by WorldTribune Staff, February 4, 2025 Real World News
Kash Patel, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s selections to head up the FBI, Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), and Health and Human Services (HHS), were seen as the three Trump nominees likely to face the toughest roads to Senate confirmation.

Kennedy and Gabbard have cleared the first hurdle, getting their nominations out of committee. Their nominations now go to the full Senate. Patel’s is still in limbo as of this report.
On Tuesday, Kennedy’s nomination passed through the Senate Finance Committee in a 14-13 vote.
All eyes were on Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, who announced just before Tuesday’s committee vote that he would vote yes on Kennedy.
“I’ve had very intense conversations with Bobby and the White House over the weekend and even this morning,” Cassidy wrote on X, adding that Vice President JD Vance was involved in pushing Kennedy across the finish line in the committee. “I want to thank VP JD specifically for his honest counsel. With the serious commitments I’ve received from the administration and the opportunity to make progress on the issues we agree on like healthy foods and a pro-American agenda, I will vote yes.”
Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social: “20 years ago, Autism in children was 1 in 10,000. NOW IT’S 1 in 34. WOW! Something’s really wrong. We need BOBBY!!!”
The Senate Intelligence Committee advanced Gabbard’s nomination to oversee the nation’s intelligence agencies by a 9-8 vote on Tuesday.
“I’m confident she will bring a fresh perspective to President Trump’s national security team and the intelligence community,” said South Dakota Republican Sen. Mike Rounds.
The Wall Street Journal noted: “Gabbard appeared to satisfy disgruntled Republicans who were agitated by her refusal to firmly condemn former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. During her confirmation hearing last week, Gabbard sought to distance herself from her prior statements about Snowden, including that he deserved a pardon, but refused to answer when multiple senators—Republican and Democrat—asked her if he was a traitor.”
Gabbard said during the committee hearing last week: “Edward Snowden broke the law. I do not agree with or support all of the information and intelligence that he released, nor the way in which he did it.” But she added he “released information that exposed egregious, illegal and unconstitutional programs.”
Gabbard still needs to clear a full Senate vote to win confirmation, but the panel vote was seen as a key hurdle. Multiple moderate Republicans sit on the committee, including Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. Collins was one of three Republicans to vote against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
In a statement Monday, Collins, an author of the 2004 legislation that created the national intelligence directorate, said that the agency had grown too large and expressed support for Gabbard, who, she said, shared her “vision of returning the agency to its intended size.”
Sen. Todd Young of Indiana was seen as another Republican who might have joined Democrats in voting against Gabbard. But on Tuesday morning, Young released a letter that he had received from Gabbard promising to work on preventing intelligence officials from making unauthorized disclosures, a commitment that Young had asked her to make.
During his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, Democrats hammered Patel over a so-called “enemies list” from his 2023 book “Government Gangsters.”
Patel said: “I have no interest, no desire, and will not, If confirmed, go backwards. There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI.”
Patel later said, “it’s not an enemies list – that is a total mischaracterization.”
Timely: Defund Fake News