OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
6:18pm – Monday, January 6, 2025
Next week, a Senate committee will hold confirmation hearings for President-elect Donald Trump's first two Cabinet nominees, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth.
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From January 14ththlawmakers will question Mr. Bondi, 59, and Mr. Hegseth, 44, in the Armed Services and Judiciary committees.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said of Bondi that he is “enthusiastic about her work as Florida's attorney general and her accomplishments as a prosecutor.” “The Department of Justice will prosecute and you will see that it is not being used as a political weapon against political opponents.
“There's one thing that could accelerate her nomination, and that's for the new Trump administration's transition team, which we're working with, to get the background checks and the other papers, especially the ethics report that we should get. ” Grassley noted.
“We don't have that document yet. We'd like to get it so we can schedule her hearing on the 14th.”
A hearing for Mr. Hegseth is also scheduled to take place on the same day, a military committee representative said.
With a 53-47 majority in the Senate, Republicans only need to lose four votes from their own party to jeopardize the nomination.
In the wake of the New Year's Day ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in New Orleans, Senate leaders, including Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), called for President Trump's national security picks “as soon as possible.” He asked me to approve it.
Trump has vowed to support Hegseth despite his alleged personal and professional “misconduct,” including his time at two veterans' organizations where he was accused of financial mismanagement and binge drinking. Not deterred.
The accusations were made by an anonymous whistleblower, but were flatly denied by a number of former senior workers, including the trustees of one of the organizations, Veterans of America. They also denied claims that Hegseth was fired for heavy drinking or bad behavior.
Hegseth's lawyer resolves a 2017 sexual assault case that resurfaced against the defense nominee after Trump's nomination was announced, amid demands for release of exculpatory evidence from the California prosecutor's office that investigated the case. They are also requesting the release of files that may be used.
His lawyer, Tim Parlatore, said the file contains evidence that the female accuser made false allegations of sexual assault against another man in another jurisdiction. are.
“He has the breath of the military. That's all he talks about,” said Sgt. said Maj. Eric Geressi, who served with Hegseth in Iraq in 2005. post In an interview last month. “Pete is very smart. He's very articulate, a critical thinker, and he's willing to learn from experts and get a lot of useful information from people.”
Hegseth is expected to win the votes needed for confirmation, sources say, despite active efforts by mainstream media to resurface old allegations against him.
Bondi, who served two terms as Florida's attorney general from 2011 to 2019, is a sure bet for the appointment because she has an “excellent history” and is “well qualified for this role,” according to one Republican official. I'll take it.
More than 110 former Justice Department officials who held senior positions under both Republican and Democratic presidents called for Bondi's swift confirmation in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday.
“As a career prosecutor, Attorney General Bondi will fight on behalf of the American people to reduce crime, tackle the opioid crisis, support women and men in blue, and restore trust in the Department of Justice from day one on the job. We'll be ready,''' officials told Grassley and Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
In 2020, Bondi briefly served as part of the former president's legal team during his first impeachment trial in the Senate. Most recently, Mr. Bondi was employed by the America First Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., which is affiliated with President Trump.
The Senate is scheduled to vote on a resolution on January 7th that would authorize multicommittee hearings to vet President Trump's nominees.th. Panels typically require at least one week's notice before the session.
Meanwhile, Kash Patel, who was backed by Senate Republicans and nominated to be FBI director and has vowed to clean up the Justice Department, is expected to be the next nominee to appear on the Judiciary Committee after Bondi, Grassley said. That's what it means.
Mr. Grassley said he had a “very favorable” impression of the 44-year-old FBI director candidate and expected Mr. Patel to be confirmed after Mr. Bondi.
“I expect him to make big changes here on the 8th floor of the Hoover Building in Washington, D.C.,” Grassley said Friday, “and the FBI will not be a political weapon like it has been in the past, but a law enforcement agency. It will be an enforcement agency.”
Brooke Rollins, President Trump's nominee for Secretary of Agriculture, is also preparing for her confirmation hearing scheduled for January 15th.thaccording to politiko. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is scheduled to consider the nomination of former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin to head the Environmental Protection Agency as early as next week.
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