EXCLUSIVE: The leader of most Senate John Thune gets a busy job.
“Senate Republicans are dedicated to pass the candidate of President Trump,” Thune, who was at work by management Senate Six weeks, he told Fox News in an exclusive national digital interview.
Thune was interviewed on the eve of the Rollins Brooke certificate as a secretary of agriculture, which brought 16 numbers of Trump’s nominees approved by the Senate.
Only 11 nominated cabinets were approved by this date eight years ago during Trump’s first term in the White House.
Senate confirms another controversial candidate for Trump’s cabinet
The leader of the majority of the Senate Senator John Thune from South Dakota tells reporters on February 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
And on this date four years ago, the Senate confirmed only seven candidates for the Bidana cabinet.
Rolins’ certificate followed by confirmation of two of Donald Trump The most controversial nominated: former Ambassador Tulsi Gabbard as the director of the National Intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Gabbard and Kennedy were confirmed on votes near the parties in the Chamber of Control of the GOP with most 53-47.
“I think the Republicans of Senate have proven that we are united,” said the Republican of the South Dakota.
Thune, Senate veteran in two decades that has served in the GOP leadership for the last few years before he has succeeded in a longtime leader Senator Mitch McConnell As a top Republican in the Chamber, he emphasized the team effort.
“What you are trying to do is just try to improve people around you,” Thune said. “We have a lot of talent in the Senate, the people who … we want to schedule and use and let them use their gifts and talents [to] Make things here you need to do. “
Senator pointed to his father, former athlete and coach in college, who he told him would advise him to “make an extra passage if someone better shoots. So what we tried to do is look for an opportunity to make an extra passage and I think that really uses the great talent we have here in Senate
Thune says that he met with the president and text quite regularly with the president and through the text.
President Donald Trump talks to the leader of most Senate John Thune, Rs.d., and also went to the president of the house Mike Johnson, R-La. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
“It’s a regular pipeline,” he said. “And his team was really good at working with our team here. I think we had a very constructive employment. And I tell people, our incentives are aligned. We all want to reach the same destination.”
Thune did not always have a constructive relationship with the often unpredictable Trump.
Trump was critical of Thune in the years after his first term and briefly considered supporting the primary challenge against the senators while running for a re -election of 2022.
Thune said that “like a lot of people” had “differences with the president in the past.”
“But I think we currently understand the things we want to end up during his term and the opportunity we have, which is rare in politics, to unite control of the government, house, senate and white house. We have to maximize it, and in order to do so, we must have very The constructive relationship in which there is regular communication, “Thune emphasized.
McConnell was the only Senate Republican who voted against Kennedy and Gabbard’s confirmation. McConnell, who suffered from Polio as a child and is a major advocate of a vaccine, was critical of Kennedy’s high-vaccine skepticism history.
Mitch McConnell (Andrew Hardik/Getty Images)
“I survived Poliolin from my childhood. In my life, I watched vaccines rescue millions of lives from devastating diseases around America and around the world. I will not say goodbye to re -lithinating proven medicines, and even millions of Americans will not even millions of Americans who have their survival and quality of life They attribute to scientific wonders, “McConnell said after voting in Kennedy.
Trump, who has long criticized McConnell, was aiming again.
“I have no idea if he had Polio. All I could tell you about him was that he was not supposed to be a leader. He knows that. He voted against Bobby. He voted against almost everything. He is a very bitter guy,” Trump was charged.
Thune, interviewed after Gabbard’s certificate and on the eve of the final voice of Kennedy, said the 82-year-old McConnell “is still active here and still a strong voice about the issues that he is passionate about, including national security.”
“So, when it comes to these issues, he had a great influence and a voice that we all pay attention to,” Thune said. “There is a view of some of these nominees who may not follow exactly where I or other Republicans demolished, but we respect his attitudes on these, some of these noses, and I know that about a lot of great things that are before us will be with us.
Thune added: “I have had a lot of counseling with him over the years and in recent months and weeks, and we will continue to contact him when we think it makes sense to get a country that, based on his experience, can help us move.”
Senate majority leader John Thune from southern Dakota, right, talks to reporters, February 11, 2025, after lunch of Senate policies on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
While this week he enjoyed the victory of the certificate, Thune is realistic.
“I feel good as it went so far, but we have something very difficult to do so. We know that, and we just have to put our heads down and do a job,” he warned.
Although the Trump’s cabinet confirms is currently a job no. 1, thune juggling numerous tasks.
“Obviously, most of our time is occupied by the movement of the president’s team and confirming his nominee, and we will continue to do so. But while we are going to that procedure, we are looking for Windows, to move an important legislation,” he said.
He pointed to the Laken Riley Law, who quickly adopted him and the home and Trump signed him.
A controversial measure, named after a sister student who was killed by an illegal immigrant while running at the Georgia University campus, requires federal immigration bodies to attract illegal immigrants who were found guilty of crimes associated with theft.
Thune emphasized that the legislation captured two -sided support, but added that it was “a proposal for the law that was reacted to an election term, which was also a proposal for the law shared by Democrats and the united republics.”
He also punished his predecessor as the leader of the Senate majority, the Democrat of Senator Chuck Schumer of New York.
Thune claimed that during the time of Schumer’s term “under the stray. You know, the voices would last forever. We are just trying to make more effectively use of people’s time and give this place scheduled again. We are again. We will continue to do it and come back to the regular in order. “
