Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said he "potentially" will vote "yes" on some of President-elect Donald Trump's most controversial Cabinet picks like Defense Secretary-nominee Pete Hegseth and FBI Director-nominee Kash Patel.
"Potentially," Fetterman told ABC News "This Week" on Sunday.
"But there is going to be some that I will vote yes, and there's some maybe that I'll vote no. But nobody can accuse me of just saying I had a closed mind, or I just said no because Trump picked this person, or whatever."
Fetterman excoriated Democrats for turning their backs on potentially influential Cabinet members, declining meetings he has taken up to the criticism of partisan Democrat obstructionists.
"I think we're going to learn more," Fetterman told Jon Karl. "But, you know, my commitment, and I think I'm doing the job, is I'm going to sit down and have a conversation. And the president picked these people. Not going to be my first choice, second choice, third choice, but that's democracy.
"And to me, it would be distressing if he is confirmed, if the Democrats are going to turn our back collectively to the leader of the defense. I mean, that's astonishing, and that's dangerous."
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Secretary of State-nominee Marco Rubio, R-Fla., are already getting full endorsements from Fetterman, he said.
"If I was, as a Democrat, looking to assemble a bipartisan Cabinet, he'd be a solid choice from a Democrat," Fetterman said of Rubio.
The Democrat senator said he has no regrets breaking from his party to listen to Trump nominees.
"I have learned things and I have heard things, and I have no regrets for having these," Fetterman said. "I never left any of those interviews saying, Well, that was a waste of time, or I regret that."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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