ABC host Jonathan Karl pressed Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) after he suggested that FBI background checks for President-elect Donald Trump's nominees weren't necessary.
During a Sunday interview on ABC's This Week program, Karl noted that Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) had called for an FBI background check for defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, who faced sexual misconduct allegations.
"As you know, there haven't been FBI background checks for any of these nominees," Karl explained to Hagerty. "Do you agree with her, though, that this should happen before we get to confirmation votes?"
"I don't think the American public cares who does the background checks," Hagerty insisted. "What the American public cares about is to see the mandate that they voted in delivered upon."
"So are you saying you don't care about FBI background checks?" the surprised ABC host replied. "Should we just do away with them, that you can go ahead and not do this? It's been standard practice, as you know, for a long time, but you're saying do away with it?"
Hagerty declined to definitively say the FBI should conduct background checks.
"I've been through it myself," the senator insisted. "I've been through confirmation as well. They need to do these checks expeditiously."
"The FBI, I think the American public's got great concerns about how weaponized it's become," he added. "They need to get on with this. We'll get this done."
