This week is a critical week for President Donald Trump's nomination. The remaining three most controversial appointees: former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) as Director of National Intelligence, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services Secretary, and Kash Patel as Federal Bureau of Investigation. However, both are currently scheduled for Thursday. morning. Republican infighting already threatens Gabbard and RFK, but Democrats want to make Patel suffer, and they're going to ramp up their attacks on Republicans as much as possible to get there. And their chosen weak link will almost certainly be the January 6th pardon.
The reality of Gabbard's nomination is that the threat comes not from Democrats, but from the neocons and hawks in her own co-opted party. It's always fun to criticize Trump, but Democrats won't be well-received by voters if they take down a former rising star in their party who remains broadly popular. She is currently the most dangerous candidate, but if she performs well in front of the committee, she will likely be approved. If she fails, the blame lies in no small part to the failure of Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (Social Democratic Party) to support her to the end. It will be caused by (Mr. Cotton is slowly but surely coming into her camp publicly; Mr. Thune appears to be holding off on his stance until after the committee hearings.)
January 6th means more to DC Republicans than abortion or deportation.
RFK Jr. isn't holding up an attractive trophy either. The most prominent member of the Democratic Party's noblest living dynasty, he shared some of the most controversial views on modern medicine and health with upper-middle-class Democrats before his public defection to the Orangemen. It was properly shared.
But Patel is a completely different animal. Democrats and their supporters have no love for him. He literally wrote a series of fantasy children's books about Trump's impeachment called “The Plot to Overthrow the King.” More importantly, his investigative work as a Congressional staffer was one of the main reasons why politically biased anti-Trump activity within the FBI and the larger Justice Department was first uncovered. Kash Patel is an external threat to the Democratic Party. They don't want him inside.
Republicans, by contrast, have largely done so. But Democrats intend to put them on the defensive. We got a glimpse of the plan to attack Patel during Pam Bondi's U.S. attorney general hearing, but that was before the president's Jan. 6 mass pardons and commutations for prisoners and defendants. Now they have bones. And they're not going to let go.
“Democrats are expected to ask Mr. Kash a number of questions about violence against law enforcement,” one member of Mr. Patel's team told Beltway Brief. “Do you support the mob on January 6th who attacked the Capitol and threatened this chamber?” “Do you think violent criminals should be freed?” We're getting questions like that. ”
All Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, which will hold a hearing Thursday, appear to be lining up behind the candidates and were impressed in private meetings with them. Of the three most contested candidates this week, he has the clearest momentum within the party. Of course, the senator is capricious and easily scared.
Remember: For DC Republicans, January 6th is a bigger boogeyman than abortion or deportation. Republicans were not the first politicians to question the long hours J6ers spend in squalid prisons without trial. They were Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (Iconic, Vermont). At the time, Republicans still checked the J6 under their beds every night before lights out. Conservative icon Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) continued to label rioters and protesters as “terrorists” until he regained courage after criticism from then-FOX News' Tucker Carlson. I was calling.
Already, Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine), Mike Rounds (S.D.), Thom Tillis (North Carolina), and Bill Cassidy (Louisiana) state) has publicly criticized the president's sweeping pardons and commutations.
To ensure momentum continues, Patel will need to turn the tables on Democrats. He could easily point to Republican support for law enforcement after the riot, but it began to crumble when Democrats turned it into a license to dig up privileged party communications and overtly politicized the Justice Department. It was only when the FBI searched and imprisoned hundreds of people. Petty trespassing, Enron-era office crimes, and a litany of other bogus charges.
Patel told Democrats that the FBI should always investigate and make arrests, just as it is the Justice Department's prerogative to try cases of assault on law enforcement and the president's prerogative to grant pardons. You can also remind the Democratic Party of this.
It's all very doable. Fortunately for Republicans, the first two weeks of hearings demonstrated a disciplined effort to anticipate and prepare for the attack.
They were also able to hold all three contested hearings in one morning, which is a great result and exactly what they had planned. “Democrats are going to have a headache Thursday morning,” one nominations adviser told Beltway Brief. “They won't know which way to turn.”
Finally, Team Trump confirmed their vote Friday night to confirm Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has vowed to oppose the president's foreign policy policies and joined Collins and Murkowski in voting “no.” It didn't matter. Vice President J.D. Vance took pleasure in voting to confirm the Secretary of Defense.
In Washington, Congressional leaders often sanction members who taint their credentials (and, in Mr. McConnell's case, petty grievances) with liberal voters, unless their votes actually support anything. “It’s easy to get a third no,” one member of the Trump team told Beltway Brief. “It's easy to be fifth! But not fourth. If it's 'no' to fourth, it's all your fault.” ”
But Murkowski and Collins have said yes to Patel. While some people criticize the pardon, others report positively about the candidate himself. Momentum is definitely on his side. And even if he loses a vote or two, it doesn't matter.
Blaze News: Senate approves second Trump nominee
Blaze News: January 6: Journalist Steve Baker fights back tears as he thanks President Trump for “ending this nightmare.”
Blaze News: January 6: Colt McAbee says of presidential pardon, “Aside from my wedding, it's the best day of my life.''
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Blaze News: The nightmarish January 6th incident brings a miraculous ending for Thomas Caldwell.
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