The back-to-back combustible Senate confirmation hearings are over.

But Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), still faces crucial committee and full Senate confirmation votes in his mission to lead 18 powerful federal agencies that oversee the nation’s food and health. 

Testifying in front of the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday and the Health Committee on Thursday, the vaccine skeptic and environmental crusader who ran for the White House in 2024 before ending his bid and endorsing Trump faced plenty of verbal fireworks over past controversial comments.

And while most of the tough questions and sparring over his stances on vaccines, abortion, Medicaid and other issues, came from Democrats on the two committees, Thursday’s hearing ended with the top Republican on the Health panel saying he was ‘struggling’ with Kennedy’s nomination.

‘Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me,’ GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy told the nominee.

The physician from Louisiana, who is a crucial vote and who has voiced concerns over Kennedy’s past stance on vaccines, asked whether Kennedy can ‘be trusted to support the best public health.’

And the senator told Kennedy, who seeks to lead key health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, that ‘you may be hearing from me over the weekend.’

Kennedy faced two days of grilling over his controversial past comments, including his repeated claims in recent years linking vaccines to autism, which have been debunked by scientific research.

And Democrats have also spotlighted Kennedy’s service for years as chair or chief legal counsel for Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit organization he founded that has advocated against vaccines and sued the federal government numerous times, including a challenge over the authorization of the COVID vaccine for children.

One of Thursday’s most heated exchanges came as independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont pushed Kennedy over his past of linking vaccines to autism.

Sanders stated that ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ and asked Kennedy ‘do you agree with that?’

After the nominee didn’t answer, Sanders responded, ‘I asked you a simple question, Bobby.’

Kennedy replied, ‘Senator, if you show me those studies, I will absolutely … apologize.’

‘That is a very troubling response because the studies are there. Your job was to have looked at those studies as an applicant for this job,’ Sanders said.

Later in the hearing, the two also clashed over political contributions to the pharmaceutical industry, with Kennedy referring to Sanders simply as ‘Bernie.’

‘Almost all the members of this panel, including yourself, are accepting millions of dollars from the pharmaceutical industry and protecting their interests,’ Kennedy said.

Sanders immediately pushed back, ‘I ran for president like you. I got millions and millions of contributions. They did not come from the executives, not one nickel of PAC [political action committee] money from the pharmaceutical [companies]. They came from workers.’

Another fiery moment came as Democrat Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire appeared to fight back tears as she noted her son’s struggles with cerebral palsy amid accusations that ‘partisanship’ was behind the Democrats’ blistering questions to Kennedy.

Hassan, who at Wednesday’s hearing charged that Kennedy ‘sold out’ to Trump by altering his position on abortion, on Thursday accused the nominee of ‘relitigating settled science.’

But many of the Republicans on the panel came to Kennedy’s defense, including conservative Sen. Rand Paul.

The ophthalmologist from Kentucky defended Kennedy and took aim at comments about vaccines not causing autism. 

‘We don’t know what causes autism, so we should be more humble,’ Paul said to applause from Kennedy supporters in the committee room audience wearing ‘Make America Healthy Again’ garb.

The 71-year-old Kennedy, a scion of the nation’s most storied political dynasty, launched a long-shot campaign for the Democrat presidential nomination against President Joe Biden in April 2023. But six months later, he switched to an independent run for the White House.

Kennedy made major headlines again last August when he dropped his presidential bid and endorsed Trump. While Kennedy had long identified as a Democrat and repeatedly invoked his late father, former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and his late uncle, former President John F. Kennedy – who were both assassinated in the 1960s – Kennedy in recent years built relationships with far-right leaders due in part to his high-profile vaccine skepticism.

Trump announced soon after the November election that he would nominate Kennedy to his Cabinet to run HHS.

Kennedy, whose outspoken views on Big Pharma and the food industry have also sparked controversy, has said he aims to shift the focus of the agencies he would oversee toward promotion of a healthy lifestyle, including overhauling dietary guidelines, taking aim at ultra-processed foods and getting to the root causes of chronic diseases.

‘Our country is not going to be destroyed because we get the marginal tax rate wrong. It is going to be destroyed if we get this issue wrong,’ Kenendy said Thursday as he pointed to chronic diseases. ‘And I am in a unique position to be able to stop this epidemic.’

The Finance Committee, which will decide on whether to send Kennedy’s nomination to the full Senate, has yet to schedule a date for a confirmation vote.

With Republicans controlling the Senate by a 53-47 majority, Kennedy can only afford to lose the support of three GOP senators if Democrats unite against his confirmation.

And besides Cassidy, two other Republicans on the Health Committee – Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – are potential ‘no’ votes on Kennedy.

Collins on Thursday questioned Kennedy about vaccines, herd immunity as well as his views on Lyme disease. Kenendy pledged that there’s ‘nobody who will fight harder for a treatment for Lyme disease.’

A 50-50 vote in the full Senate would force Vice President JD Vance to serve as the tiebreaker to push the Kennedy nomination over the top, as the vice president did last week with the confirmation of another controversial nominee, now-Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department, former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. 

He secured confirmation with significant bipartisan support and a 79-18 vote.

On Wednesday, senators voted by a 78–20 margin to close debate and move the nomination to a final vote.

Burgum appeared before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in mid-January, where he told lawmakers that national security issues and the economy were his top two priorities for leading the agency. 

‘When energy production is restricted in America, it doesn’t reduce demand,’ Burgum said in his opening statement on Jan. 16. ‘It just shifts production to countries like Russia and Iran, whose autocratic leaders not only don’t care at all about the environment, but they use their revenues from energy sales to fund wars against us and our allies.’

Lawmakers, including Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, questioned Burgum on whether he would permit oil drilling in national parks if Trump asked him to.

‘As part of my sworn duty, I’ll follow the law and follow the Constitution. And so you can count on that,’ Burgum said. ‘And I have not heard of anything about President Trump wanting to do anything other than advancing energy production for the benefit of the American people.’

Burgum served as governor of North Dakota from 2016 to 2024. He also launched a presidential bid for the 2024 election in June 2023, and energy and natural resources were key issues during his campaign.

Burgum appeared during the first two Republican presidential debates, but didn’t qualify for the third and ended his campaign in December 2023. He endorsed Trump for the GOP nomination a month later ahead of the Iowa caucuses.

Aubrie Spady, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.

The Senate Thursday evening advanced President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Energy to a final confirmation vote.

The vote was 62-35. 

Chris Wright, the CEO and founder of Liberty Energy Inc., an energy industry service provider based in Colorado, was tapped by the 47th president to head the  Department of Energy under his administration.

The Trump nominee has received bipartisan support for his nomination, being introduced by a Democrat, Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, during his confirmation hearing with the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee this month.

The Senate held a late-night cloture vote for Wright, to end discussion over his nomination. 

The cloture vote passed with bipartisan support, meaning Wright will advance to a final Senate vote, likely to take place on Friday.

Wright, during his confirmation hearing, said he had identified three ‘immediate tasks’ where he would focus his attention: unleashing American energy, leading the world in innovation and technology breakthroughs and increasing production in America.

Conservatives on social media praised Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, after a thorny exchange with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., during his confirmation hearing on Thursday.

That’s a general statement and a mischaracterization of what I said,’ Patel told Klobuchar in response to questioning about a past quote that the senator suggested showed Patel believes some U.S. Capitol Police officers lied under oath during the Jan. 6 hearings. 

‘I encourage you to read the rest of the interviews,’ Patel added. ‘This is why snippets of information are often misleading and detrimental to this committee’s advice and consent.’

Klobuchar responded, ‘If you consent, I would love to have five hours of questions, and then I could read the whole transcripts.’

‘You’ve got two minutes,’ Patel responded.

‘Wow,’ Klobuchar replied before moving to another topic.

Numerous conservatives on social media praised Patel for his ‘sass’ during the exchange.

‘Amy Klobuchar continues to get outmaneuvered by Kash Patel at every turn of this committee hearing,’ Townhall.com columnist Dustin Grage posted on X.

‘Damnnnn,’ Mark Levin show producer Rich Sementa posted on X. ‘Kash Patel For The Win.’

‘SAVAGE,’ conservative commentator Benny Johnson posted on X.

‘My favorite moment from this hearing,’ former Trump campaign fundraiser Caroline Wren posted on X. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Klobuchar’s office for comment.

The top Republican on the Senate’s chief health committee, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., indicated Thursday during Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s second confirmation hearing of the week that his vote for Trump’s nominee to head Health and Human Services was not a lock, noting that he was ‘struggling’ to confirm Kennedy over his inability to admit vaccines are safe and don’t cause autism.

Kennedy faced two separate hearings in front of Senate lawmakers this week in his bid to be the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy was probed frequently over his views on vaccines, which have been a sticking point for many senators as they figure out whether to vote in favor of Kennedy’s nomination or not.

During the hearings, Kennedy refused to reject claims he has posited publicly in the past that vaccines cause autism and argued he is not anti-vaccine but rather ‘pro-safety.’ Kennedy added during the hearings that his plan as HHS secretary would be to ‘follow the science,’ noting that if the science says he is wrong on vaccines, he will publicly apologize. 

But senators, like Cassidy, have suggested during Kennedy’s confirmation hearings that the science says vaccines are safe — and they don’t cause autism.

‘My responsibility is to learn, try and determine, if you can be trusted to support the best public health,’ Cassidy, a former physician, said during his closing remarks at Kennedy’s Thursday confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP). ‘A worthy movement called ‘MAHA,’’ Cassidy continued, ‘to improve the health of Americans, or to undermine it, always asking for more evidence, and never accepting the evidence that is there … That is why I’ve been struggling with your nomination.’ 

Cassidy repeatedly asked Kennedy during the Thursday hearing to publicly declare that vaccines don’t cause autism, but he refused. ‘That would have an incredible impact,’ Cassidy said. 

‘There are issues we are, man, ultra-processed food, obesity, we are simpatico. We are completely aligned,’ Cassidy continued during his closing remarks. ‘And as someone who has discussed immunizations with thousands of people, I understand that mothers want reassurance that the vaccine their child is receiving is necessary, safe and effective. We agree on that point, the two of us, but we’ve approached it differently. And I think I can say that I’ve approached it using the preponderance of evidence to reassure, and you’ve approached it using selective evidence to cast doubt.’

Meanwhile, Cassidy pointed out the massive ‘megaphone’ Kennedy has as a descendant of former President John F. Kennedy, and questioned whether he will use his credibility ‘to support’ or ‘to undermine’ the nation’s public health and its confidence in vaccines.

‘I got to figure that out, for my vote,’ Cassidy said.