Republicans cave to Trump, endorse contentious picks for cabinet

Washington: Hold-out Republican senators have fallen into line to support US President Donald Trump’s most contentious cabinet picks, including Robert F Kennedy Jr and Tulsi Gabbard, paving the way for their confirmation by the full Senate.

Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a gastroenterologist who raised concerns about Kennedy’s long-standing anti-vaccine positions, and who voted to impeach Trump in 2021 for his role in the January 6 riots, ultimately backed Kennedy to become health secretary in Trump’s cabinet after weeks of uncertainty.

Robert F Kennedy Jr appears before the Senate finance committee for his January 29 confirmation hearing.Credit: AP

Cassidy said that in a flurry of phone calls with Kennedy and the White House over several days, he had extracted commitments that Kennedy would not establish a parallel vaccine monitoring system, would retain the existing Centre for Disease Control advisory committee on immunisation, and would not remove public statements affirming vaccines do not cause autism.

“He will be the secretary, but I believe he will also be a partner,” Cassidy said. The two would speak or meet multiple times a month, with Cassidy given input into hiring decisions at the health department.

Cassidy said he would use his position as chair of the Senate health committee to rebuff any attempts to undermine vaccines without iron-clad scientific evidence, but said his support for Kennedy was “based on assurances that this will not have to be a concern”.

The finance committee supported Kennedy 14-13, along party lines, with his nomination proceeding to a full vote of the Senate.

Republican senator Bill Cassidy, a gastroenterologist, will now support Kennedy as health secretary.Credit: AP

Meanwhile, Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman turned MAGA campaigner whom Trump has picked as his director of national intelligence, also proceeded to a full Senate vote after being supported by the intelligence committee.

Gabbard survived an intense confirmation hearing where she was repeatedly asked whether whistleblower Edward Snowden, who leaked top-secret documents to the media, should be considered a traitor to the United States. Gabbard declined to describe him as such.

The UK’s Daily Telegraph reported Gabbard’s selection as Trump’s chief of intelligence – a post she is likely to attain – has alarmed security chiefs in Five Eyes ally Britain.

Along with her defences of Snowden, Gabbard’s past sympathy for Russia in its war against Ukraine, a 2017 trip to visit then-Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and her scepticism about Assad’s use of chemical weapons against his own people have fuelled fears about her ascension to the role.

Tulsi Gabbard appears before the Senate intelligence committee for her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill.Credit: AP

But as with Kennedy, Republican senators who had expressed strong doubts ultimately caved in and agreed that Gabbard’s nomination should be put to the Senate floor.

“I appreciate Tulsi Gabbard’s engagement with me on a variety of issues to ensure that our intelligence professionals will be supported and policymakers will receive unbiased information under her leadership,” Indiana senator Todd Young said.

Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who had also wavered on Gabbard, said that in public and closed-door sessions Gabbard ultimately addressed her concerns about Snowden, and the two agreed on shrinking the size of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees 18 intelligence bodies.

Both picks – along with Trump’s controversial nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel – can afford to lose no more than three Republican supporters when their confirmation is put to a full Senate vote, assuming all Democrats and independents oppose them.

Democratic senator from Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren, who questioned Kennedy at his hearing, said he remained a danger to public health and that Republicans who supported him would own the consequences.

“When RFK Jr follows anti-vax conspiracies instead of science, when he greenlights Trump’s anti-abortion agenda, when he cuts healthcare for seniors, remember who voted yes,” she said.

Rick Wilson, a Republican strategist and commentator who co-founded the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, put it in starker terms, saying Republican senators would have blood on their hands. “The deaths of American children ... [from] preventable diseases are on them,” he said in a video.

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