President Donald Trump’s nominees consistently engage with Democrats who challenge them in increasingly viral hearing moments that analysts say are not intended as gifts to the media, but red meat for their base.
The media understands Democrats have little power on a Republican-dominated Capitol Hill, according to Bill D’Agostino, senior analyst for the Media Research Center.
‘If you were to watch any given night on CNN or MSNBC evening shows, you’ll find a couple of panel discussion segments that are basically just Democratic strategists and the host talking shop,’ he told Fox News Digital in a Thursday interview.
‘The discussion has focused almost entirely on how can Democrats show their voters that they’re trying to fight this, that they’re trying to make a difference, that they’re resisting the Trump administration.’
Schiff asked why he said that, and Patel incredulously shot back ‘that’s why it says, ‘we’ [as opposed to I] as you highlighted.’ Patel denied participating in the digitizing of the song.
The exchange was compared to former President Bill Clinton’s grammatical comments about the word ‘is’ during the Monica Lewinsky affair.
During Attorney General Pam Bondi’s confirmation, Schiff was at the fore again, demanding she disclose whether she might prosecute former special counsel Jack Smith over his Trump probe. Bondi repeatedly said she wouldn’t answer hypothetical, and dinged Schiff in response for focusing on Smith while his own California is rife with violent crime.
Bondi also snapped back at Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., after a grilling on the Fourteenth Amendment and citizenship, saying, ‘I’m not here to do your homework and study for you.’
During Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s hearing, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., delved into Hegseth’s multiple marriages and allegations of untoward behavior.
Kaine said Hegseth had ‘casually cheated’ on a former wife shortly after his daughter Gwendolyn was born. Hegseth countered that the situation had been investigated and that Kaine’s claims were ‘false charges.’
‘You’ve admitted that you had sex at that hotel in October 2017. You said it was consensual, isn’t that correct?’ Kaine went on, probing further.
Hegseth also made headlines when he interrupted Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., mid-sentence as she criticized the revolving door among military generals, Pentagon chiefs, and defense contractors.
‘I’m not a general, senator,’ he said, prompting laughter in the gallery.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also had several similar moments, including when Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., opened his remarks by speaking about the measles and telling the nominee bluntly, ‘You frighten people.’
Kennedy also rejected a line of questioning from Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., claiming that he had compared the Atlanta-based CDC’s work to Nazi death camps.
Outbursts and grilling continued in recent oversight hearings, including this past week when Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., got into a tiff with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem about Salvadoran deportee Kilmar Garcia. At one point, Swalwell informed Noem he has a ‘bull-t detector.’
Mark Bednar, a former top aide to ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was one of many ‘sherpas’ tasked with guiding nominees through the confirmation process, including meetings with senators.
Bednar assisted EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin through his process, which, by comparison to others, was mild.
Zeldin’s hearing actually included some bipartisan joking – like when Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., riffed that Zeldin’s cell phone rang unexpectedly because ‘the fossil fuel industry’ was calling him after a line of questioning on the matter.
