Few GOP senators are raising early opposition to President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel.

Even Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) — who was outspoken against Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) potentially becoming attorney general — didn’t immediately dismiss Patel on Monday, saying she’d need time to review his profile.

“I don’t know Kash Patel,” Collins said. “I had heard his name, but I don’t know his background, and I’m going to have to do a lot of work before reaching a decision on him. In general, I’ve found it’s important to review the background check, the committee work and the public hearing.”

Trump announced his selection of Patel to lead the FBI over the weekend. Christopher Wray, the current leader of the bureau who was originally appointed by Trump in 2017, has been confirmed to a term through 2027. That means Patel, if confirmed, would usurp Wray from the seat years ahead of schedule.

Trump can only afford to lose three Republican votes on any nominee if Democrats are unified in opposition.

Patel is a fierce and vocal supporter of Trump’s and served in the president-elect’s first administration as a staffer for the National Security Council. He was also a senior staffer for former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who repeatedly attempted to discredit the Russia investigation from his perch atop the House Intelligence Committee.

Patel has promised to purge the FBI of people he sees as unloyal to Trump and has indicated he would seek a near-total revamp of the agency. In Trump’s statement announcing his intent to nominate Patel, he commended the soon-to-be nominee for playing “a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution.”

Trump has personally railed against the FBI, particularly after agents conducted a search for classified documents at his residence at Mar-a-Lago in 2022.

A number of GOP senators on Monday evening said they thought Patel could be confirmed. Soon-to-be Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said “the president ought to have who he wants serving in his administration.” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said he plans on meeting with Patel this week and is “in a presumptive positive position” over the nomination “right now.”

“I do think he will be able to get confirmed, absolutely,” said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who has expressed reservations about Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to be Defense secretary.

Though there aren’t immediate signs of mass opposition to Patel’s nomination, there are some concerns about cutting Wray’s term short. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) noted Trump picked Wray himself for a 10-year term in 2017 and that the senator had no “complaints” or “objections” with the current leadership team.

“We provide advice and consent,” Rounds said on ABC’s “This Week.” “That can be sometimes advice, sometimes it is consent.”

Collins also noted she thinks Wray has done “a good job” as FBI director. Still, many Republicans disagree with that assessment, and some like Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) insist “Kash Patel would be perfect to clean house over there.”

It is clear, however, that Trump cannot count on Democratic support to get Patel’s nomination across the finish line.

“He has said things about weaponization of law enforcement and reform in the FBI, which leads some to believe — I hope it’s not true — that he will take the same type of revenge politically that he’s accusing this administration of,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on Monday.

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated investment banker Warren Stephens to be his ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Stephens, a financial backer of Trump’s campaign, would be among at least five other billionaires selected for major roles by the president-elect.

“Warren has always dreamed of serving the United States full time,” Trump said Monday in a Truth Social post. “I am thrilled that he will now have that opportunity as the top Diplomat, representing the U.S.A. to one of America’s most cherished and beloved Allies.”

Stephens donated $1 million to Trump’s campaign over the summer after supporting other Republican presidential candidates, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

In 2016, Stephens gave a combined $5.9 million to a pair of super PACs that spent heavily to prevent Trump from winning the Republican nomination.

Staring down a government shutdown deadline in less than three weeks, congressional leaders have begun serious negotiations toward a funding patch that punts the deadline into President-elect Donald Trump’s second term.

A grand deal on final funding bills is highly unlikely before the Dec. 20 deadline, considering Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have yet to strike a “toplines” agreement on overall spending totals for the military and non-defense programs. So lawmakers must now ready yet another stopgap that keeps federal agencies running on static funding — after they already punted on spending back in September.

Schumer said on the floor Monday that “both sides are making progress negotiating on a bill that will pass the House and Senate with bipartisan support.”

“We need to keep divisive and unnecessary provisions out of any government funding extension, or it will get harder to pass a CR in time,” he added. “For now, I’m pleased negotiations are on the right track.”

Republicans had been waiting for Trump to indicate if he preferred a stopgap bill that punted funding decisions into his term or if he wanted lawmakers to negotiate new spending levels now, so he could focus on other legislative priorities as he took over the executive branch. Trump has been uncharacteristically silent on the issue, but lawmakers are running out of time to incorporate the president-elect’s stance into bipartisan and bicameral talks if they want to avoid a shutdown. Johnson has said he and Trump talk frequently about funding, but the speaker won’t divulge the details of those discussions.

If Trump weighs in with sweeping demands closer to the deadline, when many details have already been hammered out, it could increase the chance of a deal falling apart. Neither party wants a shutdown at this point.

The length of the funding patch, known as a continuing resolution or a CR, as well as what special exceptions are included and how much disaster aid is attached will be the main focus of negotiations.

House conservatives are advocating for a new March deadline, which would bring it perilously close to a late-April trigger that would mean sweeping funding cuts unless Congress passes a bill with new spending levels by then. Democrats and many appropriators in both parties want an earlier deadline, both to defuse the risk of those cuts and to give federal agencies budget certainty sooner.

Leaders also aim to clear tens of billions of dollars in disaster aid this month, likely attached to a funding patch, despite calls from some GOP senators for a standalone vote. The White House requested more than $98 billion in emergency funding to help cover the costs of recent natural disasters, including Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.

And Democratic and Republican negotiations are each pushing to add funding for other priorities that could prompt partisan skirmishes. GOP lawmakers also want to leave out funding the White House sought for things like climate and education programs.

The speaker long ago swore off a pre-Christmas so-called omnibus spending package that bundles the dozen individual measures that keep federal agencies funded each year, a mammoth bill that now regularly totals over a trillion dollars. Congress is out of time to pass all 12 bills individually through both chambers, a process that lawmakers now struggle to complete every year.

Conservatives in the House have long protested the omnibus process and would likely be incensed if Johnson green-lighted such a bill now. They favor passing a stopgap bill this time, arguing Trump and the GOP majorities next term should set spending levels. Given Johnson needs to keep GOP lawmakers unified behind him before the formal Jan. 3 speakership vote, resorting to a stopgap this month helps him by delaying Republican infighting until after he has re-secured his post.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) launched a challenge to top House Judiciary Democrat Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) on Monday afternoon in a letter to Democratic colleagues.

The bid sets up a generational clash for the leadership of one of the most high profile congressional panels as Democrats look to build a bulwark against Donald Trump’s presidency.

“After a week consulting most of our Colleagues and engaging in serious introspection about where we are, I am running today to be your Ranking Member on the House Judiciary Committee in the 119th Congress,” Raskin wrote. “This is where we will wage our front-line defense of the freedoms and rights of the people, the integrity of the Department of Justice and the FBI, and the security of our most precious birthright possessions: the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the rule of law, and democracy itself.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar is expected to be tapped for Senate Democrats’ No. 3 spot in caucus leadership elections this week, according to two people familiar with the shuffling, heading up Senate Democrats’ Policy and Communications Committee.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) is expected to fill the no. 4 role, which Klobuchar (D-Minn.) currently holds as chair of the Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee.

The No. 3 spot is being vacated by retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). Both Booker and Klobuchar — who both ran for president in 2020 and have wide name recognition in the party — had been eyeing the gig. Booker’s apparent acquiescence to instead take the spot one rung lower means the caucus will avoid that intra-party clash. Though both roles could be subject to change as Democrats reorganize their ranks.

Senate Democrats’ leadership elections are set to take place on Tuesday morning. There are no other contested spots. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) are expected to be reelected to their positions, while Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is expected to become chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Axios first reported on the leadership shuffling Monday morning.

A House staffer was arrested Monday morning for entering the Cannon House Office Building with ammunition, according to a statement from the US Capitol Police.

Capitol Police said the staffer is Michael Hopkins, who is the communications director for Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.).

“USCP officers noticed what appeared to be ammunition on the x-ray screen. After a hand search of the bag, officers found four ammunition magazines and eleven rounds of ammunition,” the police statement read. “The staffer told the officers that he forgot the ammunition was in the bag. 38-year-old Michael Hopkins was arrested, and he is facing charges for unlawful possession of ammunition, including one charge for possession of a high-capacity magazine.”

Earlier Monday morning, Morelle’s office issued a statement about the arrest.

“Our office is fully committed to cooperating with the investigation. As Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration, Congressman Morelle is devoted to ensuring a safe and secure workplace for all,” the statement read.

Speaker Mike Johnson slammed President Joe Biden’s “full and unconditional” pardon of Hunter Biden on Monday as an “abuse” of the justice system and called for “real reform” in a social media post.

“President Biden insisted many times he would never pardon his own son for his serious crimes,” Johnson said on X. “But last night he suddenly granted a ‘Full and Unconditional Pardon’ for any and all offenses that Hunter committed for more than a decade!”

He added, “trust in our justice system has been almost irreparably damaged by the Bidens.”

Here’s what we’re watching in transition world today:

🗓️ What we’re watching

• Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, just four days after Trump announced his decision to impose 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico. The two leaders shared a “wide-ranging discussion,” according to Trudeau’s team.
• Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on BRICS nations if they attempt to abandon the U.S. dollar as their reserve currency on Saturday.
• President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, on Sunday evening, a move that Trump called “an abuse and miscarriage of Justice.”

🚨What’s up with the nominees?

• Several Cabinet nominees and appointees faced bomb threats at their homes last Wednesday, including House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, HUD secretary pick Scott Turner, Agriculture secretary pick Brooke Rollins, and a relative of former Rep. Matt Gaetz. The FBI said it is working with law enforcement partners to look into the matter.
• Former staffers for Trump’s choice for HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. questioned whether he is up for the job, throwing doubt on his ability to be a manager. “I have no idea how he’s going to run a full department, if that’s how he ran the campaign,” one former campaign staffer said. 
• A New Yorker article on Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for Defense secretary, details a whistle-lower report from his time at Concerned Veterans for America that is placing more scrutiny on the former Fox News host.

📝ICYMI: Here are the latest Cabinet picks 

• The president-elect on Saturday picked Kash Patel, former chief of staff to the secretary of Defense during Trump’s first term, to lead the FBI. Patel is a loyal Trump supporter, previously calling for a purge of Trump’s opponents from intelligence agencies.
• Real estate mogul Charles Kushner was chosen as ambassador to France on Saturday. Kushner was pardoned by Trump in 2020 for 16 counts of tax evasion, one count of retaliating against a cooperating witness and one count of making false statements to the FEC. He is also the father of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and former senior adviser to Trump during his first term.
• Massad Boulos was picked Sunday to be Trump’s senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs. Boulos is a prominent Lebanese American businessman as well as the father of Michael Boulos, Tiffany Trump’s husband.
• Trump appointed former national security aide and retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg as a special envoy to Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday, tasking him with ending the Russia-Ukraine war. 

Rep. Raul Grijalva has dropped out of the race for the top Democratic spot on the Natural Resources Committee, according to two people familiar with the matter, potentially averting a generational clash over the leadership position.

Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who’d been absent from Congress while going through treatment for cancer, had faced a challenge from Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), as House Democrats weigh whether to cast aside some of their most senior committee leaders.

Some Democrats are responding to President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter with a reminder about President-elect Donald Trump: He’s a convicted criminal, too.

“If you defended the 34x felon, who committed sexual assault, stole national security documents, and tried running a coup on his country…you can sit out the Hunter Biden pardon discussion,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) posted on X overnight.

Many Dems have stayed mum or defended the president’s decision to give his son a “full and unconditional” pardon on Sunday night, while Republicans blasted the decision as hypocritical, given Joe Biden’s promise not to issue such a pardon.

“Joe Biden has lied from start to finish,” said House Oversight Chair James Comer in a post on X. “It’s unfortunate that, rather than come clean about their decades of wrongdoing, President Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid accountability.”