(WASHINGTON) — As controversy continues to cloud some of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, his team has an ominous warning for Republicans who don’t fall in line behind his nominees.
ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl reports that one senior Trump adviser said the message to lawmakers is, “If you are on the wrong side of the vote, you’re buying yourself a primary.”
“That is all,” the adviser told Karl. “And there’s a guy named Elon Musk who is going to finance it.”
“The president gets to decide his Cabinet. No one else,” the adviser added.
The threat came as Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth (tapped for attorney general and defense secretary, respectively) made the rounds on Capitol Hill this week to shore up support. They were escorted by Vice President-elect JD Vance, the junior senator from Ohio.
Gaetz announced Thursday afternoon he was withdrawing his name from consideration, stating his confirmation bid was “unfairly becoming a distraction.”
Gaetz faces allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, which he’s long denied, that was the subject of a federal investigation and a House Ethics Committee probe. Hegseth has been accused of sexual assaulting a woman in 2017, an encounter Hegseth told police was consensual.
Trump stood firm with the selections, which also raised eyebrows for their relative lack of experience to lead the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense. Trump said it was ultimately Gaetz’s choice to withdraw.
Some of the president-elect’s other picks have similarly faced scrutiny over their qualifications, including Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of Health and Human Services.
Trump previously made a demand for Republican leadership to back so-called “recess appointments” to skirt the traditional confirmation process. That route would require lawmakers to adjourn and for senators to give up the “advice and consent” role they play in nominations, as laid out in the Constitution.
But his demand is being met with some resistance from some Senate Republicans.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a senior Republican and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said recess appointments for Cabinet posts should be “absolutely off the table.”
“And quite honestly, any serious candidate for Cabinet-level position, I would really have to wonder if they would want it or be willing to accept it under a recess,” Tillis said. “These positions are too important. They carry too much weight internationally to take a short cut.”
Several senators have said they want the full “process” and vetting of candidates to play out.
Sen. Josh Hawley said on Wednesday his intention to vote for all nominees.
“The Constitution gives us a role in personnel called advice and consent. My view is that’s exactly what will unfold here when these nominees are actually sent forward, and we’ll treat them like we’ve treated all others with the proper vetting,” said longtime Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who recently stepped down from the role.
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