确认听证会将成为特朗普新政府的第一个重要时刻
【中美创新时报2025 年 1 月 13 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）本周确认听证会开始时，将展示的不仅仅是当选总统特朗普的提名人。这将是公众首次看到华盛顿的新政治现实——以及两党在针锋相对时将部署的策略。《波士顿环球报》记者Tal Kopan 对此作了下述报道。
民主党将试图在反对特朗普（甚至可能阻碍一些有争议的提名人的确认）和挽回部分支持者（这些支持者在 11 月显然转向特朗普）之间找到平衡。共和党人将试图在快速确认特朗普提名人的同时，保持独立性和反对任何他们认为不合适的人选的能力。
整个戏剧将以五分钟为单位进行，参议员们将轮流在电视听证会上质询提名人，这将影响许多美国人对新特朗普政府的第一印象。
本周将举行几场备受瞩目和争议的提名听证会，包括国防部长提名人皮特·赫格塞斯、司法部长提名人帕姆·邦迪、国土安全部提名人兼南达科他州州长克里斯蒂·诺姆，以及特朗普挑选的环境保护局局长李·泽尔丁。
赫格塞斯的听证会将于周二上午开始，可能是最具争议的听证会之一。这位前福克斯新闻名人和退伍军人被指控性行为不端和酗酒，以及对支持退伍军人的非营利组织管理不善。他还发表了关于军队中女性的有争议的言论，并表示她们不应该参加战斗。据哥伦比亚广播公司报道，一些共和党人对赫格塞斯表示了保留意见，但参议院领导层私下认为他有足够的票数获得确认。
他在参议院军事委员会的听证会将是参议员们在来年展示他们的辩论技巧的早期机会，因为民主党正在寻找方法说服更多共和党参议员反对他，而赫格塞斯的支持者则试图进行辩护。
马萨诸塞州参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦在本周公开发布的一封致赫格塞斯的长达 33 页的信中预览了她可能对这些指控提出的一些问题，她说此举是由于赫格塞斯没有在听证会前与她私下会面，这是被提名者的惯例。她说他拒绝了；特朗普过渡团队表示这是由于日历和日程安排困难。
“我已经告诉他我担心什么，我也告诉他我想问什么，”沃伦说。 “我在听证会上的职责是帮助创建这个人的公开记录，以便所有参议员，无论是民主党人还是共和党人，在投票时都能参考。”
在确认听证会上创造令人难忘的时刻并不像看起来那么简单。参议员通常只有几分钟的时间来轮流提问，党派之间交替提问，而提名人则要准备数周，了解参议员们最关心的问题，并通过模拟听证会来练习他们的回答，特别是在敌对质询下。
听证会不仅要说服同事如何投票，还要塑造公众观点。
“我认为挑战在于……阐明特朗普提名人的极端立场，”马萨诸塞州参议员埃德·马基说，他的委员会本周将听取泽尔丁的意见，并在尚未安排的日期听取卫生和公共服务提名人罗伯特·F·肯尼迪的意见。 “公众必须将他们提供的证词视为即将发生的暴行的预兆。”
共和党人也一直在准备支持特朗普的提名人。
“如果民主党人想给提名人制造麻烦，他们就会采取进攻手段，”北达科他州参议员凯文·克莱默说。“当这种情况发生时，我们的角色，至少在我看来，是防守。”
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例如，共和党参议员可以给被提名者一个机会，让他们跟进那些他们可能没有时间回答或不想收尾的问题。克莱默说，在听证会上，他不会问一半他准备好的问题，这样他就可以对出现的问题或争论点保持反应。他指出，在包括军队在内的几个委员会中，他通常是在沃伦之后被问到的，沃伦以她详细而对抗性的提问风格而闻名。
“我总是想提供一点收尾工作，”克莱默说。“我喜欢伊丽莎白，我真的喜欢，我认为她是最聪明的人之一，我喜欢和她一起做我们能达成一致的事情。我喜欢和她争吵……但我经常这样做。”
前阿拉巴马州参议员道格·琼斯是一名民主党人，他曾担任最高法院法官凯坦吉·布朗·杰克逊所谓的夏尔巴人或确认指南，他将多数派的目标描述为“首先，不造成伤害”。他说，共和党人知道他们的哪些提名人最脆弱，并将尽早解决已知争议的问题。
“就像作为一名出庭律师，你总是试图做的事情之一就是试图将自己的弱点摆在前面，”前检察官琼斯说。“承认这些弱点，并提供解释这些弱点的机会，这样它们最终就只是弱点，而不是负担。”
四年前负责监督拜登-哈里斯过渡团队确认过程并经营一家拉丁裔选民参与公司的斯蒂芬妮·瓦伦西亚说，在提前进行这样的安排的情况下，试图让提名人出丑可能不是最好的重点。
瓦伦西亚说，确认听证会现在大多已成为“某种程度上的政治舞台”，民主党人应该明智地将其视为一个机会，通过社交媒体进行友好的互动，重新吸引选民的注意力。她补充说，他们应该明智地避免那些被认为太左或与日常关注无关的问题。
“现在是民主党真正需要以一种让美国人民容易接受的方式创造这种对比的时刻，”瓦伦西亚说。“现在是我们可以重新关注选民的真正焦虑的时候，不要在与此不符的事情上过度表现，因为那将成为我们的讽刺画。”
有迹象表明民主党已经采取了这种方法。新泽西州参议员科里·布克在参议院少数党领导层中担任了新的信息传递职位，他将听证会的主题定为维护普通选民。
“民主党有一个非常明确的信息，”布克说。“我们希望支持真正为美国人民而战的候选人，而不是为特殊利益而战，不是为人民致富而战，不是为剥夺我们的自由而战。”
琼斯说，最终，一些最重要的时刻可能来自即兴发挥和密切关注。
“有时，没有接受过律师培训的人往往不听答案，而且他们过于专注于问题，”琼斯说。“有时候，如果证人提供机会，你就必须准备好抓住机会。”
《环球报》特约撰稿人 Sam Brodey 对本报告亦有贡献。
题图：本周将举行对 Pete Hegseth、参议员 Marco Rubio 等人的确认听证会。政治记者 Sam Brodey 解释了预期情况。
附原英文报道：
Confirmation hearings to offer first big moments of the new Trump administration
By Tal Kopan Globe Staff,Updated January 13, 2025
Confirmation hearings for Pete Hegseth, Senator Marco Rubio, and more are this week. Political reporter Sam Brodey explains what to expect.
WASHINGTON — When confirmation hearings kick off this week, more than just President-elect Trump’s nominees will be on display. It will be the public’s first glimpse of the new political reality in Washington — and a look at the strategies each party will deploy as they go toe-to-toe.
Democrats will be looking to thread the needle between opposing Trump — perhaps even tripping up confirmation of some controversial nominees — and courting back part of their base of support that apparently swung toward Trump in November. Republicans will be trying to balance confirming Trump’s nominees at a rapid clip while maintaining their independence and ability to object to anyone they find unsuitable.
The entire drama will play out in five-minute increments, as senators take their turns questioning the nominees at the made-for-TV hearings that will shape many Americans’ first impressions of the new Trump administration.
Several of the more high-profile and controversial nominations will have hearings this week, including defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, homeland security secretary nominee and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, and Trump’s pick for Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Lee Zeldin.
Hegseth’s hearing, which begins Tuesday morning, will potentially be one of the most contentious. The former Fox News personality and veteran has been accused of sexual misconduct and excessive drinking as well as mismanagement of pro-veteran nonprofits. He has also made controversial statements about women in the military and has said they should not serve in combat. Some Republicans have expressed reservations about Hegseth, though Senate leadership privately believes he has the votes to be confirmed, according to CBS.
His hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee will be an early opportunity for senators to debut their sparring techniques for the upcoming year, as Democrats look for ways to persuade more Republican senators to oppose him and Hegseth’s backers try to play defense.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren previewed some of her possible questions about the allegations in a 33-page letter to Hegseth released publicly this week, a move she said was prompted by Hegseth not meeting with her privately ahead of the hearing, as is customary of nominees. She said he refused; the Trump transition team said it was due to the calendar and scheduling difficulties.
“I’ve told him what I’m concerned about and I’ve told him what I want to ask about,” Warren said. “My job in the hearing is to help create the public record of who this man is so that it’s there for all of the senators, Democrats and Republicans, to consider when they vote.”
Creating memorable moments in confirmation hearings isn’t as straightforward as it might seem. Senators typically only have a few minutes for their rounds of questions, alternating between party, and nominees prepare for weeks, learning senators’ pet issues and going through mock hearings in order to practice their answers, particularly under hostile questioning.
The hearing is as much about shaping the public view as it is convincing colleagues on how to vote.
“I see the challenge as … the illumination of the extreme positions of Trump’s nominees,” said Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, whose committees will hear from Zeldin this week and health and human services nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., at a yet-to-be-scheduled date. “It’s imperative that the public see the testimony that they deliver as a preview of coming atrocities.”
Republicans have also been preparing to support Trump’s nominees.
“If Democrats want to make trouble for a nominee, they’re going to be on offense,” said North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer. “When that happens, our role, at least the way I see it, is to play defense.”
Republican senators can give nominees an opportunity, for instance, to follow up on questions that they might not have had time to answer or want to clean up. In hearings, Cramer said, he doesn’t ask half the questions he prepares so that he can stay responsive to issues or points of contention that come up. He noted that in several committees, including Armed Services, he’s usually next up after Warren, who is known for her detailed and adversarial questioning style.
”I always want to provide a little bit of cleanup,” Cramer said. “I love Elizabeth, I do, I think she’s one of the brightest people, and I like working with her actually on things we can agree on. I love doing battle with her … but that happens to me a lot.”
Former Alabama senator Doug Jones, a Democrat who also served as the so-called sherpa, or confirmation guide, to Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, described the goal of the majority as first, “do no harm.” He said Republicans are aware which of their nominees are most vulnerable and will try to get answers to known controversies addressed early.
“It’s just like as a trial lawyer, one of the things you always try to do is try to get your weaknesses out front,” said Jones, a former prosecutor. “Own those weaknesses and offer the opportunity to explain those weaknesses, so they end up being a only a weakness and not a liability.”
With such orchestration in advance, trying to trip up nominees may not be the best focus, said Stephanie Valencia, who oversaw the confirmation process for the Biden-Harris transition team four years ago and runs a Latino voter engagement firm.
Valencia said confirmation hearings have mostly become “somewhat political theater at this point,” and Democrats would be smart to see it as such — an opportunity to have social media-friendly interactions that recapture voters’ attention. They’d be smart to avoid issues perceived as too far left or off-topic from everyday concerns, she added.
“This is a moment in time when Democrats really need to create that contrast in a way that’s bite-size to the American people,” Valencia said. “This is a moment where we can come back in touch with the real anxieties of voters, and to not overplay our hand on things that are not aligned with that, because that is what is going to become the caricature of us.”
There are indications Democrats are already taking that approach. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, who has a new position among the Senate minority leadership around messaging, framed the hearings around the theme of sticking up for the average voter.
“Democrats have a very clear message,” Booker said. “We want to support nominees that are going to really fight for the American people, not fight for special interests, not fight to enrich people, not fight to take away our freedoms.”
Ultimately, Jones said, some of the biggest moments can come from improvising and paying close attention.
”Sometimes folks that are not trained as lawyers often don’t listen to the answers [and] they get too focused on the question,” Jones said. “There are times you just, you’ve got to be ready to seize an opportunity if a witness provides it.”
Globe staff writer Sam Brodey contributed to this report.
