Gabbard and Kennedy Pass First Confirmation Hurdle; Bondi's AG Nomination Approved

The approval by the panels Tuesday sends their nomination to the full Senate for a vote.

Two of US President Donald Trump's most controversial nominees for high-level positions, Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F Kennedy Jr, cleared the first hurdle for confirmation to their posts after Senate committees cleared them.

The approval by the panels Tuesday sends their nomination to the full Senate for a vote.

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The full Senate approved the nomination of Pam Bondi as the attorney general. She has held the same office in Florida and is one of Trump's personal lawyers who represented him at his first impeachment trial.

Unlike some of Trump's nominees, Bondi was not a controversial figure, and she even received the vote of a Democratic Party senator for her confirmation.

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Senate Intelligence Committee cleared Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence with a vote along party lines, with all nine Republicans voting for her and the eight Democrats opposing her.

Kennedy got the approval of the Finance Committee for Health Secretary also with votes along partisan lines, 14 to 13.

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The nomination of Kash Patel, a contentious Trump pick to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is locked in the Judiciary Committee where Democrats are demanding another public hearing.

Hindu American Gabbard is a former national vice president of the Democratic Party who switched parties last year to support Trump.

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Although she is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve who had served in the Iraq War and while in Congress was a member of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee and the Subcommittee on Intelligence, critics regarded her as incompetent for the position.

Another flash point during her confirmation hearings related to her very controversial support of Edward Snowden, the former contractor at the National Security Agency, who leaked journalists classified documents over questionable surveillance programmes before seeking asylum in Russia.

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It leaves a question regarding whether she might win the endorsement of all members on the committee. And indeed, she came out okay while voting in that panel, still the question lies how it goes on in full Senate.

Some of the attacks on her veered into Hinduphobia by making an issue of her religious affiliation.

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Gabbard said at her confirmation hearing that some Democrat senators are "once again using the religious bigotry card, but this time trying to foment religious bigotry against Hindus and Hinduism".

Kennedy's antivaccine sentiments and support of unproven treatments, coupled with his erratic personal life, made some doubt whether he really had the needed level of Republican support.

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Physician Senator Bill Cassidy seemed the final Republican to be won over, but in the end, he was able to be reached.

Trump has made voting for his contentious picks a test of loyalty for senators from his party.

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Some party hardliners like Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene have warned that “there will absolutely be hell to pay” for not supporting them.

The Republicans have a slender majority in the Senate, and the nominees can afford to lose the support of only three members of the party.

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As the efforts of support for Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth made by three Republicans faded, Vice President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote due to the 50-50 deadlock for his confirmation as Vice President.

Patel's nomination has been clouded by Trump's purge of several senior career officials of the FBI and threats against hundreds of FBI field agents who investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by his supporters in their unsuccessful attempt to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden's election as president.

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Patel assured the senate at his confirmation hearing that he would not politicise the FBI and there would be no retribution.

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