Brief on Senate confirmation hearings: Part one.

This week has been a fast and furious hearing process mixed with an intense news cycle. Over the past few days, many future agency leaders have made the rounds in Congress and underwent extensive questioning in the Senate chambers. Here’s a quick rundown of these hearings.

Senator Jeff Sessions

The Sen. Sessions interview went fairly well. Although, there were theatrics. The Senators was asked about his bias in a potential Clinton investigation to which he replied he would recuse himself. He also answered a question defining that grabbing genitals was sexual harassment – in a question more about an unsure feeling toward the President Elect.

But the real theatrics came when Senator Cory Booker spoke out against his fellow Senator. Which is an unprecedented move for these high-profile hearings. Making a bold move to announce your presidential run indirectly is unprecedented.

General Mattis

SOFREP has covered the hearing of General Mattis that went well without much controversy and culminated in a waiver, special legislation, passing without issue.

General John Kelly

In a relatively quiet hearing General Kelly gave strong responses and worked through the interview without serious questions looming. An interesting exchanged occurred when General Kelly expressed his disbelief that a physical barrier alone would be sufficient to protect the U.S. border. General Kelly went on to explain that the defense and strategy would have to be multi-layered. The controversy around legislation concerning the wall and border security have yet to be adequately addressed. But we’ll find out more after the inauguration.

Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly is sworn in before his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to run the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday. Courtesy of North Country Public Radio.

Dr. Ben Carson

Dr. Carson’s hearing was relatively uneventful aside from a brief exchange with Senator Warren as she pressed for assurance there would be no grant money, funds, or collusion with the President Elect’s business interests. There was also scrutiny over Carson’s previous views regarding the LGBT community and if HUD treat them the same as other Americans. Dr. Carson answered he would not discriminate.

Rep. Pompeo

More or less an uneventful hearing that went well except for a few interesting comments made by Rep. Pompeo. Rep. Pompeo said that he would not only take counsel and findings from his CIA employees but also outside experts. Rep. Pompeo also remarked that he would disregard President-elect Trump if he were asked to carry out torture.