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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he supports delaying all presidents Donald Trump Cabinet candidates who do not have unanimous support in the Senate.
Majority Leader John Thune, RS.D., filed a shutdown Tuesday on the nominations of John Ratcliffe to be CIA director, Kristi Noem to be secretary of homeland security and Pete Hegseth to be secretary of defense. But a last-minute remark by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., delayed a vote on Ratcliffe, sparking hours of debate that could delay confirmation votes on Trump’s national security nominees until the end of the week and possibly into the weekend.
“I don’t think it’s too much to ask to make sure we have a full, real debate that will last two days in the Senate,” Murphy said on the Senate floor, adding that Democrats are “seriously concerned” about Trump’s CIA. select.
The Senate voted to confirm Ratcliffe, 74-25, Thursday afternoon.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks at a press conference with other Senate Democrats on reproductive rights in Washington on January 22, 2025. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Asked Thursday if he supported slowing the confirmation process for Trump’s nominees, Schumer said he did.
“Look, there are such nominees [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio received broad support, but detailed debate – I have some doubts about Mr. Ratcliffe, especially when I asked him how he would react if Tulsi Gabbard were appointed head of DNI,” Schumer said, referring to Trump’s selection to lead the National Intelligence Office.
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Donald Trump’s nominee for CIA director, John Ratcliffe, appears at a Senate intelligence hearing on Capitol Hill on January 15, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
A day or two or a few hours to examine those candidates who have such power thoroughly, absolutely,” he added. “Our idea is to let the whole truth come out if they try to push them through. We don’t want that to happen.”
Thune on Tuesday expressed frustration with the Democrats over their delaying tactics.
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Republican Majority Leader John Thune, RS.D. (Getty Images)
“Do we want to vote on these people on Tuesday or vote on them on Friday, Saturday and Sunday? Because that’s what we’re going to do. This could be easy or this could be hard,” Thune said. “This is about America national security interests, and we’re stalling, so it’s not going to happen.”
Ratcliffe was cleared by the Senate Intelligence Committee on a bipartisan 14-3 vote. Because of that, Thune said a vote to confirm him “shouldn’t be difficult.”
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“Democrats and Republicans, in a very large bipartisan way, agree that he’s very qualified for this job,” Thune said, adding that he’s not sure what the delay is accomplishing.
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.
