Senator-elect Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, on Saturday defended a bill he recently introduced that would check Cabinet nominees’ foreign dealings.
On Thursday, Kim, a sitting U.S. representative for the Garden State who was elected senator in the November 5 election, introduced a bill that requires nominees for certain senior positions in the Defense Department, State Department and Treasury Department, as well as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, to “publicly disclose information about recent financial transactions with foreign governments.”
The legislation comes after President-elect Donald Trump made some controversial Cabinet picks for his incoming administration. Kim, meanwhile, said on Saturday that the bill had been a long time in the making and was not politically motivated.
“We wrote this bill well before Nov 5. This is not about politics, it’s about our security,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, late Saturday morning.
Newsweek reached out to Kim’s office via telephone and Trump’s team via email for comment Saturday afternoon.
Kim said in a statement on Thursday that the bill is meant to “bolster people’s confidence” in Cabinet picks.
“At a time when trust in government is at historic lows, we need to be taking steps to show the American people they can have faith that their government officials are working to serve their interests first,” the senator-elect said. “This bill would help prioritize transparency in the confirmation process, mitigate foreign influence, and bolster people’s confidence in presidential nominees as they seek to represent our country’s national security interests.”
The bill was also introduced in the upper chamber on Thursday by Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat.
“The American people shouldn’t have to worry that high-ranking government officials are in the pocket of a foreign government,” she said in a statement on Thursday. “The National Security Officials’ Foreign Employment Disclosure Act will guarantee the public and Congress can consider a nominee’s potential loyalties before their confirmation.”
Who Did Trump Pick to Be in His Cabinet?
Former Fox News host Pete Hegseth has been tapped for secretary of defense while former Democratic Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard has been picked for director of national intelligence.
Both have been controversial choices with Paul Rosenzweig, a former federal prosecutor who is now a professorial lecturer at George Washington University, previously telling Newsweek that Trump picking them, along with former U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, for U.S. attorney general, “is a collective middle finger from Trump to America and to those who have devoted their lives to defending her.”
Gaetz, however, withdrew his name from consideration on Thursday, prompting Trump to pick former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as the next U.S. attorney general. Gaetz said he was withdrawing his name because he felt his confirmation would “unfairly” become a “distraction” for Trump’s transition team.
Trump tapping Gaetz sparked renewed scrutiny of the congressman who was being investigated by the House Ethics Committee for alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. Gaetz has denied all allegations before the committee.
Hegseth and Gabbard have military experience, but Politico described them as “dark-horse selections by Trump known more for being media personalities than for their influence on national security matters.”
Hegseth served in the U.S. Army where he did tours in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan. He joined Fox News as a contributor in 2014 before he became a co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend in 2017.
After Trump tapped Hegseth to be defense secretary, a police report alleging that Hegseth sexually assaulted a woman in 2017 was made public. Hegseth told police at the time that his encounter with the woman was consensual and denied any wrongdoing, the report said.
Gabbard, an Army National Guard veteran, gained national attention for her anti-interventionist foreign policy stance and 2020 presidential campaign. Now a loyal ally of Trump, Gabbard advocates for civil liberties, energy independence, and ending U.S. military entanglements abroad.
Meanwhile, Trump has picked Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, to be the next secretary of state and hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, a Trump donor, for treasury secretary. Bessent served as an economic adviser to Trump’s presidential campaign and was one of the president-elect’s most successful fundraisers, Bloomberg Businessweek reported.
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