Politics
See the full list of Trump Cabinet picks and major White House appointments
By Kathryn Watson, Caitlin Yilek

Updated on: December 12, 2024 / 5:49 PM EST / CBS News

Republicans will have a majority in the Senate when President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House in January. That means his Cabinet nominees will likely face an easier path to confirmation, even some who may be controversial.

Among those are Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, who is facing headwinds over allegations of sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement and alcohol abuse. But Hegseth has gone to the Capitol repeatedly to meet with Republican senators to shore up support for his confirmation, and Trump in early December reiterated his support for Hegseth and said support for him among GOP senators is “strong and deep.”

Also under the microscope is former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence. Gabbard is facing renewed scrutiny after the collapse of the regime of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for a trip she took to Syria in 2017 when she met with Assad. At the time, she defended the meeting und of a “fact-finding mission,” but in 2019 she described him as a “brutal dictator.”