Trump presses ahead with polarizing picks despite Senate Republican doubts

President-elect Donald Trump is pressing forward with his list of controversial Cabinet picks despite doubts from some within his own party.

Trump on Tuesday announced his plan to nominate Mehmet Oz, the celebrity doctor and onetime U.S. Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, to lead the agency that administers the Medicare and Medicaid programs responsible for the health care of 160 million Americans. It’s the latest in a rapid-fire list of unconventional Cabinet and other top-government choices Trump has rolled out in recent weeks as he makes clear he expects Senate Republicans to speedily approve them - or deal with an end-run by the new president.

Trump’s picks for attorney general and Pentagon chief will be meeting with senators on Capitol Hill this week, as part of a bid by the incoming administration to convince Republican lawmakers to confirm their most important choices amid some signs of opposition.

Vice President-elect JD Vance will make the rounds with Pete Hegseth, Trump’s choice to lead the Defense Department, and former congressman Matt Gaetz, arranging meetings between key GOP senators and the Cabinet picks, said two people familiar with Vance’s plans, speaking on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss the planning.

“President Trump’s incoming administration is moving at an accelerated schedule in order to make good on getting key nominees confirmed in order to start delivering for the American people,” Brian Hughes, a Trump-Vance Transition spokesman, said in a statement.

Hughes added that Trump’s picks for the Department of Veterans Affairs, former congressman Douglas A. Collins, and U.N. ambassador, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-New York), “will all begin their meetings this week with additional Hill visits to continue after the Thanksgiving recess.”

Starting these formal meetings before the Trump administration has even taken power reflects the Trump team’s eagerness for Senate Republicans to quickly install his Cabinet that he has announced earlier than recent incoming presidents. Vance, who was elected to the Senate just two years ago, is working to help get Trump’s picks through the chamber.

“The administration wants to get up and running right away,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) said of the pace of Trump’s nomination process.

Gaetz, who abruptly resigned from Congress last week after being tapped by Trump to run the Justice Department, has been trying to shore up his shaky support among a faction of Republican senators, making calls to Judiciary Committee members, and saying he would be able to clear his name at a confirmation hearing. Trump, Vance and other people close to Trump have also called senators to gauge their support, according to people familiar with the outreach.

Questioned by reporters Tuesday on whether he was reconsidering the Gaetz choice, Trump said, “No.” The president-elect had traveled to Texas to joined his billionaire booster Elon Musk for the sixth test flight of SpaceX’s Starship.

Gaetz has quickly proved to be Trump’s most controversial pick for his incoming administration. The lawmaker’s resignation came just days before the House Ethics Committee was set to vote on releasing a report about its investigation into his conduct.

The Washington Post reported that a woman testified to the committee that Gaetz paid her for sex and witnessed him having sex with a 17-year-old at a party in 2017, according to the woman’s lawyer. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.

Florida attorney Joel Leppard said in an interview with The Post last weekend that one of his clients witnessed Gaetz having sex with the minor at a drug-fueled party in July 2017 - and that Gaetz was unaware of her age at the time but subsequently was told she was underage.

This woman and a second woman, also represented by Leppard, testified that they were paid by Gaetz to have sex with him and other individuals who attended these “sex parties.” They were paid through Venmo or other conduits - including the PayPal of Nestor Galban, whom Gaetz has referred to as his “adopted son.”

An unidentified person appears to have accessed documents shared among lawyers in a lawsuit that concerns allegations against Gaetz, according to a person who received an email notifying them of the breach and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

The file contains unredacted sworn testimony from a woman who said Gaetz paid her for sex when she was 17, along with other depositions from witnesses involved in the case, said a person who was notified of the hack, which was first reported by the New York Times.

Trump has threatened to circumvent the Senate if its members object to his personnel choices using his recess appointment power, which could lead to a showdown with the chamber if enough Republicans refuse to back Gaetz.

Republicans are reticent about a potential constitutional clash with Trump over recess appointments but are looking for areas of agreement that might satisfy him. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) said that it makes “no sense” to do recess appointments for Cabinet-level positions because it diminishes their credibility within the agency and nationally. But looking ahead to Trump’s lower-level picks, Tillis said Senate Republicans should use recess appointments. “One-hundred percent. Count me in,” Tillis said.

Gaetz and Hegseth will first meet with Republican senators on committees responsible for advancing their confirmation, a person familiar with the meeting schedule said. Passing through committee is the first test for a nominee.

The GOP is expected to have a 53-seat majority next year, and could only lose a handful of votes on his nomination. Gaetz, a far-right lightning rod, made enemies on the Republican side of the aisle when he orchestrated the ouster of then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California).

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the Judiciary Committee’s incoming chairman, has spoken to Gaetz and urged him to talk to both Democratic and Republican members of the committee, according to a person familiar with the conversation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private discussions.

Gaetz is facing the prospect of a divisive confirmation hearing. Grassley and some other Republicans have said they want to see the Ethics Committee report regarding the allegations against Gaetz. Other Republican senators have said the Senate committee could call witnesses to testify at a confirmation hearing even if members don’t have access to the report.

“The truth is, the information is going to come out one way or the other,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Monday. “So I guess the more I thought about it, it’s not critical that they release a report, because we know roughly who the witnesses are” and will call them in front of the Judiciary Committee, he said.

Hegseth, who would be in charge of the Pentagon’s 3 million civilian and military employees, paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault as part of a nondisclosure agreement, though he maintained that their encounter was consensual, according to a statement from his lawyer Saturday and other documents obtained by The Post. He is a combat veteran, a Fox News personality and a close Trump ally.

Trump praised Oz as “an eminent Physician, Heart Surgeon, Inventor, and World-Class Communicator, who has been at the forefront of healthy living for decades” in a statement. He added that Oz would work with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - Trump’s pick for health and human services secretary - to “take on the illness industrial complex.”

Oz’s critics say he provided a platform for potentially dangerous medical advice while hosting “The Dr. Oz Show.” Oz has favored unproven theories about treatments for covid, including hydroxychloroquine, and dispensed questionable advice on quick-fix regimens for weight loss. Trump’s selection of Kennedy, a prominent vaccine skeptic, also has sparked concern from health experts.

Trump also tapped investment banker Howard Lutnick as his commerce secretary. Lutnick, the co-chair of Trump’s transition team, is the chairman and chief executive of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald. Trump announced the selection on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Tuesday, calling Lutnick “a dynamic force of Wall Street.”

Trump has offered the position of education secretary to transition co-chair Linda McMahon, tapping a Trump loyalist, major GOP donor and retired WWE executive for his Cabinet, according to three people familiar with the matter. Trump has not made any announcement and is known to change his mind, and it was unclear Tuesday evening whether she had accepted the position.

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Dan Diamond, Josh Dawsey, Laura Meckler, Jeffrey Stein and Meryl Kornfield contributed to this report.