Trump Completes Cabinet Picks, Defense And Agriculture Nominees Spark Debate

President-elect Donald Trump has announced his picks for all of his core Cabinet positions and, for the most part, Americans are satisfied with what they're seeing. But that doesn't mean each pick will be easily confirmed in the Senate. Indeed, for some, it will be a bumpy process.

There are 26 members of a U.S. president's cabinet: the vice president, 15 department heads, and 10 cabinet-level officials. The vice president and chief of staff don't need Senate confirmation, but everyone all of the others do.

"These are people that are going to work to get America back on track," Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) told reporters last week.

There is a sense of optimism among Senate Republicans, as they view a now-complete slate of agency heads. The final picks -- for Dept. of Labor, Housing and Human Services, and Agriculture -- were announced by Trump this past weekend.

Trump's most controversial pick -- ex-Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz for Attorney General -- has given way to former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. A longtime Trump ally, Bondi will be tasked with shaking up a Justice Department that many Republicans believe has unfairly targeted Trump the last four years.

"I think it’s entirely appropriate," Sen. Lankford said Sunday on CNN's 'State of the Union,' "for Pam Bondi to step in and to say... ‘We’re not going to allow someone to try to undercut the President of the United States in this Department of Justice.’"

Minnesota National Guard veteran and TV host Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary is perhaps the most fraught nomination remaining. Hegseth's attorneys acknowledge he paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault, they say, to head off the threat of a baseless lawsuit. Hegseth was accused of sexual assault in 2017 after a speaking appearance at a Republican women’s event in Monterey, California.

No charges were filed in the incident and Hegseth's lawyer said the sexual encounter was consensual and that the woman who made the accusation to police was the “aggressor.”

Still, Democrats and some Republicans have expressed concerns.

"It's frankly an insult and really troubling," Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a veteran herself, said on CBS' Face the Nation, "that Mr. Trump would nominate someone who has admitted that he's paid off a victim who has claimed rape allegations against him."

But fully supporting Hegseth is Oklahoma's Markwayne Mullin, who says, based on the police report, there was no sexual assault, underscoring the fact that no charges were filed.

"There was no crime committed." Sen. Mullin (R-OK) said on CNN. "And so that doesn't prevent Pete from moving forward."

Another nominee of potentially significant interest to Oklahomans is Trump's pick to head up the Department of Agriculture, attorney Brooke Rollins, CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank created in 2021 to promote Trump’s economic policies. Rollins served a domestic policy advisor to Trump in his first administration.

Rollins is a graduate of Texas A&M University, where she received an undergraduate degree in agricultural leadership and development. She has also been involved with Future Farmers of America and 4H.

In a statement, Rollins said, "It will be the honor of my life to fight for America’s farmers and our Nation’s agricultural communities."

Farm groups have expressed muted enthusiasm for the Texas native, although some groups worry that she lacks experience in agriculture and has essentially no agricultural policy track record.

Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), the state delegation's most active advocate for agricultural policy, provided this statement on Rollins' nomination: "In every administration from Clinton to Trump, I’ve worked with the Secretary of Agriculture to craft and implement sound policy. I look forward to continuing this effort with Mrs. Rollins to ensure that American Farmers and Ranchers are able to continue to provide the safest and most abundant food supply in the world.”

Confirmation hearings will begin about a week and a half after the new Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3, 2025. No confirmation votes, however, can be taken until the new president is sworn in on Jan. 20.