GOP demands Senate confirm Trump national security team as soon as possible after New Years Day attacks

Republicans are demanding that the Senate confirm President-elect Donald Trump’s national security picks “as soon as possible” after the deadly New Orleans terror attack and potential terror act in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day.“With reports of ISIS inspiration, the American people expect clear answers from the administration,” said incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) on X.“The threat posed by ISIS will outlast this administration, and this is a clear example of why the Senate must get President Trump’s national security team in place as quickly as possible.”“The U.S.Senate must confirm President Trump’s national security team as soon as possible.

Lives depend on it,” Sen.John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) also wrote Wednesday on X, hours after the attacks.Incoming Sens.

Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) also echoed the sentiment, along with Sen.Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who has facilitated meetings between Trump’s appointees and the Republican conference.Republicans will hold a 53-47 majority in the upper chamber once all senators are sworn in on Jan.

3, meaning they can only afford to lose four votes before tanking a confirmation once hearings kick off next week.Some GOPers have already privately expressed reservations about Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, according to Reuters.But none have come out against FBI Director designee Kash Patel, whose agency would oversee the investigation into the attacks.Two US military veterans have been identified as the suspects who carried out the attacks on New Year’s Day.Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army vet, drove through revelers on Bourbon Street early Wednesday in New Orleans, killing at least 14, before he was shot dead while exchanging gunfire with police.Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old former Army special forces drone operator, detonated a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday morning, killin...