During an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Thursday morning, host Jen Psaki couldn’t contain her laughter after co-host Willie Geist reported on comments made by senators about several of Donald Trump’s more controversial Cabinet nominees.
With Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence (DNI), defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. proposed to head the Department of Health and Human Services, all facing heightened scrutiny due to their lack of experience for these roles, Psaki dismissed the senators’ statements as mere “stalling tactics.”
Geist started the discussion by pointing out that Gabbard, in particular, has met with Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and John Fetterman (D-PA), both of whom described their interactions with her as part of an “ongoing dialogue.” He then asked Psaki to “decode Washington-speak” for the audience.
This prompted a sharp laugh from Psaki, who replied, “Well, reserving judgment until the confirmation hearings doesn’t mean the person is going to support them –– and I will say that especially for Democrats. It’s a respect for the process. A lot of these people have decided they will or won’t support nominees.”
Psaki continued by highlighting that the national security nominees are generating the most concern. “The national security ones here are the ones who are of biggest concern with the most chatter,” she explained.
“What is of interest to me is a lot of Republicans have been holding their fire publicly. Is that the same as what is happening privately? Because we know as with the [Matt] Gaetz nomination was ended privately, quietly. That’s where important conversations happen in Washington, not necessarily publicly.”
While acknowledging the ongoing discussions, Psaki emphasized that nothing significant would likely happen anytime soon. “The last thing I’ll say here, the hearings, I think, which clearly seem to be on track to happen for all of these nominees, for Hegseth, for [attorney general nominee] Pam Bondi, for [FBI director nominee] Kash Patel, could be quite fiery,” she said. “We haven’t seen hearings like that in some time, and it’ll be an interesting thing to watch.”