VP Vance makes confirmation predictions for Gabbard, Patel and RFK, Jr

Vice President JD Vance delivered blunt advice to Republican senators considering voting against President Donald Trump’s nominees to lead key three-letter agencies: “You don’t get to make these decisions.”

Vance sat down with Fox News host Sean Hannity Wednesday for an interview from the nation’s capital a day before the Senate held confirmation hearings for FBI director nominee Kash Patel and DNI director nominee Tulsi Gabbard. 

Gabbard, Patel and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK), Trump’s pick to lead the United States Department of Health and Human Services, are considered to be the administration’s most controversial picks, who could struggle to get confirmed.

Vance said he ultimately believes the trio will make it through the process, but Republicans will “have to fight for each one.”

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He praised Senate Republicans for being “freethinking and “independent” but argued the commander-in-chief is the one who gets to decide who he wants in his Cabinet.

“…The president has made his selections and the advice and consent power of the United States Senate should not be used to block people because you have one policy disagreement on one issue,” Vance told Hannity Thursday. “You don’t get to make these decisions. President Trump gets to make these decisions, and he already has.”

The former Ohio senator encouraged his fellow Republicans to look at Trump’s 2024 coalition, questioning whether they could have won in November had they not included people like Gabbard and RFK, Jr.

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“Donald Trump won an imposing mandate because he got a different group of people to vote Republican than had ever voted Republican. We have to give those parts of the coalition some wins, too. So, yes, we’ve got a lot of traditional Republicans in the administration. We’ve got a lot of traditional national security hawks in the administration. But we’ve also got some new people, some people who bring a fresh perspective,” said Vance. 

As of Thursday, Trump has eight members of his Cabinet confirmed so far: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. 

The next steps for Patel, Gabbard and RFK, Jr. are committee markup votes.