Patel, Gabbard to appear before Senate committees next week

Some of some of President Donald Trump Most of the controversial executive nominees are scheduled to appear before congressional committees next week. The Commander-in-Chief promises to shake up his departments if approved by the Senate.

Kashyap “Kash” Patel is nominated to be the next FBI director -and will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee, while Director of National Intelligence (DNI) pick Tulsi Gabbard has a hearing scheduled for the same day before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Hegseth clears the Senate hurdle and advances to a final confirmation vote

Meanwhile, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., tapped to become director of the Department of Health and Human Services, will face members of the Senate Finance Committee, which directly oversees the department, on Wednesday. He will also appear before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (Relief) for a courtesy hearing on Thursday.

The Senate’s “advise and consent” role allows the body to review the president’s meetings and provide oversight to key positions. The election requires a majority vote in the Senate with Republicans holding a 53-47 vote advantage over Democrats.

But all face uphill battles to get over the line. The Senate made progress nomination of Pete Hegseth As Trump’s defense secretary Thursday with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, breaking ranks.

Patel has called for radical changes at the FBI and has been a fierce and vocal critic of the bureau’s work as it investigated ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

He held a number of national security roles during the first Trump administration and was the lead investigator in the congressional investigation into alleged Trump-Russia collusion, uncovering government surveillance abuses that led to the appointment of two special counsels: one who found there was no such collusion and others determined the entire premise of the original FBI investigation was false.

Tulsi Gabbard changes tune on controversial intelligence tool after GOP lobbying

Patel was instrumental in creating a memo released in February 2018 by then-Speaker Devin Nunes, which detailed DOJ and FBI surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

He has been a staunch Trump ally for years, finding common cause in their shared skepticism of government surveillance and the “deep state” — a role Trump has used to refer to unelected members of the government bureaucracy.

Meanwhile, Trump claimed Gabbard would bring “the fearless spirit that defined her illustrious career to our intelligence community, standing up for our constitutional rights and securing peace through strength.” The Director of National Intelligence leads the US intelligence community, which includes overseeing the National Intelligence Program and advising the President on security matters.

Gabbard has served as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves since 2021, after previously serving in the Hawaii Army National Guard for about 17 years. She was elected in American house representing Hawaii during The 2012 election cycle, which was Democratic until 2021. She did not seek re-election to that office after entering the 2020 White House race.

Gabbard left the Democratic Party in 2022, registering as an independent, before joining the GOP last year and offering Trump a full endorsement in the middle of his presidential campaign.

Critics have tried to paint Gabbard as a national security risk sympathetic to us opponents.

However, more than 250 veterans Signed the letter last month Endorsing her nomination included high profile and nationally known names such as retired General Michael Flynn and former Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller.

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Kennedy Jr. is also a contested choice and could face opposition, even from Republicans. In particular, Kennedy’s positions and past statements on vaccines have been scrutinized by both GOP and Democratic lawmakers.

GOP representatives were Concerned about Kennedy’s pro-abortion views that he advocated in the past and his potential impact on the agricultural sector.

In what was a move by a former Democrat, Kennedy dropped out of the 2024 presidential race as an independent and endorsed Trump, vowing to “make America healthy again,” should he be part of the new administration.

Fox News’ Emma Colton and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.