Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) on Sunday signaled an openness to supporting Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for their respective posts in the forthcoming Trump administration but said he has concerns about some of President-elect Trump’s other choices.
In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” anchor Dana Bash asked Kim whether he could imagine voting for Kash Patel or Pete Hegseth, whom Trump selected to serve as head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and secretary of Defense, respectively.
Kim responded by pointing to Stefanik and Rubio – whom Trump tapped to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and secretary of State, respectively – as nominees he could get behind.
“Look, I have had conversations with Congresswoman Elise Stefanik. I had a sit-down with Senator Rubio. You know, I’m still going through the process, and I want to make sure I do it right, but those were, those were good conversations, where we were able to dive in deep,” Kim said when asked about Patel and Hegseth.
“So, you know, I think that there are some nominees that are people I think I can work with,” Kim added.
Kim said, however, that his concerns lie with Patel and Hegseth. He noted specifically his concerns about Patel’s past comments about dismantling the “deep state” and Hegseth’s remarks against women serving in the military, which he has since walked back.
“But I also am deeply concerned about what I’ve heard Mr. Patel say in the past, and about going after things, you know, like he is being nominated for a role to lead an agency that he has talked about dismantling, talked about the deep state and, you know, and going after,” Kim said. “I was a career public servant before in the federal government, I worked under both Bush and Obama. I served the country, not a party, and I worry about some of the tones there.”
Kim said he hopes to talk to Hegseth, but so far, he has “real concerns.”
“With Hegseth, I hope to have a chance to be able to speak with him, but some of what he said before about not thinking that women should serve in combat, some of the other allegations that we’ve heard about, deeply alarming. I worked at the Pentagon before, in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. I know what that job is like, and I need to know whether or not he is up to the task. And so far, I have real concerns.”
