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Filling the Cabinet

President Donald Trump's Cabinet is taking shape ([link removed]) , and more key nominees face Senate questioning this week.

Upcoming hearings include two for Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic whom Trump has encouraged to “go wild” on health policy ([link removed]) if confirmed. Tulsi Gabbard, the president’s controversial pick for director of national intelligence, is also expected to face tough questions from both sides of the aisle.

The Senate has confirmed a handful of positions so far, including newly installed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was narrowly ([link removed]) approved as the Pentagon’s leader with a tie-breaking vote by Vice President JD Vance last week.

Here’s a short guide to some of the marquee hearings.

This newsletter was compiled by Joshua Barajas. ([link removed])
HOW TO WATCH THIS WEEK’S HEARINGS
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Some of the most controversial of Trump’s Cabinet picks have hearings this week.
By Matt Loffman
Senior Producer, Elections

Joshua Barajas
Senior Editor, Digital

PBS News has compiled the following schedule for the upcoming hearings on the Senate calendar.

All times listed below are Eastern and are subject to change. We will update the list here ([link removed]) as more hearings are given dates and proceedings continue.

There are a couple of hearings for Trump nominees yet to be scheduled: Linda McMahon for the education department and Lori Chavez-DeRemer for the labor department.
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 29

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., health and human services secretary
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Watch the hearing in the player above.
10 a.m. — Kennedy, a known promoter of vaccine misinformation ([link removed]) whose nomination has prompted concern among health experts ([link removed]) , testifies before the Senate Committee on Finance.

What to expect

There will be back-to-back hearings. Kennedy will face the gauntlet at not one but two Senate hearings this week as he promotes his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. ([link removed]) The former Democrat-turned-independent presidential candidate is expected to face scrutiny on a host of controversial health views he has taken in the past. Kennedy, an environmental lawyer with no medical degrees, has long questioned vaccine safety, a fact highlighted in an onslaught of ads from Democratic-aligned groups. Since his nomination, he has sought to moderate his views publicly, including resigning from his position ([link removed]) at an anti-vaccine organization. A conservative group linked to former Vice President Mike Pence is also running ads opposing Kennedy, arguing his stance is not sufficiently anti-abortion.
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How RFK Jr. could change the rules on vaccines, processed food and fluoride. Video by PBS News

Food safety, pesticides, fluoride. As he makes his case to lead one of the largest agencies in the federal government, expect Kennedy to also face questions about food safety ([link removed]) , banning pesticides and the addition of fluoride to municipal water supplies. All of those topics have raised concerns among different senators and interest groups in the past few months.

A thorough check-up. Several physicians sit on the committees that will be vetting Kennedy this week. And two independent-leaning Republicans — Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine — sit on the health committee. ([link removed]) Both of them bucked their party and voted against Hegseth last week.
Howard Lutnick, commerce secretary
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Watch the hearing in the player above.
10 a.m. — Lutnick, a billionaire businessman and co-chair of Trump’s transition team, testifies before the Senate Committee of Commerce, Science and Transportation.

What to expect

Lutnick is a big fan of crypto. ([link removed]) With Trump back in office, there’s renewed enthusiasm ([link removed]) among its biggest advocates for the digital currency to have a wider reach in politics. Trump, a one-time critic of crypto, signed a first-week executive order that promised to boost the advancement of cryptocurrencies. ([link removed]) One possible benefactor of such a move: Tether, a cryptocurrency company that’s backed by Cantor Fitzgerald, Lutnick’s financial services firm.

Tariffs, trade and business ties. He may be asked about Trump’s trade and tariff agendas, as well as his various business ties, such as those connected to China. ([link removed]) (Lutnick, in financial disclosures and ethics agreement ahead of his hearing, promises to divest ([link removed]) from some of these interests.) Lutnick has said he’d leave his role at Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm he helped rebuild after it lost hundreds of employees, including his brother, in the Sept. 11 attack at the World Trade Center.

Commerce is a wide-ranging agency. It includes the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the nation’s Patent and Trademark Office. The secretary also has a leading role ([link removed]) in implementing U.S. artificial intelligence policy.
Kelly Loeffler, small business administrator
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Watch the hearing in the player above.
2:30 p.m. — Loeffler, a former Georgia senator and former chief executive of cryptocurrency trading platform Bakkt, testifies before the Senate Committee of Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
THURSDAY, JAN. 30

Kash Patel, FBI director
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Watch the hearing in the player above.
9:30 a.m. — Patel, a Trump loyalist and “deep state” conspiracy theorist, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

What to expect

A would-be change agent in Trump’s favor. Trump appointed Christopher Wray to lead the FBI in his first term. In the years since, the president has grown increasingly critical of Wray and the law enforcement agency, including about the investigations into his own actions. In an unusual but not shocking move, Wray stepped down ([link removed]) after the election. (Trump celebrated the decision.) Patel, if confirmed, is Trump’s opportunity to reshape the FBI and its highest echelon of leadership. Patel has echoed Trump’s claim that the FBI is involved in a “deep state” conspiracy ([link removed]) against the president and his allies. An overarching concern from critics is that Patel would direct the FBI to go after the president’s perceived political enemies. To wit: He wrote children’s books
([link removed]) about a wizard named Kash who helps defeat the plots against a noble King Donald.

A promoter of conspiracy theories. While the “deep state” is a major talking point for Patel, he’s also promoted the “Big Lie” of the 2020 election being stolen. He vowed to find “conspirators” ([link removed]) in the government and media, as he said on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s talk show. And without evidence, he has boosted a supplement that claims to “detox” people from COVID vaccines. ([link removed])

His “enemies list” popped up in another hearing. Pam Bondi, now confirmed as Trump's attorney general, was asked about Patel’s list of “deep state” members, which appears as an appendix ([link removed]) to his book “Government Gangsters.” Who’s on that list? Wray, former President Joe Biden, among others. Bondi defended Patel, saying he’s the “right person” for the job and told Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., that there“will never be an enemies list” ([link removed]) in the Justice Department.
Daniel P. Driscoll, Army secretary
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Watch the hearing in the player above.
9:30 a.m. — Driscoll, an Iraq War veteran who had served as a senior advisor to Vice President-elect JD Vance, testifies before the Senate Committee on Armed Services.
Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence
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Watch the hearing in the player above.
10 a.m. — Gabbard, a former presidential candidate and Democrat-turned-independent, testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

What to expect

The most vulnerable Trump pick right now. Of all of Trump’s nominees, Gabbard’s confirmation is perhaps on the shakiest ground, and unlike some of the personal concerns that have dogged other nominees (including Hegseth and Kennedy), her headwinds are for some of her past positions. The one-time Democratic presidential candidate has made comments interpreted by many as too supportive ([link removed]) of Russian President Vladimir Putin. She traveled to Syria in 2017 ([link removed]) to meet with then-President Bashar al-Assad. She encouraged the U.S. to drop charges against Edward Snowden ([link removed]) , a former NSA contractor who was accused of leaking classified information.

A change of heart that may come up. Another issue at the center of her confirmation process is her past criticism of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows for warrantless wiretapping of foreigners. While serving in Congress, Gabbard proposed repealing it. Since her nomination as DNI, Gabbard has reversed course and called the program “crucial.” ([link removed]) That change gained her the support of Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who sits on the Intelligence Committee. But some Republican senators have doubts about whether Gabbard’s change of heart is sincere, including Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a critical vote on the intelligence committee. Collins is not afraid to buck her party on presidential nominations; just last week she voted against
Hegseth.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., health and human services secretary
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Watch the hearing in the player above.
10 a.m. — Kennedy returns for a second hearing, this time before the Senate Committee of Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Follow the PBS News’ coverage on YouTube ([link removed]) , X ([link removed]) and Facebook ([link removed]) and see highlights on our Instagram. ([link removed]) We’re also on Bluesky ([link removed]) now.
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