WASHINGTON—Senators will question several of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees on Jan. 15.
Queries about partisanship and loyalty to the president-elect are expected to be posed to many, while other lines of questioning will be more specific to individual nominees.
Here are key details on the hearings.
Bondi May Be Asked About Weaponization of Justice
The nomination hearing for Pam Bondi, Trump’s choice for attorney general, will be the first of the day at 9:30 a.m. in front of the Senate’s judiciary committee.
It will likely provoke questions from both sides about alleged political bias at the Department of Justice (DOJ). While Republicans have accused Attorney General Merrick Garland of weaponizing the DOJ against conservatives and Trump, Democrats worry that the incoming executive will use the department to punish his political opponents.
The committee’s ranking member and the Democratic whip, Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), sent a letter to Garland on Jan. 13 that voiced concerns with Bondi. It highlighted the former Florida attorney general’s comments on Fox News in 2023.
“When Republicans take back the White House … the Department of Justice, the prosecutors will be prosecuted—the bad ones,” she said. “The investigators will be investigated.”
Durbin described the statement as a promise to “weaponize the Department.”
Republicans may focus on the end of special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutions of Trump and how the DOJ might assist Congress in investigating Smith’s conduct under President Joe Biden’s administration.
Durbin’s letter urged the department to preserve its records related to Smith’s investigations, as did a letter to Smith from House Republicans.
China Hawk Rubio May Be a Sure Thing
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at 10 a.m. He is Trump’s choice for secretary of state.
The three-term senator, long known for his hawkish stance on foreign policy, is close to a sure bet among the Cabinet nominees.
Rubio’s primary concerns include the threats posed by an increasingly aggressive Chinese regime.
He has served on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China since 2015 and advocated for stronger measures to curb human rights abuses in that country. Beijing put him on its sanctions list twice in 2020 because of his positions on Hong Kong and on Xinjiang, where Uyghur Muslims face arbitrary detention, forced labor, and other abuses.
Rubio also supports divesting from China and has called for restricting U.S. technology exports to China, as well as rules to close China tariff loopholes.
Rubio is likely to enjoy bipartisan support for his confirmation.
Durbin has issued a statement affirming he will vote for Rubio.
He said he believes Rubio, who long served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “has a thorough understanding of the United States’ role on an international scale” and that the two “share many similar views on foreign policy.”
Fossil Fuel Ties, Climate Views Impact Wright
The president-elect’s nominee to lead the Department of Energy, Chris Wright, is an energy entrepreneur who has worked on everything from small modular nuclear reactors to geothermal energy.
During his hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, lawmakers may pay more attention to his fossil fuel ties and his skepticism about some climate-related policies.
Wright is the CEO of Liberty Energy, a leading hydraulic fracking firm.
He told The Epoch Times that, while he believes human activity contributes to climate change, climate activists understate the benefits of fossil fuels—and that the world will never reach “net zero.”
Wright’s hearing is currently scheduled for 10 a.m. on Jan. 15.
On Jan. 14, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and all other Democrats on the committee, as well as independent Angus King, asked Chairman Mike Lee (R-Utah) to postpone the hearing, saying that Wright’s financial disclosure and other key documents are still outstanding.
China, FISA in Focus for Trump’s CIA Pick
John Ratcliffe, Trump’s choice to lead the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has received less public pushback than he did during the president-elect’s first term, when Trump repeatedly advanced him as his choice for director of national intelligence (DNI). At that time, members of the Senate’s intelligence committee raised concerns about his background and commitment to maintaining secrecy in intelligence.
He will be scrutinized by the same committee at 10 a.m.
Ratcliffe has established a reputation as a China hawk, in keeping with the views of Trump’s selections for key foreign policy and intelligence-related roles. In a 2020 opinion article for the Wall Street Journal, he characterized the country as the United States’ top national security threat.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which permits warrantless surveillance of Americans despite being targeted by Congress at foreign terrorists, may also come up.
Ratcliffe supports the provision, which is set for reauthorization next year. So does Trump’s new prospective DNI, Tulsi Gabbard, who previously opposed it.
Duffy May Talk Longshoremen and Roads
Former Congressman Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary nominee, will have his confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee at 10 a.m.
That hearing will likely include a variety of topics, from how he would handle the longshoremen working on the nation’s seaports to how he plans to handle Boeing and regulations regarding the nation’s aerospace industry. The current leader of the Federal Aviation Administration, Mike Whitaker, will leave his post on Jan. 20.
America’s roads are likely to come up, too. The Biden administration worked to expand electric vehicles across the country over the past four years through tax credits, pushing for mandates, and federally funding the installation of charging stations. Questions might also arise over Duffy’s priorities for infrastructure under federal control.
In his nomination announcement, Trump said Duffy “will ensure our ports and dams serve our Economy without compromising our National Security, and he will make our skies safe again by eliminating DEI for pilots and air traffic controllers.”
Vought Likely to Be Pressed on Project 2025
Russ Vought is on pace to lead the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the same position he held during Trump’s first term.
His nomination hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is slated for 1 p.m.
Democrats have criticized Vought over his ties to Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s roadmap for a conservative presidency. Trump distanced himself from that document while on the campaign trail but has nominated multiple Project 2025 contributors since Election Day.
Vought authored the chapter on the Executive Office of the President, which includes the OMB as its biggest component. In a subchapter on the OMB, he described ways to place that office under more direct presidential control and make agencies more responsive to the will of the executive.
The nominee’s think tank, the Center for Renewing America, has published a brief in support of impoundment, the practice whereby a president can refuse to spend all the money allocated by Congress. It argued that the post-Watergate law restricting impoundment is unconstitutional.
From The Epoch Times