Donald Trump’s most controversial cabinet nominees are gearing up for a gruelling Senate confirmation process that risks turning into a series of spectacles.
Trump’s most divisive selections — from Matt Gaetz for US attorney-general to Robert F Kennedy Jr for health and human services secretary — will be subject to an exacting exercise that is likely to include weeks of public scrutiny, televised congressional committee hearings and make-or-break votes on Capitol Hill.
That has prompted Trump allies to scramble to protect the nominees, and some have even pushed the idea of circumventing the confirmation process altogether and installing the nominees via recess appointments, which allow the president to bypass Senate approval.
“None of this is going to be easy,” John Thune, the newly elected Senate Republican leader, told Fox News this week. “But . . . President Trump had a huge mandate from the American people.”
The US Constitution gives the Senate the power to be consulted on and approve senior government positions, including cabinet secretaries and other top administration jobs. That means a simple majority of senators need to give a thumbs-up to each of Trump’s cabinet appointees.
While Republicans will from January control the Senate by a 53-47 margin — after picking up four seats in last week’s elections — there are early signs that Trump’s most polarising picks may struggle to win over a critical number of lawmakers.
Gaetz, who was until this week a congressman from Florida, has raised the most alarm bells, in large part due to a federal investigation into allegations of sex trafficking an underage girl. Gaetz has denied any allegations of wrongdoing and said the probe was closed without any charges.
Several Republican senators have already raised questions about his nomination. Susan Collins of Maine told reporters she was “shocked”, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said he was not a “serious nomination” for attorney-general.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives ethics committee had been investigating Gaetz for alleged ethics breaches, including sexual misconduct, drug use and the acceptance of gifts.
That probe ground to a halt when Gaetz submitted his resignation from Congress earlier this week. Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House and loyal Trump ally, has discouraged the release of the investigation’s findings, saying on Friday it would be a “terrible precedent to set”.
Yet it remains unclear whether more junior lawmakers will vote to publish the sealed report anyway — or if it will be leaked by another member of Congress or a well-placed staffer. Several senators have already said they expected the report’s contents will come out one way or another in the vetting process.
North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis said he was “almost certain” the report would be revealed, but said he would nevertheless “consider Matt Gaetz like . . . anybody else”.
Gaetz is far from the only appointee whose confirmation is on shaky ground. While Kennedy — a prominent vaccine sceptic and former Democrat — has his right-wing fans on Capitol Hill, he has several conservative critics.
Mike Pence, the former vice-president and prominent evangelical, issued a rare statement on Friday urging senators to reject Kennedy’s nomination, calling him the “most pro-abortion Republican appointed secretary of HHS in modern history”.
Questions have also been swirling over several of Trump’s foreign policy appointments, including Fox News personality Pete Hegseth for defence secretary and Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence.
Hegseth, known for his attacks on “wokeness”, has proposed firing top military leaders, and also reportedly faced an investigation into an allegation of sexual assault in the past — authorities did not bring charges and he has denied all wrongdoing. Gabbard — another former Democrat who if confirmed would sit atop the leading US spy agencies — has long praised Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and faced accusations at home of parroting Kremlin propaganda.
Trump has already suggested he would use “recess appointments” to bypass the confirmation process altogether. That would require a majority of senators to agree to adjourn and let Trump exercise a constitutional authority that allows presidents to staff their administration while the legislature is in recess. Those appointed through this process would only be in place for up to two years, however.
It is unclear whether lawmakers would sign on to the idea — or whether Trump would try another novel legal tactic and tap a different constitutional provision that gives presidents power to adjourn Congress if its two chambers cannot agree on timing.
If the Senate were to acquiesce, “they would look incredibly weak,” said Saikrishna Prakash, professor at the University of Virginia School of Law. “If they’re going to bow to him on this, it’s going to be a very pliant Congress.”
Trump has floated similar strategies before. In 2020, he threatened to adjourn Congress to make appointments without Senate confirmations.
But it would still “be unprecedented to adjourn Congress”, said Prakash, and “it would be unprecedented for . . . Congress to go into recess to facilitate his appointments”.
Experts say such moves would likely face legal challenges that could make their way to the US Supreme Court, potentially teeing up the next big decision over the boundaries of presidential powers.
Thune — who will be the most powerful Republican on Capitol Hill come January — said he would prefer to “do this the regular way”.
Nevertheless, “all options are on the table, including recess appointments”, he told Fox News. “Hopefully, it doesn’t get to that.”