Washington readies for Cabinet confirmation blitz

WASHINGTON—Nine of Trump’s Cabinet nominees will participate in Senate confirmation hearings this week as the GOP attempts to take over executive branch departments as close to the inauguration as possible.

Each Cabinet nominee will undergo a Senate review and have to clear a confirmation vote of at least 50 members. Republicans hold a 52-48 majority in the Senate. As expected, Senate Democrats promise to push back on each of Trump’s selections, and outside parties have entered the arena as well—spending millions to influence the outcome.

The Family Research Council and the Frederick Douglass Foundation put more than a dozen African-American clergy members in front of cameras today to defend Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Trump’s pick for attorney general and one of his more polarizing selections.

Sessions’ critics call him xenophobic for his staunch views on immigration and allege he’s a racist for more than 30-year old remarks he allegedly made about Ku Klux Klan. In 1986, the Senate Judiciary Committee blocked Sessions from a federal judgeship because of, in part, questions about his views of African-Americans that colleagues and former employees raised in hearings.

“There is a legitimate dimension of racism that exists in our nation,” said Bishop Harry Jackson Jr., who leads Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Md. “But there is an attempt by some to demonize people and call them racist when there is actually no proof for it.”

Jackson and the other church leaders adamantly disputed claims that Sessions is racist and urged for a fair and open confirmation process.

But across Capitol Hill, the Rev. William Barber II, president of the North Carolina NAACP, led an interfaith protest against the Alabama senator, calling for lawmakers to block his confirmation.

“To put him in charge of the Department of Justice is like putting a fox in charge of the henhouse,” Barber said of Sessions on the steps of the Russell Senate building.

Barber specifically pointed to Sessions’ stance on voter identification laws, claiming the nominee would try to suppress minorities from voting.

Last week, the Judicial Crisis Network launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign to advocate for Sessions during his confirmation process.

Senate Democrats have singled out Sessions along with Betsy DeVos, Trump’s nominee for education secretary and Rex Tillerson, Trump’s pick to lead the State Department.

Sessions, DeVos, and Tillerson each face Senate confirmation hearings this week. Additionally, hearings on the nominations for secretaries of defense, homeland security, transportation, housing and urban development, and commerce secretaries are scheduled in the days ahead. Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., Trump’s nominee for CIA director, will go before the Senate on Wednesday.

Last week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wrote a letter to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) to ask about possible conflicts of interest for Cabinet nominees.

Walter Shaub Jr., the ethics office director, responded it was hard to tell because Trump was moving quickly with confirmations.

“[T]he announced hearing schedule for several nominees who have not completed the ethics review process is of great concern to me,” Shaub wrote. “This schedule has created undue pressure on OGE’s staff and agency ethics officials to rush through these important reviews.”

He added he was not aware of a Senate confirmation hearing taking place before the completion of the ethics review process.

In a statement to CBS News, Trump’s transition team rebutted Shaub’s letter and criticisms of Cabinet nominees.

“In the midst of a historic election where Americans voted to drain the swamp, it is disappointing some have chosen to politicize the process in order to distract from important issues facing the country,” the transition team wrote. “This is a disservice to our country and is exactly why voters chose Donald J. Trump as their next president.”