Gearing up for a busy week of confirmation hearings (original) (raw)

Good morning, Early Birds. We already miss Leigh Ann here, but we have some news to share. Meryl Kornfield will be joining the Early Brief team. Meryl is coming from the campaign trail, where she followed JD Vance and third-party candidates for The Washington Post. If you see her around, say hi. Send tips to earlytips@washpost.com. Thanks for waking up with us.

In today’s edition … Activists and congressional Dems launch new trans-rights group … but first …

Our most anticipated confirmation hearings — and what to watch for

Confirmation hearings kick off this week for President-elect Donald Trump’s planned nominees as he prepares to return to the White House in days.

Trump and his allies are pushing the Senate to act quickly on his appointments and over a dozen will sit for hearings this week. Senate Republicans are mulling which ones they can confirm as soon as Trump takes office a week from now.

The controversies around some of the highest-profile planned nominees have cooled off in recent weeks. But that doesn’t mean there’s not potential for ample drama in the hearings — or even substantive policy debate.

Here are some of the hearings that we’re most interested in and why:

Pete Hegseth for defense secretary

When: 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Senate Armed Services Committee

The big picture: Hegseth’s nomination appeared doomed early on after allegations surfaced about an alleged rape in 2017 and personal misconduct when he ran two veterans’ nonprofits and was a host at Fox News. Trump reportedly considered other options, but Republican support has rallied around Hegseth. Still, some senators have expressed concerns about Hegseth’s qualifications to lead the world’s largest fighting force, our colleagues Abigail Hauslohner, Liz Goodwin, and Missy Ryan report.

A committee member to watch: Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois). The wounded combat veteran has denounced Hegseth’s previous comments that women should not serve in the military in combat roles. Duckworth will likely grill the Fox News commentator over his past remarks and his qualifications to run the Pentagon.

What they’re watching: While conversations around Hegseth’s confirmation process have largely focused on Hegseth’s personal issues and political rhetoric, Eric Edelman, a top Pentagon official under George W. Bush, pointed out that policy-focused questions could be more consequential. Chuck Hagel, for instance, appeared unprepared in his confirmation hearing to become former president Barack Obama’s defense secretary and narrowly got by the Senate.

“I suspect that the most important questions are going to be the strategy, budget and policy questions that get asked and how he handles those as opposed to what most people are teed up to dig into, which is the character and fitness questions,” Edelman said. “But there’s no doubt those will be excavated as well.”

Kristi Noem for homeland security secretary

When: 9 a.m. Wednesday, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

The big picture: Noem, South Dakota’s governor, has enjoyed celebrity in the Republican Party as a Trump loyalist who is a hard-liner on culture issues. With limited experience in this policy area, Noem will likely define her positioning further in the hearing as she seeks to lead the agency at the forefront of Trump’s mass deportation operation. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Secret Service would also fall under Noem’s authority, so senators will surely want to talk about federal disaster preparedness amid California wildfires and North Carolina hurricane recovery and protecting Trump after two assassination attempts.

A committee member to watch: Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona), a new face in the Senate from a Trump-won border state, could define how Democrats respond to Trump’s immigration plans during the confirmation process. Already, Gallego was the subject of headlines when he co-sponsored Republicans’ first immigration bill in the new Congress, and it was an issue that voters ranked as one of their most important.

What they’re watching: Bipartisan Policy Center’s Theresa Cardinal Brown said that Noem’s answers are not likely to provide total clarity about Trump’s mass deportation plans as part of that will depend on other administration officials, such as incoming border czar Tom Homan.

“I assume senators will want to know how she will work with Homan,” Brown said. “How will that division of labor and authority work?”

Pam Bondi for attorney general

When: 9:30 a.m. Wednesday and 10:15 a.m. Thursday, Senate Judiciary Committee

The big picture: Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, was Trump’s Plan B after his initially planned nomination of former representative Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) for attorney general flamed out. While Bondi has gotten a less frosty reception in the Senate than Gaetz did, she is still likely to face tough questions about Trump’s campaign promises to seek retribution against his political opponents. Her hearing will span two days to accommodate what will likely be extensive questioning.

A committee member to watch: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois). The ranking member on the panel probably will not support Bondi, but this is a high-profile opportunity for the 80-year-old Durbin to quiet some intraparty concerns about whether he has the grit for a second Trump term.

What they’re watching: Noah Bookbinder, president of the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said Bondi’s past comments about Trump’s legal cases raise questions about how she would lead the Justice Department. He noted that, for example, she said in a 2023 Fox News interview that once Republicans retake the presidency, “the prosecutors will be prosecuted — the bad ones — the investigators will be investigated.”

“That was obviously in a very different role, but I think it’s going to be very important to see if she can establish that she is going to lead a Justice Department that is going to make decisions based on the facts and the law and not based on Donald Trump’s grudges and whims,” Bookbinder said.

Marco Rubio for secretary of state

When: 10 a.m. Wednesday, Senate Foreign Relations Committee

The big picture: Rubio’s planned nomination has enjoyed perhaps the most bipartisan support and appears to be a safe bet. But the hearing could illuminate how he plans to square his past foreign policy views with the more isolationist tendencies of Trump. The president-elect set high expectations for his foreign policy during the presidential contest, vowing to broker peace in Israel’s war in Gaza and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

A committee member to watch: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky). Paul appears likely to support Rubio, but we’re watching to see how the libertarian-leaning senator sizes up Rubio’s evolution into a more “America First” conservative on foreign policy. Don’t forget: Back when they were running for president against one another in 2015, Paul knocked Rubio as a “neoconservative.”

What they’re watching: Chuck DeVore of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, said he was sure Rubio would be confirmed but still expects Democrats to try to “force a space” between Trump and Rubio on certain issues, such as Trump’s interest in acquiring Greenland.

DeVore also predicted “members of good intent” on both sides will be looking for Rubio to clear up his views — and Trump’s — on how to navigate the global conflicts that have broken out over the past four years.

“T​he incoming president has a lot of ideas, a lot of things that official Washington is rather skeptical about, and so they’re going to be seeking some clarity, like, ‘How are these things going to happen?’” DeVore said, adding that there is “plenty of ground for very serious questions.”

What we’re watching

At the White House

President Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver a capstone address focused on foreign policy at the State Department at 2 p.m. Expect more legacy-burnishing talk from the outgoing president who has underscored the importance of repairing traditional alliances.

The president will also attend another briefing with senior administration officials about the California wildfires at 5:15 p.m., the White House says.

In the capital city

Mayor Muriel Bowser and other city and federal officials are scheduled to brief reporters at 11 a.m. on the preparations and security measures ahead of the inauguration next week.

On the Hill

The House and Senate are in session today.

The Senate is scheduled to resume consideration of the Laken Riley bill, a Republican-led measure that would require federal authorities to detain undocumented immigrants who are accused of, arrested or charged in cases of theft and related crimes. Democrats have warmed to the conservative immigration policy, but they argue they are looking to amend the legislation, our colleague Mariana Alfaro reports.

The campaign

Activists and congressional Dems launch new trans-rights group

Advocates for transgender rights — including several members of Congress — are launching a new political group to defend the community against attacks from both sides of the aisle.

The Christopher Street Project, a political action committee and nonprofit, will use a “two-pronged strategy of fighting back against Republican anti-trans efforts and mobilizing voters against Democrats who cower to Republican tactics,” according to an announcement shared with us.

“Democrats have an obligation to stand with us and act like a true opposition party — and the Christopher Street Project will ensure that Democrats meet that obligation. No matter what,” the group’s executive director, Tyler Hack, says in the announcement.

Republicans spent big on ads in the November election attacking Democrats over trans issues. Some Democrats — perhaps most notably Rep. Seth Moulton (Massachusetts) — have since sought to distance themselves from support for transgender athletes.

The group has the backing of Sen. Andy Kim (New Jersey), as well as Reps. Ayanna Pressley (Massachusetts), Jasmine Crockett (Texas), Delia Ramirez (Illinois), Rashida Tlaib (Michigan), Jan Schakowsky (Illinois), Judy Chu (California) and Al Green (Texas).

The Media

Must reads:

From The Post:

From across the web:

Viral

We count four presidents …

President Jimmy Carter loved our country. He lived his faith, served the people, and left the world better than he found it.

President Carter’s many contributions will echo for generations to come. pic.twitter.com/xF96snw8hV

— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) January 11, 2025

Thanks for reading. You can follow Meryl and Patrick on X: @MerylKornfield and @PatrickSvitek.