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Trump’s choices as an outsider in the Cabinet are quickly gaining support for confirmation

WASHINGTON (AP) — One by one, the president-elect’s men and women are falling into place in his Cabinet.

While Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s nomination was on the verge of collapse just weeks ago, he now appears on track for confirmation following a fiery Senate hearing that focused on his drinking, views on women in combat and lack of high-profile management experience for the top of the US. military job.

President-elect Donald Trump’s other nominees pushed through a series of confirmation hearings on Wednesday with the help of allied Republicans in the Senate who carried them to the finish line despite Democratic objections. One of them, potential FBI director Kash Patel, walked into a private Republican Senate luncheon Wednesday to say hello.

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“These nominees are bold choices,” Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the Republican Party, said in earlier remarks.

He predicted that the Senate will begin voting to confirm Trump’s picks on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.

To be fair, Trump’s more controversial picks, Patel, Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have yet to be presented to senators for public questioning. Once they do, they have a long way to go in winning over skeptics from both sides of the political spectrum, Republicans and Democrats alike.

In a letter to Republican senators, an organization led by Trump’s former vice president Mike Pence said it was “deeply concerned” with Kennedy over his views on abortion and urged senators to impeach him as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

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But Hegseth’s ability to stage a political comeback, take on his critics and turn his nomination into a litmus test of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement is a powerful example of the ability of the new White House to get what it wants. The Trump team’s allies, including billionaire Elon Musk and others, bolstered support for Hegseth and pushed him forward.

“If anyone in the Republican Senate votes against the nomination of Pete Hegseth after his stellar performance today, you have a primary challenge waiting for you,” wrote Trump ally Charlie Kirk on X. “You can take that to the bank.”

The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to vote on Hegseth’s nomination Monday and send it to the full Senate for consideration, with confirmation possible later that week.

With a nod of support from GOP Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, a combat veteran and sexual assault survivor who initially had questions for Hegseth, the former Army National Guard veteran passed his biggest potential roadblock. Ernst faced a barrage of personal and political attacks as she hesitated to support Hegseth, an early signal to others.

Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said the criticism of Hegseth was not as strong as the image of “a warrior with dust on his boots who actually got things done.”

On Wednesday, half a dozen more Trump nominees appeared before Senate committees as his team flooded the zone, with senators rushing between hearing rooms to participate in as many sessions as possible.

Pam Bondi, the nominee for attorney general, was questioned by Democrats who asked whether she believed Trump had lost the 2020 election, that Biden had won, or if she would oppose presidential pardons for those convicted of crimes in connection with January 6, 2021.

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“You’re saying all the right things, that you’re going to be the ‘people’s lawyer,’” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

“But I believe that being the ‘people’s lawyer’ means being able to say no to the president of the United States,” he said. “You should be able to say that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, you dodged that question… You should be able to say that January 6 insurrectionists who committed violence should not be pardoned.”

Bondi replied: “I don’t have to say anything. I will answer the questions as best as I can and honestly.”

Another Trump nominee, Russ Vought, a Project 2025 architect who would lead the White House Office of Management and Budget, was asked if he would commit to releasing congressionally approved funding for Ukraine. He promised to “always be committed to upholding the law.”

And California Democratic Senator Alex Padilla asked Trump’s Energy nominee Chris Wright if he still believes “wildfires are just a hype” in the wake of the devastating fires in Southern California that have killed at least 25 people and destroyed thousands of homes have destroyed.

Wright said he stood by his previous comments. He then said climate change is real before Padilla cut him off.

On Monday, Trump is expected to enter the Capitol after being inaugurated to sign paperwork to formally nominate his picks for top Cabinet and administration positions, starting the confirmation process.

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said the Senate will vote on the nominees as soon as they are ready.

The first would be Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. could be, a former Trump rival for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination who is now the president-elect’s pick for secretary of state.

Rubio promised an “America First” foreign policy agenda during his own confirmation hearing on Wednesday. As a well-known senator, he is expected to receive broad support from both Republicans and Democrats. His confirmation vote could happen as early as Monday evening.

Other nominees, including Hegseth, are expected to face a more difficult path to confirmation.

Republicans have a narrow majority in the Senate, 53-47, but their numbers have fallen to 52 after newly elected Vice President JD Vance resigned from his seat last week before taking power. That means Trump’s nominees will need support from nearly every Republican senator for majority confirmation over Democrats’ objections.

In addition, Democrats are expected to raise procedural hurdles that would require Hegseth and other nominees to go through multiple steps before final confirmation. The consideration of Hegseth and others could continue late next week.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuch Schumer all but acknowledged that Democrats, as a minority, are essentially powerless to stop Trump from getting his desired team.

“It’s important to have an overview of these nominees,” Schumer said Wednesday as the hearings continued. “Even if they are ultimately confirmed.”

__ Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Matt Brown, Farnoush Amiri, Josh Boak in Washington and Jennifer McDermott in Providence, RI contributed to this report

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