Category: Politics

(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump said he wants Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins surgeon and author who argued against pandemic lockdowns, to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“He will work under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to, among other things, properly evaluate harmful chemicals poisoning our Nation’s food supply and drugs and biologics being given to our Nation’s youth, so that we can finally address the Childhood Chronic Disease Epidemic,” Trump said in his announcement.

If confirmed by the Senate, Makary’s job would be to oversee the FDA’s $7 billion budget and report to the health secretary. The agency oversees $3.6 trillion in food, tobacco and medical products, including some 20,000 prescription drugs on the market.

Here are three things to know about Makary:

Makary is a respected transplant surgeon who questioned his colleagues’ recommendations on COVID

Makary was known during the pandemic as an experienced medical expert willing to challenge his colleagues’ assumptions on COVID, although he was often criticized by his peers for cherry-picking data or omitting context.

He frequently appeared on Fox News and wrote opinion articles that questioned the value of lockdowns and masks for children. He supported the use of vaccines but opposed mandates and doubted the utility of boosters, at odds with full-throated recommendations on boosters from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Among his views was that the U.S. government was underestimating the number of people who were likely immune to the virus. In early 2021, he predicted much of the country would reach “herd immunity” by that April, reducing risk of the virus dramatically.

That assumption, however, did not happen.

As restrictions eased and a new variant surfaced, virus-related deaths soared from about 4,000 a week to about 15,000 a week by September, making 2021 a deadlier year than when the pandemic began.

Makary stood by his assertion that “natural immunity” was still being underestimated by the U.S. government.

“One reason public health officials may be afraid to acknowledge the effectiveness of natural immunity is that they fear it will lead some to choose getting the infection over vaccination. That’s a legitimate concern. But we can encourage all Americans to get vaccinated while still being honest about the data,” he wrote a separate opinion article in The Washington Post.

He sounds a lot like RFK Jr. when talking about the ‘poisoned’ food supply, pesticides and ultra-processed foods.

After the pandemic, Makary began turning back to his initial focus railing against an overpriced health care system. He’s long argued that the system is broken, overcharging patients and running unnecessary tests.

He also began speaking more critically about America’s food system, echoing a message embraced by Trump’s pick for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“We’ve got a poisoned food supply. We’ve got pesticides. We’ve got ultra-processed foods and all sorts of things that have been in the blind spots in modern medicine,” Makary told Fox News this September.

Kennedy also would require Senate confirmation to get the job.

In a later interview, Makary praised Trump’s decision to pick Kennedy.

“He wants to address corruption in health care and corruption in our government health agencies,” he said.

He warns against ‘drugging our nation’s children.’

It’s not clear exactly what Makary would do if confirmed as FDA commissioner, as much of his work would likely be steered by Trump and the incoming health secretary, possibly Kennedy.

But Makary has previously suggested an overhaul of FDA’s “erratic” bureaucracy, which he says was too eager to approve opioids and too cautious when it came to other drugs like the COVID antiviral pill Molnupiravir.

“For too long, FDA leaders have acted like a crusty librarian who gets annoyed when someone wants to borrow a book. But then give preference to people they like,” Makary wrote in a 2021 opinion article in Fox News.

More recently, he’s called for a ban on cell phones on schools, and praised Kennedy for questioning the use of anti-anxiety and anti-obesity drugs in children.

“What he is really focused on is this concept that we can’t keep drugging our nation’s children,” Makary said of Kennedy.

When asked if Kennedy can accomplish what he wants to do in four years, Makary told Fox News he’ll try by bringing in more scientists and letting “them do good work.”

Kennedy “is really the quintessential environmental health attorney of our era, and that may be the quintessential issue of our era,” Makary said.

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(WASHINGTON) — Matt Gaetz said Friday he will not return to Congress after withdrawing his name from consideration to be President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general.

In an interview with conservative commentator Charlie Kirk on “Real America’s Voice,” Gaetz said he is “still going to be in the fight but it’s going to be from a new perch.”

“I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” he said. “There are a number of fantastic Floridians who’ve stepped up to run for my seat, people who have inspired with their heroism, with their public service. And I’m actually excited to see northwest Florida go to new heights and have great representation.”

Questions swirled about Gaetz’s future after he dropped his confirmation bid on Thursday amid sexual misconduct allegations. While he’d resigned from the 118th Congress just hours after being tapped by Trump to serve in the administration, he won reelection to serve in the 119th Congress beginning in January.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds introduced the “Returning Education Back to Our States Act” on Thursday, signaling a commitment to deliver on President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to dismantle the Department of Education.

In the conservative movement to return education back to local control, Rounds said the legislation would “eliminate” the department while redistributing all critical federal programs to other agencies.

Rounds’ announcement was first reported by Fox News.

“For years, I’ve worked toward removing the federal Department of Education,” the Republican senator wrote in a statement, adding “I’m pleased that President-elect Trump shares this vision, and I’m excited to work with him and Republican majorities in the Senate and House to make this a reality. This legislation is a roadmap to eliminating the federal Department of Education by practically rehoming these federal programs in the departments where they belong, which will be critical as we move into next year.”

In his statement, Rounds said the United States spends too much on education for students’ test scores to be lagging behind other countries in standardized assessments. He called the DOE ineffective and earmarked the department’s responsibilities for the Departments of Interior, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Labor and State, according to the bill text.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and aid programs under Title VIII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act will be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Indian Education of the Department of Education will be transferred to the Department of the Interior, the Federal Pell Grant and other higher education loan programs will be transferred to the Department of the Treasury.

According to the bill, the treasury department will allocate Block grants to states for K-12 and postsecondary education. The treasury secretary also has the power to withhold these funds if they are mishandled by the states. The Justice Department will oversee federal civil rights laws that were previously under Title VI.

Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie told ABC News Thursday morning that he would also bring forward legislation to abolish the DOE within the “first few weeks” of the 119th Congress.

“There’ll be one sentence – only thing that will change is the date: The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2026,” Massie told ABC News.

Massie has been pushing to defund the U.S. Department of Education since the start of 2023 when he introduced H.R. 899. Massie’s bill wasn’t voted on in the House last year.

However, education analyst Neal McCluskey at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, argued Massie’s one-sentence bill was not realistic.

“You’ve got to figure out what to do with all the legislation that feeds into the Department of Education,” McCluskey said.

“If Congress were to pass that law that says, abolish the Department of Education, technically the department would go away, but then you’d have all sorts of questions, well, who’s going to administrate or be administrator for all these programs,” he said.

In March 2023, Massie wrote an amendment H.Amendment 124 in H.R. 5, the “Parents Bill of Rights Act” – the House’s signature K-12 education policy – to abolish the department. That amendment failed as all Democrats and 60 House Republicans voted against it.

Here are ways to gut the department

Even as Republicans hold majorities in both chambers next Congress, the Senate typically needs 60 votes to do anything, according to McCluskey. McCluskey said, “There’s no chance they’re going to be at 60, and so it’s going to be tough [to abolish the department legislatively].”

“The Department of Education administers a whole lot of laws, and then those laws have to be changed about who runs student aid and who is tasked with making decisions about canceling student debt, and who decides or who administers Title I and lots of these other federal programs,” McCluskey told ABC News.

“He [President-elect Trump] can certainly use the bully pulpit to drive this a lot. He could provide legislative blueprints if he wanted to. But ultimately this has to come through Congress,” McCluskey underscored.

Meanwhile, Augustus Mays, vice president for partnerships and engagement at the advocacy group The Education Trust, told ABC News that the president-elect could also ask Congress to gut federal programs like Title 1, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), and others, in his congressional budget request.

Public education, particularly in high-need districts, would effectively be drained of millions of dollars, according to Mays.

“It would really cripple the ability to function and aid the support that these students need to really succeed from an academic standpoint,” Mays said.

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(NEW YORK) — On the same day that former Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general, Trump announced that he will pick former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to fill that role in his administration.

Bondi, 59, has remained in Trump’s inner circle for years and has continued to advise him on legal matters. She was one of the lawyers who defended Trump during his first Senate impeachment trial.

“I have known Pam for many years — She is smart and tough, and is an AMERICA FIRST Fighter, who will do a terrific job as Attorney General!” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

Bondi’s nomination must be confirmed by the Senate. She did not immediately comment about Trump’s announcement.

For more than a decade, Bondi has been a key Trump supporter and has been involved in some controversies, including the “big lie,” pushed by Trump in 2020.

In 2013, the Trump Foundation sent a $25,000 donation to Bondi’s fundraising committee for her attorney general reelection campaign. Around the same time, Bondi’s office had been considering reviewing a lawsuit filed by the New York attorney general’s office that probed Trump and Trump University, but it ultimately did not join the suit.

Bondi and Trump both denied allegations that the donation led to her decision to not join the lawsuit. She endorsed Trump for his presidential run and spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention leading a “lock her up chant” against then-Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. She also served as a co-chair of Trump’s 2020 reelection bid.

Bondi left the Florida Attorney General’s office in 2019 and a year later was named part of Trump’s defense team for his first impeachment trial. He was acquitted in the Senate.

Bondi continued to be part of Trump’s legal team during the 2020 election and repeatedly made false claims about voter fraud when he lost to Joe Biden.

Recently, she has been a member of the conservative think tank America First Policy Institute where she serves as the chair for the Center for Litigation, and co-chair of the Center for Law and Justice, according to the think tank’s website.

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(NEW YORK) — On the same day that former Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general, Trump announced that former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is his second choice to fill that role in his administration.

Bondi, 59, has remained in Trump’s inner circle for years and has continued to advise him on legal matters. She was one of the lawyers who defended Trump during his first Senate impeachment trial.

“I have known Pam for many years — She is smart and tough, and is an AMERICA FIRST Fighter, who will do a terrific job as Attorney General!” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

Bondi’s nomination must be confirmed by the Senate. She did not immediately comment on Trump’s announcement.

For more than a decade, Bondi has been a key Trump supporter and has been involved in some controversies — including the “big lie,” pushed by Trump in 2020. She publicly espoused the false claim that he rightfully won the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

In 2013, the Trump Foundation sent a $25,000 donation to Bondi’s fundraising committee for her attorney general reelection campaign.

Around the same time, Bondi’s office had on its desk a lawsuit that probed both Trump himself and Trump University, but it ultimately did not join the suit.

Bondi and Trump both denied allegations that the donation led to her decision to not join the lawsuit, which had been filed by the New York attorney general’s office.

She endorsed Trump for his presidential run and spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention, leading a “lock her up chant” against then-Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.

She also served as a co-chair of Trump’s reelection bid and spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2020.

Bondi was elected attorney general in 2010 and was reelected in 2014. She left the office after reaching her two-term limit in 2019.

A year later, she was selected as part of Trump’s defense team for his first impeachment trial. He was acquitted in the Senate.

Bondi has also been a registered lobbyist since 2019 at Brian Ballard’s firm, Ballard Partners. Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is also a lobbyist with the firm.

Bondi’s most recent clients include the Florida Sheriffs’ Association, the Florida Sheriffs’ Risk Management Fund and the Major County Sheriffs of America. Her quarterly retainer fees range from $20,000 to $50,000, federal lobbying disclosures show.

She has previously represented investment firms and corporate clients like Amazon, General Motors, the MLB, Fidelity, Uber and the GEO Group, which is a private prison company, according to filings.

In 2019 and 2020, Bondi was engaged in consulting and advocacy services on behalf of the Embassy of the State of Qatar regarding “matters involving anti-human trafficking,” foreign lobbying disclosures filed by Ballard Partners show. Bondi registered as a foreign agent for the government of Qatar as part of her lobbying work.

After his impeachment trial, Bondi remained with Trump’s legal team while he campaigned in 2020 and repeatedly made false claims about voter fraud when he lost to Joe Biden.

Recently, she has been a member of the conservative think tank America First Policy Institute, which was formed by former Trump administration officials. She serves as AFPI’s chair for the Center for Litigation, and co-chair of the Center for Law and Justice, according to the think tank’s website.

Bondi and AFPI attorneys were involved in preemptive election lawsuits in battleground states during this year’s election.

Trump has previously named his other personal attorneys to senior roles in the Department of Justice, including Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and D. John Sauer.

 

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(WASHINGTON) — In the span of eight days, former Rep. Matt Gaetz went from a reelected House member to an attorney general pick in President-elect Donald Trump’s second administration to ultimately bowing out before a Senate confirmation.

Here is a timeline of the roller coaster of events for the embattled ex-congressman.

Nov. 13, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump announces that Gaetz, who had won reelection for Florida’s 1st district on Election Day, was his nominee for attorney general.

Gaetz resigns from Congress that day, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Several House Republicans meeting behind closed doors said there was an audible gasp in the room when they heard Trump had picked Gaetz, sources told ABC News.

Gaetz was investigated for alleged sex trafficking by the Justice Department, however, no charges were ultimately brought.

The House Ethics Committee has also been probing Gaetz on those allegations, which he has repeatedly denied.

Nov. 14, 2024

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announces he will hold a special election to fill the Gaetz’s seat but doesn’t immediately provide details.

Sen. John Thune, the incoming Senate majority leader, tells reporters he doesn’t know if Gaetz can get confirmed until they start the confirmation process.

Senators on both sides of the aisle call for the release of details from the Ethics Committee’s investigation into the former congressman.

ABC News reports the woman who was at the center of the Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations surrounding Gaetz testified to the House Ethics Committee that the former congressman had sex with her when she was 17 years old.

Nov. 15, 2024

Johnson tells reporters that he would urge the Ethics Committee not to release their report on their probe into Gaetz.

The speaker says he didn’t think it was “relevant” for the public to know what’s in the report.

An attorney representing two women who were witnesses in the House Ethics Committee’s investigation tells ABC News one of his clients testified that she witnessed the Florida congressman having sex with a minor.

Nov. 18, 2024

In an interview with ABC News’ Juju Chang, Florida attorney Joel Leppard reveals new details regarding his clients’ closed-door testimony before the Ethics Committee — including that his clients told congressional investigators that Gaetz allegedly paid for them to travel across state lines to have sex on at least two occasions.

Nov. 19, 2024

Trump backer and Tesla/SpaceX/X CEO Elon Musk backs Gaetz despite more stories about his scandals coming to light. Musk said the scandals were “worth less than nothing” and called the former congressman “our Hammer of Justice,” in a post on X.

Johnson denied that he discussed the details of the draft ethics report on the Gaetz matter with House Ethics Chairman Michael Guest, and further denied that Trump or Gaetz pressured him to bury the report.

A hacker gained access to an online secure document-sharing file between attorneys involved in a civil lawsuit brought by a close friend to Gaetz, and potentially revealed documents, including unredacted depositions from key witnesses in the case, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

During a Space X launch, Trump tells reporters he is not reconsidering his pick for attorney general.

ABC News reports the Ethics Committee obtained records, including a check and records of Venmo payments, that appear to show that Gaetz paid more than $10,000 to two women who were later witnesses in sexual misconduct probes conducted by both the House and the Justice Department, according to documents.

Nov. 20, 2024

Gaetz meets with Republican senators ,who push for his nomination process to continue.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee write to FBI Director Christopher Wray to request the complete evidentiary file in the bureau’s closed investigation into Gaetz.

The Ethics Committee voted against releasing the report after multiple rounds of votes, with all Republicans on the committee voting against its release, during a closed-door, two-hour meeting. The committee schedules another meeting in December. Two Democrats introduce privileged resolutions to make the report public.

Nov. 21, 2024

Johnson says said the House will take up the privileged resolution to force the release of the Gaetz report after Thanksgiving break.

Gaetz announces on X that he is withdrawing his name from the nomination process.

“While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” he said in the post.

Illinois Democratic Rep. Sean Casten suggests that he plans to still move forward with forcing the House to vote on compelling the Ethics Committee to release the Gaetz report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew his bid to serve as attorney general in the next Trump administration, but the question remains: can he go back to his old job as a member of Congress?

Gaetz, for his part, has only expressed an intent not to take the oath of office for the 119th Congress — which begins on Jan. 3, 2024 and for which Gaetz won reelection. He cannot preemptively resign from a session of Congress that has not yet convened or that he has not taken an oath to serve — that means he is still eligible to serve in the 119th although he cannot under any circumstances withdraw his resignation from the 118th to return to the lame duck session, according to House rules.

The House clerk read a resignation letter from Gaetz on Nov. 14 — after President-elect Donald Trump named his as his attorney general pick — which read: “I hereby resign as a United States representative for Florida’s first congressional district, effective immediately. And I do not intend to take the oath of office for the same office in the 119th Congress to pursue the position of Attorney General in the Trump administration.”

The rules of the House of Representatives mandates that at the beginning of the first session of Congress, members must make their presence known to occupy their seat. The rule reads: “House Rules 2. (a): At the commencement of the first session of each Congress, the Clerk shall call the Members, Delegates and Resident Commissioner to order and proceed to record their presence by States in alphabetical order, either by call of the roll or by use of the electronic voting system.”

If Gaetz or another member does not report to the Capitol to record their presence, that district’s seat will be designated vacant.

The House rules have very few further specifics. ABC News has an inquiry out to the Office of the Clerk for additional guidance.

And Florida’s own election laws seem vague on the issue.

Florida elections official Paul Lux, the Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections, which is within Gaetz’s district, told ABC News that he anticipates that the primary for the special election to fill Gaetz’s seat once he announced his plans to resign would likely be sometime in February, and the general election would likely be in April — though he stressed nothing is final until the official dates come out of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office.

DeSantis, for his part, has yet to formally set a date for that special election.

ABC News has reached out to the Division of Elections in the Florida Department of State to inquire whether the language in Gaetz’s letter triggers any sort of automatic vacancy or if there is anything within Florida law that bars him from returning to the 119th Congress. Some Republicans in the district have already declared their intent to run, though one candidate, Joel Rudman, said he would support Gaetz if he wanted to return to Congress.

Gaetz has not publicly said what he plans to do next. His wife Ginger Gaetz posted a photo with him earlier Thursday on the steps of the Capitol with the caption, “The end of an era.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Even though former Rep. Matt Gaetz has withdrawn from consideration to be President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general, Illinois Democratic Rep. Sean Casten said Thursday that he’ll continue to try to compel the House Ethics Committee to release its report on Gaetz.

“While I welcome the news that Matt Gaetz is withdrawing from consideration for Attorney General, it remains important that the Gaetz report be made available to the American people,” Casten said in a statement.

Casten and Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee introduced privileged resolutions on Wednesday to try to force the committee to release the report after the Ethics Committee voted along party lines not to disclose it. Under House rules, once a privileged resolution is introduced, the House must take it up within two legislative days. Republicans have the majority in the House and leadership will decide when the resolution is brought up for a vote. Republicans will attempt to block the effort but it’s not yet clear how this could play out.

In an interview with ABC News Live on Thursday, Kasten pushed back on accusations that continuing to seek the report’s release was partisan. He said a precedent had already been set for Ethics to continue its efforts, pointing to the case of former Democratic Rep. Eric Massa, who resigned from the House in 2010 amid accusations he had groped members of his staff. Despite Massa’s resignation, the Ethics Committee voted to reauthorize its investigation the following year.

The Ethics Committee was investigating allegations that Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift.

“No workplace would allow that information to be swept under the rug simply because someone resigned for office,” Casten said. “It matters for the integrity of the law, it matters for the integrity of this House and it matters for the respect that we expect the American people to give us that those of us entrusted with this job will uphold the United States as a land where all are treated equally under the law.”

On Thursday, Cohen posted on X that the Ethics Committee will have another chance to release the report when it meets in December. “I hope they’ll do the right thing. But we can’t count on it. That’s why I introduced a resolution yesterday to force the release of the report,” he wrote.

Speaker Mike Johnson has opposed releasing the report, saying that the Ethics Committee customarily drops its investigations once a member has left Congress. Gaetz resigned last week shortly after Trump announced his intention to nominate him for ABC. Johnson said Thursday the House will take up the resolutions after it returns from its Thanksgiving break.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said “Yes” when asked if the report should be public, so it’s likely the Democratic caucus will stand behind the efforts to force the report’s release.

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(WASHINGTON) — Top officials from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security on Thursday drew bipartisan fire for declining to testify in public at a Senate hearing on “worldwide threats” and instead offering to testify in a classified setting.

Both Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security Committee expressed anger at what they called Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FBI Director Christopher Wray’s “refusal” to testify in public.

“In a shocking departure from the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s longstanding tradition of transparency and oversight of the threats facing our nation, for the first time in more than 15 years, the Homeland Security and FBI Director have refused to appear before the Committee to provide public testimony at our annual hearing on Threats to the Homeland,” Chairman Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, said in a statement.

Peters said it was “their choice” to not provide public testimony for the American people.

“Americans deserve transparency, public answers about the threats we face,” Peters said.

Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, went a step further and said he “looked forward to Director Wray’s resignation.”

“This is Mayorkas & Wray giving the middle finger to the American people,” he tweeted.

While it wasn’t immediately clear specifically why they declined to testify in public, a Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement that Mayorkas has appeared before Congress more than 30 times.

“DHS and the FBI have offered to the Committee a classified briefing to discuss the threats to the Homeland in detail, providing the Committee with the information it needs to conduct its work in the months ahead,” a the spokesperson said in a statement. “DHS and the FBI already have shared with the Committee and other Committees, and with the American public, extensive unclassified information about the current threat environment, including the recently published Homeland Threat Assessment.”

The FBI said in a statement they’ve “repeatedly” showed their commitment to being transparent with the American people.

“We remain committed to sharing information about the continuously evolving threat environment facing our nation and the extraordinary work the men and women of the FBI are doing — here at home and around the world — to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States,” according to an FBI statement. “FBI leaders have testified extensively in public settings about the current threat environment and believe the Committee would benefit most from further substantive discussions and additional information that can only be provided in a classified setting.”

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(WASHINGTON) — As controversy continues to cloud some of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, his team has an ominous warning for Republicans who don’t fall in line behind his nominees.

ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl reports that one senior Trump adviser said the message to lawmakers is, “If you are on the wrong side of the vote, you’re buying yourself a primary.”

“That is all,” the adviser told Karl. “And there’s a guy named Elon Musk who is going to finance it.”

“The president gets to decide his Cabinet. No one else,” the adviser added.

The threat came as Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth (tapped for attorney general and defense secretary, respectively) made the rounds on Capitol Hill this week to shore up support. They were escorted by Vice President-elect JD Vance, the junior senator from Ohio.

Gaetz announced Thursday afternoon he was withdrawing his name from consideration, stating his confirmation bid was “unfairly becoming a distraction.”

Gaetz faces allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, which he’s long denied, that was the subject of a federal investigation and a House Ethics Committee probe. Hegseth has been accused of sexual assaulting a woman in 2017, an encounter Hegseth told police was consensual.

Trump stood firm with the selections, which also raised eyebrows for their relative lack of experience to lead the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense. Trump said it was ultimately Gaetz’s choice to withdraw.

Some of the president-elect’s other picks have similarly faced scrutiny over their qualifications, including Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of Health and Human Services.

Trump previously made a demand for Republican leadership to back so-called “recess appointments” to skirt the traditional confirmation process. That route would require lawmakers to adjourn and for senators to give up the “advice and consent” role they play in nominations, as laid out in the Constitution.

But his demand is being met with some resistance from some Senate Republicans.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a senior Republican and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said recess appointments for Cabinet posts should be “absolutely off the table.”

“And quite honestly, any serious candidate for Cabinet-level position, I would really have to wonder if they would want it or be willing to accept it under a recess,” Tillis said. “These positions are too important. They carry too much weight internationally to take a short cut.”

Several senators have said they want the full “process” and vetting of candidates to play out.

Sen. Josh Hawley said on Wednesday his intention to vote for all nominees.

“The Constitution gives us a role in personnel called advice and consent. My view is that’s exactly what will unfold here when these nominees are actually sent forward, and we’ll treat them like we’ve treated all others with the proper vetting,” said longtime Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who recently stepped down from the role.

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