Trump pressures US Senate with divisive Cabinet picks

WASHINGTON: Questions – and, for some, outrage – intensified over several of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks on Friday (Nov 15), as Washington awaits announcements for more major positions including head of the FBI and Treasury.
Trump has vowed to dismantle the liberal “deep state” he says is running Washington and is banking on his decisive victory – and triumph for Republicans in the US Senate – to give him the political capital he needs to force through his nominees. 
Trump, 78, began shaping his team with a number of unremarkable selections, naming conservative Florida senator and foreign policy hawk Marco Rubio for secretary of state.
But then came a quartet of nominations for leaders of sprawling federal departments in his new government who have little or no relevant experience – but a history of loyalty to the incoming president.
“Presidents are entitled to have the people that they want in these key positions to carry out the mandate that’s been delivered to him by the voters of the United States,” Rubio said on Wednesday.
The most controversial nomination, far-right former congressman Matt Gaetz for attorney general, was being investigated by the US Congress over allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use until Wednesday.
Robert Kennedy Jr, a vaccine sceptic, will be the new health secretary if Trump gets his way, while Tulsi Gabbard, a conspiracy theorist who has been accused of spreading Kremlin propaganda, will be director of national intelligence.
“Kennedy is a science-denying, morally bankrupt conspiracy theorist who will endanger people’s lives if placed in a position of authority over health,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of progressive advocacy group Public Citizen.
“The US Senate should unanimously reject this nomination.”
Trump has also nominated some of his personal attorneys to be top-ranking Justice Department officials.
Rounding out the most divisive nominations, ex-Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth has been tapped for defence secretary.
Hegseth was accused of sexual assault in 2017, according to police.
No charges were filed in the case, but shocked Trump transition team officials are nonetheless reportedly weighing next steps for Hegseth, whose nomination took many in Washington by surprise.
Trump nominated the 44-year-old National Guard veteran on Tuesday to run the world’s most powerful military, despite Hegseth having never managed a large organisation.
Police in Monterey, California confirmed on Thursday that they had investigated “an alleged sexual assault” at a hotel involving Hegseth that included bruising to the victim’s right thigh, in early October 2017.
News of the woman’s accusations caught the Trump team off guard, according to Vanity Fair, which first reported the story.
Hegseth’s lawyer Timothy Parlatore told the publication that the allegation “was already investigated by the Monterey police department and they found no evidence for it”.
Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung said that Hegseth “has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no charges were filed”.
“We look forward to his confirmation as United States secretary of defense so he can get started on day one to make America safe and great again,” Cheung said.
Hegseth’s hearing in the Senate is likely to be among the more fraught, not only due to his lack of experience, but also other controversies, such as his lobbying of Trump during his first term to pardon service members accused of war crimes.
Hegseth joined Fox News as a contributor in 2014 and now co-hosts “Fox and Friends Weekend” and serves as a host for “Fox Nation”.
He additionally served as an infantry officer in the National Guard, deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hegseth has been married three times, divorcing his first wife in 2009 following an “irretrievable breakdown” and “infidelity”, according to the Washington Post.
His second wife filed for divorce in September 2017, one month after he had a baby with a Fox News producer whom he subsequently married, according to US media.
Trump’s supporters believe his comfortable win over Democrat Kamala Harris last week gives him enormous latitude for an overhaul of the federal bureaucracy and sweeping cuts to government spending.
But the Senate confirmation process for all of his most controversial picks could be tumultuous.
The incoming president has demanded approval of at least some of his choices without full hearings, as “recess appointments” – his first loyalty test for what will almost certainly be a Senate with a 53-47 Republican edge.
Analysts say his choices demonstrate his determination to move quickly on his campaign promises to eliminate “woke” diversity and environmental policies from all aspects of federal government and private business. 
“I do think that they are looking to essentially shock and overwhelm the system so that they can maximise what the system will tolerate,” Trump biographer and New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman told CNN on Thursday.
US Senator and occasional Trump whisperer Lindsey Graham is pushing for fellow South Carolinian Scott Bessent for the prestigious role, although Trump transition co-chair Howard Lutnick is also said to be in the running.
Trump has promised to take on the FBI as part of his federal shake-up, and looks likely to fire director Christopher Wray and a host of other top officials.
Trump appointed Wray in 2017, but his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida was later raided by agents from the 35,000-employee agency seeking to recover classified documents, and he has since been a huge critic of Wray’s leadership.
Former FBI agent and ex-congressman Mike Rogers – another staunch Trump loyalist – looks to be the favourite to replace Wray after meeting the transition team at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump on Friday announced the launch of a new National Energy Council to be headed by his former presidential rival Doug Burgum, having already revealed that he wants the South Dakota governor to be his secretary of the interior.
“This council will oversee the path to US energy dominance by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the economy, and by focusing on innovation over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation,” he said in a statement.