ELECTIONS, POLITICS, & GOVERNMENT
Curtis says rubber stamping nominees ‘not the role of the Senate’ ahead of Hegseth meeting
Dec 17, 2024, 6:00 AM | Updated: Dec 30, 2024, 9:52 pm
Utah Sen.-elect John Curtis is getting ready to take office in just a few weeks, and is quickly gaining a national profile as a difference-making vote in approving or rejecting President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees. (Istvan Bartos, KSL TV)
(Istvan Bartos, KSL TV)
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Sen.-elect John Curtis is getting ready to take office in just a few weeks.
Related: John Curtis wins Utah Senate seat
Before that even happens, Curtis is quickly gaining a national profile as a difference-making vote in approving or rejecting President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees.
This week, Curtis is set to meet with Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, who’s facing numerous allegations that Curtis called “serious.”
In an exclusive interview with KSL TV, Curtis talked about Hegseth, the doomed nomination of former Congressman Matt Gaetz for attorney general, how he’s approaching Trump’s nominees in general, and what he hopes to accomplish when he replaces Mitt Romney in the Senate.
President-elect Trump’s nominees
Curtis, 64, has quickly become a key player in the process of vetting President-elect Trump’s cabinet picks.
He attracted a lot of attention when multiple media outlets reported Curtis was one of several Republican senators who thwarted Gaetz’s nomination after Trump tapped him for attorney general.
“Matt Gaetz would not have been the right pick for President Trump,” Curtis said Friday during an interview in Roosevelt.
Curtis added he never met with Gaetz before he withdrew from consideration. But the nomination of his former House GOP colleague troubled him.
“I served with Matt,” Curtis said. “I think Matt’s hardest votes would have been from those that he served with.”
Curtis has met with other nominees, including Elise Stefanik, who was picked to become the United States ambassador to the United Nations. Curtis also met last week with Trump’s pick for FBI director, Kash Patel.
This week, Curtis is scheduled to meet with former Fox host Pete Hegseth, who has been chosen to run the Department of Defense.
That, Curtis said, “is going to be a very interesting meeting.”
Curtis acknowledged having concerns about Hegseth, who’s accused of sexual assault, heavy drinking, and financial mismanagement, among other things.
“They’re serious,” Curtis said of the allegations. “And so I will be asking him about those specifically.”
Besides Hegseth, other Trump nominees have also attracted extra scrutiny like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for Health and Human Services, and Tulsi Gabbard for director of National Intelligence.
Read more at ksltv.com.
