Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar said Sunday that it is essential that President-elect Donald Trump initiate FBI background checks on his nominees.
“We need these background checks on DEA agents – drug enforcement agents. We need them as new prosecutors for the federal government. Why shouldn’t we get these background checks for the most important jobs in the U.S. government?” Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Trump largely wrapped up his major picks on Friday with a series of picks and Saturday’s selection of Brooke Rollins for Agriculture. Republican senators have enough votes to approve any Cabinet member without Democratic support, she pointed out, meaning any delay in confirmation would be due to Republican disagreement.
“Ultimately, it will be the Republicans in the United States Senate who decide whether they want to put these people in their place,” Klobuchar said.
She later added: “They have to get their background checks together, they have to get qualified nominees and then we are interested in the work of the American people.”
Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty, appearing before Klobuchar on ABC’s “This Week,” said the FBI’s emphasis on background checks was overblown.
“I don’t think the American public cares who does the background checks,” he told Jonathan Karl on Sunday. “What the American public cares about is seeing the mandate they voted for fulfilled.”
When asked if that means he wants to do away with background checks completely, Hagerty (R-Tenn.) said, “I’ve been there, I’ve been there. I also received confirmation. They must carry out these checks quickly. The FBI, I think the American public is very concerned about how weaponized it has become. They must continue with this; We will get this done.”
Other senators, including some Republicans like Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, said “they believe they need background checks to make decisions,” Klobuchar said.
“I think a number of them have said both publicly and privately that they are not going to go along with that. So I don’t think that’s going to happen,” she says.
If a delay in confirmation occurs, or is likely to occur, some believe Trump could bypass the Senate and make recess appointments.
“Senator [John] Thune, the new leader on the Republican side,” Klobuchar noted, made that “very clear.” [Republicans] “I don’t have a vote during these recess appointments to bash people because ultimately it’s Republicans who will have to make the decision as to whether these people are qualified for these jobs.”
