Many of Donald Trump’s senior appointments only happened after a contentious confirmation process. The woefully unqualified Robert F Kennedy Jr was confirmed as US Secretary of Health and Human Services by a tiny margin, while Pete Hegseth, the chaotic former Fox News host now styling himself as US Secretary of War, was only confirmed thanks to US Vice President JD Vance casting the deciding vote in a deadlocked Senate.
Some of Trump’s nominees even had to withdraw – most notably Republican congressman Matt Gaetz for attorney general, amid a public scandal over allegations he had paid underage girls for sex. Gaetz has denied the claims.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s confirmation process was a different matter, a relic of a different age where senators generally voted in a bipartisan manner, simply confirming that a candidate was qualified for the office for which they had been nominated. Senators knew Rubio well and generally liked him.
Shorts
He had chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee, had worked on serious bipartisan legislative proposals – including on immigration reform, proposing a bill that would have provided a route to citizenship for undocumented migrants – and was generally regarded as a serious, moderate figure.
