Trump demands Senate allow him to circumvent hearings to appoint cabinet

Donald Trump has demanded that the three frontrunners to lead the Senate allow him to appoint officials to his new administration without confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill, as a future Republican government began to take shape the week after his election victory.

In a demonstration of his political muscle, the US president-elect urged support for “recess appointments”, which allow the president to make appointments while the Senate is temporarily paused, and can be used to circumvent the confirmation process, which can result in appointments being delayed or blocked.

The demand amounted to a full-frontal intervention in this week’s GOP’s election for a new Senate leader to replace Mitch McConnell, the party’s longtime leader who is retiring. The three men tipped to lead the Senate – Rick Scott, John Thune and John Cornyn – all quickly agreed to Trump’s request.

It also signalled Trump’s determination to press ahead with his agenda without being encumbered by congressional oversight, which is mandated by the US constitution.

Trump has already given out several senior positions in his new administration. CNN reported on Monday that Stephen Miller, a senior adviser in his first administration and a hardliner on immigration, was in line to become White House deputy chief of staff for policy.

Tom Homan, a former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) in his first presidency, was announced as a new “border czar”, spearheading his promised crackdown on immigration.

And Elise Stefanik – a representative from New York whose performance at Capitol Hill hearings on antisemitism led to the downfall of two Ivy League university presidents – was offered US ambassador to the United Nations.

Trump’s demand for recess appointments, however, was aimed squarely at dominating the future Senate. When the Republicans take control of the chamber in January, they will have at least 53 of the Senate’s 100 seats.

“Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner,” Trump posted on X.

“Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again. We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY.”

Recess appointments are controversial. A 2014 US supreme court verdict ruled that Barack Obama had exceeded his constitutional authority when he made high-level appointments after declaring the Senate to be in recess – though the ruling still gave presidents wide latitude to use a clause in the US constitution to make appointments during recess.

Trump’s call was endorsed by all three Republican candidates in Wednesday’s leadership election: Thune of South Dakota, Cornyn of Texas and Scott of Florida. The winner will ascend to the powerful position of Senate majority leader when Congress reconvenes in the new year.

The quickest backing came from Scott, thought to be an outsider in the three-man race, though his candidacy has won the support of Trump’s most fervent Maga cheerleaders, such as Elon Musk, the world’s richest man; the broadcaster Tucker Carlson; Charlie Kirk, the far-right activist and founder of Turning Point USA; and Robert F Kennedy Jr.

“100% agree. I will do whatever it takes to get your nominations through as quickly as possible,” Scott wrote on X within minutes of Trump’s post.

Thune and Cornyn, who also signalled their support of recess appointments in posts on social media after Trump’s demand, are Republicans who have both opposed Trump at times in the past. Thune called Trump’s role in the January 6 riot, when a mob tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election result, “inexcusable”.

Trump has not endorsed a candidate in the Senate race, amid signs that his surrogates’ interventions were backfiring among senators, who vote for McConnell’s replacement by secret ballot.

A Senate aide told Politico that the lobbying on Scott’s behalf was “pissing off senators whose votes Rick needs”.

“Senators do not take kindly to having an army of social media trolls attack them,” the aide told the site.

A GOP senator – talking anonymously to Punchbowl – said: “I really don’t much care what Tucker Carlson thinks. They’re trying to bully us. That’s not how these elections work.”

The Republicans’ forthcoming Senate majority should mean Trump’s appointees earn confirmation without the need to short-circuit the process.

However, there has been speculation that his intention to give Kennedy a wide-ranging brief over health, drug control and food safety could fail to clear the confirmation process because of the former independent candidate’s controversial views on vaccines.