Trump nominees Burgum, Bessent, Zeldin face confirmation hearings as witnesses support Bondi

Extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is a top economic priority, and failing to keep tax cuts in place will wreak havoc on the middle class, according to President-elect Trump’s pick to lead the Treasury Department, Scott Bessent. 

"This is the single most important economic issue of the day," Bessent, a hedge fund billionaire from South Carolina, told the Senate Finance Committee Thursday during his confirmation hearing."If we do not renew an extension, then we will be facing an economic calamity," Bessent said. "And, as always, with financial instability, that falls on the middle and working class."Bessent cautioned that a "gigantic" middle-class tax increase would occur if the tax cuts expire. 

Trump’s economic plan includes extending the 2017 tax cuts and imposing tariffs ranging from 10% to 20% on all imported goods. For countries like China, that number could go up to 60%. Bessent, who previously authored an op-ed for Fox News Digital backing the employment of tariffs, voiced support for the Trump administration's use of tariffs as a lever in multiple exchanges with lawmakers. For example, Bessent disagreed with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who asserted the American people would be "clobbered" by tariffs on all imported goods.

Gov. Doug Burgum, President-elect Trump's nominee for Interior Secretary, said that he believes there should be greater national attention on missing and murdered indigenous women during his confirmation hearing on Thursday.

Burgum was questioned by lawmakers during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee confirmation hearing, where Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., asked about whether the Trump nominee would work to improve tribal law enforcement amid a mass amount of missing indigenous women.

Burgum agreed on the issue, describing it as an "unseen tragedy in America," and called for more training and recruitment for law enforcement across northern and southern tribes.

"I think there's nothing partisan about enforcing the law and protecting the citizen," Burgum said.

"I think the FBI list is now over 6000 unsolved cases. And I believe that it is a complete tragedy. It seems we lose a college student at spring break, it's a Netflix series and the whole nation knows her name, personally," Burgum added. "And then we have these same individual tragedies that happen over and over again in Indian country and people aren't even aware that it's going on. So we've got to change our entire approach to this."

During his Environmental Protection Agency administrator confirmation hearing, former Rep. Lee Zeldin had a pointed exchange with Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., regarding EPA officials likening last-minute expenditures to “gold bars …off the Titanic” going toward climate groups.

Zeldin referenced a Project Veritas video from December purporting to show an individual identified as EPA special advisor Brent Efron making the comparison, while discussing large amounts of appropriations being given to green-centric organizations.

“It’s how to get the money out as fast as possible,” Efron is heard saying, calling the move “an insurance policy against Trump winning” because government money is hard to claw back.

Markey claimed that 80% of such funds going out recently have gone to Republican congressional districts and warned Zeldin against conducting a “witch hunt” and asked for a pledge of impartiality when assessing EPA programs.

Zeldin replied that he predicts a review of the funds will show a good proportion having already been approved by Congress but wanted to reserve the right to bring any discrepancies before Chairwoman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V.

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Treasury Department, Scott Bessent, challenged Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., about whether the U.S. and China are facing a clean energy race against one another. 

Wyden questioned Bessent, who appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday for a confirmation hearing, about whether he would back the Trump administration to advance policies to promote natural oil and gas. 

“We are in a clean arms race in clean energy with China,” Wyden said. “Are you going to be on the side of people who want to unravel this?”

“Just so we can frame this for everyone in this room – China will build one hundred new coal plants this year,” Bessent said. “There is not a clean energy race. There's an energy race.”

Former NFL veteran turned Texas state legislator, Scott Turner, said Thursday during his confirmation hearing to be the next Housing and Urban Development Secretary that his goal will be to advance and expand polices heralded by the incoming Trump administration.

Turner said Thursday morning during his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs that, if nominated, his priorities would include taking an inventory of current programs to see what is working and what is not working well at the agency, including identifying any regulatory burdens that are impacting the supply of affordable housing. Turner said a lot of this work will involve engaging with state and local officials, since they are uniquely attuned to the housing needs and roadblocks within their communities.

Turner also said he plans to find ways to reduce the costs of construction and engage with private sector entities within the housing market. Turner said Thursday that he hopes to be able to improve access to equity for homeowners through some of these efforts. “I believe having that equity in the home should be available to the home owner because that’s how most families’ begin to build wealth,” Turner pointed out. "My goal is to help people get off govern assistance, become self sustainable."

The former Texas state legislator previously served as the Executive Director of the Trump administration’s Opportunity and Revitalization Council, and he added during his Thursday confirmation hearings that he hopes to expand the resources the council established if nominated.

Democrats, meanwhile, took the opportunity to question whether Turner would support additional federal spending to make housing more affordable, such as HUD’s section 8 vouchers. Democrats also questioned Turner over whether he would work to remove racial bias from the housing appraisal industry, and whether he intends go after “price gouging” from real estate investors.

While Turner did not give a concrete response one way, or the other, he did commit to working with every member on the committee to ensure each of HUD’s programs address the myriad of issues associated with higher housing costs.

Former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin sat for his confirmation hearing to lead the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, and was grilled by Democrats on his views of climate change.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse questioned Zeldin on the effects of carbon dioxide and pollutants on the atmosphere.

"Is carbon dioxide a pollutant?" the Rhode Island Democrat asked.

"As far as the carbon dioxide emitted by you during that question – no," Zeldin replied, adding that in larger masses, the EPA should indeed focus on carbon dioxide output.

Whitehouse also produced a topographic map of the Ocean State, showing colored ranges he said are at danger of becoming underwater due to climate change.He said Zeldin likely understands the issue with sealevels – as his former congressional district is diagonally across Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean from Westerly.

Read more about Lee Zeldin from Charles Creitz.

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, asked Doug Burgum, President-elect Trump's pick to lead the Department of the Interior, if he had ever engaged in sexual or physical harassment.

"Since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature?" Hirono asked.

"No senator I have not," Burgum responded.

"Have you ever faced discipline or entered into a settlement related to this kind of conduct?"

"I have not," Burgum said.

Former Rep. Lee Zeldin was in front of the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee on Thursday for his confirmation hearing to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Fox News Digital spoke to a number of senators about how they thought he fared in his testimony and the response to questions from lawmakers.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., described his performance as "A plus plus plus."

Zeldin faced questions on climate change, regulations and energy production among other top issues.

President Trump’s pick to lead the Treasury Department, Scott Bessent, said he doesn’t support increasing the federal minimum wage. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked Bessent whether the hedge fund billionaire would “work with those of use who want to raise the federal minimum wage to a living wage to take millions of Americans out of poverty.” 

“Senator, I believe that the minimum wage is more of a state and regional issue,” Bessent told the Senate Finance Committee for his confirmation hearing. 

“You don’t think we should change the federal minimum wage?” Sanders said. “We have $7.25 an hour.”

“No sir,” Bessent replied. 

Sanders is a vocal supporter of raising the federal minimum wage, and introduced legislation in 2023 that would raise it to $17 by 2028. 

Sanders’ home state Vermont recently raised its minimum wage from $13.67 to $14.01 per hour this month. The federal minimum wage has remained $7.25 since 2009. 

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, quizzed Doug Burgum on whether he can commit to current wind projects, after President-elect Trump suggested he would end many of them.

"I'm not familiar with every project that the interior has underway, but I'll certainly be taking a look at all of those. And if it makes sense and they're already in law, they'll continue," Burgum said.

"I think the key is, and I think President Trump's been very clear, in his statements that he's concerned about the significant amount of tax incentives that have gone towards some forms of energy, that have helped exacerbate this imbalance that we're seeing right now," he said.

Trump has long criticized using wind farms as a main form of energy production, but his latest remarks suggest that his incoming administration could place major restrictions on the future production of new wind-powered energy projects.

"It's the most expensive energy there is. It's many, many times more expensive than clean natural gas," Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago this month "So we’re going to try and have a policy where no windmills are being built."

Fox News' Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Treasury Department backed beefing up sanctions against Russia in order to end the conflict in Ukraine during his confirmation hearing Thursday. 

“If any officials in the Russian Federation are watching this confirmation hearing, they should know that if I’m confirmed, and if President Trump requests as part of his strategy in the Ukraine war, that I will 100% [be] on board for taking sanctions up,” Scott Bessent told members of the Senate Finance Committee.

Bessent’s comments came during an exchange with Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who said he believed President Joe Biden’s administration waited too long to add additional sanctions on Russia, and admitted he hoped Trump could “settle this” and impose stricter sanctions. 

Meanwhile, the Biden administration issued new sanctions against Russia on Friday, targeting two major Russian oil producers, more than 180 vessels, and dozens of oil traders, oilfield service providers, insurance companies, and energy officials. 

“The United States is taking sweeping action against Russia’s key source of revenue for funding its brutal and illegal war against Ukraine,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement Friday. “This action builds on, and strengthens, our focus since the beginning of the war on disrupting the Kremlin’s energy revenues…With today’s actions, we are ratcheting up the sanctions risk associated with Russia’s oil trade, including shipping and financial facilitation in support of Russia’s oil exports."

Dozens of former Justice Department (DOJ) officials sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee urging confirmation of President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, Fox News Digital first reported last week.

They praised both her commitment to the rule of law and her track record as Florida’s former attorney general that they said makes her uniquely qualified for the role.

The letter, previewed exclusively to Fox News Digital, was signed by more than 110 senior Justice Department officials who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations, including former U.S. attorneys general John Ashcroft, Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr and Edwin Meese. 

Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, deputy attorneys general Rod Rosenstein and Jeffrey Rosen, and Randy Grossman, who served as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California under the Biden administration, were among the other notable signatories. 

The DOJ alumni expressed their "strong and enthusiastic support" for Bondi, Florida’s former attorney general, who also spent 18 years as a prosecutor in the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s office.

"It is all too rare for senior Justice Department officials — much less Attorneys General — to have such a wealth of experience in the day-to-day work of keeping our communities safe," they wrote.

Read more about Pam Bondi from Breanne Deppisch.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee grilled witnesses Thursday on Trump attorney general nominee Pam Bondi's experience and her ability to operate independently under a president-elect who previously ousted officials for failing to carry out his political will.

Democrats on the committee focused their lines of questioning on how  Bondi would handle a president who fired former attorney general Jeff Sessions after he recused himself from the Russia investigation and pressured the resignation of former attorney Bill Barr after he said in a letter that the Justice Department had not found evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

Mary McCord, a longtime former U.S. attorney and outspoken Trump critic, cited concerns over Bondi’s ability to act independently of president-elect Donald Trump, amid possible efforts to bend the department under his political will. 

“Her work defending President Trump during the first impeachment proceedings, and public statements she has made about potential prosecutions of those involved in cases against President Trump, could create— at the very least—the appearance of a lack of independence if she were to open investigations into people involved in those matters,” McCord, now a professor at Georgetown law, said of Bondi.

But others pushed back on that contention, including David Aronberg, a Democrat whom Bondi tapped to be her drug czar during her tenure as Florida’s attorney general. 

Aronberg stressed to lawmakers that Bondi is “tethered to the law” and will not shy away from standing up to the president-elect.

“A prosecutor's job is to follow the evidence and follow the law— without fear or favor” Aronberg said

Bondi, he said "is a 20 year prosecutor who understands this, even if she does something as attorney general of the United States that I disagree with, I believe she will always remain tethered to the law.”

Written by Breanne Deppisch.

Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, questioned Doug Burgum on whether the Trump administration will "drill, baby, drill" when it gets into office.

Hirono asked Burgum -- who has been picked by President-elect Trump to lead the Department of the Interior -- about whether he would drill in Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.

"I'll follow the law and follow the Constitution, and so you can count on that," he said. "And I have not heard of anything about President Trump wanting to do anything...other than advancing energy production for the benefit of the American people."

"We all know that the president wants to drill, baby, drill," Hirono replied. "And in your testimony, you say that he has an energy dominance vision. So I would ask you that, should you be confirmed that you will have, these kinds of matters that you'll have to decide. Are you going to drill in a monument? Are you going to protect our natural resources, or are you going to drill, baby, drill? So I raise that, as a as a concern."

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to head up the Treasury Department, Scott Bessent, said extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is a top economic priority, and cautioned against the consequences to the middle class for failing to do so. 

“This is the single most important economic issue of the day,” Bessent told the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday for his confirmation hearing.

“If we do not renew an extension, then we will be facing an economic calamity,” Bessent said. “And as always with financial instability, that falls on the middle and working class.”

Bessent said that a “gigantic” middle class tax increase would occur if the tax cuts expire. 

Trump signed the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act during his first term, but many of the reforms included will sunset in 2025. Groups like Americans for Prosperity, a grassroots network founded by the billionaire Koch Brothers, claim that millions of Americans will face a hike of $1,500 or more next year in taxes if the cuts are not renewed. 

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

At the start of EPA administrator-nominee Lee Zeldin’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, the top Democrat offered a personal gift to new Chairwoman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V.

Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse presented Capito with a gavel he said was made in 1956 – with a very special Mountain State connection.

“I'd like to let everyone know that I like the chairman. That's a good start,” Whitehouse said.

“And in that context, I would like to present her as the new chairman this gavel. It was made in 1956 of wood from the Old West Virginia State House by the McKinley Vocational High School in Wheeling, West Virginia.”

Capito, who was born in the northern panhandle which is anchored by Wheeling, said, “wow” and gratefully accepted the gavel.

Whitehouse added that there was another personal connection in the gift:

The gavel had originally been presented to then-Gov. Hulett Smith, the Democrat that preceded the chairwoman’s Republican father, ex-Gov. Arch Moore Jr.

Governor Moore kept the gavel from the term-limited Smith, Whitehouse said.“May you bang it in good health,” he said.

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Treasury Department, Scott Bessent, promised that the new administration would usher in a period of economic prosperity for all Americans. 

“Today, I believe that President Trump has a generational opportunity to unleash a new economic golden age that will create more jobs, wealth and prosperity for all Americans,” Bessent said in his opening remarks for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday. 

“We must secure supply chains that are vulnerable to strategic competitors, and we must carefully deploy sanctions as part of a whole-of-government approach to address our national security requirements,” Bessent said. “And critically, we must ensure that the U.S. dollar remains the world's reserve currency.”

Bessent, a hedge fund billionaire who has previously served as a Trump donor and advisor, also voiced support for extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that Trump signed during his first term. Many of the reforms included in the measure are slated to expire in 2025. 

Bessent is expected to face scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Warren issued a letter to Bessent last week with more than 180 questions pressing for answers on the nominee’s views on deregulation of banks and the financial industry, extending federal tax cuts, and imposing tariffs. 

The Treasury Department is responsible for managing federal finances, and oversees agencies including the Internal Revenue Service.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., introduced to the Senate Finance Committee President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Treasury Department during a confirmation hearing Thursday. 

Trump has nominated South Carolinian and hedge fund billionaire, Scott Bessent, to head up the agency. 

Graham said his response when Trump mentioned Bessent was in consideration for the position was, “Home run, from my point of view.” 

“This man has been successful with everything he’s ever tried to do,” Graham said. “He’s worked really hard. And why did President Trump pick him? He believes that President Trump’s economic agenda is a good fit for this country, and he wants to help President Trump be successful.” 

Graham also requested that the committee determine whether Bessent is qualified for the job – not whether they agree with Bessent on every policy. 

“He deserves this job,” Graham said. “He’s qualified for this job. President Trump, thank you for picking him.”

Lee Zeldin, President-elect Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), defended Trump against criticism by left-wing senators over his views on climate change -- pushing back on the assessment that Trump called it a hoax.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked Zeldin what he thought of Trump's views on climate change.

"Do you agree with President-elect Trump that climate change is a hoax?" he asked.

"I believe that climate change is real as I told you," Zeldin replied. "As far as President Trump goes, the context that I have heard him speak about, it was with a criticism of of policies that have been enacted because of climate change."

"And, I think that he's concerned about the economic costs of some policies where there's a debate, and a difference of opinion between parties."

Sanders was not impressed: "I respectfully disagree with you, he has called it a hoax."