Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., argued that newly-elected Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has “no choice” but to push hard for Trump’s agenda despite some concerns within the party about his ability to work effectively with the president-elect.
Tuberville, despite formerly backing Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., for the role, said he was confident Thune would work productively with the Trump administration to implement his America-first agenda.
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“He has no choice,” Tuberville said during “The Evening Edit” on Wednesday. “There was a mandate last week, Liz, that said, ‘Hey, we want President Trump to have his team. We want to take back our country.’ Republicans, if you’re not on the team, get out of the way. John Thune will be on the team. He’ll work with President Trump. I voted for Rick Scott because I thought he could communicate better with President Trump because they were both in the business world, but John Thune got the nod.”
“We’re not going to have a lot of time to waste. I think he’ll do a good job. But again, President Trump and JD Vance are going to be running the Senate.”
Thune secured victory against Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, in the second secret ballot. Thune received 29 votes and Cornyn got 24 on the second ballot, according to Thune’s office.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., was also in the running, but received the least amount of votes during the first secret ballot and was knocked out of the race, according to Fox News Digital.
“We have a mandate from the American people,” Thune said on Wednesday after the vote. “A mandate not only to clean up the mess left by the Biden-Harris-Schumer agenda, but also to deliver on President Trump’s priorities.”
Prior to the elections, Thune had received public endorsements from Senators Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., Mike Rounds, R-S.D.; Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.; and John Hoeven, R-N.D. A source also confirmed to Fox News Digital that National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines, R-Mont., was privately encouraging other senators to support Thune.
Scott had the most public support, with Senators Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Rand Paul, R-Ky., Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also backing him.
Cornyn had only received one public endorsement from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., although most lawmakers in the upper chamber did not disclose ahead of time who they would vote for.
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Thune will assume his new role in January, succeeding Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who is the longest-serving party leader in Senate history.
Meanwhile, Trump has been appointing numerous key Cabinet positions as he prepares for his White House return. One, in particular, ignited a firestorm on Wednesday.
He tapped Matt Gaetz, a Florida congressman, who immediately resigned his role, to be the next attorney general. The appointment left many concerned about his ability to be confirmed in the upper chamber.
Host Elizabeth MacDonald asked Tuberville about the likelihood that Gaetz will get confirmed to his new role in the Trump administration.
“You’re finding all the swamp creatures coming out right now,” Tuberville said. “Everybody’s got an opinion up here, but at the end of the day, President Trump was elected by an enormous vote, and he deserves a team around him that he wants. It’s not [up to] us to determine that. We’ve got 53 votes in the Senate. We can confirm with 51. I’ve already seen where a couple of them say, ‘I’m not voting for him.’ Wait a minute. You are not the United States of America. You have one vote in the U.S. Senate. You did not get elected president.”
“Vote with President Trump. This is the last chance we’re going to have at saving this country, and if you want to get in the way, fine, but we’re going to try to get you out of the Senate, too, if you try to do that,” he continued.
Tuberville reiterated the importance of timely Senate confirmations so the Trump administration can get to work in January.
“Our country’s in bad trouble,” Tuberville said. “We’re broke. We have wars everywhere. This administration has destroyed anything that President Trump did in four years. So we got to get it back, and we’re not going to have much time to do it.”
Fox News’ Julia Johnson, Tyler Olson, Chad Pergram and Aishah Hasnie contributed to this report.
