Tough questions for Trump’s nominees

Some of Donald Trump’s key allies will be grilled by senators this week as part of a tense process to approve or reject the president-elect for the roles he has appointed.

The hearings, which begin Tuesday, are the first chance for senators to publicly question some of Trump’s most controversial picks.

Then they will have to confirm their duties by voting. And while the upper house of Congress is controlled by Trump’s Republican Party, just three defections would be enough to deny a candidate the job.

Here are some of the tough questions candidates are ready to face.

One of the first confirmation hearings will be one of the most closely watched.

Trump’s nominee for defense secretary will face questions Tuesday about his lack of management experience, his alleged heavy drinking and his antipathy toward women serving in combat roles in the military.

Hegseth could also be questioned about allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in a California hotel room in 2017.

He denies the claim and says the meeting was consensual.

The allegation was investigated, but Hegseth – a Fox News anchor and military veteran – was never arrested or charged.

Hegseth and the unnamed accuser reached a confidential financial settlement in 2023. His attorney later told The Associated Press that the payment was intended to avoid a frivolous lawsuit.

Trump has backed his choice, among the candidates that have been busy courting senators in recent days, to try to shore up the necessary votes.

In the spotlight Wednesday will be the woman who may be tasked with fulfilling one of Trump’s key campaign promises — what his group calls the largest mass deportation of illegal immigrants in American history.

As the President-elect’s choice for Secretary of Homeland Security, Noem might wonder about the practicality of fulfilling this commitment. Experts say a mass deportation program on the proposed scale would face logistical or legal difficulties.

Noem may also ask questions about other immigration policies, such as Trump’s vow to end birthright citizenship.

He has been a loyal and vocal supporter of the president-elect’s commitments, which is consistent with Trump’s other nominees and nominees for a second term in the White House.

The man chosen to lead Trump’s foreign policy agenda once attended a confirmation hearing for Trump’s nominee for secretary of state.

During the 2017 session, he hit out at Rex Tillerson, asking him to describe Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal, which Tillerson refused to do.

If that session indicated a different point of view between Rubio and Trump – at the time they were rivals – the two appear much closer eight years later.

Rubio is now in line for one of the most coveted jobs in the Trump administration and is expected to face relatively little resistance on his confirmation path.

But on Wednesday, senators could test his loyalty by asking him about future American aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia. Trump has cast this as a drain on US resources — a view that could confound Rubio’s more sinister views on foreign policy.

Another candidate facing a test of loyalty to Trump at a Senate committee hearing (yet to be scheduled) is one of the officials who would be responsible for delivering Trump’s hefty tariffs.

Trump has threatened import tariffs on a range of goods coming into the US – including some of his major trading partners – in what he says is an effort to protect US jobs.

Lutnick, the billionaire chief executive of the financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald, has embraced this proposal, even though the position is at odds with others in his industry and leading economists.

They are likely to face new questions about the impact of sweeping new tariffs on the US economy and consumers.

Trump’s choice to be director of national intelligence could prompt questions from Republicans and Democrats alike about his past comments on American adversaries such as Russia and Syria.

Gabbard, another military veteran, has been a regular opponent of the United States’ interventionist foreign policy. In 2017, while a Democratic congressman, he met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and questioned US intelligence assessments that he was guilty of using deadly chemical weapons.

And five years later after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it blamed NATO and claimed that the Kremlin had US-funded biolabs in Ukraine.

Gabbard has talked about the need to talk to countries like Russia.

Democrats have reportedly delayed his hearing until background checks are completed.

One of Trump’s most unusual picks, like Gabbard, has been on a political journey that began in the Democratic Party.

Kennedy has become a supporter of Trump and has been rewarded with this nomination.

He doesn’t have a medical degree, which could create a tricky line of questioning on both sides of the political divide.

And past statements about established science can also be scrutinized. He has repeatedly stated widely dismissed claims of vaccine harm, but has denied being anti-vaccine in general.

On other issues, such as the scrutiny of food additives, Kennedy has wider support.

Some critics of Trump’s choice to lead the FBI have expressed doubts that Patel is fit to lead America’s top law enforcement agency. Others have shared concerns that it could work to exact revenge on Trump’s opponents.

“We will come after those who lied about the American people in the media, who helped Joe Biden manage the presidential election,” he said earlier, referring to Trump’s baseless claim about the 2020 election.

Although former law enforcement officials have questioned his ability to lead the agency, Patel’s experience as a lawyer and in various national security roles has been praised by Trump’s team and some Republicans.

Patel’s stated goal is to significantly reshape how the FBI operates, including purging some of its top staff.

North America Correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of US politics in his twice-weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. UK readers can register here. People outside the UK can do it register here.