Senate Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, tweeted Wednesday morning that he would not attend Biden’s inauguration so he could address ‘remaining objections to a quick Senate confirmation’. Without mentioning Cotton, he added: “It is important that we do this as soon as possible.”
Cotton has no plans to uphold her nomination and has not been announced to the back-and-forth public, as Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) Did on Tuesday with a separate nomination. Hawley said he would quickly confirm the ratification of Alejandro Mayorkas, a candidate for homeland security.
According to a Republican senator, it is unclear whether Mayorkas can even come out of the committee in the current formation. There are several GOP holdings to bring him directly to the floor, not just Hawley, the senator said.
It would be a breach of tradition if the Senate could not confirm one of Biden’s nominees on Inauguration Day. In 2017, former President Donald Trump saw both his Secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense confirmed after he was sworn in.
At her confirmation hearing Tuesday, Haines, a former deputy director of the CIA and former deputy national security adviser to the Obama administration, promised that she would “speak truth to power” and resist the pressure of the president or any other official. to use oblique intelligence.
“In terms of intelligence, there is simply no place for politics,” said Haines, who would make history as the first woman to serve as DNI.
Martin Matishak contributed to this report.