WASHINGTON ― If two of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees represent the political gains he’s made over the course of his decade in politics, it would be a pair of former Democrats who endorsed him in 2024 and are now up for top jobs in his administration: Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Both Gabbard, a former Hawaii congresswoman nominated to be director of national intelligence, and Kennedy, the anti-vaccine activist who is Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, have confirmation hearings scheduled this week. And the dual symbols of Trump’s expanding coalition face resistance from what remains of the old-line Republican Party, potentially enough to sink their nominations.
The opposition shows the limits of Trump’s purported ideological transformation of the GOP. Conservative groups are running television ads attacking Kennedy for his support of abortion rights, while the Senate GOP’s national security hawks are skeptical of Gabbard’s past criticism of federal surveillance programs and her fondness for dictators.
“There’s obviously significant questions that we all probably ask in private that will come before the committee,” acknowledged Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who supports both nominees.
Republicans might ask Gabbard about pro-Russia statements she’s made and her secret meeting with former Syrian dictator Bashar Assad in 2017.
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be director of national intelligence, arrives on Capitol Hill for a Dec. 18 meeting with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee that will question Gabbard, told The Hill newspaper this week she’s also concerned about Gabbard’s past calls for eliminating the key government surveillance program known as Section 702. Gabbard has since recanted and expressed support for the program, which allows the government to track foreigners outside the U.S. but can also catch communications from U.S. citizens.
Several other Republican members of the Senate Intelligence Committee have not yet announced whether they will support Gabbard, generating speculation about her path to confirmation.
“It’s really kind of hard to tell because there’s some of the published reports, but I haven’t seen the FBI background investigation,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told HuffPost on Friday. “I don’t know what other information is out there. And then, of course, the hearing is so that those questions can be explored.”
Gabbard has one thing going for her, other than Trump’s support. She’ll be introduced at her confirmation hearing by former Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee before he retired from Congress in 2023. Burr, who voted to convict Trump in his 2021 Senate impeachment trial following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress, is well liked by GOP senators, and his support for Gabbard could calm his party’s nerves.
“Richard Burr is going to introduce her, and he’s one of my dearest friends. So we’ll see,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Since Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate, with all Democrats voting no, nominees can survive only three Republican defections and still get confirmed.
Last week, Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, was narrowly confirmed after Vice President JD Vance broke a tie vote in the Senate, a sign that other controversial Trump nominees may not be out of the woods yet. That national security hawk and former Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) joined Sens. Collins and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in opposing Hegseth could open the door to more GOP surprise votes against Gabbard and RFK Jr.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s pick to be health secretary, meets with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Jan. 9 on Capitol Hill. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
McConnell hasn’t said how he’d vote on Kennedy, a prominent skeptic of vaccines, but the Kentucky Republican put out a statement last year that was sharply critical of anti-vaccine rhetoric ― a possible indication he would oppose Kennedy’s nomination.
“Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed ― they’re dangerous,” McConnell, who suffered from polio as a child, said in a statement in December. “Anyone seeking the Senate’s consent to serve in the incoming Administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts.”
In recent weeks, Kennedy has sought to play down his opposition to vaccines, but the public record is replete with his anti-vax statements. “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective,” he said on a podcast in July 2023, for instance. In 2019, he led a public campaign against vaccines in Samoa; later that year, a measles epidemic killed dozens of children.
Other Republicans share McConnell’s support for compulsory public vaccination, one of the most effective public health interventions in human history. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, and Labor Committee, which will hear Kennedy testify on Thursday, said the nominee is “wrong” about vaccinations.
“I agree with him on some things and disagree on others,” Cassidy told Fox News earlier this month. “The food safety, I think the ultra-processed food is a problem. Vaccinations, he’s wrong on.”
Democrats have panned Kennedy.
“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spread conspiracy theories to discourage uptake of the measles vaccines, including traveling to Samoa to spread lies about its safety, fueling an outbreak that took 80 lives in Samoa,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on the Senate floor on Monday, also criticizing Kennedy for his opposition to adding fluoride to drinking water to prevent tooth decay.
Another trouble spot for Kennedy: his support for abortion rights. Advancing American Freedom, a conservative advocacy group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, has urged the Senate to reject Kennedy on the grounds that he’s insufficiently against abortion. The group has also highlighted Kennedy’s past heroin use and his support for liberalizing drug laws.
But the White House isn’t backing down, suggesting the confirmation of both former Democrats would fulfill Trump’s promises to people who supported him in the 2024 presidential election.
“President Trump built the broadest, most diverse and incredible political coalition in the history of the Republican Party. It is imperative that the Senate confirm a cabinet that honors, cements and ratifies that extraordinary winning coalition to save America,” senior White House adviser Stephen Miller wrote in a post online.
