JR Afternoon with Chris Renwick
How Will Trump's New Cabinet Pan Out?
So much has been made about some of Donald Trump's appointments and whether that's somebody like Matt Gates to attorney general, somebody like Pete Hegzith to be the secretary of defense, or even somebody like Tulsi Gabbard. And there does seem to be a little bit of pushback in the Senate even amongst Republican senators. What are the odds that Donald Trump's appointments actually make it through the process and they will be leading these departments? Let's get a in-depth look with Mariana Alfaro, the breaking news political reporter with The Washington Post. It's great to have you. Hi, thanks for having me. What are you hearing on the Hill or what are you hearing amongst those in the political background about some of these appointments and their odds of actually getting put through? Yeah, I mean, there's some of them that apparently will have an easy cruising through the Senate. I'm thinking, you know, Senator Rubio for state, I think that's one that a lot of Democrats and Republicans can agree on will go smoothly. There's been some chatter about Tulsi Gabbard potentially also having a smooth sailing, you know, the spice on her. And the fusion to her family's connections to Russia, I think that that might be a bit of a hiccup for her, but from what I've heard from, so there's some both parties they seem that that might be like a hearing that is not going to be as difficult as Matt Gaetz, who currently is in the center of the storm, I would say. There's a lot of senators they spoke into yesterday, Republican senators just say that, you know, he deserves his time in front of the Senate. He deserves his spare hearings and that, you know, they are willing, I mean, for example, Josh Hawley said that he is on a place where he thinks he's going to support all of Trump's nominee. So for example, Josh Hawley will turn off for him, but there's others like John Cornyn, a top Republican from Texas, he said that he really wants to see the report that the House Ethics Committee compiled on Gaetz, you know, that hasn't been released yet about investigations into whether he, you know, sexually assaulted a minor. And so I think that that's a big one that it's going to be, you know, on the top of everyone's mind. I do think that, you know, despite, you know, Republicans saying they want to see it, there's other folks in there like Lindsey Graham says that he doesn't need to see the report, that they rely on, you know, what's going to happen during the Senate confirmation hearings that they have to go through all these background reports and all these background checks and maybe that will turn out other things that might change their minds. But for now, it seems like he's going to face a serious hearing. But again, there seems to be, you know, there's a 53 majority of the Senate. It seems like they could lose a few here and there, but it seems like that Gaetz could, you know, there is a chance that he can make it through. Again, it depends on the next information that comes out in one two weeks. But then I think there's other things coming out over. I think it was defense. Pete had said he there's a report on the Washington Post today that he had was investigated for alleged sexual assault. Despite that, there's some Republican senators who still think that he deserves, you know, to be clear on the hearing. And I think that it was supported himself who said he would support him. So they can afford to lose maybe three votes. But for example, someone like Pete had said, I think that they would also face good odds in the Senate. How does how do the some of these appointments impact the balance of power in places like the Senate, for example, Marco Rubio, which of course would be a stalwart Republican vote. But but if he's going to be in the cabinet, it's it's going to put things in a precarious position, at least for a little while. So how did those appointments when you're taking away from these chambers? How does that impact the the the process? Yes, I mean, Marco Rubio would be replaced by someone that the Senate that the Florida governor elect. So that would be a temporary appointment. And you know, we're talking about Ron DeSantis who's a, you know, sorry, Republican, you would probably name a fellow Central Republican for the seat. Again, because of the majority they hold and also remember that JD Vance would be the type of voting that comes for that. So I think the Republicans are pretty good hold of the Senate, no matter what. But then if you look at the house, it gets a little more precarious there because they are losing several members to the administration. And I think that it first of all that gates were signed immediately on Wednesday. So already, you know, we heard Speaker Johnson say that he was already calling DeSantis to make sure that they could kick start a special election because if it happens eight weeks before, when, you know, within the eight weeks, they have an eight week period to replace gates. And so their special election has needs to happen. And if it happens now, they can get someone seated by January 3rd, which is when the new Congress is immigrated. So it's going to be really quick. So for example, in the case of Gates, and I think in the case of Walt, who is also Florida Republican who Trump also picked for his cabinet, they could get those two seats back fairly quickly. I think with Stefano, who's a New York Republican and she's been named a U.N. Ambassador. Again, there's a different math there because it's New York. And so it would depend on the Democrat governor there. You have to go to to to replace that seat. So it is a matter of making, you know, the Republicans need to be very careful with the majority. I know that Johnson has asked the president to stop picking from his cabinet, but you know, the from from his school, but you know, the president will do whatever he wants to do. But I think Republicans still are already aware that they were going to be playing with a very, very, very minor majority this time around and more prepared than last time. And I think, you know, from what I've been hearing about Republicans in the House this week is that they're really trying to achieve more unity than they did last time. And I think Johnson has proven to be a leader that more members across the board trust in or they like kind of feel like they can work with him more. Donald Trump has talked about a number of different ways potentially to get these these confirmations through. Is there any indication how that process is going to work yet? Yeah, so he's been talking about recent appointments, which is something that I think we haven't really talked about since like the Obama era. I mean, Trump also brought it up in the 2020 when he was, you know, trying to get his cabinet back in 2016, 2020. But I think it was a big issue back in the Obama era where Obama was trying to get some nominees through that were being blocked by the Republican Senate. Back then, the Supreme Court said that he might have over passed his like constitutional authority to do recess appointments. But what a recess appointment is basically is that when the Senate is on recess, the president can say, I'm going to name these people to my to federal offices because the Senate is out. And there is a certain level of how that should be allowed. But when it comes to big cabinet positions, it is the Senate's role basically to like background check these folks and make sure that they are that the president is committing a mistake. And that is something that, you know, Cornyn said to us yesterday, and then hell, he was like, we are job as the Senate committee is to make sure that these people don't cause problems for the president in the future. But if the president comes in and asks for a recess, it is possible that they could skip through the same. It's very interesting. Mariana Alfaro with Washington Post, thank you for your time. Appreciate it. We'll take a break. More next. Bye bye.
November, 15, 2024 ~ Chris speaks with Mariana Alfaro, Breaking News Political Reporter for the Washington Post, about whether or not the Senate will confirm some of Donald Trump's appointees to his new administration.