ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - This week, President-elect Donald Trump made a flurry of announcements in regards to the Trump administration, with some of the announcements include tabbing Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, former Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard being tabbed as director of national intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary.
Most notably, Trump announced this week that Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz was tabbed to run the Justice Department as U.S. Attorney General, leading to plenty of reaction nationally, including from members of the Republican Party.
Immediately after the nomination, Gaetz abruptly resigned from Congress on Wednesday, effectively ending the ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations that he engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
KMOX Political Analyst John Hancock, host of 'Hancock and Kelley' and former chair of the Missouri Republican Party gave his reaction to Trump tabbing Gaetz to become Attorney General on Friday.
"With a pick like Matt Gaetz, what that does in a practical sense is it makes some of the other controversial picks more likely to get confirmed," said Hancock. "You look at a situation like Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense nominee, that was a controversial pick days ago, but a pick of Gaetz makes Hegseth much more likely to be confirmed now."
"The Senate is going to be reluctant to reject a wholesale number of these nominees. Gaetz is the one that is almost certainly not going to be confirmed."
Despite Gaetz resigning from Congress, Hancock still expects that the House Ethics Committee report into Gaetz will be made public.
Hancock also gave his thoughts on some other Trump nominees, including RFK Jr.
"I think there's a reasonable chance, likelihood he will be confirmed," said Hancock. "Now, if you want to put them in the most perilous order, I would say Gaetz is most likely to be rejected, then I think there will be real questions about Tulsi Gabbard, then RFK on that list."
"And (Trump) is not done yet. There's going to be some other nominees revealed over the next several days."