White House warns of ‘consequences’ for Republicans who don’t support all of Trump’s nominees

The White House is seeking to send a message to reticent Senate Republicans to get on board with all of President Donald Trump’s nominees, warning of political consequences for those who defy him.

“It’s pass-fail. You either support everyone or you don’t,” a senior White House official told. “The Senate needs to advise and consent, not advise and adjust.”

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The Republican-controlled Senate gave Trump a scare Friday when Pete Hegseth squeaked through by the slimmest possible margin, losing three GOP senators and requiring Vice President JD Vance to break the tie to confirm him as secretary of defense.

And there are more controversial nominees coming before committees this week, including Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services secretary and Kash Patel for FBI director. All face a rocky path, and their hearings could be decisive.

“There is a very well-funded consortium of outside groups and political actors that are sophisticated, smart and tough. We’ve already seen that they’ve provided air support and narrative support to some nominees,” said the official, referring to allied groups close to, but not directly controlled by, the White House. “They’ll still be very well-funded when the nominations are over, and they’ll exact consequences, I’m sure, to those who do not support the president’s nominees and get them to the finish line.”

The stark warning comes as the newly inaugurated president stands at a moment of maximum political capital — and wants to spend it on securing support for his high-level nominees, some of whom are viewed with deep skepticism among Democrats and Republicans, who question their qualifications, judgment, ideology and ethics (or in the case of Hegseth, all four).

Most Republicans see it as their duty to support Trump’s picks.

“There is a strong feeling in our caucus that the president gets deference to get his team on the field. The people elected him to do that,” said Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota, who acknowledged that there are “some differences of opinion” within the conference about certain nominees.

“And those are the ones that are more challenging to get through,” he added.

Still, there is some unease. One Republican senator who has voted for all of Trump’s nominees so far said his colleagues will be wary of national security picks who “sound more like Tucker Carlson than a Republican,” referring to the hard-right conservative commentator who has been seen as friendly to U.S. adversaries such as Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We’ll only give so much,” said the senator, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the internal Senate thinking. “Because this is the future of the country. It’s not entertainment television.”

The White House is most concerned about Gabbard, with the official saying she has “the most work for herself” ahead.

“She needs to emphasize that she knows how critical intelligence is, and this is a life-or-death matter,” the official said.

The three Republicans who opposed Hegseth were Maine’s Susan Collins, a blue-state GOP senator facing re-election in 2026; Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, a moderate who has overcome challenges from the right for many years; and Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell, who recently stepped down as the longest-serving leader in Senate history and is widely expected to retire after his term ends in January 2027.

Trump has less leverage over those three senators than the other 50. And Republicans can afford only three defections.

Another senator, North Carolina’s Thom Tillis, was on the fence about Hegseth until the very end, and the White House feared he might tank the nominee. Tillis also faces re-election in 2026, but needs to get through a GOP primary first.

“Were we frustrated? Yes. Concerned about the remote chance it could go down? Sure,” the senior White House official said of Tillis’ hesitations.

The Trump pressure campaign came after Republicans quietly tanked the nomination of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to be attorney general.

Hegseth, who faces allegations of sexual assault (which he has denied) and has said women shouldn’t serve in the military, initially faced some skepticism, including from Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a combat veteran and survivor of sexual assault. Ernst, who faces re-election next year and came under immense pressure to get on board, eventually voted for Hegseth.

“With all deliberate speed, the WH wants the cabinet nominees confirmed — President Trump doesn’t need to signal that to MAGA , we know it — anyone standing in the way will get the same treatment Joni Ernst and Tom Tillis received,” Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief White House strategist and an influential right-wing media figure, said in a text message.

Bannon also warned that McConnell “will be singled out for special treatment this coming week.”

During his hearing, Republicans allowed just one round of questioning of Hegseth, which flabbergasted some Democrats who were already angry that the nominee had refused to meet with them. One GOP lawmaker said Democrats were ineffective against him and missed an opportunity.

“I think the Democrats never made the argument that confirming Pete Hegseth resets the standards for the military,” the lawmaker said.

Democrats reject the idea that they haven’t been effective at questioning Trump’s nominees. Still, they are gearing up for a robust line of questioning moving forward, particularly of Gabbard.

“She has qualification issues. Her resume is thin for this job. There will be questions about her qualifications” and “her policy stances that don’t align with the mainstream for the intelligence community,” a Senate Democratic aide said.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said Democrats are coordinating strategy.

“We should get two rounds for every major nominee,” he said Friday in an interview. “For us to have someone like Pete Hegseth up to be secretary of defense, where he has refused to meet with many of the Democrats in the committee, where they really haven’t had a chance to fully consider his record, I think is unfortunate.”

After the Hegseth vote, some Democrats were livid.