Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Trump's nominee to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services testifies during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing for his pending confirmation on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Republished January 30, 2025 - 12:58 PM
Original Publication Date January 30, 2025 - 6:21 AM
Three of President Donald Trump’s cabinet picks prepared to face skepticism and intense grilling from Democratic senators during their confirmation hearings Thursday.
What we’re following:
1. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s second hearing: Kennedy will have the second of two confirmation hearings for his Health and Human Services Secretary nomination. He a day after .
2. Tulsi Gabbard for DNI Secretary: Gabbard, Trump’s pick to be director of national intelligence, is expected to face tough questions from the Senate Intelligence Committee over and a 2017 visit with .
3. Kash Patel’s hearing: , Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, from Democratic senators Thursday about his loyalty to the president and stated desire to overhaul the bureau.
Here's the latest:
Stenographers lament: Trump unleashes a flood of words on Washington
President Trump is talking, again, and the White House stenographers have a problem: He’s talking so much, they’re struggling to keep up.
It’s one of the most audible shifts from President Joe Biden. Trump understands that attention is a form of power, and has been speaking nearly nonstop, drowning out dissenting voices and leaving opponents struggling to be heard.
Now there are discussions about hiring additional staff to keep up with the workload, according to people with knowledge of the conversations who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal matters.
According to numbers generated by Factba.se, Biden spent 2 hours and 36 minutes talking on camera and used 24,259 words in his first week in office. Trump’s stats: nearly 7 hours and 44 minutes and 81,235 words last week. That’s longer than watching the original “Star Wars” trilogy back-to-back-to-back, and more words than “Macbeth,” “Hamlet” and “Richard III” combined.
? Read more about Trump’s commentary
Democrats say Republicans constructed a facade around Patel
They confronted Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department with a vast catalog of his incendiary statements they say disqualify him for the post.
They cited his own actions and rhetoric in dozens of podcasts and books. They brought up his call for a purge of anti-Trump “conspirators” in the government and news media.
Patel said he was being grossly mischaracterized.
One 2023 book Patel authored included a lengthy list of former government officials he accused of forming the so-called deep state. But Patel denied having an “enemies list” and said the FBI under his leadership would not seek retribution against the president’s adversaries or launch investigations for political purposes.
“There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by the FBI.”
? Read more about Patel’s confirmation hearing
Republican senator wants to know: Would Gabbard give Russia a pass?
Republicans as well as Democrats unleashed sharp criticism on Trump’s pick for national intelligence director, condemning Tulsi Gabbard for past comments sympathetic to Russia, for meeting with Syria’s now-deposed leader and for supporting government leaker Edward Snowden.
Gabbard said years of failures by America’s intelligence services require big changes. She said false or politicized intelligence has led to wars, foreign policy failures and the misuse of espionage.
“The bottom line is this must end,” she said.
Gabbard has won praise in Russian state-controlled media by echoing Russian propaganda justifying the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. Republicans accused her of spreading Russian disinformation.
Kansas Republican Jerry Moran wanted to know: Would Russia “get a pass” from her?
“Senator I’m offended by the question,” Gabbard responded. “My sole focus, commitment and responsibility is about our own nation, our own security and the interests of the American people.”
? Read more on Tulsi Gabbard’s confirmation hearing
The confirmation hearing for Kash Patel has concluded
Patel received a standing ovation and scattered applause from some in the audience. GOP senators then personally greeted Patel and his family and embraced for photos.
RFK Jr.’s vaccine views puts him on defensive as a key confirmation vote hangs in the balance
Kennedy’s long record of casting doubt on the safety of childhood vaccinations could jeopardize his confirmation for health secretary. If all the Democrats reject Kennedy’s nomination, he can only afford to lose three Republicans.
And when Kennedy refused Thursday to flatly reject a long-discredited theory that vaccines cause autism, despite years of studies and research that have found they do not, it clearly troubled Health Committee chairman Bill Cassidy, who is up for reelection next year.
The Louisiana Republican is a liver doctor who has regularly encouraged his constituents to vaccinate against COVID-19 and other diseases.
“If there’s any false note, any undermining of a mama’s trust in vaccines, another person will die from a vaccine preventable disease,” Cassidy said.
Kennedy also must win the swing votes of Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitch McConnell, who have raised concerns about Kennedy and also voted against Trump’s defense secretary nominee.
? Read more on Kennedy’s confirmation hearings
Trump’s orders take aim at critical race theory and antisemitism on college campuses
Trump is ordering U.S. schools to stop teaching what he views as “critical race theory” and other material dealing with race and sexuality or risk losing their federal money.
A separate plan calls for aggressive action to fight antisemitism on college campuses, promising to prosecute offenders and revoke visas for international students found to be “Hamas sympathizers.”
Both plans were outlined in executive orders signed by Trump on Wednesday. The measures seek to fulfill some of the Republican president’s core campaign promises around education, though it’s unclear how much power he has to enact the proposals.
? Read more about what’s included in the education-related orders
Brazil’s leader says Trump needs to respect other nations’ sovereignty
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was referring to Trump’s stated desire to acquire Greenland and retake control of the Panama Canal.
Lula also told journalists Thursday that “there will be reciprocity” if Trump imposes tariffs on Brazilian products.
“I want to respect the United States, and I want Trump to respect Brazil. That is all. If this happens, it’s good enough,” Lula said.
US cybersecurity agency’s future role in elections remains murky under the Trump administration
The nation’s cybersecurity agency has played a critical role in helping states shore up the defenses of their voting systems, but its election mission appears uncertain amid sustained criticism from Republicans and key figures in the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump has not named a new head of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and for the first time since it was formed, there are no plans for anyone in its leadership to address the main annual gathering of the nation’s secretaries of state, which was being held this week in Washington.
The agency formed in 2018 during the first Trump administration is charged with protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure, from dams and nuclear power plants to banks and voting systems. It is under the Department of Homeland Security, but CISA is a separate agency with its own Senate-confirmed director.
? Read more about where things stand at CISA
Patel says he’ll focus FBI’s efforts on combating violent crime
“I’m going to let the cops be cops and put handcuffs on the bad guys and put child molesters in prison and put murderers in prison,” Patel told lawmakers when asked what his plans for the bureau are.
Patel wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published this week that “violent crime is destroying families across the nation.”
There has been little discussion of national security issues throughout the hearing, which has focused largely on Patel’s past inflammatory statements.
That’s despite a heightened threat of international terrorism and an FBI investigation into a massive breach by Chinese hackers of American telecommunications companies.
Democrats go after Patel’s support of Jan. 6 defendants
In one of the more heated moments of the hearing, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff called on Patel to turn around and face the Capitol police officers in the hearing room.
It came as Schiff was criticizing Patel for producing a song featuring President Trump and a choir of jailed Jan. 6 defendants to help raise money for the families of those charged in the Capitol riot.
“If you have the courage to, look them in the eye, Mr. Patel. And tell them you’re proud of what you did. Tell them you’re proud that you raised money off of people that assaulted their colleagues, that pepper sprayed them, that beat them with poles,” Schiff said.
Patel fired back: “That’s an abject lie, you know it. I never, never, ever accepted violence against law enforcement.”
Rubio says Trump’s interest in Greenland and Panama is valid
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Trump’s desire to acquire Greenland and retake control of the Panama Canal are legitimate national security interests driven by growing concerns about Chinese activity in the Arctic and in Latin America.
Rubio said Thursday he could not predict if Trump would succeed in buying Greenland from Denmark or resuming American authority over the Panama Canal while he is in office. However, he said the attention that Trump will give to both would have an impact.
“What I think you can rest assured of is that four years from now, our interest in the Arctic will be more secure; our interest in the Panama Canal will be more secure,” Rubio said in an interview with SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly.
Nominee Russ Vought advances for budget director despite uproar over funding freeze
Senate Budget Committee Republicans advanced Vought’s confirmation over the objections of Democrats who call him a “threat to democracy.”
Committee Republicans voted 11-0 in a rare session off the Senate floor after Democrats boycotted the meeting.
“He is a threat to our democracy,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the committee’s top Democrat. “We’re here to say that is not okay.”
Vought was a chief architect of Project 2025 and instrumental in the White House’s federal funding freeze this week, which sparked panic in communities across the country. Advocacy organizations challenged the freeze and the White House quickly rescinded it.
Cassidy remains deeply skeptical on what Kennedy would do for vaccinations
The Louisiana Republican approached Kennedy at the conclusion of the hearing for a brief handshake and exchange, after once again expressing deep skepticism over whether Kennedy would promote vaccinations through the Department of Health and Human Services.
Cassidy said that his experience as a physician has showed how imperative it was to stress the life-saving powers of vaccines.
Intel committee closes public hearing with Gabbard, next is classified session
The Senate Intelligence Committee has adjourned the confirmation hearing for Gabbard after nearly three hours.
Next up is a classified, closed session with the nominee, where members are able to question her more in depth on issues that are sensitive and could not be broached in a public hearing.
Sen. Cotton, the chair, ended the public hearing by saying he hopes to quickly move to a committee vote on Gabbard. Some members have raised concerns about whether the vote will happen in public or behind closed doors. Some Trump supporters want it to be public so that any Republicans who vote against her will be immediately identified.
A heated exchange between RFK Jr. and Bernie Sanders
Kennedy’s hearing is ending after a heated exchange with Sen. Bernie Sanders.
As the Vermont Independent pressed Trump’s nominee on his views on vaccines, Kennedy shot back by saying that members of Congress, including Sanders, were receiving money from pharmaceutical companies.
The line drew cheers and applause from Kennedy’s supporters in the room.
Sanders wasn’t having any of it. He retorted that he doesn’t take money from organizations or groups that represent the drug-making industry.
Booker to Patel: ‘What are you hiding?’
Democrats are scrutinizing Patel’s appearance before a Washington grand jury investigating Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after Patel received immunity for his testimony.
Patel, who has said he was present as Trump declassified broad categories of materials, was granted a limited form of immunity after invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during an earlier grand jury appearance.
Sen. Cory Booker pushed Patel to explain what he told the grand jury, but Patel told the Democrat to get a transcript of the secret proceeding instead.
Booker replied: “You are free to tell people. What are you hiding from Congress?”
A judge dismissed the classified documents case against Trump last year, ruling that special counsel Jack Smith was illegally appointed by the Justice Department.
Kennedy won’t identify the public health scientists he said could be fired
Kennedy was pressed about recent statements he’s made threatening to fire staffers at the National Institutes of Health and other public health agencies.
Sen. Angela Alsobrooks asked Kennedy if there is a “watch list” of scientists who could be targeted for termination.
“Not that I know of,” Kennedy responded.
Alsobrooks is a Democrat representing Maryland, where NIH is headquartered. When she asked which federal scientists should be replaced, Kennedy said: “the ones who are corrupt.”
And for the second day in a row, Kennedy falsely accused NIH of quashing research into multiple causes of Alzheimer’s. The NIH’s $3.8 billion budget for Alzheimer’s and similar dementias funds researching a range of factors that may contribute to the disease.
Dems question whether Gabbard will push back if Trump asks her to break the law
In a round of follow up questions, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden asked Gabbard if she would be willing to refuse an illegal order from Trump, specifically regarding the role of inspector generals who the president fired in his first week back in office.
“If President Trump orders you to withhold appropriated funds from the inspector general, would you refuse that illegal order?” Wyden asked.
Her response: “I don’t believe for a second President Trump would ask me to do something that would break the law.”
Gabbard retreats from her criticism of Soleimani killing
When Trump approved a 2020 drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Gabbard at the time denounced it, saying there was no justification.
Soleimani had been an ally of Syria’s Assad and a top player in attacks by Iran and its allies.
Asked by New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gilliland whether she still opposed the strike, Gabbard indicated no. It turned out that “President Trump was right,” and there was no escalation in the Middle East as she had feared, Gabbard said.
Gabbard didn’t directly answer a related question on whether she agreed with Trump’s decision to pull security from his former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and an aid who have been targeted for assassination by Iran because of that strike.
‘Mr. Snowden is watching these proceedings’
GOP Sen. Todd Young of Indiana said Snowden has been watching Gabbard’s confirmation hearing and that he hoped she could disavow on national television what he did.
Young referenced a social media post Snowden made earlier Thursday saying Gabbard “will be required to disown all prior support for whistleblowers as a condition of confirmation today.”
“I encourage her to do so. Tell them I harmed national security and the sweet, soft feelings of staff. In D.C., that’s what passes for the pledge of allegiance,” Snowden wrote in the X post.
Young said that this may be the “rare instance” where he agrees with Snowden and that the nominee should publicly distance herself from him despite her previous comments calling him “brave.”
She has refused to say Snowden was a traitor.
GOP senators push back on ‘conspiracy theorist’ label of Patel
Republican senators have repeatedly dismissed characterizations that Patel is a conspiracy theorist, extremist or sycophant, frequently citing longstanding grievances held by the GOP base against federal investigators.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., invoked the “Russia collusion hoax” multiple times in his remarks. He then asked Patel to promise to only go after “bad” actors in the agency.
“Don’t go over there and burn that place down. Go over there and make it better. Can you commit to us today, that you will do that?” Kennedy said.
Patel promised to make the agency “the premier law enforcement agency in the world.”
Patel sidesteps 2020 election questions
He acknowledged that President Joe Biden was certified as president of the United States but did not confirm whether he believed Biden had directly won that election when asked directly by Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii.
“President Biden’s election was certified, he was sworn in, and he served as the president of the United States,” Patel replied when asked by Hirono whether Biden had won the 2020 presidential election.
It is a similar comment made by others nominated by Trump, who never conceded the 2020 election and worked to overturn his election loss in its aftermath.
Patel pledges to discipline FBI members involved in what GOP sees as overreach
Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley pressed Patel on a range of conservative grievances regarding the FBI’s investigations, including of potential extremists in Catholic faith communities, people disrupting local public forums over education curricula and COVID lockdown policies.
“Once again, I can’t imagine I could have ever thought this would happen to the United States of America,” Hawley said.
“When you find out who was involved in this policy within the FBI, who agreed with it, who implemented it, who encouraged it, when you find out that, Mr. Patel, will you do an internal investigation?”
“Absolutely, senator,” Patel said, asserting that he would also discipline any agents involved and work to prevent such investigations from happening again.
Senator credits Kennedy for his family’s decision to not vaccinate granddaughter
Two Republican senators used the word ‘pincushion’ to describe kids who get full slates of recommended vaccines.
One even praised Kennedy for raising questions about the number of vaccines children get.
“I’ll have my first granddaughter in the next couple of weeks, and my son and his wife have done their research about vaccines and she’s not going to be a pincushion. We’re not going to allow that to happen. You brought that up,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
“As a father of six, when when my kids come out from getting their vaccines, they look like a freaking pincushion,” added Mullin.
Voices rise as Gabbard refuses to say whether leaker Snowden was a ‘traitor’
Gabbard is dodging questions — from both parties — on Snowden, providing some of the most dramatic moments in her hearing.
Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford said Snowden placed lives and U.S. programs in danger, and asked Gabbard twice, point blank: “Was Snowden a traitor?”
“I’m focused on the future,” Gabbard said, and turned to how she’d prevent leaks.
Colorado Democrat Sen. Michael Bennet pressed her on the same question, his volume rising each time he asked.
Bennet finally turned to lamenting Gabbard’s nomination. Do we have to have a candidate “who can’t answer whether Snowden was a traitor five times today?” he asked.
A mother’s anguish in the RFK Jr. hearing
Sen. Maggie Hassan, a New Hampshire Democrat, said questioning whether Kennedy has really changed his anti-vaccine views isn’t political – it has real-world ramifications.
Hassan related the anguish of wondering if she did something during her pregnancy to cause the severe cerebral palsy in her now 36-year-old son.
She said Kennedy’s refusal to accept that a 1990s report linking measles vaccine to autism has now been thoroughly discredited is stumping the search for the real causes of autism and other disorders like her son’s.
“He is re-litigating and churning settled science so we can’t go forward and find out what the cause of autism is and treat these kids and help these families,” she said. “It freezes us in place.”
Kennedy urges caution with anti-obesity drugs
He said the new class of weight-loss medications such as Wegovy are “miracle drugs.”
But he said they should not be the first, front-line treatment for 6-year-old children, and that prescriptions should include recommendations for diet and exercise.
That aligns with guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics, which recommend treating children with lifestyle interventions, diet and exercise before considering medications for kids as young as 12 and surgery for those as young as 13. Similar guidelines apply to adults.
Patel says there will be ‘no politicization at the FBI’
Pressed about whether the FBI under his leadership would remain independent from the White House, Patel said investigations will only be launched when there’s a “factual, articulable legal basis to do so.”
Asked by Democratic Sen. Chris Coons about whether he would use the agency to go after Trump’s political enemies, Patel suggested he would “not go backward” and vowed there will be “no politicization at the FBI.”
“There will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI should I be confirmed as the FBI director,” he said.
The line of questioning cuts to the heart of Democrats’ concerns over Patel’s nomination. Trump repeatedly suggested while campaigning that he would use the justice system to exact revenge on people involved in the criminal cases against him.
News from © The Associated Press, 2025