'Far too much at stake': Watchdog warns Dems against fast-tracking Trump nominees

With the Republican-controlled Senate set to hold confirmation hearings for more than a dozen of President-elect Donald Trump's nominees this week, a watchdog group on Tuesday urged Democrats to oppose any effort to ram the picks through without sufficiently aggressive questioning and vetting.

"There's far too much at stake for our national security and economy for senators to rubber stamp any of President-elect Trump's nominees without doing their due diligence," Tony Carrk, executive director of Accountable.US, said in a statement. "Trump has lost any benefit of the doubt with his nominations of people with serious conflicts of interest and ethical problems. These nominees should be subject to more than a skin-deep examination of their records and senators who would fast-track nominations in the interest of going home early for the weekend would not be acting in the public interest."

Accountable demanded that all Trump picks be "fully and properly vetted—including all the required disclosures and clearances for each nominee." The group pointed to reports that Trump's transition team has been "bypassing traditional FBI background checks for at least some of his Cabinet picks while using private companies to conduct vetting of potential candidates for administration jobs."

The New York Times reported Tuesday that an FBI background check on Pete Hegseth, Trump's choice to lead the Pentagon, "omitted key details on major allegations against him, in part because it did not include interviews with critical witnesses."

"One missed opportunity came when the bureau did not interview one of Mr. Hegseth's ex-wives before its findings were presented to senators last week," the Times noted.

The newspaper's reporting came shortly before Hegseth, a defender of war criminals who has been accused of sexual assault, appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday for his confirmation hearing, during which he pledged to "bring the warrior culture back to the Pentagon" and be "laser-focused on lethality."

Laura Grego, senior scientist and research director for the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said ahead of Hegseth's hearing that he is unqualified and "downright dangerous."

Hegseth is one of 13 Trump nominees who will appear before nearly a dozen Senate panels this week as Democrats face progressive backlash for not doing enough to resist the president-elect's picks.

Punchbowl reported Tuesday that "Senate Republicans want Trump's national security nominees to be confirmed on day one—or close to it—but Democrats are determined to expose what they see as an unfit nominee in Hegseth."

"It's virtually guaranteed that Democrats won't agree to fast-track Hegseth's nomination on the floor, even if it's clear he'd have the requisite votes to be confirmed," the outlet added. "All it takes is one Democrat to refuse to consent to fast-tracking any of these nominees, meaning Senate Majority Leader John Thune would have to burn a few days of floor time to confirm each one."