Daily Kickoff
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview this week’s Senate confirmation hearings and report on the newest hires in the incoming Trump administration’s National Security Council. We talk to the father of Israeli hostage Itay Chen about the ongoing cease-fire negotiations and report on a bipartisan push from lawmakers from New York and New Jersey to expedite the Department of Transportation and FAA’s consideration of applications from Israeli airlines looking to begin flights to the tristate area. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff, Susan Zirinsky, Ari Emanuel and Marc Andreessen.
What We’re Watching
- Hamas has reportedly accepted a draft cease-fire and hostage-release agreement. More below.
- Pete Hegseth’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee kicks off at 9:30 a.m. ET today. Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the Pentagon, will be introduced by Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), the Trump administration’s incoming national security advisor, and former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), the chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition, who was Hegseth’s Capitol Hill “sherpa” as he met with senators in recent weeks.
- Outgoing Secretary of State Tony Blinken is slated to lay out the administration’s “day-after” rebuilding plan for Gaza at an Atlantic Council event at 10 a.m. ET.
- Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the outgoing special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, is hosting a roundtable for journalists this afternoon in Washington.
What You Should Know
A packed week of confirmation hearings for a series of Trump Cabinet nominees begins on Capitol Hill today with Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report.
Kristi Noem (Homeland Security secretary), Pam Bondi (attorney general), Marco Rubio (secretary of state) and John Ratcliffe (CIA director) are set to testify to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs, Judiciary, Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees on Wednesday.
Scott Bessent, the nominee for Treasury secretary, is set to testify before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday, alongside additional testimony from Bondi to the Judiciary Committee. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the nominee for U.N. envoy, was originally expected to testify Thursday as well, but that hearing was never formally scheduled and it’s not clear when it will be held.
Barring major surprises, all of the nominees whose hearings are scheduled this week are expected to be confirmed — despite earlier doubts about Hegseth’s prospects — and Republicans are aiming to confirm some of them immediately after Trump’s inauguration or in the following week.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), a critical swing vote in the Hegseth nomination, told JI that she was “going to be watching it [the hearing] intently because this is such an important nominee.” She added, “I don’t want to prejudge what’s going to happen at the hearing, but I’m sure that he will face a lot of tough questions, and I think that’s the way the hearing process should work.”
Several of the nominees are likely to receive a much chillier reception from Senate Democrats, and this week’s hearings will provide a preview of the extent of Democratic support that the Trump Cabinet picks can each expect.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who serves on the Armed Services Committee, told JI that she plans to focus her questioning on Hegseth’s “qualifications for the job,” noting, “I’m going to focus on his ability to do the job and run a three million personnel organization with an $845 billion budget.”
Such questions, as well as past allegations of misconduct, are likely to be priorities for Democrats, but one key area to watch will be whether Hegseth discusses his approach to countering Iran and its proxies.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), also a member of the Armed Services Committee, told reporters: “There’s already ample and abundant information on the public record that shows that Peter Hegseth lacks the character and competence to be secretary of defense. There has never been a nominee for this position as unqualified as he is by virtue of financial mismanagement, as well as sexual impropriety and alcohol abuse.”
Blumenthal and Collins have both said they would like to see Hegseth’s FBI background check, which has currently only been reviewed by the chair and ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. Collins said she recognized there “is a process” for how these matters are handled.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee,said after meeting with Bondi he “remain[s] concerned about her ability to serve as an attorney general who will put her oath to the Constitution ahead of her fealty to Donald Trump.” Democrats have also pressed for more information about Bondi’s past lobbying work, including for the Qatari government, a subject that could come up at her hearing.
Bondi’s hearing could also provide insight into how she’ll approach antisemitic hate crimes and Iranian malign activity in the United States. Noem could face questions on those issues as well, and on her views on funding levels for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.
Blumenthal said he’s concerned that Noem’s “experience is less than what it should be” in national security to lead DHS. Sen Gary Peters (D-MI), the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, said he’s had two “very productive” conversations with Noem but said he has not yet received all of the documentation he expects before her hearing.
Rubio, meanwhile, is expected to sail through with substantial support from Democrats. “I’m already inclined to support Sen. Rubio,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) told reporters last week. “I’ve served with him for years. While we don’t align on the issues of foreign policy, I know his values, I know his work ethic, there’s so many things I respect about Sen. Rubio that make me inclined to support him.”
Rubio could face grilling, especially from the several Democrats on the committee who are critical of Israel, about how the Trump administration plans to approach the conflict in the Middle East and issues such as annexation of the West Bank. That said, Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, who’s been critical of Israeli operations in Gaza, said yesterday he plans to vote to confirm Rubio.
Bessent’s hearing could also touch on the Trump administration’s plans for sanctioning Iran and its proxies abroad, as part of the expected reinstatement of a maximum pressure policy.
One key national nominee whose hearing hasn’t yet been scheduled: Tulsi Gabbard, the nominee for director of national intelligence, with Ratcliffe taking the first hearing slot for the Intelligence Committee instead, because Gabbard’s pre-hearing paperwork was incomplete. Some Republicans had been skeptical of Gabbard, but several appear to be turning around on her.
Kash Patel, the nominee for FBI director, also isn’t on the schedule yet, and may not have a hearing until February. There’s also no clear timeline for a hearing or confirmation at this point for Mike Huckabee, who was announced as the nominee to be U.S. ambassador to Israel.
doha dialogue
Hostage deal appears closer than ever, U.S., Israeli officials say

With just a week remaining in office, President Joe Biden and other senior officials in his administration are conveying a new sense of optimism about reaching a hostage-release and cease-fire deal before President-elect Donald Trump takes office next week. “We’re on the brink of a proposal that I laid out in detail months ago finally coming to fruition,” Biden said in a speech on Monday at the State Department, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. Speaking on Newsmax on Monday, Trump acknowledged that “there was a handshake and that they are wrapping things up – maybe by the end of the week.” On Tuesday afternoon local time in Doha, Qatar, reports emerged that Hamas had accepted a draft cease-fire agreement.
Israeli statements: Meanwhile, an Israeli diplomatic official confirmed yesterday, “There are advances in all components of the agreement,” Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports. “We are certainly in advanced stages … Reaching an agreement could be a matter of hours or of days.” While the agreement was still not final, two Israeli diplomatic sources said Hamas was showing greater seriousness than it had in the past year, during which “Hamas was not part of the negotiations” that were taking place between the Israeli team, the U.S. and Qatari mediators. Read the full story here.
Hostage family fears: Ruby Chen, the father of a U.S.-Israeli hostage who was killed on Oct. 7, is fearful that the developing hostage-release and cease-fire deal will not bring back all of the 98 hostages still held in Gaza. In an interview with Jewish Insider’s Tamara Zieve this morning, following a visit he and his wife, Hagit, made to Doha, Qatar, over the weekend to meet with U.S. and Qatari officials, Chen, who did not learn until March 2024 that his son Itay had been killed on Oct. 7, said, “We see what’s being materialized … We have deep concerns that our son will be left behind [for] an unknown period of time.” Read the full interview here.