U.S. Sen.-elect John Curtis weighed in on some of Donald Trump’s nominations for the incoming administration, saying he expects some controversial nominees will “resolve themselves” — similarly to the president-elect’s first pick to attorney general.
At the beginning of a Q&A hosted by Punchbowl News on Tuesday morning, billed as “The New Power Players,” Curtis joked with host Punchbowl CEO and founder Anna Palmer if he should answer her first question before he was even asked.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of attention right now on President-elect Donald Trump and who he is looking to put into his administration and certain appointees,” Palmer told the Utah congressman. “You have been named by a lot of folks as somebody who could be a critical vote on some of these kind of controversial or more controversial nominations.”
“Do you have concerns,” she asked, “when it comes to Pete Hegseth at DOD, Kash Patel at FBI, Tulsi Gabbard at intel?”
Hegseth is a veteran and Fox News host who Trump nominated for secretary of defense; Patel, a lawyer and former Trump administration appointee, is the president-elect’s pick to replace FBI Director Christopher Wray; and Gabbard is a veteran and former member of Congress who Trump is asking Senators to confirm as director of national intelligence. Their nominations have been criticized by some, who have accused Trump of picking allies over more qualified candidates.
“I think what’s easy to forget is there is an amazing process in place, and this process evolves over time, and there’s a lot of looking into people’s backgrounds and things they’ve said,” Curtis said. “So I’m trying to be very disciplined and let the process work.
“And we saw with the first nomination for attorney general that it solved itself. And I actually think some of these things, by the time it actually comes to me for a vote, will have resolved themselves,” Curtis said of Trump’s nominations.
“And those that have not, I will have so much more information than I have now, that I just really think it’s smart to not get too caught up,” he explained, adding that it was important to let the process play out.
Trump announced he would nominate Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz to serve as attorney general amid allegations of sex trafficking and drug use, for which he has been investigated by the House Ethics Committee. Gaetz stepped down from his seat in Congress two days before the committee’s report was scheduled to be published, effectively ending the investigation.
Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration for attorney general two weeks after the election, reportedly telling people close to him that multiple Republican senators in the next Congress were opposed to his confirmation — including Curtis, The New York Times reported.
Hegseth has also been accused of sexual assault, although he denies the allegations. Multiple GOP senators have indicated that allegation, and other issues raised about his nomination — including his reported alcohol use and mismanagement of funds at a nonprofit serving veterans, according to The New Yorker — will not stop them from voting to confirm Hegseth. Among them is the senior member of Utah’s federal delegation, Sen. Mike Lee.
In a post to his personal X account Monday, Lee included an image of him seated next to Hegseth in what he described as a meeting with the announced nominee and “a handful of my colleagues.”
“Looking forward to ‘the people’s Pentagon’ being restored under [Hegseth’s] leadership as Secretary of Defense,” Lee wrote.
“So not a no or yes on any of these three,” Palmer responded after Curtis explained his perspective, asking then for the senator-elect to offer his views of the FBI vetting of the nominees.
Punchbowl reported that Republican congressional leaders believe Trump’s picks should receive FBI background checks, which are customary for potential incoming administration officials.
“The more information I have, the better decision I will make,” Curtis responded. “And I think that what doesn’t come up through the process, it’s incumbent on me to do my own research, to meet with them and talk with them and ask questions. And I think that’s healthy.”
Curtis explained further: “If you look back at other presidents who went through this, I think you’ll see that it feels better at the end than it did at the beginning [of the confirmation process]. And that’s not to say there won’t be some really, really hard decisions, but my guess is that much more of those decisions will be natural than it feels like right now.”
A spokesperson from Curtis’ office later said in a statement that the senator-elect “believes that every president is afforded a degree of deference to select his team and make nominations. He also firmly believes in and is committed to the Senate’s critical role to confirm or reject nominations based on information and insight from confirmation hearings.”
“Curtis takes his constitutional duty to provide advice and consent seriously and his goal is to ensure that Utahns’ voices are heard. He plans to carefully examine the records and qualifications of every nominee President-elect Trump sends to the Senate,” the spokesperson added.
The Utah Republican was joined by Michigan Democrat U.S. Sen.-elect Elissa Slotkin — who, like Curtis, was elected last month to move from the U.S. House to the Senate — on Tuesday’s “The New Power Players” panel.
The two members of Congress went on to discuss bipartisanship, prescription drug prices and issues affecting veterans. Curtis said one of his priorities when switching chambers would be permitting reforming and its impact on the economy. Slotkin said she was interested in addressing the Senate’s caucus practices and ensuring members there are working across the partisan aisle.
Update, 1:30 p.m. • This story has been updated to include a statement by a spokesperson from Sen.-elect John Curtis’ congressional office.
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