A top GOP senator dismissed the need for the FBI to do background checks of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees, claiming the public “doesn’t care” about who’s vetting the people trusted to lead the organizations that enact public policy.
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) told ABC’s This Week that the American public wanted to see Trump’s policy platforms enacted and it didn’t matter who was conducting such checks.
“We need to get to work again,” Hagerty told moderator Jonathan Karl. “Making our military stronger is absolutely critical, and I think we’re looking at a chance to do this.”
The senator then attacked multiple Biden cabinet officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and claimed that their failings give the incoming Trump administration the urgency to bring in their new team—potentially regardless of whether the agency does a background check.
“No one has been held to account by the Biden administration,” he said. “The American public is ready to hold these people to account now and replace them with a new team.”
Bewildered, Karl replied, “So are you saying you don’t care about FBI background checks?”
“Should we just do away with them, that you can go ahead and not do this? It’s been standard practice, as you know, for a long time, but you’re saying do away with it?” he continued.
“Certainly, I’ve been through it myself,” Hagerty said.
Multiple outlets have reported that many of Trump’s cabinet choices—including norm-bucking picks like Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense and Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence—have not gone through the FBI process, as Trump does not trust federal background checks.
Several senators, however, have advocated for federal law enforcement to look into each of the cabinet nominees, particularly as Trump’s choices have gotten more controversial and as damning information has emerged on some of them. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) told ABC News an FBI background check into Hegseth would be “helpful” in light of the police report recounting his alleged sexual assault of a woman in 2017. (Hegesth has maintained that the encounter was consensual and denied any wrongdoing.)
Hagerty also claimed on Sunday the FBI may not be qualified to conduct the checks, arguing the public has gotten tired of how “weaponized” the agency had become. Still, he said, whatever background checks are conducted will be concluded expeditiously. (There has been no evidence that the agency has been weaponized.)
“They need to get on with this,” he said. “We’ll get this done.”
