How many? And how fast? That’s the question for the Senate in early January as it will sprint to confirm as many of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees as possible. Senators cannot do much right now for a couple of reasons: Republicans are not in charge of the Senate, and Trump does not take office until noon EST on Jan. 20. However, there will be a flurry of action in January.

First the mechanics.

The incoming president was caught flat-footed in 2016 when he won. Trump lacked the personnel and political infrastructure to quickly develop a Cabinet, so he relied on the Republican National Committee and other ‘establishment’ Republicans to assemble his slate of nominees. Many of the nominees were not ‘Trump people.’ They struggled to build chemistry with the new president. Thus, Trump canned many when they rejected his wishes.

This time around, the incoming president is certainly tapping nominees who are aligned with his movement and are Trump loyalists. They may outrage the left – and, frankly, some on the right. However, they are his picks. That alone might smooth the confirmation process in some respects.

And frankly, it creates simultaneous headaches.

In late 2016, Republicans controlled the Senate. That enabled them to prepare prompt confirmation hearings for early January 2017. The confirmation hearing for former Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., to serve as attorney general came on Jan. 10-11. Future Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly appeared before senators for his hearing on Jan. 10. The hearing for Rex Tillerson to become secretary of state was Jan. 11. The Senate Armed Services Committee heard from Defense secretary nominee James Mattis on Jan. 12.

However, the Senate could not vote to confirm those nominees until the new president took office on Jan. 20. In the waning hours of Jan. 20, the Senate confirmed Mattis and Kelly.

For instance, the Senate did not confirm then-Transportation Secretary Elain Chao – and the wife of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. – until Jan. 31.

The Senate will have a rocket docket in early 2025.

As soon as senators brave the January chill and return from the viewing stand on the West Front of the Capitol on Jan. 20, they will warm their hands. Maybe sip a hot coffee or a scotch. It is then likely the Senate will vote on a comprehensive slate of Trump’s nominees into the evening.

‘I want to see us ready and poised to put President Trump’s nominees into the job on day one,’ said Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn. ‘We should be ready with his many Cabinet positions to confirm on the 21st of January as we possibly can.’

However, Democrats intend to erect roadblocks.

‘What are Democrats prepared to do in response? Whatever it takes,’ Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said on MSNBC. ‘Donald Trump is way beyond making a mockery of what an incoming president should be doing, regardless of who’s in the majority of Congress.’

Others want to at least conduct due diligence on the nominees. They are especially leery of the Senate circumventing the conventional confirmation process and installing some nominees without a vote during a recess of both the House and Senate.

‘That’s why we have to have hearings. That’s why this commotion about recess appointments in which Trump would get some of his cabinet picks in place without hearings and confirmation votes is incredibly disturbing because there are some really serious financial questions about his team. Especially his national security team,’ said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., on CNN.

Trump has signaled – and incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has indicated a willingness – to potentially put some flailing nominees in place via recess appointments.

‘Recess appointments go back to the beginning of our republic,’ said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., on Fox, arguing their legitimacy.

However, Cotton suggested it was only liberals who were exercised about the possibility of recess appointments.

‘Once again, the left doesn’t seem to have learned anything from the campaign or really the last eight years. Hyperventilating about a supposedly anti-constitutional practice, which is in the Constitution itself.,’ said Cotton. ‘But I don’t foresee a need for recess appointments because I expect the Senate to work promptly and efficiently to process all of these nominations and to put Donald Trump’s Cabinet in place.’

Republicans are willing to blame Democrats for potential holdups on various nominees – potentially necessitating recess appointments. Ironically though, the issue would lie with the GOP.

Senate Republicans will have 53 seats next year. It only takes 51 ‘yeas’ to overcome a filibuster on a nominee for an administration post. Also, a simple majority to confirm. That is why some Republicans are keeping an eye on senators who they believe could defect – depending on the nominee.

It starts with McConnell. The Kentucky Republican suffered from polio as a child. Watch to see how he might vote when it comes to Health and Human Services secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Of course, McConnell will no longer lead Senate Republicans, so it is unclear how much sway he still commands around the Senate.

‘When he speaks, people will listen,’ said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to Al Weaver of The Hill.

Also in play is Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., along with Rep. and Sen.-elect John Curtis, R-Utah.

Then there are Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine. Both periodically bucked Trump during his previous term.

‘It would be a mistake in most cases to curtail the investigative process and the public hearings, because that is the Senate’s constitutional responsibility,’ said Collins.

The Maine Republican noted it is OK to short-circuit the process for ‘minor roles in the administration,’ but nothing else.

‘Certainly, when we’re talking about the Cabinet positions, we need to go through the normal process,’ said Collins.

Do not think for a moment that the new president and his enforcers on Capitol Hill will not be tracking potential defectors.

‘We’ve got the numbers to do it ourselves,’ said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. ‘We don’t need any Democrats to help us.’

There is a reason Trump dispatched Vice President-elect JD Vance to Capitol Hill this week to meet with senators and nominees.

Left-wing Democrats are appalled by some of the president-elect’s picks for his Cabinet, and some of them will follow what colleagues on their side of the aisle do, too.

‘I’m going to be watching every single Senate confirmation hearing because that will be the opportunity for our Senate colleagues to tell the truth. To tell the story. To shame the devil,’ Rep.-elect Lateefah Simon, D-Calif., warned on MSNBC.

So in January, get out your speed gun to clock the pace of confirmations. Also, observe the willingness of Republicans to either go along with the president-elect or stand on principle if they hold substantial opposition to a nominee. That could tell us a great deal about the nature of the Senate under incoming President Trump. The next thing to watch? Whether there will be retribution for those who buck him.

House Speaker Mike Johnson announced a new bathroom policy for the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday in response to controversy related to transgender Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, D-Del.

‘All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings – such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms – are reserved for individuals of that biological sex,’ Johnson, R-La., said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital. ‘It is important to note that each Member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol.’ 

‘Women deserve women’s only spaces,’ Johnson added. 

‘Like all policies, it is enforceable,’ Johnson later told reporters. ‘But we have single-sex facilities for a reason, and women deserve women’s only spaces. And we’re not anti anyone. We’re pro-women, and I think it’s an important policy for us to continue. It’s always been the, I guess, an unwritten policy, but now it’s in writing.’ 

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., earlier this week introduced a resolution that moves to prohibit members, officers and employees of the House from using ‘single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.’ 

Mace, who is a rape survivor, was derided by Democrats, including McBride, as a ‘right-wing extremist’ over the resolution, but the South Carolina congresswoman doubled down on Wednesday. 

She introduced another new bill to ‘ban biological men from using women’s private, protected facilities – such as bathrooms and locker rooms – on all federal property’ across the country. 

‘The radical Left would rather call me an extremist than admit they are wrong. The radical Left says I’m a ‘threat.’ You better believe it,’ Mace said in a statement. ‘And I will shamelessly call you out for putting women and girls in harm’s way. Women fought for these spaces, and I will not let them be erased to score political points with a small but loud activist class.’ 

Mace’s office added that ‘the vast majority of Americans recognize the importance of protecting women’s rights and privacy,’ while ‘the woke mob manufactures outrage.’ 

‘Women and girls shouldn’t have to give up their safety or privacy just because the Left wants to win points with their activist base,’ Mace continued. ‘This isn’t controversial – it’s common sense. I’m going to continue defending women and girls from these harmful, out-of-touch, and straight-up weird policies.’

Mace had said she received death threats for bringing the first resolution, sharing to X one social media video of a transgender individual threatening to beat and kill her.  

Johnson, who initially declined to respond to a question Tuesday on whether McBride was a man or a woman, made a definitive clarification later that day, telling reporters, ‘Let me be unequivocally clear: A man is a man, and a woman is a woman. And a man cannot become a woman.’ 

The speaker added: ‘I also believe that we treat everybody with dignity, and so we can do and believe all those things at the same time.’ 

Iran has increased its nearly weapons-grade uranium, a United Nations watchdog found, defying international demands to rein in its nuclear program.

Iran now has enough uranium at 60% purity, just below the 90% purity needed for a weapon, to produce about four nuclear bombs, an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report said. 

The report found Iran had about 400 pounds of uranium enriched to 60% as of Oct. 26, up 40 pounds from August. 

Around 92 pounds of uranium, enriched at 90%, is needed to make an atomic weapon. 

Iran’s overall stockpile of uranium enriched at any level reached about 14,560 pounds, up 1,880 pounds from August.

It comes as Iran has offered to cease enriching uranium beyond 60% – but only if the European Union and the United Kingdom cease their efforts to slap new sanctions on Iran and the IAEA drops a censure resolution it is pursuing.

During a meeting between IAEA general director Rafael Grossi and high-level Iranian diplomats, ‘the possibility of Iran not further expanding its stockpile of uranium enriched up to 60% U-235 was discussed, including technical verification measures necessary for the Agency to confirm this, if implemented,’ Grossi said. 

He added that Iran said it would consider accepting agency inspectors to conduct oversight of its nuclear materials. 

Experts say there is no credible use of 60% uranium at the civilian level. 

Concerns have swelled among Western nations that Iran could decide pursuing a nuclear bomb is its best deterrent, after Israel hollowed out Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran’s biggest proxies. U.S. intelligence suggests they’ve improved their manufacturing capabilities for doing so over the past year. 

It’s not yet clear whether President-elect Trump will come in with a combative or diplomatic tone toward Iran, but he’s promised to crack down on sanctions on the regime that he claims President Biden failed to enforce. 

The European Union on Monday widened sanctions against Iran for its alleged support for Russia in the war in Ukraine, including targeting the national seafaring company and ships used to transfer drones and missiles. Acting in tandem, the U.K. froze the assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denied that Iran was aiding Russia and warned the sanctions would prompt Iran to retaliate. 

‘There is no legal, logical or moral basis for such behavior. If anything, it will only compel what it ostensibly seeks to prevent,’ Araghchi wrote on X.

‘Freedom of navigation is a basic principle of the law of the sea. When selectively applied by some, such shortsightedness usually tends to boomerang,’ Araghchi wrote.

The IAEA board is expected to move forward with a European-backed censure resolution, which could lead to the issue being escalated to the U.N. Security Council for possible measures against Tehran. 

That resolution would condemn Tehran’s lack of responsiveness and call for creating a comprehensive report of all open questions about Iran’s nuclear work. 

Iran has not formally decided whether to build a nuclear bomb, according to the latest available U.S. intelligence. But as of September 2024, Iran could produce weapons-grade uranium in about seven days and have enough for six to nine nuclear bombs within a month if it wanted to, according to David Albright at the Institute for Science and International Security.

Senate Republicans are preparing to probe Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on his pro-choice stance after the former presidential candidate was selected by President-elect Trump to be his nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Kennedy, a former Democrat, has concerned a number of Senate Republicans over his espoused views on abortion. His former presidential campaign reportedly said he believed it ‘should be left up to the woman and her doctor.’ 

Over the summer, Kennedy shared a video on social media, writing in a post, ‘I support the emerging consensus that abortion should be unrestricted up until a certain point.’ 

He suggested that this limit should be ‘when the baby is viable outside the womb.’ Viability is understood to occur around 24 weeks gestation. 

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., a staunch pro-life advocate, told Fox News Digital, ‘It’ll come up in the hearing 100%. There’s no question that this will be an issue. I will raise it if no one else does.’ 

He explained that his office is compiling a list of ‘all of the things that the first Trump administration did for life through HHS, because they were very active in that area.’ 

Lankford pointed to HHS’ work when it came to conscience protections for abortion and taking on Planned Parenthood as examples. 

‘There’s a lot of things that they did during the first Trump administration through HHS. So, we’re compiling that list, and that’ll definitely be my list of questions,’ he said. 

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, said, ‘There’s several questions I want to talk to him about.’

He explained he wanted to see exactly what RFK Jr.’s position is — ‘How far? What month?’

HELP committee ranking member Bill Cassidy, R-La., said, ‘We’ll do our due diligence, but I’m sure somebody will ask that. How could they not?’ 

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told Fox News Digital abortion was a concern of his when it comes to RFK Jr.

While several Republicans are wary about Trump’s pick for HHS, some expressed confidence that he would act in line with the administration. 

‘I would fully expect any of Trump’s nominees to be pro-life, as is President Trump,’ said Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C.

But, he said, ‘It does need to be addressed.’

‘I believe what he’s going to do is do the right thing,’ Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said of RFK Jr.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Fox News Digital ‘he’ll be asked a question, and we’ll see how he answers. And we’ll take it from there.’

Katie Miller, a Trump-Vance transition spokesperson, told Fox News Digital in a statement, ‘Mr. Kennedy has every intention of supporting President Trump’s agenda to the fullest extent. This is President Trump’s administration that Robert F. Kennedy has been asked to serve in, and he will carry out the policies Americans overwhelmingly voted for in President Trump’s historic victory.’ 

The concerns aired by Senate Republicans come as some conservative and pro-life groups have already sounded the alarm bell on the HHS pick. 

‘I believe the nomination of RFK Jr. to serve as secretary of HHS is an abrupt departure from the pro-life record of our administration and should be deeply concerning to millions of pro-life Americans who have supported the Republican Party and our nominees for decades,’ former Vice President Mike Pence said in a statement from his organization, Advancing American Freedom, last week.

The president of top pro-life group Susan B. Anthony Pro Life America, Marjorie Dannenfelser, expressed her own worry, saying in a statement, ‘There’s no question that we need a pro-life HHS secretary, and, of course, we have concerns about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’

But she signaled confidence in Trump’s administration to uphold pro-life values. 

‘I believe that no matter who is HHS secretary, baseline policies set by President Trump during his first term will be reestablished,’ Dannenfelser said. 

The House Ethics Committee has not reached an agreement to release its report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., the panel’s chairman told reporters on Wednesday.

The bipartisan panel met behind closed doors for over two hours. Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., the last to leave the room, said, ‘There was not an agreement by the committee to release the report.’

Other members who left said little, with Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., telling reporters that deliberations were ongoing but he ‘can’t discuss’ them.

Things took a dramatic turn when Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., the top Democrat on the committee, unleashed on Guest for commenting to reporters earlier – despite it being exceedingly rare for a member of the normally insular panel to attack another.

‘We just concluded a two-hour meeting of the ethics committee, and it was not my intention to make any comment. I walked out of this committee without making one and walked back to my office,’ Wild began. 

‘We had agreed that we were not going to discuss what had transpired at the meeting. But it has come to my attention that the Chairman has since betrayed the process by disclosing our deliberations within moments after walking out of the committee, and he has implied that there was an agreement of the committee not to disclose the report.’

She called it ‘untrue to the extent that that suggests that the committee was in agreement, or that we had a consensus on that.’

‘I’d say that a vote was taken. As many of you know, this committee is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, five Dems, five Republicans, which means that in order to affirmatively move something forward, somebody has to cross party lines and vote with the other side – which happens a lot, by the way, and we often vote unanimously. That did not happen in today’s vote,’ Wild said.

The Wednesday meeting comes the same day that Gaetz is visiting Senate offices on Capitol Hill to kick off the confirmation process to lead the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The House Ethics Committee’s inquiry into Gaetz abruptly ended last week when he resigned from Congress hours after being named President-elect Trump’s nominee for attorney general.

‘Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department,’ Trump said in his announcement last Wednesday.

The probe began in 2021 and stems from accusations of illicit drug use and sex with a minor. 

The DOJ, which Gaetz has been tapped to lead, ultimately did not press charges. Gaetz himself has consistently denied all wrongdoing.

But pressure has been building on the normally secretive ethics panel to release its report, with senators who will be key to Gaetz getting the attorney general role expressing interest in seeing it before making their judgments.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., notably, has said he does not believe the report should be released.

‘The Speaker of the House is not involved with those things. I am reacting to media reports that a report is currently in some draft form and was going to be released on what is now a former member of the House,’ Johnson said Friday.

‘I do not believe that that is an appropriate thing. It doesn’t follow our rules and traditions and there is a reason for that. That would open up Pandora’s box and I don’t think that’s a healthy thing for the institution, so that’s my position.’

Meanwhile, Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., announced he plans to introduce a privileged resolution to force a House vote on releasing the Gaetz report.

‘The allegations against Matt Gaetz are serious. They are credible. The House Ethics Committee has spent years conducting a thorough investigation to get to the bottom of it,’ Casten said in a statement. ‘This information must be made available for the Senate to provide its constitutionally required advice and consent.’

An effort by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to block certain U.S. weapons sales to Israel was overwhelmingly rejected by the U.S. Senate Wednesday evening.

Sanders’ joint resolution of disapproval, which was supported by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; and Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., intended to stop the White House’s latest arms sales to the Israeli military. An effort to block the sales of tank rounds to Israel was voted down 79-18, and a measure intending to block mortar round shipments was rejected 78-19.

Speaking on the Senate floor, Sanders claimed the Israeli government is controlled ‘not only by right-wing extremists, but by religious zealots.’

‘It is time to tell the Netanyahu government that they cannot use U.S. taxpayer dollars and American weapons in violation of U.S. and international law and our moral values despite receiving $18 billion from U.S. taxpayers in the last year,’ Sanders said. 

‘And being the largest historical recipient of U.S. foreign aid, the Netanyahu government has completely ignored the repeated requests of President Biden and the U.S. government.’

The 83-year-old politician also decried living conditions in Gaza during his speech.

‘Right now, there is raw sewage running through the streets of Gaza, and it is very difficult for the people there to obtain clean drinking water,’ Sanders said. ‘Every one of Gaza’s 12 universities has been bombed … as have many hundreds of schools. For 13 months, there has been no electricity in Gaza.

‘As I have said many, many times, Israel had the absolute right to respond to that horrific Hamas attack as any other country would,’ Sanders concluded. ‘I don’t think anybody here in the United States Senate disagrees with that. But Prime Minister Netanyahu’s extremist government has not simply waged war against Hamas. It has waged an all-out war against the Palestinian people.’

Despite the vote, Sanders’ effort was not wholly unpopular. Earlier this week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., signaled support for the Vermont Independent’s proposal.

‘The failure by the Biden administration to follow U.S. law and to suspend arms shipments is a grave mistake that undermines American credibility worldwide,’ Warren said in a statement to The Guardian.

‘If this administration will not act, Congress must step up to enforce U.S. law and hold the Netanyahu government accountable through a joint resolution of disapproval.’

Fox News Digital’s Jessica Sonkin and Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.

President-elect Trump chose former ambassador and Rep. Pete Hoekstra for his pick for the U.S. ambassador to Canada.

‘Pete is well-respected in the Great State of Michigan – A State we won sizably. He represented Michigan’s 2nd District in Congress for nearly 20 years, where he was also Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and was a great help to our Campaign as Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party,’ Trump wrote in a Wednesday evening release.

Trump said that Hoekstra would help the president-elect’s ‘American First’ agenda.

‘In my Second Term, Pete will help me once again put AMERICA FIRST,’ he wrote. ‘He did an outstanding job as United States Ambassador to the Netherlands during our first four years, and I am confident that he will continue to represent our Country well in this new role. Thank you, Pete!’

Hoekstra was the U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump’s first term. 

Prior to his ambassadorship, he served 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the 2nd District of Michigan, and served as chairman and ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. 

Trump’s pick of Hoekstra on Wednesday came after he tapped former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to become U.S. ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in his new administration. 

President-elect Trump’s team is confident that Senate Republicans will approve his cabinet selection – despite some of the picks raising eyebrows from Republicans and Democrats alike.

A Trump transition official confirmed to Fox News that the president-elect is ‘confident that Senate Republicans will hold the line.’

‘President Trump is confident that Senate Republicans will hold the line and respect the will of the American people by approving his cabinet nominees,’ the official said.

The official said that Trump is ‘very happy’ with the vice president-elect, saying that Vance is ‘laser focused on already getting the ball rolling on his highly-qualified nominees.’

Trump’s nominees and administration picks during his second administration are being publicly announced at a much faster pace than during his first administration in 2016, which the transition team attributed to Trump’s commitment to putting ‘America first.’

‘The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin, giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail, and his Cabinet picks reflect his priority to put America First. President Trump will continue to appoint highly qualified men and women who have the talent, experience and necessary skill sets to Make America Great Again,’ Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt previously told Fox News Digital when asked about Trump’s speedy rollout of Cabinet picks. 

Trump’s most contentious choice so far has been Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., for attorney general. The pick came as a surprise to many since the firebrand does not have any prior law enforcement experience and faces misconduct allegations.

Gaetz was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, which subpoenaed him as recently as September for an ongoing investigation into alleged sexual misconduct with a minor. 

Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and had told the panel he would ‘no longer voluntarily participate’ in its probe. Gaetz resigned from Congress shortly after Trump made the announcement. 

On Wednesday, Vance and Gaetz were spotted leaving the Capitol.

A source familiar previously told Fox News Digital that Gaetz is ‘working the phones’ to address concerns from GOP senators ahead of his confirmation hearings next year. He is also making the rounds with Vance on Capitol Hill to meet with senators directly. 

‘The meetings have been productive with AG nominee Gaetz listening to senators’ thoughts on the role of the DOJ and the confirmation process. Gaetz is looking forward to meeting with more senators throughout this process on the Hill,’ a Trump transition official told Fox News Digital. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Trump transition team for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton and Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.