By - Former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum was confirmed as interior secretary in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 79-18. The Senate also teed up final votes for two additional Trump Cabinet picks, Chris Wright to be energy secretary and former Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., for veterans affairs secretary.
- Three of President Donald Trump’s most vulnerable Cabinet nominees testified before Senate committees earlier today. National intelligence director nominee Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to run the FBI, faced senators for the first time in the confirmation process.
- Questioned about his allegiance to Trump, Patel pushed back against assertions that he might go after Trump’s political opponents or pursue a so-called enemies list, which he called a “mischaracterization.”
- Republicans and Democrats on the Intelligence Committee repeatedly asked Gabbard — in sometimes fiery exchanges — about her past praise for National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden and comments that appeared to sympathize with Russia on matters involving Ukraine.
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, faced a second day of sharp questions, this time from the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, about his anti-vaccine activism and other controversial views, after he was grilled by the Finance Committee.
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