A look at Trump's controversial nominations for cabinet

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00:00In the week before Donald Trump's return to the White House, many of his most prominent

00:04cabinet choices sailed relatively unscathed through their Senate hearings.

00:09One of Trump's most embattled picks has been Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and veteran

00:14chosen to lead the Department of Defense.

00:16He has publicly questioned whether women should serve in combat and has railed against diversity

00:21initiatives.

00:22Criteria have been changed in order to meet quotas, racial quotas or gender quotas.

00:30That is putting a focus on something other than readiness, standards, meritocracy and

00:36lethality.

00:37Hegseth has also faced allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking on the job.

00:43Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general and a lawyer for Trump during his 2020 impeachment

00:48trial, has been tapped for the top law enforcement job.

00:52She was greeted politely in her hearing, where she said she was open to pardons for some

00:56convicted for their roles in the 2021 pro-Trump riot at the U.S. Capitol.

01:02To serve as secretary of state, Trump chose Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who vowed to

01:07put America first.

01:09He described the United States as in an existential economic battle with China.

01:13If we stay on the road we're on right now, in less than 10 years, virtually everything

01:18that matters to us in life will depend on whether China will allow us to have it or

01:21not.

01:22Rubio also said NATO relies too much on the United States for primary defense.

01:28These interviews may turn out to be the smoothest for Trump's team, as some of the most potentially

01:33fiery hearings have yet to be scheduled.

01:36They include Human Services Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has consistently

01:41spread misinformation about vaccines.

01:44He sought to stop COVID-19 vaccinations, calling the rollout a dystopian nightmare worse than

01:50life in Nazi Germany.

01:53Former Democratic Congresswoman-turned-Trumpist Tulsi Gabbard, who was tapped for director

01:57of national intelligence, has been criticized for her lack of qualifications, as well as

02:02her attitude towards U.S. adversaries.

02:05Gabbard met Syria's then-President Bashar al-Assad in 2017 and declared him not the

02:11enemy.

02:12She has also voiced sympathy for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

02:15The most controversial, however, is likely Kash Patel, Trump's nominee to run the FBI.

02:22Patel is seen as the ultimate Trump loyalist and has vowed that Trump would come after

02:26journalists, lawyers and judges he believes haven't treated him fairly.

02:31Patel has been a virulent critic of the bureau and has threatened to shut down the agency's

02:36headquarters and turn it into a museum.

02:39Republicans only have a four-seat majority in the Senate, meaning that more than three

02:43defections could doom a nomination.

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