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Senate hearings: Gabbard and RFK Jr. make it out of committee

February 04, 2025
Riley Callanan
​Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence, testifies at a Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, January 30, 2025. She is a controversial nominee due to her previous suggestions of support for autocrats and U.S. adversaries, including the recently toppled Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence, testifies at a Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, January 30, 2025. She is a controversial nominee due to her previous suggestions of support for autocrats and U.S. adversaries, including the recently toppled Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
(Photo by Allison Bailey/NurPhoto)

Two of Donald Trump’s more controversial cabinet picks, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, made it through key committee votes on Tuesday, moving closer to securing confirmations when the full Senate votes.

Vaccine skeptic, environmentalist, and health secretary pick RFK was confirmed in a party-line vote by the Senate Finance Committee. His only potential Republican holdout, former doctor and Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, said he decided to support RFK after a series of conversations with him about “the issues we agree on like healthy foods and a pro-American agenda.”

Ahead of her hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Gabbard, Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, secured two yeses from key Republicans who had been on the fence about her nomination – Sens. Todd Young and Susan Collins. While Tulsi made it out of the committee thanks to a party-line vote, there are still several Republican senators who have not committed to voting for her when it comes time for her full Senate vote, including Sens. Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, and John Curtis.

We will be watching the Senate tomorrow as it convenes to hold a full vote to confirm Pam Bondi to lead the Justice Department as attorney general.

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