Nominees for Trump's administration continue to make their rounds on Capitol Hill, where they've been holding meetings and courting favor for days.
Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to direct the FBI, was in meetings with lawmakers the same day that current Director Chris Wray announced he would resign at the end of President Biden's term.
Patel met with Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, on Wednesday. Before the meeting, he told reporters he was ready to begin work immediately if he's confirmed.
Wray's departure may make Patel's path to confirmation easier.
And some Republican Senators have told Scripps News they see no reason their colleagues would object to Patel's nomination during confirmation hearings.
"I think this is a great development," Sen. Josh Hawley, R-MO, told reporters. "I think this is long overdue and much needed. I look forward to confirming his successor."
"I don't know what the opposition to Kash Patel really is," Hawley said. "I understand he is a conservative, and I understand my liberal colleagues don't like that. But a conservative just won the election."
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Meanwhile, Pete Hegseth, Trump's nominee for secretary of defense, continues to meet with lawmakers. There is not as much discussion of potentially replacing Hegseth as the nominee as there was last week.
Sen. Susan Collins told reporters on Wednesday that she had asked Hegseth numerous questions about allegations of sexual assault.
His comments on Wednesday also suggested his stance on women serving in the military has shifted.
Before he was nominated to be secretary of defense, Hegseth made comments on the Shawn Ryan Show Podcast that women do not belong in combat roles.
“I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective. Hasn’t made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated,” he said at the time.
On Wednesday, Hegseth told reporters "I look forward to being a leader for every single member of this Pentagon, men and women."
