Pam Bondi, Trump’s Attorney General Pick, Faces Lobbying Questions: Live Updates

Here are the steps nominees and potential nominees take after a president-elect selects them for office and before they can be confirmed.

Meetings with senators

Nominees for cabinet posts typically visit Capitol Hill well in advance of their confirmation hearings, giving lawmakers the opportunity to get to know them informally and express support or press them on potential policy disputes that may arise later in the confirmation process.

They work with advisers which helps them navigate the Capitol complex and handle interactions with Senate committees and offices. They are typically flooded with information material.

Janet Napolitano, the former governor of Arizona who became head of the Homeland Security Department under President Barack Obama, recalled the reading she did during her confirmation process.

“I remember looking at the door to the governor’s office one day and a man comes down with a dolly filled with 3-inch binders of briefing materials from DHS,” she said. “And I remember thinking to myself, ‘Oh God, what have I gotten myself into?'”

“I had to learn the difference between a ship and a boat,” added Ms. Napolitano.

Candidates often use the Capitol visits to present themselves as having momentum. Some of Mr. Trump’s more divisive top picks, including Kash Patel, the prospective FBI director, have met in recent weeks with friendly Republican senators, who afterward posted photos and statements reaffirming their support.

The meetings are also a chance for candidates to demonstrate bipartisanship. Representative Elise Stefanik from New York, Mr. Trump’s choice as ambassador to the UN has met with Democrats who have expressed support, including Senator Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania.

Ethics review and background check

Nominees must submit documents about their work and educational background — a kind of supersized resume that federal officials use to conduct investigations into a candidate’s work and personal life, including whether they used drugs or have a police record. Many high level candidates submit a more expansive version of the document exploring potential foreign contacts or travel.

The FBI uses these forms to complete background checks that lawmakers use to evaluate candidates, such as one conducted on Mr. Hegseth, who top members of the Senate Armed Services Committee were briefed on last week ahead of Mr. Hegseth’s confirmation hearing Tuesday.

(Mr. Trump’s transition team had considered bypassing FBI background checks by using private investigators, but later signed an agreement with the Justice Department that allowed those checks. Still, it was unclear whether all of Mr. Trump’s nominees were in the process.)

Nominees must also complete an Office of Government Ethics document known as OGE form 278which examines possible conflicts of interest a candidate may have in running an agency. Many of the forms have been published in recent days, including for Marco RubioMr. Trump’s choice for Secretary of State.

The questionnaire asks about a candidate’s financial background, such as assets, forms of income and gifts received. Potential conflicts do not disqualify anyone. But the nominees must resolve them somehow in a formal ethics agreement with the federal government. For example, corporate executives appointed to top positions are regularly required to divest shares.

“The ethics agreement is often one of the most complex and important parts of the entire screening process for nominees,” said Norman Eisen, who was an ethics official in the Obama administration. “It is the place where, for example, previous employers or clients or current financial interests are identified and arrangements are made to remove the nominee from working on relevant particulars or other matters.”

Scott Bessent, Mr. Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary, who has made millions as an investor and hedge fund manager, on Saturday announced his plan to divest dozens of funds, foundations and investments.

Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services under President Barack Obama, said she adjusted her stock portfolio so there was no risk it would conflict with the work of the Food and Drug Administration, especially as she would oversee that agency.

“There was a comprehensive, forensic audit of our finances,” she said, referring to the Senate Finance Committee, one of the panels that checks the background of a Health and Human Services secretary nominee. “You get policy briefings and questions 10 years ago when you sold your house: ‘What did you do with this?'”

Meeting with Senate staff and confirmation hearings

Only in middle of the 20th century Senate committees began demanding that nominees meet with them in person.

Candidates are vetted by committees that oversee the agencies they hope to lead. Mrs. Bondi, the president-elect’s choice for attorney general, becomes, for example. evaluated by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Early on, committees may ask candidates to provide information forms for employees to review, or ask them to meet with employees in person. Candidates may be questioned about their political views, as they may be during official confirmation hearings.

John Ratcliffe as Mr. Trump’s pick to head the CIA provided background documents to Senate Intelligence Committee staff ahead of his hearing this week.

A candidate’s interaction with committees culminates in hearings, the most dramatic and visible part of the confirmation process. In a public hearing, nominees first take an oath to tell the truth, then make opening statements to the committee, usually summarizing their priorities and experiences related to the jobs they hope to take. Members of the committees from both parties have time-limited places to ask nominated questions.

Some nominees will face multiple hearings due to the broad portfolio of their potential jobs. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for example, Mr. Trump’s choice for health secretary is expected to have hearings in both the Senate Health Committee and the Senate Finance Committee.

Senators can also request additional information after a hearing in so-called questions on the record, or QFRs

The committee and the Senate vote

After a confirmation hearing, a committee votes on whether to recommend a nominee to the full Senate, formally casting a final confirmation vote. Lawmakers can then debate a nominee on the Senate floor before the final vote is taken. The nominees must have a majority of senators to be confirmed.

Senator John Tower, a Republican from Texas, was the last cabinet candidate must be voted down by the Senate. Mr. Tower was chosen by President George HW Bush to be Secretary of Defense, but was rejected in part because of allegations of excessive drinking.

Julian E. Barnes contributed with reporting.