1. United States
2. W.V.
3. Letter

The Senate must reject the nominations of Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary, Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, Matt Gaetz for Attorney General, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services Secretary. These individuals pose grave risks to national security, public health, and the rule of law. Hegseth is alarmingly unqualified, having no meaningful experience in defense or national security beyond his military service, which ended under disputed circumstances. Placing an inexperienced television personality in control of the world's most powerful military and inserting him into the nuclear chain of command endangers us all during an international crisis. Gabbard's troubling foreign engagements, like meeting secretly with the Syrian dictator, make her a potential security threat unsuitable for overseeing America's intelligence agencies. Her political views raise legitimate insider threat concerns. Gaetz faces credible allegations of sexual misconduct and would likely abuse the Justice Department to persecute President Trump's perceived enemies rather than uphold equal justice under law. Kennedy is a renowned anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist whose anti-science views imperil public health, especially endangering children if he gained control over health policy. While the president has latitude in nominations, the Senate exists as a crucial check and must deny consent to these uniquely unfit and dangerous picks that threaten core national interests. Confirming them would be an abrogation of the Senate's constitutional advice and consent duty.