout, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, said later Tuesday that she would vote to confirm him.
— Kevin Breuninger
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, holds the name plate from when she served in Congress during the House Natural Resources Committee hearing on H.R. 3397 to “require the Director of the Bureau of Land Management to withdraw a rule of the Bureau of Land Management relating to conservation and landscape health,” in Longworth Building on Thursday, June 15, 2023.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
A scheduled confirmation hearing today for South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem, Trump’s pick for to lead the Department of Homeland Security, was abruptly postponed late Tuesday afternoon.
A former member of the House, Noem’s confirmation process was expected to be the most controversial of today’s slate.
The reason for the postponement was given, but The Hill newspaper reported that it was “due to a delay on the FBI background check” for Noem.
— Christina Wilkie
