In a decisive victory for President Donald Trump, the GOP-led Senate confirmed on Monday the first judicial nominee of his second term.
Whitney Hermandorfer, of Tennessee, prevailed in her bid to become a U.S. Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit by a 46-42 <a href="https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00384.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vote</a> along party lines. She is poised to replace Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch, an <a href="https://www.congress.gov/nomination/119th-congress/150/3#:~:text=Description-,Whitney%20D.,vice%20Jane%20Branstetter%20Stranch%2C%20retiring." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Obama pick</a>. A dozen members of the upper chamber did not vote.
The confirmation of Hermandorfer to join the Cincinnati-based bench that hears appeals from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee is &#8220;a boon to the federal judiciary,&#8221; Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said in a statement.
&#8220;As the Director of the Strategic Litigation Unit in Tennessee, she’s led major cases on civil rights and the separation of powers and is widely praised for her legal mind, impeccable qualifications, collegial nature and constitutionalist philosophy,&#8221; Grassley added. &#8220;I was proud to lead Ms. Hermandorfer’s nomination through the Senate Judiciary Committee and am confident she will be an excellent federal judge.&#8221;
When Trump nominated Hermandorfer earlier this year, the White House <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/white-house-press-release-president-donald-j-trump-announces-judicial-candidate-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that she was the director of the Strategic Litigation Unit in the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General, had previously served as an associate at Williams &amp; Connolly, LLP in Washington, D.C., and boasted experience working as a law clerk to Justices Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett of the Supreme Court, now-Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh when he was a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Richard J. Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The White House also noted that Hermandorfer earned her B.A., magna cum laude, from Princeton University, where she was co-captain of the women’s varsity basketball team, earned her J.D. from the George Washington University Law School, where she graduated summa cum laude and first in her class, and was editor-in-chief of the George Washington University Law Review.
&#8220;I am pleased to announce the nomination of Whitney Hermandorfer to serve as a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@Hua341/posts/114455316115570433" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post on Truth Social in May. &#8220;Whitney has been serving the Great People of Tennessee, in the Attorney General’s Office, where she has strongly litigated in Court to protect Citizens from Federal Government Overreach. A former Co-Captain of the Princeton University Women’s Basketball Team, Whitney is a staunch defender of Girls’ and Women’s Sports. She has a long history of working for Judges and Justices who respect the RULE OF LAW, and protect our Constitution, including Justice Samuel Alito and two fine Supreme Court Justices I appointed in my First Term. Whitney is a Fighter who will inspire confidence in our Legal System. Thank you Whitney!&#8221;
Democrats warned that Hermandorfer was too green and might give into politics.
&#8220;Senate Republicans just confirmed their first judicial nominee of Trump 2.0,&#8221; Senate Judiciary ranking member Dick Durbin (D-IL) <a href="https://x.com/SenatorDurbin/status/1944882255635026248" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X. &#8220;Whitney Hermandorfer is inexperienced and partisan – with a record that repeatedly put Donald Trump ahead of the law. This is the playbook we must watch for, call out, and vote down.&#8221;
When Hermandorfer testified during her confirmation hearing last month, she contended that judges should adhere to boundaries established under the Constitution. That came as Republicans had been pushing for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/impeachathon-ensnares-growing-number-of-get-trump-judges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">impeachment</a> of some members of the federal judiciary who were ruling against some of Trump&#8217;s actions in a way they believed had waded into activism.
&#8220;It is an extraordinary power, the Article III power, to decide cases &#8230; With that power, again, comes great responsibility and humility to understand the proper role of a judge is to interpret the law and not make the law or bend the law to whatever policy preferences the judge might have individually,&#8221; Hermandorfer <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1930290647715455172" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
Hermandorfer later advanced out of the Judiciary Committee by a 12-10 <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/rep/releases/judiciary-committee-advances-judicial-nominations-for-sixth-circuit-and-missouri-district-courts-us-attorney-nominations-for-idaho-and-pennsylvania" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vote</a>. Other Trump nominees for judgeships were also reported favorably to the full Senate and could be confirmed in the days and weeks to come. If Trump&#8217;s second term is like his first, he still has more than a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/01/13/how-trump-compares-with-other-recent-presidents-in-appointing-federal-judges/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">couple hundred</a> judicial appointments to go.
&#8220;Tennessee native — Judge Whitney Hermandorfer — is the first judicial nominee confirmed by the Senate in [Trump&#8217;s] second term,&#8221; Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) <a href="https://x.com/SenatorHagerty/status/1944889075892093034" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post on X after the final vote on Monday. &#8220;She will set a benchmark of excellence for future judicial nominees — President Trump could not have made a better choice. Congratulations, Judge Hermandorfer!&#8221;
Grassley&#8217;s team <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/rep/releases/senate-builds-on-record-setting-confirmation-pace-with-first-judicial-confirmation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that during the first six months of Trumps&#8217; second term, the Senate has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-gop-breaks-through-dem-obstruction-on-trump-2-0-civilian-nominees" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> 21 members of Trump&#8217;s Cabinet, &#8220;putting his team in place faster than the last three incoming administrations.&#8221; It also pointed out that the upper chamber has so far confirmed 89 of his civilian nominees, &#8220;outpacing the first Trump administration,&#8221; and confirmed 12 ambassador nominees, &#8220;which is more than the incoming Biden, first Trump and George W. Bush administrations.&#8221;

Whitney Hermandorfer

‘A Benchmark Of Excellence’: Senate Confirms First Judge Of Trump’s Second Term

Bill Hagerty

Chuck Grassley

Congress

Courts

Dick Durbin

Donald Trump

Politics

Presidential nomination

Tennessee

U.S. Senate

On Saturday night, President Donald Trump abruptly withdrew his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-nominates-ally-of-elon-musk-to-lead-nasa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nomination</a> of Jared Isaacman, a close ally of Elon Musk, to be the next Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
&#8220;After a thorough review of prior associations, I am hereby withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman to head NASA,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114605559474286180" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post on Truth Social. &#8220;I will soon announce a new Nominee who will be Mission aligned, and put America First in Space. Thank you for your attention to this matter!&#8221;
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/31/us/politics/trump-nasa-nominee-musk.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Trump had told people he was going to withdraw the nomination after learning that Isaacman, an entrepreneur who has flown into space twice with Musk&#8217;s SpaceX company, made donations to Democrats. Isaacson had been <a href="https://x.com/SenateCloakroom/status/1925628326095257635" target="_blank" rel="noopener">poised</a> to get a final confirmation vote in the Senate after passing through the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
In a post on X, Isaacman <a href="https://x.com/rookisaacman/status/1928995338729435432" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> he was &#8220;incredibly grateful&#8221; to Trump, the Senate, and those who supported him through the nomination process over the past six months.
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&#8220;The President, NASA and the American people deserve the very best&#8211;an Administrator ready to reorganize, rebuild and rally the best and brightest minds to deliver the world-changing headlines NASA was built to create,&#8221; Isaacman said. &#8220;I have not flown my last mission — whatever form that may ultimately take — but I remain incredibly optimistic that humanity’s greatest spacefaring days lie ahead.&#8221;
Pro-Trump activist journalist Laura Loomer <a href="https://x.com/LauraLoomer/status/1928849664905728223" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> on X earlier on Saturday that &#8220;Deep State operatives&#8221; were trying to &#8220;derail&#8221; Isaacman&#8217;s nomination, noting there was &#8220;reason to believe&#8221; that he was &#8220;facing retaliation because of his friendship&#8221; with Musk, who just <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/trump-musk-final-day-at-doge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ended</a> a stint as a special government employee in Trump&#8217;s administration. Loomer also pointed out that Isaacman had given $2 million to Trump&#8217;s inauguration and was on track to get over 70 votes in the Senate.
Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) <a href="https://x.com/TimSheehyMT/status/1928856589018038330" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reacted</a> to Loomer&#8217;s post, saying, &#8220;Astronaut and successful businessman [Isaacman] was a strong choice by President Trump to lead NASA. I was proud to introduce Jared at his hearing and strongly oppose efforts to derail his nomination.&#8221;

Jared Isaacman

Trump Abruptly Withdraws Musk Ally’s Nomination For NASA Chief

Elon Musk

Executive

NASA

Space

In the face of Democrat resistance, the GOP-led Senate has managed to confirm President Donald Trump&#8217;s civilian nominees twice as fast as it did during the first Trump administration.
As of May 15, the upper chamber has confirmed 67 <a href="https://www.congress.gov/quick-search/nominations?wordsPhrases=&amp;wordVariants=on&amp;congressGroups%5B0%5D=0&amp;congresses%5B0%5D=119&amp;nomCivil=on&amp;pnNumbers=&amp;nomineeNames=&amp;positions=&amp;organizations=&amp;stateTerritories%5B0%5D=any&amp;nominationAction=99&amp;dates=datesReceivedInSenate&amp;dateOperator=equal&amp;startDate=&amp;endDate=&amp;dateIsOption=yesterday&amp;pageSort=actionAsc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">civilian nominees</a>, more than double the 32 civilian nominees the Senate confirmed by the same date in 2017, and it beats the 52 civilian nominees confirmed by May 15 in 2021 during President Joe Biden&#8217;s first and only term.
Senate Republicans, who hold a <a href="https://www.senate.gov/history/partydiv.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">53-seat majority</a>, have confirmed several nominees this week as the House focuses on putting together Trump&#8217;s &#8220;one big, beautiful bill.&#8221; The 67th nominee was Sean Donahue, who was confirmed to become the assistant director of the EPA in a <a href="https://x.com/SenatePress/status/1923047477206261886" target="_blank" rel="noopener">51-46 vote</a> on Thursday.
While the pace may come down to a number of factors, including when Trump is announcing his nominees, Democrats have also sought to slow down the process through various means, including the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/schumer-intervenes-block-trumps-us-attorney-nominees" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;blue slip&#8221;</a> tradition which allows senators to block home-state judicial nominees.
On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/schumer-moves-to-inflict-pain-on-trump-over-400-million-flying-palace-from-qatar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that he would place a hold on Trump&#8217;s political nominees for the Department of Justice (DOJ) until more clarity is given on the president&#8217;s controversial <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-defends-400-million-flying-palace-offered-as-gift-from-qatar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plan</a> to receive a roughly $400 million luxury aircraft known as the &#8220;Flying Palace&#8221; from Qatar.
A hold requires Senate majority leadership to schedule floor votes for nominees, bypassing the faster unanimous consent process that would allow the upper chamber to confirm the president&#8217;s picks in batches, and there have been no voice vote confirmations so far this year.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngpt6czKdiw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a floor speech this week that he hoped Democrats would stop their &#8220;pointless obstruction&#8221; because allowing the upper chamber to confirm nominees would allow lawmakers more room to legislate and spend more time in their states.
“Democrats can drag out nominations all they want, but we’re going to fill out the president’s administration and ensure that his nominees get into place so that … he can do the job that he was elected to do,&#8221; Thune said.
The Senate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-confirms-last-of-trump-2-0-cabinet-secretaries" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> all of the secretaries in Trump&#8217;s second-term Cabinet back in March. Trump withdrew his original pick for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and has since <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-shreds-media-portrayal-mike-waltz-switcheroo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tapped</a> Mike Waltz, who was his national security adviser, to become the nominee.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD)

Senate GOP Breaks Through Dem ‘Obstruction’ On Trump 2.0 Civilian Nominees

Chuck Schumer

John Thune

On Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump circumvented an effort by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/schumer-intervenes-block-trumps-us-attorney-nominees" target="_blank" rel="noopener">block</a> one of his nominees for a key federal prosecutor role in New York.
Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114349929882626042" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> on Truth Social that he was appointing Jay Clayton to become interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, sidestepping the Senate confirmation process that Schumer sought to jam, at least for now.
&#8220;I am pleased to announce that Jay Clayton will serve as the Interim United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. During my First Term, Jay served with great distinction as the Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and earned the respect of everyone,&#8221; Trump said.
Trump noted that he first announced his intent to nominate Clayton for the Southern District of New York in mid-November and contended that his pick had received &#8220;wide, Bipartisan support.&#8221;
He added, &#8220;Now, after five months and, even though Jay was previously confirmed by the Senate on a Bipartisan basis, and has complied with ALL requests of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Schumer has announced that he is blocking all New York U.S. Attorney Nominees.&#8221;
Schumer said earlier on Wednesday that he intended to stop Clayton as well as Joseph Nocella Jr., a Long Island judge chosen for U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, using the &#8220;blue slip&#8221; tradition in which home-state senators can effectively block a nominee if they do not support the individual.
&#8220;Donald Trump has made clear he has no fidelity to the law and intends to use the Justice Department, the U.S. Attorney offices and law enforcement as weapons to go after his perceived enemies,&#8221; Schumer said in a <a href="https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/schumer-uses-blue-slip-to-block-trump-us-attorney-nominees" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.
He added, &#8220;Such blatant and depraved political motivations are deeply corrosive to the rule of law and leaves me deeply skeptical of the [sic] Donald Trump’s intentions for these important positions. For that reason, I will not return the blue slip for the U.S. Attorney nominees for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.&#8221;
The Republican majority Senate Judiciary Committee has the power to disregard Schumer and proceed with the nominees in spite of his protest. However, Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/us/schumer-trump-new-york-prosecutors.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indicated</a> to The New York Times that his panel would not break the &#8220;blue slip&#8221; tradition.
In his Wednesday post, Trump stated that his administration remains committed to securing full Senate confirmation for Clayton, advancing past his temporary U.S. attorney role, as with Ed Martin and Alina Habba, interim top federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., and New Jersey, respectively.
&#8220;The Southern District leads the Department of Justice’s oversight over our Financial Markets, and fights for the safety of Millions of New Yorkers and the over 60 Million people who visit New York annually,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;The Southern District needs strong leadership NOW, and I thank Jay for taking on this role while we continue to pursue his Senate confirmation.&#8221;

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

Trump Outmaneuvers Schumer On Pick For Top Federal Prosecutor

New York

U.S.

U.S. attorneys

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced on Wednesday that he intended to stop two of President Donald Trump&#8217;s nominees for U.S. attorney positions in New York.
The move hinges on the &#8220;blue slip&#8221; tradition in which home-state senators can effectively block a nominee if they do not support the individual.
&#8220;Donald Trump has made clear he has no fidelity to the law and intends to use the Justice Department, the U.S. Attorney offices and law enforcement as weapons to go after his perceived enemies,&#8221; Schumer said in a <a href="https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/schumer-uses-blue-slip-to-block-trump-us-attorney-nominees" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.
He added, &#8220;Such blatant and depraved political motivations are deeply corrosive to the rule of law and leaves me deeply skeptical of the [sic] Donald Trump’s intentions for these important positions. For that reason, I will not return the blue slip for the U.S. Attorney nominees for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.&#8221;
The affected nominees are former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton, picked to become U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Joseph Nocella Jr., a Long Island judge chosen for U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
If Republicans on the Judiciary Committee choose to disregard Schumer, they could advance the nominees. However, Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) appears unwilling to depart from the norm.
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/us/schumer-trump-new-york-prosecutors.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> Grassley affirming, &#8220;The answer is yes,&#8221; when asked about adhering to the blue slip tradition. &#8220;If they are from the state the nomination comes from.&#8221;
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), a member of the judiciary panel, told the news outlet that the blue slip tradition &#8220;serves a useful purpose even when in Democratic hands.&#8221; He added, &#8220;Obviously we value the ability to, appropriately, stop some nominees.&#8221;
Democrats have employed another tactic to stymie a different U.S. attorney nominee.
Earlier this month, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) <a href="https://www.schiff.senate.gov/news/press-releases/statement-sen-schiff-announces-hold-on-d-c-u-s-attorney-nominee-ed-martin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> that he would place a hold on the nomination of Ed Martin to be U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, a role he currently serves in an interim capacity.
A hold requires Senate majority leadership to schedule a floor vote for a nominee, bypassing the faster unanimous consent process.
Trump allies have sounded the alarm.
Responding to a post on X about Senate Democrats obstructing Trump&#8217;s picks for top prosecutor roles, his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., <a href="https://x.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1912490445818511451" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, &#8220;We can&#8217;t let the swamp block my father&#8217;s picks for US Attorney!!!&#8221;

Schumer Intervenes To Block Two Of Trump’s U.S. Attorney Nominees

John Cornyn

Hours after President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-pulls-stefanik-nomination-united-nations-ambassador" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pulled</a> her nomination to become U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) reacted by saying it was about &#8220;stepping up as a team.&#8221;
During an interview on Thursday evening, Stefanik pinned the decision on a &#8220;combination&#8221; of &#8220;the New York corruption&#8221; in the special election process and the House GOP&#8217;s narrow majority.
&#8220;This is about stepping up as a team, and I am doing that as a leader to ensure that we can take hold of this mandate and deliver these historic results,&#8221; Stefanik said on Fox News.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/EliseStefanik?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EliseStefanik</a> displays PURE CLASS by stepping back from her UN Ambassador nomination to push President Trump’s agenda in Congress and serve her North Country constituents:
&quot;This is about stepping up as a team, and I’m doing that as a leader to ensure that we can take hold of… <a href="https://t.co/uPq9g5gBMR">pic.twitter.com/uPq9g5gBMR</a>
&mdash; Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1905430337645429198?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Stefanik, who spoke with host and former Trump spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany, mentioned budget reconciliation legislation with which the GOP aims to fulfill Trump&#8217;s domestic agenda priorities.
Although she testified in a confirmation hearing and advanced out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee back in January, Stefanik never got a final vote on the Senate floor.
Her nomination got held up as New York Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul was <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/03/10/2025/hochul-expected-to-slow-walk-election-to-replace-stefanik" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> expected to slow-walk a special election and the House GOP <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-republicans-slow-walk-elise-stefanik-confirmation-un-ambassador-rcna192129" target="_blank" rel="noopener">grappled</a> with a slim majority.
There are 218 Republicans and 213 Democrats in the House. Two <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/critical-florida-special-elections-for-gop-coming-on-tuesday" target="_blank" rel="noopener">special elections</a> to fill GOP-won seats are set for next week in Florida. Two other vacancies are from Democrats who recently died.
Earlier on Thursday, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-pulls-stefanik-nomination-united-nations-ambassador" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> on Truth Social that he asked Stefanik to remain in Congress to help him deliver his &#8220;America First Agenda&#8221; on tax cuts, border security, energy, and more.
&#8220;With a very tight Majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat,&#8221; Trump said, adding that there are &#8220;others that can do a good job at the United Nations.&#8221;
Also in his social media post, Trump mentioned that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was &#8220;thrilled&#8221; with the decision and he said Stefanik would &#8220;rejoin the House Leadership Team.&#8221;
Stefanik previously served as House GOP Conference chair, a role now held by Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI). Johnson <a href="https://x.com/SpeakerJohnson/status/1905330013244915791" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> he would <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mike-johnson-welcomes-elise-stefanik-back-into-house-leadership" target="_blank" rel="noopener">invite</a> Stefanik back to the leadership team, but did not specify a position.
In her interview, Stefanik <a href="https://x.com/Acyn/status/1905428658111873374" target="_blank" rel="noopener">insisted</a> there was &#8220;good news&#8221; because &#8220;the American people will be hearing a lot more from me&#8221; as she no longer has limitations associated with a pending confirmation.
Stefanik also teased what comes next, saying she &#8220;looked forward to continuing to hold higher education accountable for their failures, as well as all of my work &#8230; in the national security space.&#8221;

Rep. Elise Stefanik

‘Stepping Up As A Team’: Stefanik Reacts After Trump Withdraws Nomination

Elise Stefanik

U.S. House of Representatives

United Nations

On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced that he withdrew the nomination of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to become U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
Stefanik appeared for a confirmation back in January, when she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-nominee-elise-stefanik-blasts-anti-semitic-rot-within-the-united-nations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called out</a> the &#8220;anti-Semitic rot&#8221; within the United Nations, and advanced out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. However, she never got a vote on the Senate floor.
&#8220;As we advance our America First Agenda, it is essential that we maintain EVERY Republican Seat in Congress. We must be unified to accomplish our Mission, and Elise Stefanik has been a vital part of our efforts from the very beginning,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114235745233828789" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post on Truth Social. &#8220;I have asked Elise, as one of my biggest Allies, to remain in Congress to help me deliver Historic Tax Cuts, GREAT Jobs, Record Economic Growth, a Secure Border, Energy Dominance, Peace Through Strength, and much more, so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.&#8221;
Trump added: &#8220;With a very tight Majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat. The people love Elise and, with her, we have nothing to worry about come Election Day. There are others that can do a good job at the United Nations. Therefore, Elise will stay in Congress, rejoin the House Leadership Team, and continue to fight for our amazing American People. Speaker Johnson is thrilled! I look forward to the day when Elise is able to join my Administration in the future. She is absolutely FANTASTIC. Thank you Elise!&#8221;
Over the past couple of months, Stefanik&#8217;s nomination got held up as New York Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul was <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/03/10/2025/hochul-expected-to-slow-walk-election-to-replace-stefanik" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> expected to slow-walk the election to replace the congresswoman and as Republicans <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-republicans-slow-walk-elise-stefanik-confirmation-un-ambassador-rcna192129" target="_blank" rel="noopener">grappled</a> with a slim majority in the House.
<a href="https://pressgallery.house.gov/member-data/party-breakdown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Currently</a>, there are 218 Republicans and 213 Democrats in the House. Special elections to find replacements for Trump&#8217;s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, and Matt Gaetz — both Republicans from Florida — are set for next week. The other two vacancies are from Democrats who recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrat-congressman-raul-grijalva-dies-of-cancer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">died</a>.
Except for Stefanik, the GOP-led Senate has confirmed all members of Trump&#8217;s picks for his second-term <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/the-cabinet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cabinet</a>. Stefanik, who has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/speaker-johnson-predicts-house-gop-will-expand-majority-in-2026-with-dems-in-disarray" target="_blank" rel="noopener">replaced</a> in the third-ranking position of House GOP Conference chair since her nomination, was even <a href="https://x.com/RepStefanik/status/1897117031926997233" target="_blank" rel="noopener">participating</a> in Cabinet meetings.
Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-offers-elise-stefanik-u-n-ambassadorship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a> in November that he was &#8220;honored&#8221; to nominate Stefanik to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, adding that the congresswoman &#8220;is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter.&#8221;
In declaring her acceptance of the nomination, Stefanik said that she stood &#8220;ready to advance President Donald J. Trump’s restoration of America First peace through strength leadership on the world stage on Day One at the United Nations.&#8221;
Stefanik also <a href="https://stefanik.house.gov/2024/11/statement-on-accepting-president-donald-j-trump-s-nomination-to-serve-in-his-cabinet-as-ambassador-to-the-united-nations#:~:text=The%20work%20ahead%20is%20immense,to%20advance%20President%20Donald%20J.">took a shot</a> at the Biden administration: &#8220;The work ahead is immense as we see antisemitism skyrocketing coupled with four years of catastrophically weak U.S. leadership that significantly weakened our national security and diminished our standing in the eyes of both allies and adversaries.&#8221;
Some other Trump 2.0 nominees have withdrawn from consideration, including the president&#8217;s initial choice for U.S. Attorney General, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-matt-gaetz-withdraws-name-from-ag-consideration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gaetz</a>, and Hillsborough County Sheriff <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-dea-nominee-withdraws-from-consideration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chad Chronister</a>, who had been selected to become administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). It is not immediately clear who Trump will pick as Stefanik&#8217;s replacement.

Trump Pulls Stefanik Nomination To Become United Nations Ambassador

The summer of 2024 was one of those whirlwinds of breaking news and total chaos where everything blends together. Over time, dates from that period get mixed up and transposed, just because so many things were happening all at once. So it can be useful to take a step back and think about the timeline a little bit. 
For example, you might not remember that, when Joe Biden officially announced he wasn&#8217;t running for president last year, it took just a couple of hours for the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, to make his own announcement. Newsom <a href="https://www.dailynews.com/2024/07/21/gov-gavin-newsom-says-vp-kamala-harris-can-guide-our-country/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a>, in no uncertain terms, that he wouldn&#8217;t make a bid for the presidency. Instead, he threw his full endorsement behind Kamala Harris, one of the least appealing and most uncharismatic candidates that Democrats have ever nominated for high office.
If you understand Gavin Newsom as the extremely calculating politician that he is, this kind of quick, knee-jerk decision-making raises a few questions. After all, it was an extraordinary move by Newsom, for a couple of reasons. First of all, most of the most important figures in the Democrat Party, like Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, didn&#8217;t endorse Kamala Harris on the same day that Joe Biden was forced out. It took Obama nearly a week to come around to the idea. And secondly, of course, Gavin Newsom was correctly seen as a far more talented politician than Kamala Harris. He was almost certain to outperform her in every swing state. So why would he take himself out of the running so quickly?
If there was any doubt about Newsom&#8217;s intentions, we don&#8217;t have to wonder anymore. Gavin Newsom will run for president in 2028. He determined a long time ago that it&#8217;s better to run on his own, rather than try to defend a record as unpopular and destructive as Joe Biden&#8217;s. And Newsom will challenge the Republican candidate — most likely JD Vance — using a platform of faux moderation, rather than any kind of principle. Newsom&#8217;s plan is to stake out an untenable, inauthentic middle ground, on the theory that voters will come to see the Trump administration as too inflexible on social issues.
We don&#8217;t have to guess about this. In case you haven&#8217;t heard, Gavin Newsom has just launched his own podcast. It&#8217;s a show that makes the game plan pretty clear. One of Newsom&#8217;s first guests was Charlie Kirk, who proceeded to press Newsom on some of his party&#8217;s most unpopular positions.
Here&#8217;s one of the most important moments from the show, for example. Watch how Newsom responds when Kirk brings up the fundamental insanity of forcing women to compete against men in sporting competitions:
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Will Governor Gavin Newsom EVER say “No Men in Women’s Sports?” 
I asked him. <a href="https://t.co/xVlJSag0Bq">pic.twitter.com/xVlJSag0Bq</a>
&mdash; Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) <a href="https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1897652344558584276?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
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It&#8217;s a pretty incredible surrender, even if Newsom doesn&#8217;t admit that he&#8217;s surrendering. He suggests that it&#8217;s profoundly unfair for a man to compete in women&#8217;s sports, as any sane person must. But then he still tries to find some kind of middle ground with the bit about how we have to have &#8220;grace&#8221; for self-identified trans people because &#8220;they&#8217;re more likely to commit suicide.&#8221; 
This is classic Newsom doublespeak. He&#8217;s not actually committing to any particular position.
He&#8217;s not saying anything that suggests he&#8217;ll comply with any of Trump&#8217;s orders on gender ideology. Nor is Newsom saying anything relevant to men like <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-fathers-tragic-fight-to-save-his-son-from-gender-ideology" target="_blank" rel="noopener">James Younger,</a> who just lost custody of his child because Newsom declared California a &#8220;sanctuary state&#8221; for child sex-changes. Instead, Newsom is using language that he thinks will resonate with conservatives — invoking the idea of &#8220;grace,&#8221; for example — without committing to any actual position.
But it falls flat because it&#8217;s a non sequitur. The concept of grace has nothing to do with affirming delusions. And that&#8217;s the central question here: Either we&#8217;re giving into the false claims of self-identified trans people, or we&#8217;re siding with reality and sanity. &#8220;Having grace,&#8221; to Democrats, has always meant giving into the falsehood. It means forcing women and girls to endure humiliation — and even brain damage, in some cases — for the benefit of narcissistic men.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mws-ep-1551-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
In this interview, rather than committing to an answer, Newsom is using a common rhetorical tactic among Democrats. It&#8217;s a tactic that Obama — who&#8217;s clearly Newsom&#8217;s mentor — perfected long ago. Newsom is essentially saying, incorrectly, that conservatives are offering a false choice. He&#8217;s saying we don&#8217;t really need to choose between affirming reality or affirming falsehood. He&#8217;s suggesting that somehow we can do both, without explaining how.
It&#8217;s reminiscent of a line from Obama&#8217;s inaugural address all the way back in 2009, when Obama said, &#8220;We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.&#8221; Obama wanted to pretend that defending this country from terrorists didn&#8217;t involve making uncomfortable decisions about, say, the rights of Al Qaeda terrorists in Guantanamo Bay. But during his term, Obama went on to make those decisions. And he did it because, in the real world, you actually have to make choices. On the other hand, in speeches (and in podcasts), you can pretend that there are no hard choices. Although, of course, in the case of the trans issue, this is not a hard choice. Men shouldn’t compete against women or be affirmed as women, period, no matter what. It’s not difficult.
To be clear about this, Newsom is not merely a slick talker. He&#8217;s not just someone who will use rhetorical tricks to avoid committing to anything. He will also lie — unapologetically and pathologically.
Later on in this podcast, Charlie brings up Newsom&#8217;s record as governor of California. Specifically, Charlie mentions Newsom&#8217;s decision to sign a law that enables school teachers to hide students&#8217; so-called &#8220;gender identity&#8221; from their parents. Watch how Newsom — who now claims he&#8217;s concerned about the &#8220;unfairness&#8221; of men playing in women&#8217;s sports — explains the law:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="002 Kirk pushback" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Wab3XEmRp5k?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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So, Newsom is claiming that the law merely protects the rights of teachers to keep information to themselves. If a teacher notices that a student is using they/them pronouns, or identifying as a non-binary furry, then the law allows the teacher to remain silent, and hide that information from parents. That&#8217;s what Newsom&#8217;s saying. Of course, even if that were true, it would still be an outrageous piece of legislation. Under no circumstances should teachers be allowed to hide any relevant information from parents — including the fact that their child is demonstrating the symptoms of a serious mental health condition like gender dysphoria.
But just as a factual matter, the law Newsom signed actually goes a lot further than that. You can pull up <a href="https://lgbtqcaucus.legislature.ca.gov/sites/lgbtqcaucus.legislature.ca.gov/files/AB%201955%20SAFETY%20Act%20FAQs%20UPDATED%20%28002%29%20__0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">materials</a> directly from the California legislature and the California attorney general, which explain the law in detail. This is also what the state of California, under Gavin Newsom, is arguing in court. From the California legislature: &#8220;Students have a constitutional right to privacy when it comes to sensitive information about them. &#8230; Under existing law, school staff are prohibited from outing students unless they have the student’s consent or are required to in a limited set of circumstances under state or federal law. &#8230; The SAFETY Act is necessary now because there has been a significant increase in policies and actions targeting LGBTQ+ students and the school personnel who support them. Some of these policies would require school staff to &#8216;out&#8217; students to their parents/guardians, in violation of existing law.&#8221;
In other words, they&#8217;re passing this law because they believe that children have an affirmative, constitutional right to keep information hidden from their parents. If Gavin Newsom didn&#8217;t believe this, he wouldn&#8217;t have signed the law, and he&#8217;d instruct his attorney general to stop saying this in court. Instead, he&#8217;s trying to have it both ways. He&#8217;s telling Charlie that teachers don&#8217;t have to hide anything from parents — and at the same time, the state of California says children have a constitutional right to hide their alleged &#8220;gender identity&#8221; from their parents. And that constitutional right, of course, can be enforced against teachers.
I&#8217;ll play some more clips from this interview in a second, but first I need to show you how the Democrats&#8217; leader in the House responded to Newsom&#8217;s answer here. This is yet another illustration that Newsom is clearly going to be the party&#8217;s nominee in four years. Newsom is the only prominent member of the party who&#8217;s capable of articulating a coherent sentence, even if the sentences are pathological lies. Here&#8217;s Hakeem Jeffries, for comparison:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="003 Hakeem incompetent response" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j2YSkjLtdOs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
It&#8217;s not even worth dissecting what the dollar-store Obama was saying there. It just makes no sense. Say what you will about Newsom, but he doesn&#8217;t have this problem. When Newsom is confronted with a question he doesn&#8217;t want to answer, he has an uncanny ability to worm his way out of it.
Consider this exchange from the podcast, for example. Charlie asks Newsom why he was able to clean up San Francisco for the arrival of China&#8217;s president a couple of years ago, but not for American citizens. Here&#8217;s Newsom&#8217;s response, followed by his comments back in 2023 in response to a similar question:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I challenged Gavin Newsom to explain why California Dems cleaned up San Francisco for Xi Jinping.
Gavin Newsom says I&#39;m weaponizing the issue. I say regular Americans deserve clean streets, not just when Chinese dictators show up.
Crime, chaos, and homelessness is a choice. San… <a href="https://t.co/kdmXoFnfJ5">pic.twitter.com/kdmXoFnfJ5</a>
&mdash; Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) <a href="https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1897686702212444447?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
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And here&#8217;s the flashback to Newsom&#8217;s statement at the time:
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NEW &#8211; Newsom on Xi&#39;s visit: &quot;I know folks say, &#39;Oh, they&#39;re just cleaning up this place because all these fancy leaders are coming into town.&#39; That&#39;s true because it&#39;s true.&quot;<a href="https://t.co/qxp8UXZUuW">pic.twitter.com/qxp8UXZUuW</a>
&mdash; Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) <a href="https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1724093441519341573?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 13, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
When he&#8217;s talking to Charlie Kirk in 2025, Newsom says he&#8217;s not the mayor of San Francisco. He&#8217;s just the governor of the state. So how can you hold him responsible for the level of filth in the city? But, just two years earlier, Newsom came out and admitted that yes, he made sure San Francisco was clean for the Chinese president.
This is utter shamelessness. And it&#8217;s why Newsom is the most effective candidate that Democrats can run in four years. He has no reservations, whatsoever, about lying at every available opportunity. It&#8217;s difficult to pin him down on anything, because he snakes his way out of it. And at the same time, Newsom understands that, if Democrats are going to win another election, they need to rethink the way they communicate with voters — particularly young voters. He is the only mainstream Democrat who&#8217;s come up with a new media strategy. Watch:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Charlie Kirk FORCES Newsom to Admit Democrats are LOSING the Media War, and have a fear of Unscripted, Long-Form Podcasts:
NEWSOM: “We&#39;re losing. You dominate the media. We are toast.”
KIRK: “They can&#39;t survive without scripts. Haven&#39;t built intellectual muscle in 30 years.” <a href="https://t.co/5PsJPL4DgU">pic.twitter.com/5PsJPL4DgU</a>
&mdash; Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1897714079474893192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Republicans are flooding the zone with content, policy, and messaging — every. single. day. 
We can’t just sit back or “play dead”. Time to flip the script. <a href="https://t.co/JFQ2MQcwRV">pic.twitter.com/JFQ2MQcwRV</a>
&mdash; Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) <a href="https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/1897654648640782548?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
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This is the opposite of the Kamala Harris approach, which was to hide from Joe Rogan and do a handful of hits on NBC. And from a strategic perspective, it&#8217;s a much better approach than whatever every other Democrat is doing. It&#8217;s a lot smarter than holding up a paddle in Congress, or interrupting the president, or vomiting out random words like Hakeem Jeffries.
And Newsom, uniquely, is good at it. The lawyer Laura Powell just unearthed this interview from a few years ago. It shows Newsom explaining his leadership philosophy. And about mid-way through, he references an essay from George Orwell called &#8220;Shooting an Elephant.&#8221; Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="006 Newsom mask" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_JmygPkSgtQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
As Newsom understands the metaphor, you put a mask on — a fake persona — and then you warp your actual persona to match it. This is the Gavin Newsom origin story, in a sense. It&#8217;s a window into how he sees his political career. It&#8217;s not about authenticity. It&#8217;s not about good governance — about making sure that Los Angeles doesn&#8217;t burn to the ground, or that women aren&#8217;t assaulted during sporting competitions, or any of that. Instead, it&#8217;s about adopting a fake persona, and then making it work.
That&#8217;s a strategy that has clearly served Newsom well, up until this point in his career. But it won&#8217;t work anymore. In the context of gender ideology in particular, the approach falls apart completely. That&#8217;s because the trans issue is all or nothing. Either trans ideology is true and a person&#8217;s gender is fluid and determined by their self-perception, or it&#8217;s not true and a person&#8217;s gender is a biological reality that cannot be changed. If the former is the case, then there&#8217;s nothing unfair about having &#8220;trans women&#8221; in women&#8217;s sports. If the latter is the case, then &#8220;trans women&#8221; are not women and should not be treated as women or recognized as women in any context at all, ever.
But as this interview with Charlie Kirk makes clear, Newsom is trying to have his cake and eat it too. This is the untenable &#8220;middle ground&#8221; Democrats will try to stake out over the next few years on this issue, just like they&#8217;re going to shoot for a fake &#8220;middle ground&#8221; on so many other issues. Newsom is going to be leading this effort for the Democrat Party. The good news is that it won&#8217;t last. It can&#8217;t last. No ideology that depends on fraud and meaningless platitudes can ever serve as a substitute for the truth. People can see through lies far more easily than Gavin Newsom seems to think. He may not realize that now. But relatively soon — say, in about four years — it&#8217;ll be extremely obvious, even to him.

California Governor Newsom Announces New Funding For Los Angeles Communities Affected By Wildfires

Gavin Newsom Starts His 2028 Campaign With Painfully Obvious Lies

Barack Obama

California

Charlie Kirk

Democrats

Gavin Newsom

Kamala Harris

Matt Walsh

Opinion

The GOP-led Senate has now confirmed 20 of President Donald Trump&#8217;s nominees for leading roles during the first fives weeks of his second-term administration.
On Wednesday, Jamieson Greer received approval to become United States Trade Representative through a <a href="https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00094.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">56-43</a> vote, with Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Gary Peters (D-MI), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) joining with the majority of Republicans in supporting the nominee. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was the sole Republican to vote against the nominee. C-SPAN&#8217;s Craig Caplan <a href="https://x.com/CraigCaplan/status/1894808854271037597" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a> Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) missed the vote as he is recovering after a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/republican-senator-suffers-brain-bleed-after-falling-on-ice-during-seizure" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fall</a>.
&#8220;The Senate Republicans are now 20-0 on confirmations,&#8221; Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), who has been using his X account to keep the public apprised of the Senate&#8217;s work, in a <a href="https://x.com/SenMullin/status/1894807397434073246" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> to the social media platform that acknowledged how none of Trump&#8217;s nominees have failed so far in final votes.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/were-so-far-ahead-senator-reveals-how-republicans-have-quickly-confirmed-trumps-cabinet-picks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED: How Republicans Quickly Confirmed Trump’s Cabinet: ‘Kept That Clock Running 24/7’</a>
Greer is the 19th Cabinet-level pick to be confirmed in a process that includes confirmation hearings and multiple procedural votes for each nominee.
Other Cabinet members include: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, and Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler.
The Senate, which is led by Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), has also confirmed Kash Patel to become FBI Director. However, that position is not a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/the-cabinet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cabinet-level role</a>.
A simple majority is needed for success in a final confirmation vote. Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, meaning GOP leadership can afford to lose only a couple party members for votes in which Democrats and the independents who caucus with them unite in opposition.
Some of the confirmation votes have been very tight while some nominees have breezed through. The closest vote happened last month when Vice President JD Vance cast a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/vance-breaks-tie-to-confirm-pete-hegseth-for-pentagon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tie-breaker</a> to confirm Hegseth. Patel was confirmed in a<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-confirms-kash-patel-as-fbi-director" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> 51-49</a> vote, Gabbard in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-confirms-tulsi-gabbard-as-director-of-national-intelligence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">52-48</a> vote, and Kennedy Jr. in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-confirms-robert-f-kennedy-jr-as-hhs-secretary" target="_blank" rel="noopener">52-48</a> vote. Rubio, himself a former U.S. senator from Florida, received the most bipartisan support among all the nominees with a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-votes-unanimously-to-confirm-marco-rubio-as-secretary-of-state" target="_blank" rel="noopener">99-0</a> vote.
In a post on X, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) shared a graphic showing that Senate Republicans have confirmed 19 Cabinet nominees in 38 days, surpassing the 18 confirmed under President Barack Obama and the 10 under President Joe Biden.
https://x.com/SenJohnBarrasso/status/1894850712984789332
Now just three Cabinet-level nominees remain: Labor Secretary nominee Lori Chavez-DeRemer; Education Secretary nominee Linda McMahon; and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), nominee to become U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Other nominees are making their way through the Senate confirmation process. Among them is Harmeet Dhillon, the nominee to become Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/confirmation-hearing-for-harmeet-dhillon-live-updates" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testified</a> before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Trump held his first Cabinet meeting of his second term at the White House on Wednesday. Elon Musk, an adviser to the president who is overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort, delivered remarks in which he <a href="https://x.com/cspan/status/1894796597923357142" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Trump &#8220;has put together, I think, the best Cabinet ever, literally.&#8221;
A small number of Trump&#8217;s second-term nominees have withdrawn from consideration, albeit before they ever got any votes. They include: the president&#8217;s initial choice for U.S. Attorney General, former Rep. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-matt-gaetz-withdraws-name-from-ag-consideration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Matt Gaetz</a> (R-FL); and Hillsborough County Sheriff <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-dea-nominee-withdraws-from-consideration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chad Chronister</a>, who had been selected to become administrator of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

President Donald Trump Meets French President Macron At White House

Senate Republicans Go ’20-0′ In Confirming Trump Nominees

Cabinet

On Tuesday, the GOP-led Senate confirmed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/kash-patel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kash Patel</a> to become director of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/fbi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FBI</a>, affirming President Donald Trump&#8217;s nominee to take over a bureau that has faced claims of politicization in recent years.
All but two Republicans voted in favor of Patel, resulting in a 51-49 tally. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) joined with the Democrats and independents in opposing the nominee.
&#8220;I look forward to working with Mr. Patel to restore the integrity of the FBI and get it focused on its critical mission,&#8221; Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said in remarks <a href="https://x.com/LeaderJohnThune/status/1892641451256811752" target="_blank" rel="noopener">before</a> the vote.
Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-nominates-fighter-kash-patel-for-fbi-director" target="_blank" rel="noopener">selected</a> Patel, a top investigator for the House Intelligence Committee who later served in high-level national security positions within the president&#8217;s first administration, in late November.
&#8220;Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People,&#8221; Trump said in a statement.
Trump went on to assert that his pick to lead the FBI &#8220;played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution.&#8221;
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Over the past few years, the FBI has faced criticism from the president and his allies over its investigation into Trump&#8217;s suspected links to Russia, the raid of Mar-a-Lago, allegedly <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/258404/fbi-director-denies-targeting-pro-life-activists" target="_blank" rel="noopener">targeting</a> pro-life activists, and more.
Lawmakers clashed over whether Patel is fit to lead the FBI, with his supporters arguing he would restore trust in the bureau while critics <a href="https://x.com/JudiciaryDems/status/1890047644153831612" target="_blank" rel="noopener">voiced</a> unease about politicization and his qualifications.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, <a href="https://x.com/SenatorDurbin/status/1892630536142643372" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X that Patel &#8220;is a dangerous extremist who will use the FBI to retaliate against his and Trump’s political enemies.&#8221;
Patel appeared for a confirmation hearing before the Judiciary Committee at the end of last month. The nominee <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/01/30/patel_opening_statement_the_public_trust_in_the_fbi_can_only_be_restored_if_there_is_full_transparency.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that protecting the rights in the Constitution was &#8220;of the utmost importance&#8221; to him.
Following a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kash-patel-nomination-for-fbi-director-advances-to-full-senate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one-week delay</a> at the behest of the Democrats, the panel voted 12-10 to favorably report Patel&#8217;s nomination to the full Senate. A vote to break the filibuster happened earlier on Thursday.
The two Republican defectors, <a href="https://x.com/AndrewDesiderio/status/1892609559702770108" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Collins</a> and <a href="https://x.com/lisamurkowski/status/1892651718053396919" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Murkowski</a>, each released statements in the hours before the final vote that said Patel failed to assuage their concerns about his political record.
An FBI director answers directly to the U.S. Attorney General and serves a term of up to 10 years. Chris Wray, a Trump nominee who stayed on as FBI director in the Biden administration, stepped down last month.
The Senate has confirmed more than a dozen nominees for top roles in Trump&#8217;s second-term administration, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

Kash Patel

Senate Confirms Kash Patel As FBI Director

kash patel

On Tuesday, the GOP-led Senate took a key step toward confirming President Donald Trump&#8217;s nomination of Kash Patel to become director of the FBI, a bureau that has faced claims of politicization in recent years.
By a <a href="https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00056.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">48-45 tally</a>, members voted in favor of a motion to proceed to executive session. A handful of senators did not vote. Votes to break the filibuster and confirm the nominee are <a href="https://x.com/SenMullin/status/1891889608733913280" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expected</a> to happen Thursday.
Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-nominates-fighter-kash-patel-for-fbi-director" target="_blank" rel="noopener">selected</a> Patel, a top investigator for the House Intelligence Committee who later served in high-level national security positions within the president&#8217;s first administration, in late November.
&#8220;Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People,&#8221; Trump said in a statement.
Trump went on to assert that his pick to lead the FBI &#8220;played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution.&#8221;
Over the past few years, the FBI has faced criticism from the president and his allies over its investigation into Trump&#8217;s suspected links to Russia, raid of Mar-a-Lago, allegedly <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/258404/fbi-director-denies-targeting-pro-life-activists" target="_blank" rel="noopener">targeting</a> pro-life activists, and more.
During his confirmation hearing at the end of last month, Patel <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/01/30/patel_opening_statement_the_public_trust_in_the_fbi_can_only_be_restored_if_there_is_full_transparency.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, &#8220;Protecting the rights of the Constitution is of the utmost importance to me and has been every single time I have taken that oath of office.&#8221;
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 along party lines on Thursday to favorably report Patel&#8217;s nomination to the full Senate after a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kash-patel-nomination-for-fbi-director-advances-to-full-senate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one-week delay</a> at the behest of Democrat members on the panel.
Republican supporters <a href="https://www.c-span.org/event/senate-committee/senate-committee-votes-on-kash-patel-for-fbi-director/430798" target="_blank" rel="noopener">argued</a> Patel would restore trust in the FBI &#8220;infected by political bias and weaponized against the American people.&#8221; Democrats <a href="https://x.com/JudiciaryDems/status/1890047644153831612" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raised</a> concerns about his qualifications and motives.
An FBI director answers directly to the U.S. Attorney General and serves a term of up to 10 years. Chris Wray, a Trump nominee who stayed on as FBI director in the Biden administration, stepped down last month.
When the Senate holds its final vote, Patel will need a simple majority to be confirmed. So far, all of Trump&#8217;s second-term nominees have prevailed, though some have prevailed by very narrow margins.
CNN <a href="https://x.com/alisonkmain/status/1892007388980371564" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have yet to decide on whether to support Patel. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) announced on Tuesday he would vote to confirm the nominee.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve spoken to multiple people I respect about Kash Patel this weekend—both for and against. The ones who worked closely with Kash vouched for him. I will vote for his confirmation,&#8221; Cassidy <a href="https://x.com/SenBillCassidy/status/1891979235956289968" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X.
The Senate immediately moved to hold a confirmation vote on Howard Lutnick, Trump&#8217;s nominee to become Secretary of Commerce, after members voted to break the filibuster on Patel&#8217;s nomination.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were among the nominees who were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-confirms-robert-f-kennedy-jr-as-hhs-secretary" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> by the Senate and sworn into office last week.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) joined with Democrats in voting against Gabbard and Kennedy Jr. He also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/vance-breaks-tie-to-confirm-pete-hegseth-for-pentagon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opposed</a> Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as did Collins and Murkowski, leading to a VP tie-breaker.

Kash Patel Overcomes Key Hurdle In Bid To Lead FBI

On Thursday, the GOP-led Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to become President Donald Trump&#8217;s secretary of Health and Human Services, ending a saga in which members grappled with the nominee&#8217;s skeptical views on vaccines.
The final vote was 52-48. All but one Republican voted for the Cabinet pick. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), a childhood Polio survivor who had previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mcconnell-warns-rfk-jr-to-steer-clear-of-dangerous-polio-vaccine-skeptics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned against</a> undermining public confidence in &#8220;proven cures,&#8221; was the only GOP lawmaker to break ranks and vote against Kennedy Jr. along with all of the Democrats and the pair of independents who caucus with them.
Kennedy Jr. is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963; and the son of Robert F. Kennedy, a former U.S. attorney general and U.S. senator who was assassinated in 1968 as he ran for president. Kennedy Jr. ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2024 cycle but later shifted to an independent bid in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rfk-jr-blasts-dnc-in-open-letter-says-party-has-essentially-merged-into-one-unit-with-biden-campaign" target="_blank" rel="noopener">protest</a> of how the party was conducting the process, including a lack of primary debates. After dropping out, Kennedy Jr. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rfk-endorses-trump-for-president" target="_blank" rel="noopener">endorsed</a> Trump. He pushed a &#8220;Make America Healthy Again&#8221; platform in a nod to Trump&#8217;s &#8220;Make America Great Again&#8221; mantra.
In November, Trump picked Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-expected-to-nominate-robert-f-kennedy-jr-for-hhs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying</a>: &#8220;For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health.&#8221;
Trump added: &#8220;The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country. Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!&#8221;
Kennedy Jr. earned a reputation as an environmental lawyer and best-selling author, but in recent years, he garnered attention for his vaccine skepticism, calling for more testing. During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy <a href="https://x.com/BloombergTV/status/1884641080672387355" target="_blank" rel="noopener">denied</a> that he was anti-vaccine and insisted that he was rather &#8220;pro-safety.&#8221; He also vowed to transfer his financial interest in lawsuits connected to vaccines to his adult son.
A critical breakthrough happened right before Kennedy Jr. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rfk-clears-major-confirmation-hurdle-advances-out-of-committee-in-partisan-vote" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advanced</a> out of committee by a 14-13 vote along party lines. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), a doctor who previously said he was <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republican-doctor-hurdle-rfk-jrs-confirmation-rcna190044" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;struggling&#8221;</a> with the nomination, announced he would support Kennedy after &#8220;intense conversations&#8221; with the Cabinet pick and the White House over the weekend and right up until the morning of the vote.
&#8220;I want to thank [Vice President JD Vance] specifically for his honest counsel. With the serious commitments I’ve received from the administration and the opportunity to make progress on the issues we agree on like healthy foods and a pro-American agenda, I will vote yes,&#8221; Cassidy said in a statement.
The Daily Wire exclusively <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-mike-pence-org-urges-senators-to-oppose-rfk-jr-confirmation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that former Vice President Mike Pence’s organization, Advancing American Freedom, had been urging senators to vote against confirming Kennedy Jr. over his past stances in support of abortion. However, Kennedy Jr. seemed to assuage concerns among conservatives with his <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1884640293271503172" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pledge</a> to abide by Trump&#8217;s priorities, which he said included ending late-term abortions and cutting federal funding for the procedures.
By Wednesday, the Senate broke the filibuster on the Kennedy Jr. nomination via a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-breaks-filibuster-on-robert-f-kennedy-jr-nomination?topStoryPosition=undefined" target="_blank" rel="noopener">53-47 vote</a> along party lines. That happened shortly after the Senate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-confirms-tulsi-gabbard-as-director-of-national-intelligence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democrat who has also clashed with her old party, to become Director of National Intelligence by a 52-48 vote. Like with Kennedy Jr., McConnell was the sole GOP lawmaker to vote against Gabbard’s nomination.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) <a href="https://x.com/lisamurkowski/status/1889727179426287910" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> she would vote to confirm Kennedy Jr. despite &#8220;concerns&#8221; about his &#8220;views on vaccines and his selective interpretation of scientific studies, which initially caused my misgivings about his nomination.&#8221;
Kennedy Jr. &#8220;made numerous commitments to me and my colleagues, promising to work with Congress to ensure public access to information and to base vaccine recommendations on data-driven, evidence-based, and medically sound research,&#8221; Murkowski added. &#8220;These commitments are important to me and, on balance, provide assurance for my vote.&#8221;
On the Democrat side, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) posted to X: &#8220;RFK Jr. has made a living not by promoting public health, but by actively fighting to undermine it. To state the very, very obvious: Putting a very wealthy vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist in charge of America’s public health would put every single American in danger.&#8221;
The Senate has confirmed 15 of Trump’s second-term Cabinet nominees, a process that has been stretched out as Democrats employ a number of delay tactics.
Last week, the Judiciary Committee delayed a vote on Kash Patel&#8217;s bid to lead the FBI after Democrats requested a hold. This also happened with Pam Bondi, who has since been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-confirms-pam-bondi-for-attorney-general" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> as U.S. Attorney General. Patel&#8217;s nomination advanced to the full Senate on Thursday. Other nominees who are still awaiting a confirmation vote include Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick, Agriculture Secretary pick Brooke Rollins, and Small Business Administration Administrator nominee Kelly Loeffler.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Senate Confirms Robert F. Kennedy Jr. As HHS Secretary

Department of Health and Human Services

Health

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