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“Can you say no to the president of the United States when he asks you to do something unethical or illegal?”
That question, posed by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut to Pam Bondi, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department, echoed through hearing rooms across the Capitol this week.
Democrats wanted to know if Trump’s appointees would put personal loyalty to the president before their duty to uphold the Constitution or to do what’s right.
“If the president says to you, ‘I don’t care what the law says, I don’t like California, and I’m not going to give them the disaster aid they need’, [are] you … going to stand up to the president and say, ‘Sir, that is not appropriate’?” New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan asked Russ Vought, Trump’s choice for Office of Management and Budget director.
Vought responded that he doesn’t “engage in hypotheticals,” adding that “the president would never ask me to do something along those lines.”
Bondi, meanwhile, brushed off the question: “I am not going to sit up here and say anything that I need to say to get confirmed by this body.”
Trump is famous for demanding unbridled allegiance from Republican lawmakers, his political appointees and, well, everyone around him.
And he’s been burned before: Only half of the 42 people who served in his Cabinet during his first term supported his 2024 campaign, according to an accounting by The Washington Post. And some were very public in their rejection of Trump.
On Wednesday, the president-elect declared on his Truth Social platform that any job candidate who worked for those he deemed less than loyal would not be hired by his administration. He called out a long list of onetime allies, including former Vice President Mike Pence; “Dumb as a Rock” John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser; and “Birdbrain” Nikki Haley, who was ambassador to the United Nations during his first term and ran against him for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
Starting gate
#FLSEN: Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is set to join the Senate as soon as next week. Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Moody as his pick to succeed Marco Rubio, who appears on track to be confirmed as Trump’s secretary of State as soon as Monday. A special election to complete Rubio’s term will be held next year, and Moody could face competition from at least one House Republican if she runs.
Appointed, now what? Roll Call Editor-in-Chief Jason Dick looks at senators who first joined the chamber via appointments. That list comprises 206 members, including 11 currently in office, soon to be joined by Moody and Vice President-elect JD Vance’s successor in Ohio. Of the appointed senators who chose to run in the next election to fill the seat, 70 won their races while 61 lost either in the general, special or primary election following their appointment. Jason dives deeper into senatorial appointments in a conversation with Roll Call elections analyst Nathan L. Gonzales on this week’s Political Theater podcast.
Waiting on DeWine: Vance’s resignation from the Senate took effect on Friday, but as of this newsletter send time, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine had yet to announce his pick to succeed Vance.
Saying goodbye: President Joe Biden used his prime-time farewell address Wednesday night to defend his record and to issue dire warnings about threats of a potential “oligarchy” and the powerful technology sector, Roll Call’s John T. Bennett reports.
House boomerang: Indiana Rep. Marlin Stutzman returned to the House this year, eight years after a failed Senate bid. He told CQ Roll Call’s Caitlin Reilly that he feels “rejuvenated” to be back and that the 2024 class is bringing a “new energy” to the chamber.
Tardy in the Tar Heel State: CQ Roll Call opinion columnist Mary C. Curtis offers her take on a North Carolina Supreme Court race that is yet to be finalized. The trailing Republican candidate is challenging the validity of about 60,000 ballots in a contest where the winning margin was 734 votes out of more than 5.5 million cast.
ICYMI
Ad watch: Americans for Prosperity, the advocacy group backed by billionaire Charles Koch, launched a $20 million campaign nationwide urging lawmakers to renew the 2017 tax law, which is set to be a major focal point this year. Meanwhile, House Majority Forward, the policy arm of House Democrats’ top super PAC, launched digital ads in nine Republican-held districts tying House Republicans to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick for Health and Human Services secretary, and high grocery prices. The ads target Reps. Nick Begich of Alaska; Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn of Iowa; Thomas H. Kean Jr. of New Jersey; Nick LaLota and Mike Lawler of New York; and Ryan Mackenzie, Rob Bresnahan Jr. and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.
Justice Dems return: The progressive group Justice Democrats signaled a return to backing challengers to Democratic incumbents with the launch of a candidate recruitment effort for both open and blue seats. “After once again losing to Donald Trump and failing to win majorities in the Senate and House, we are in a pivotal moment for the Democratic Party,” Alexandra Rojas and Usamah Andrabi — the group’s executive director and spokesperson, respectively — wrote in an op-ed. “If Democrats want to be the party of the working class, they need to start confronting the power structures that institutionalize inequality.”
#TNGOV: Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn has been making calls about running for Tennessee governor, Axios reports. Blackburn, who was elected to a second Senate term last fall, would succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Bill Lee and would be the Volunteer State’s first female governor if elected.
#FLGOV: NBC News reports that Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., is making known to campaign donors and others that he’s running for governor of the Sunshine State in 2026. DeSantis, the Republican incumbent, is term-limited.
#OKGOV: Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond launched a campaign for governor this week, although he is unlikely to be the only high-profile Republican seeking to succeed term-limited Gov. Kevin Stitt in the deep-red state.
Legislative update: A coalition of Republican and Democratic members of the Texas House elected GOP state Rep. Dustin Barrows as speaker this week over a candidate backed by the GOP’s insurgent wing, according to the Texas Tribune. Meanwhile, in Vermont, the Legislature selected Republican John Rodgers as lieutenant governor, a step necessary after neither Rodgers nor Progressive/Democratic incumbent David Zuckerman received more than 50 percent of the vote in November as required by the state constitution, VTDigger reports. And in Minnesota, the standoff over electing a speaker to the state House is heading to court. The St. Paul Pioneer Press has more.
Where are they now: Former Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., has joined Liberty Partners as a senior policy adviser. Former Rep. Larry Bucshon, R-Ind., is now with Holland & Knight as a senior policy adviser in its Public Policy and Regulation Group.
What we’re reading
Ethics update: New Georgia Project, a nonprofit founded by former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, admitted to violating state law by campaigning for Abrams during her 2018 run for governor, The New York Times reports. The group at that time was led by now-Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.
Jill Biden exit interview: The first lady reflected on the past year and expressed her dismay with Nancy Pelosi after the former speaker publicly voiced concerns about President Biden’s ability to defeat Trump. “We were friends for 50 years,” Jill Biden told The Washington Post. “It was disappointing.”
The minds of men: The New York Times convened a focus group of 12 men who supported Trump in November and asked their opinion on everything from their news diet to how they feel about the economy.
Red caucus, blue state: The Baltimore Banner reports on the newly formed Maryland Freedom Caucus, one of about a dozen state-based political groups modeled after the hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus. Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, chair of the congressional faction, was on hand in Annapolis to help launch the group.
Fighting fires: The devastating scenes from Los Angeles have put a spotlight on wildfires and the new reality of a never-ending fire season. Newly elected Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy, who ran an aerial firefighting company, talked to CNN about finding bipartisan solutions to the threat. CNN also spoke with Democratic freshman Rep. George Whitesides of California, who co-founded Megafire Action, which develops policies to address fast-moving large-scale fires.
The count: 9
Of the 66 freshman members of the House, that’s how many had campaign TikTok accounts.
The popular video app is facing a potential U.S. ban Sunday if parent company ByteDance doesn’t sell its American subsidiary. But Trump, who has flipped from TikTok foe to friend, is reportedly considering ways to, at least temporarily, not enforce the law that would ban the social media platform, The Washington Post reported. And TikTok CEO Shou Chew plans to attend Trump’s inauguration and “sit in a position of honor on the dais” along with other tech bigwigs, according to The New York Times.
Trump’s fellow Republicans, however, remain largely skeptical of the app. All nine freshmen with campaign TikTok accounts are Democrats. Conservative Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., blasted the platform and its defenders earlier this week, mocking Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., for invoking Trump’s new position while introducing a bill that would extend the Jan. 19 deadline for ByteDance to begin a divestment process.
Nathan’s notes
At this early stage of the 2026 cycle, Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates just five senators (three Democrats and two Republicans) as vulnerable. It represents the smallest initial Senate battleground going back to 1994, when The Rothenberg Political Report, Inside Elections’ predecessor, started rating races. And that appears to be good news for Republicans, Nathan writes.
Coming up
Trump will be inaugurated for a second, nonconsecutive term Monday, which is expected to set off a flurry of executive orders and Senate votes on his Cabinet nominees who have sat for confirmation hearings this week.
Photo finish
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The post At the Races: Stand by me appeared first on Roll Call.
