In a flurry of nominations last week and over the weekend, President-elect Donald Trump added nine potential officials to his administration, including hedge fund manager Scott Bessent for treasury secretary, Brooke Rollins for agriculture secretary and Project 2025 author Russell Vought as head of the Office of Management and Budget.
Most of Trump's picks share a certain quality: Loyalty. Bessent, for example, raised money for Trump's campaign, and both Rollins and Vought were part of the administration during Trump's first term in office.
Rollins' selection as agriculture secretary rounds out Trump's choices cabinet-level secretary positions.
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Trump and his cabinet appointments now face confirmation tests in the Senate, which are not a guarantee. Pushback from senators against Trump's first pick of Matt Gaetz for attorney general, for example, show that lawmakers are prepared to scrutinize and object to at least some of Trump's appointments.
"The Senate, of course, under the Constitution, has the job of advising and consenting on nominations, and I take that responsibility very seriously," Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) told CBS' "Face the Nation." "It will be really important that the new Republican leader in the Senate uphold the Senate's prerogatives under the Constitution and not try to do an end run."
Another concern, raised by President Biden's White House, is that the Trump transition team has not yet signed memorandums of understanding or ethics pledges that smooth the transition from one administration to the next. Without the paperwork in place, the FBI has so far not been able to conduct background checks into administration appointments.
