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Donald Trump’s nominees to be the next US attorney general and secretary of state, Pam Bondi and Marco Rubio, are among the latest batch of cabinet picks sitting for Senate confirmation hearings today.
Florida Attorney General Bondi has been accused of amplifying Trump’s false claims about the 2020 presidential election and represented him at his first impeachment trial in 2019. Senator Rubio was once a bitter rival to the president-elect for the Republican presidential nomination, trading insults in the 2016 primaries — something that will likely come up today.
Chris Wright (secretary of energy), John Ratcliffe (director of the CIA), Sean Duffy (secretary of transportation), and Russell Vought (director of the Office of Management and Budget) also have hearings scheduled today with the relevant committees.
They follow in the footsteps of Pete Hegseth, the president-elect’s choice for secretary of defense, who endured a fiery hearing on Tuesday in which he called for the return of “American warriors” at the Pentagon but faced aggressive questioning about his checkered personal history.
Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom has invited Trump to visit Los Angeles to witness the devastation wrought by January’s wildfires, rather than merely criticize the emergency response from social media.
The fundamental question is not whether his family is involved in business. The fundamental question is whether that is in any way impacting the conduct of our foreign policy in a way that’s counter to our national interest. And the president’s made it abundantly clear that every decision he makes and every decision we are to make at the State Department should be driven by whether or not it serves the core national interests of the United States.
Senator Marco Rubio on the Trump Organization’s foreign dealings during his Senate confirmation hearing
Oliver O’Connell15 January 2025 17:24
Bondi and Patel still missing nomination paperwork
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley told CNN’s Manu Raju that the committee is still waiting for all of Pam Bondi’s paperwork to decide when to hold a vote on her nomination.
They are also still waiting for all of Kash Patel’s paperwork to schedule a hearing for his nomination as FBI director.
Oliver O’Connell15 January 2025 17:21
Rubio defends Trump Organization’s ability to do deals in foreign countries
In Marco Rubio’s confirmation hearing, Senator Chris Murphy brings up the Trump Organization’s foreign entanglements and business deals, and the potential conflicts of interest once Donald Trump returns to the White House.
“The Trump Organization is going to be signing new business deals in the Middle East with private companies that have connections to foreign governments at the very moment that you are going to be conducting sensitive diplomacy in these countries. That’s just extraordinary. Never before in the history of this country has a president been I mean literally receiving cash from foreign governments and from foreign companies that are backed by foreign governments in the middle of their term. If you or I had done this as senators, we would be in violent violation of Senate Ethics Rules. That’s not permitted on the Foreign Relations Committee. And so I guess my question to you is a pretty simple one: Do you see how this fundamentally compromises your diplomatic efforts, do you have an issue, will you raise an issue with the president about his growing financial connection with the governments that you’re going to be negotiating with?”
Rubio defends the company’s ability to do business deals abroad, including with Middle Eastern governments while Trump is in office: “The president doesn’t manage that company. His family members do, and they have a right to be in the business. I mean that’s the business they’re in … They have properties in multiple countries.”
Rubio further says, for instance, that Jared Kushner, who is doing business in Saudi Arabia, is “a private citizen” but also notes on the Middle East that Trump envoy Steve Witkoff just worked “cooperatively and together with the Biden administration” on today’s Gaza ceasefire.
Oliver O’Connell15 January 2025 17:17
BREAKING: Hamas accepts ceasefire deal with Israel
Hamas has accepted a ceasefire deal with Israel, according to reports, with Qatar set to give an update this evening after days of intense negotiations.
A Hamas source said the group’s leader, Khalil Al Hayya, has delivered approval for the ceasefire agreement to mediators in Qatar, a source told Sky News. It came shortly before an Axios reporter quoted a US official as saying a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal has been reached.
President-elect Donald Trump posted the following to Truth Social:
WE HAVE A DEAL FOR THE HOSTAGES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THEY WILL BE RELEASED SHORTLY. THANK YOU!
Senator James Risch of Idaho took a moment during Senator Marco Rubio’s confirmation hearing to be secretary of state to announce the news.
Barak Ravid of Axios notes that it was partly the cooperation between envoys from both the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration that made the ceasefire deal possible.
Oliver O’Connell15 January 2025 17:07
Oliver O’Connell15 January 2025 17:00
Cruz claims DOJ protected Biden allies — but what about the ones it prosecuted?
Oliver O’Connell15 January 2025 16:53
Bondi again challenged over 2020 election
Senator Mazie Hirono once again tried to get Bondi on the record admitting that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.
Bondi’s answer: “Joe Biden is the president of the United States.”
Hirono says there’s a difference between acknowledging who is president and who won.
“You can’t say who won the 2020 election. It’s disturbing.”
Oliver O’Connell15 January 2025 16:46
GOP senator stands by convictions of violent Capitol rioters
Republican Senator Thom Tillis wants to uphold the convictions of those who were violent at the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
“I find it hard to believe the President or you would look at facts that were used to convict the violent people on Jan. 6 and say it was just an intemperate moment.”
Oliver O’Connell15 January 2025 16:42
Blumenthal and Bondi spar over responses on 2020 election and Jan 6
Senator Richard Blumenthal takes a dig at Bondi for dodging questions: “You have to be able to say Donald Trump lost the 2020 election … You have to say January 6 insurrectionists who committed violence shouldn’t be pardoned.”
When there’s a nominee for FBI director who has an enemies list, reflecting the “politicization, deeply weaponizing” actions of the FBI going against political opponents, Bondi should be able to say “that he shouldn’t be the FBI director,” Blumenthal says.
Bondi says she shouldn’t “have” to say any of that.
“No, I don’t. I sit up here and speak the truth. I’m not going to say anything I need to say to get confirmed by this body … I will answer the questions to the best of my ability honestly. … If confirmed, he will follow the law … and I don’t believe he would do anything otherwise.”
Oliver O’Connell15 January 2025 16:32
Oliver O’Connell15 January 2025 16:22