A Tennessee senator joined Donald Trump Jr. on his “Triggered” podcast Thursday evening to discuss President Donald Trump’s agenda and the Senate confirmation hearings for his cabinet.
Trump Jr. said Democrats acted holier-than-thou as the hearings took place and asked U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., how she kept a straight face.
Blackburn said Democratic senators were re-hashing useless things and trying to discredit Kash Patel, Trump’s pick for FBI director, during his hearing.
Patel, a longtime Trump ally, was senior counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and was a vocal critic of the FBI investigation into ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Blackburn said she asked Patel why Democrats feared him and said he told her he didn’t know why.
“So I said, ‘I’ll tell you why they fear you,'” Blackburn said she told Patel. “‘It is because of what really happened over there at the House Intel Committee. You are going to clean the cabal out of the FBI, and you are going to get this thing on the right track.'”
Democrats pushed Patel at his hearing over past statements that the FBI is corrupt and that he would shut down the FBI headquarters and open a “deep state” museum. They accused him of publishing an “enemies list” in his book, “Government Gangsters,” which he denied. And they criticized him for promoting a recording of Jan. 6, 2021, defendants singing together in a choir. He said he did not know some of them had been accused of violence.
“I did not know about the violent offenders,” Patel said. “And I did not participate in any of the violence in and around Jan. 6.”
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., questions Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s choice to be director of the FBI, during Patel’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)HEALTH NOMINEE
Blackburn also said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a known vaccine skeptic and Trump’s pick for health secretary, did a superb job at his hearing.
“I thought he really did such a solid presentation representing himself,” Blackburn said, “representing President Trump’s opinion and approach.”
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, was not sold on Kennedy.
“The facts are clear,” Cohen said on social media, “vaccines work, and RFK Jr. has no business running HHS.”
Blackburn said she believes the Senate will confirm all of Trump’s nominees and that if any of the senators do not vote for the nominees, Vice President JD Vance will be there to break any ties.
Blackburn touted her proposed DOGE Acts, a series of legislation aimed at freezing federal hiring and salaries, implementing merit-based promotions and removing virtual work opportunities for federal employees, among other things. She applauded Trump’s related executive orders.
While Trump Jr. peppered Blackburn with questions about Democrats and RINOs, or Republicans in name only, she wove in mentions of her bipartisan work to address online safety issues for children and rural health care disparities.
Blackburn also pointed to legislation she’s sponsored to resume DNA testing for adults and children who arrive at the border to determine familial relation — something done under the first Trump administration and halted under former President Joe Biden’s administration. Blackburn said the testing was to protect children from trafficking. Critics of the measure have said Trump’s data collection plan would have expanded government collection of sensitive biometrics, according to CNN.
“We are hopeful that the Democrats eventually realize that President Donald Trump was given a mandate in November, and it is up to us to enact that mandate,” Blackburn said. “And some of these Democrats that are in red states need to realize that their constituents voted for President Trump and gave that mandate, and they expect them to work with our president and to work with us to get this turned into law and get these laws on the books.”
Trump was elected to a second term with 49.8% of the vote, compared to 48.3% for Democrat Kamala Harris.
Contact Sarah Dolgin at sdolgin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6556.