13 Trump Appointees Set for Confirmation Hearings This Week

This week, over a dozen Cabinet nominees designated by President-elect Donald Trump will undergo confirmation hearings in the Senate.

These sequential hearings represent a significant initial challenge for Trump’s second term, especially as some of the nominated individuals have sparked controversy recently on both sides of the political spectrum.

The Republican Party holds a narrow 53 to 45 majority in the Senate, along with two independents who align with Democrats. The capacity of this majority to confirm Trump’s nominees will be a vital indicator of his continuing influence within the party.

If critical positions such as the Secretary of Defense are not filled successfully, it could hinder Trump’s ability to implement major governmental reforms during the early days of his second term.

The 13 nominees slated for Senate confirmation hearings include:

Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense

Hegseth is scheduled to appear before the Senate Committee on Armed Services on January 14. He is a former officer of the Minnesota Army National Guard, having served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, where he received the Bronze Star twice. Hegseth later became known as a co-host on several Fox television shows.

In recent months, he has been involved in various controversies, including his alleged association with a veterans’ charity that went bankrupt, a supposed history of alcohol abuse, and a sexual assault settlement with an undisclosed woman in California, which he did not disclose to the Trump transition team before accepting the nomination.

Doug Burgum, Secretary of the Interior

On January 14, Burgum will appear before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He served as the governor of North Dakota from 2016 to 2024, and prior to his political career, he worked at Great Plains Software, where he remained as vice president after its acquisition by Microsoft, before co-founding a venture capital firm.

Trump has announced that Burgum will lead a new National Energy Council, intended to coordinate all government actions regarding energy production, regulation, and efficiency. As head of this council, Burgum will also have a seat on the White House National Security Council.

Doug Collins, Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Collins is set to appear before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee on January 14. He previously represented Georgia as a Republican in the House from 2013 to 2021 and served as a chaplain in both the U.S. Navy and the Air Force Reserve while deployed to Iraq.

He was on the House Judiciary Committee and held the position of vice chair of the House Republican Conference.

Marco Rubio, Secretary of State

Rubio is scheduled to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 15. Since 2011, he has served as a senator for Florida and is widely recognized for his assertive approach towards the Chinese regime and other communist states.

Rubio has played a significant role as vice-ranking member of the Select Committee on Intelligence and as a senior member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, where he has prioritized securing bipartisan agreement to counter the Chinese government.

Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security

Noem will face the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on January 15. As governor of South Dakota, she dispatched National Guard troops from her state to aid Texas’s Operation Lone Star in an effort to curb illegal immigration at the southern border.

Trump has indicated that Noem will collaborate closely with the incoming border czar, Tom Homan, to safeguard U.S. citizens from threats associated with illegal immigration and smuggling.

Pamela Bondi, Attorney General

Bondi will attend Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on January 15 and 16. As Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019, she concentrated on combatting drug trafficking and reducing overdose fatalities linked to fentanyl and other opioids.

Bondi also worked on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment proceedings in 2019 and has vocally criticized the criminal cases against the president-elect.

John Ratcliffe, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Ratcliffe is scheduled for both open and closed hearings with the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on January 15. As an attorney, he previously served in the U.S. House from Texas from 2015 to 2020 and was appointed Director of National Intelligence during the first Trump administration.

A former member of both the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees, Ratcliffe was known for questioning the foundation of the FBI’s counterintelligence probe into the Trump campaign in the summer of 2016.

Chris Wright, Secretary of Energy

Wright is scheduled to testify before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on January 15. He is the founder and CEO of Liberty Energy, specializing in fossil fuel extraction, particularly in fracking.

Wright has characterized the transition to renewable energy sources as a politically motivated “misallocation of investment” and is anticipated to advocate for Trump’s objective to boost oil drilling in the U.S.

As Secretary of Energy, Wright will also supervise several national security-related institutions, including the Los Alamos Laboratory and the nation’s nuclear arsenal.

Russ Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget

Vought will appear before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on January 15. He previously led the Office of Management and Budget during Trump’s initial term in office.

During his first tenure, Vought developed the Schedule F initiative, which aimed to classify a significant number of government employees as political appointees, thereby giving the president the authority to dismiss them. The initiative was ultimately not enacted and was rescinded by President Joe Biden.

Sean Duffy, Secretary of Transportation

Duffy will appear before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on January 15. He previously represented Wisconsin in the House from 2011 to 2019, after which he co-hosted a program on Fox Business.

Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury

Bessent will face the Senate Finance Committee on January 16. A seasoned Wall Street professional and founder of the international investment firm Key Square Group, he worked as an economic advisor to Trump’s 2024 campaign.

Both Bessent and Trump have remarked that his primary focuses as Treasury Secretary will be to preserve the U.S. dollar’s status as the global reserve currency and to stimulate private sector growth by continuing the tax cuts initiated during Trump’s first administration.

Bessent has also promoted cryptocurrency as a means to engage younger generations in market opportunities, and he has suggested a gradual implementation of Trump’s proposed tariffs to avert sudden inflation spikes.

Lee Zeldin, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

Zeldin will face the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on January 16. He served in the House representing New York from 2015 until 2023 and ran for the governorship of New York in 2022. Zeldin was a member of both the House Foreign Affairs and Financial Services committees, and he previously served in the New York State Senate.

Zeldin also served in the U.S. Army from 2003 to 2007 as an intelligence officer and military lawyer for the Judge Advocate General Corps, and he remains in the Army Reserve.

Scott Turner, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Turner will appear before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee on January 16. He worked in Trump’s first administration as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council.

Prior to his appointments, Turner served in the Texas House of Representatives and enjoyed a successful career as a professional athlete, playing for the NFL’s Washington Redskins, San Diego Chargers, and Denver Broncos.

He is also the founder and CEO of the Community Engagement and Opportunity Council, an initiative dedicated to revitalizing communities nationwide via sports, mentorship, and economic opportunities.