Senate panel vote on Trump nominees derailed after Warren raises background check concerns

Max Rego Thu, July 23, 2026 at 9:51 PM UTC

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Lawmakers on the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday took the unusual step of delaying a public hearing to consider three of President Trump’s nominees, after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said their FBI background checks raised “significant questions.”

The Banking panel had a 10 a.m. hearing scheduled to consider the nominations of Christopher Phelan to chair the Council of Economic Advisers, John Crews to serve in the National Credit Union Administration and Jeffrey Ledbetter to be inspector general (IG) of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

But Warren, the top Democrat on the panel, said in her opening statement that a briefing she and committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) received from the FBI on the bureau’s background checks of the nominees left her wanting answers.

“We should put off this markup until we have confidence that the FBI has run down all the answers,” the Massachusetts Democrat remarked. “All of our colleagues on this committee, Democrats and Republicans, have a right to be fully up to speed, fully informed on these issues before being asked to vote for or against nominees.”

Noting she is “limited” in what she can say publicly on the matter, Warren asked Scott to move to a closed session. The South Carolina Republican obliged and asked committee staffers, hearing attendees and reporters to leave the room.

Scott also only mentioned Phelan and Crews during his opening statement, and he made no reference to the FBI background checks. When reached, an FBI official said the bureau cannot comment on external background investigations.

There is precedent for Warren raising concerns about an FBI background check during the confirmation process. Last year, she voted against advancing the nomination of now-HUD Secretary Scott Turner out of the Banking panel, citing the administration’s failure to complete his background check before that vote.

After about 15 minutes of the closed session, senators allowed attendees back in, but only briefly. The senators voted 12-10 to move back to a closed session, with 11 Democrats and Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) in favor and GOP Sens. Katie Britt (Ala.) and Mike Rounds (S.D.) not voting.

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At just before 11:10 a.m., attendees reentered the hearing room. Senators then voted on the nominations of Phelan and Crews, with both advancing to the full Senate floor via 13-11 partisan votes.

The committee did not, however, vote on Ledbetter’s nomination. The Hill has reached out to HUD for comment.

“The White House expects all of President Trump’s well-qualified nominees to be swiftly confirmed,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told The Hill following the hearing.

Trump nominated Ledbetter to serve as HUD’s IG in April. Ledbetter has spent more than three decades at the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division — during which time he also was a supervisory special agent in the Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General, according to his LinkedIn.

The president appointed Harrison to serve as acting IG at HUD last August. But the department has not had a Senate-confirmed individual in the role dating to the first week of Trump’s second term, making it one of 29 federal agencies without a full-time independent auditor.

at 5:51 p.m. EDT

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Source: “AOL General News”