Democrat Senator Signals Openness To Voting For Some Of Trump’s Nominees

Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) signaled during an interview on Sunday that he is opening to voting to confirm some of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees when it comes time for their confirmation hearings.

Kim made the remarks during a Sunday interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Dana Bash when asked if he would be open to voting for Kash Patel for FBI Director or Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense.

“I have had conversations with Congresswoman Elise Stefanik. I had to sit down with Senator Rubio. I’m still going through the process and I want to make sure I’m doing it right,” he said. “But those were good conversations, where we were able to dive in deep. And so I think that there are some nominees that are people I think I can work with.”

He signaled that with some of Trump’s other nominees that he had questions about past remarks that they made.

“I also am deeply concerned about what I have heard Mr. Patel say in the past and about going after things. Like, he is being nominated for a role to lead an agency that he has talked about dismantling, talked about the deep state and going after,” he said. “I was a career public servant before in the federal government. I worked under both Bush and Obama. I served the country, not a party. And I worry about some of the tones there.”

“With Hegseth, I hope to have a chance to be able to speak with him, but some of what he said before about not thinking that women should serve in combat, some of the other allegations that we have heard about,” he added. “I have worked at the Pentagon before in the office of the secretary of defense. I know what that job is like. And I need to know whether or not he is up to the task.”

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