A handful of Democrats are voicing their approval of Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of state, but others proceed to solid doubt on a few of President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet selections.
“I think Marco Rubio is extremely well qualified for the job for which he was nominated,” said Democratic Senator-elect Adam Schiff of California NBC's “Meet the Press.”” on Sunday morning. “I still need to ask questions, I'm not even going to completely prejudge him, but he's definitely qualified.”
Trump has made a number of Cabinet decisions in the past two weeks, announcing his picks for all 15 heads of executive departments. Eyes now turn to the U.S. Senate to confirm the nominees.
Rubio is considered one of the “less MAGA” options in Trump’s circle, a Trump ally said NBC News earlier this monthand another said he had “aligned far more closely with the president on tariff issues.”
Trump pushed for universal tariffs during the 2024 campaign, with particularly high tariffs of 60% on goods from China.
Rubio is known to be tough on China and a vocal supporter of demonetizing the social media platform TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, in the United States. He is also restrictive towards Iran, but remains ambivalent about supporting Ukraine.
Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman also said in an interview with Fox News' “Fox News Sunday” that he was a “fan” of Rubio and said he would vote for his confirmation.
Fetterman said he might also “enthusiastically vote yes” for the representative. Elise Stefanik to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and for pro-union Rep. Lori Chavez DeRemer as Labor Minister.
Fetterman also said he is open to other candidates, such as his former rival for the Pennsylvania Senate seat, Dr. Mehmet Oz Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
“I’m not going to hate this in advance. I will have an open conversation with anyone I am willing to participate in that conversation,” Fetterman said.
Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth said she has “a friendship” with Rubio and said she looks forward to speaking to him about his policies.
Duckworth, a combat veteran injured in Iraq, also weighed in on Trump's defense and veterans affairs in her interview with CNN's “State of the Union” Sunday morning. While the senator said she was open to talks with Republican Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, she deemed Fox News host Pete Hegseth “unqualified” for the defense secretary position.
“He never commanded a company, let alone battalions, brigades or entire armies,” Duckworth said of Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran.
“There are ways to be troublemakers without actually appointing people as defense secretary who have never led an organization larger than a platoon,” Duckworth continued, adding that Collins would be a good example. “The VA had a terrible problem with its electronic medical records program. Hopefully Doug Collins will come in there and stir things up.”
Hegseth has also been under fire for a police investigation in 2017 related to an alleged sexual assault at a California hotel.
Another name that has drawn significant criticism in the Senate is former Democratic representative. Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's nominee for Director of National Intelligence.
Senator-elect Schiff said Gabbard lacked experience on the House Intelligence Committee their alleged ties to the Kremlinworry him.
Senator Duckworth claimed Gabbard was “compromised” and feared the former congresswoman was unable to pass a background check.
“I think that she is someone who fully supports her [Russian President Vladimir Putin]and I worry that she won’t have America’s best interests at heart,” Duckworth said.
However, some Republicans are refuting the claim that Duckworth is a Russian asset.
“I find it insulting. Frankly, it’s an insult,” Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri said Sunday on NBC.Meet the press.”
Meanwhile, HR McMaster, who previously served as national security adviser during Trump's first term as president, said he didn’t think Sebastian Gorka, Trump's former national security adviser, was the precise person to advise on national security issues within the second term.
“I think that the president [and] “Others who work with him will probably notice that pretty quickly,” McMaster said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
McMaster, who has openly criticized some points of Trump's foreign policy agenda after his time within the administration, also said he was concerned in regards to the tendency of some Republican officials to parrot Russian President Putin's talking points.
“You have to get rid of this strange affection for Vladimir Putin,” McMaster said.
Vocal opposition from Democrats in Congress has led Trump to think about the potential for forcing the Senate into an prolonged recess in 2025 to bypass the confirmation process in appointing Cabinet officials.
Recess dates are “and should be on the table,” Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee said Sunday on ABC News' “This Week.”
“This is a constitutionally available tool. What we want to see is the Democrats working with us. “But if the resistance movement becomes as strong as it was… we have to put a team together around him, and.” [Trump] “He needs every tool at his disposal to do that,” Hagerty said.
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