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Capitol Hill Republican sources warn President-elect Trump’s nominees may be delayed by paperwork pitfalls and slow start to FBI background checks, creating obstacles to speedy confirmation of security team Trump’s national
Senate Republican leaders asked their colleagues to quickly confirm Trump’s national security team in the wake of the suspected New Orleans New Orleans terror attack, but those requests for quick action are being met with procedural thickets in the Senate, where even routine business can take days or weeks to get through.
As of Thursday evening, only Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee to lead the Defense Department, had an announced date for his confirmation hearing: January 14.
Other candidates, including two of Trump’s most controversial picks, Tulsi Gabbard, who is nominated to serve as director of national intelligence, and Kash Patel, who is nominated to serve as FBI director, are in in limbo at the moment.
Senate Republican aides and strategists say Gabbard’s nomination to lead the nation’s intelligence agencies faces a rocky road in the upper chamber.
Patel, meanwhile, appears to have enough momentum to win Senate confirmation, but his nomination will wait while the Senate Judiciary Committee moves first to process the nomination of former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead the Justice Department.
“There has been a challenge in completing background checks and doing the Office of Government Ethics Form 278 for candidates, and that has slowed things down for a number of committees,” he said a Senate GOP aide.
The aide said Trump’s transition team’s delay in signing memorandums of understanding with the Justice Department to pave the way for FBI background checks and its reluctance to sign a deal with the General Services Administration to access government office space, email accounts, phones and computers have slowed the process.
“You have to get the ethics paperwork and the FBI background check and that’s taken longer than it should have,” the source said. “They should know better. This has a lot to do with the way the transition team has set out to operate. It’s created some of these delays. These are self-inflicted delays.”
A Senate Democratic aide confirmed that FBI background checks had been delayed for key national security nominees shortly before Christmas.
A senior Republican strategist working with the transition team, however, defended Trump’s handling of high-profile nominees, noting that they are in the midst of FBI background checks and working directly with the Bureau of Government Ethics and departmental ethics officers to work there. possible conflicts of interest.
The strategist said the late start date for FBI background checks meant fewer obstacles for Trump’s nominees to move quickly through the Senate, arguing that the length of those investigations will be more relevant to deadlines confirmation of candidates.
A spokesman for the transition team did not respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.
Several Republican senators, including Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), the senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, say they want the FBI to complete full and thorough background checks on high-level nominees, especially those who would serve key national security sites. before submitting to committee and plenary votes.
But pressure is being put on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R.D.) to get Trump’s national security nominees on the ballot quickly after a high-profile attack this week on partygoers in the historic French Quarter of New Orleans.
A second incident rocked the nation on New Year’s Day when a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.
Thune denounced the rampage that left 14 dead in New Orleans as a “senseless terrorist attack” and called for “clear answers from the administration.”
“The threat posed by ISIS will outlast this administration, and this is a clear example of why the Senate must bring President Trump’s national security team to task as soon as possible,” he said.
Republican Senate Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) echoed that call.
“The United States Senate must confirm President Trump’s national security team as soon as possible. Lives depend on it,” he posted on social platform X.
A second Republican strategist who is helping Trump’s nominees get through the Senate said Trump advisers are wary of how the FBI and the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) will treat Trump’s nominees while they are still under the influence of the Biden White House.
“From Trump’s perspective, until they’re in charge of OGE, there’s concern about what OGE will do under the Biden administration. That was the big problem with FBI background checks. It’s have been skeptical of this FBI with this director (in charge of vetting Trump’s names), the source said.
The strategist also warned that Gabbard, a former Democratic lawmaker from Hawaii who sponsored legislation to repeal the Patriot Act and Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, faces strong skepticism from Republican and Democratic senators.
The strategist said if Republicans try to derail Gabbard’s nomination, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) could lead the charge.
“I don’t think Republicans are that worried about Kash,” the source said. “There’s going to be a lot of pressure on (the Justice Department), the FBI (director of national intelligence) and the CIA to move forward.”
Trump’s nominee to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, former Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas), is expected to pass the Senate without much opposition. He previously served as director of national intelligence from May 2020 to January 2021.
Much will depend on how Gabbard does in her one-on-one meeting with Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. This meeting is scheduled for Monday.
The strategist said Trump’s transition team and Senate committees don’t appear to be in a rush to move Trump’s domestic nominees given the increased focus lawmakers are putting on options related to national security and national security .
“There doesn’t seem to be a rush on HELP or the finances for the national nominees. I think the priority is the national security nominees,” the strategist said, referring to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) of the Senate and the Finance Committee.
The Senate Finance Committee has yet to announce dates for its confirmation hearings on Trump’s picks to lead the Treasury and Health and Human Services departments and to serve as the U.S. Trade Representative.
The president-elect has tapped hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, public health advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and commercial lawyer Jamieson Greer to lead these agencies.
Republican aides point out that other potential problems could delay Trump’s nominees.
Senate committees cannot do business without unanimous consent until Thune and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (NY) agree on an organizational resolution to lay the groundwork for the upcoming 119th Congress.
And even after nominees testify at their confirmation hearings, any senator can delay the committee’s vote on the nominee by a week.
Democrats can further delay the proceedings if they refuse to give up procedural time to the plenary.
But Schumer pledged in a letter to Thune last year that Democrats are willing to work bipartisanly to prosecute nominees as long as they undergo thorough background checks.
“Senate Democrats are ready and willing to work with Senate Republicans to provide advice and consent as we evaluate all of the incoming president’s nominations,” Schumer wrote.
“In particular, we are committed to working bipartisanly to prosecute each nominee by reviewing standard FBI background investigation materials, scheduling hearings and markups in the Jurisdiction Committees, and considering Senate nominees,” he pledged.
