The nine presidential Cabinet nominees blocked by the Senate including accused alcoholics and womanizers

Some of President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet picks have sparked dismay and even outrage as he prepares to reenter the White House for a second term next year.

It is becoming more clear that some of his more controversial nominees would face an uphill climb to be confirmed in the Senate.

Several could face being blocked altogether even with Republicans retaking the majority come January. 

It would not be the first time a Cabinet nominee was blocked by the Senate, but it has been decades since the last time it occurred.

'It is pretty rare that the Senate will affirmatively vote to block a nominee because often it does not reach that stage,' said political historian Matt Dallek. 'The nominee will withdraw or the president-elect or president will withdraw the person's name.'

Rather than rule out some of his loyalists who carry major baggage, Trump has instead become more bullish.

Instead he is demanding the Senate abdicate its constitutional responsibility and allow his nominees to avoid Senate scrutiny altogether with recess appointments. 

Some of Trump's closest Senate backers have signaled support for the move, but others have rejected it, meaning his nominees could face brutal confirmation battles early next year.

Those most likely to face contentions confirmation hearings include former Congressman Matt Gaetz who is nominated to serve as Attorney General but faced a House Ethics Committee investigation for sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.

He was also probed by the Justice Department for sex trafficking involving a minor but charges were never brought. He denies all accusations. 

Trump's pick for Defense Secretary, TV personality Pete Hegseth, was also accused of sexual assault. 

While he denies the allegations, he paid the accuser. He also faces criticism that his tattoos have white nationalist ties. 

Meanwhile, former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard who is up for Director of National Intelligence has been accused of cozying up to dictators and floated conspiracy theories.

Robert Kennedy Jr., who is up to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, is a known vaccine skeptic. 

There have only been nine Cabinet level nominations to be blocked by the Senate in U.S. history with the most recent one taking place nearly 35 years ago.

Here are the Cabinet nominees who have been blocked by the Senate:

John Tower

Senator John Tower represented Texas in the U.S. Senate from the 1961 until he resigned in 1986 to pursue other business opportunities.

In 1988, he was President-elect George HW Bush top pick to serve as Defense Secretary and the FBI started its background check. 

That investigation according to the Los Angeles Times report at the time focused on his ties to the defense industry as well as allegations of excessive drinking and womanizing. 

In the end, Bush nominated him anyway, claiming he was satisfied with the probe findings. 

But the allegations haunted Tower's confirmation process despite his relationship with Senate colleagues having served in the Senate only a few years earlier.

Senators on both sides of the aisle took issue with the numerous allegations that came up during his confirmation process. 

After five weeks of testimony, Tower ended up being blocked in the final vote with 53 votes against him while 47 voted in favor of his confirmation. The vote was largely along party lines.

Lewis Strauss

Lewis Strauss served as chair of the Atomic Energy Commission before President Eisenhower nominated him as Commerce Secretary in 1958. 

Strauss started as a recess appointment but with a long-standing bitter feud with Senator Clinton Anderson, his confirmation was hampered in the Senate, and Anderson is credited with killing his confirmation in the final vote.

Strauss was accused of inflating his role with the development of the hydrogen bomb and a group of scientists also took issue over his role in the Oppenheimer hearings. Time magazine described the fight over Strauss' confirmation as 'awesomely ugly.'

In the end, his confirmation failed in a vote with 49 against him and 46 in favor.  

If the name sounds familiar, Strauss was portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. in the blockbuster 2023 movie Oppenheimer.  

Charles Warren

Before Strauss' Senate confirmation was defeated, the last Cabinet nominee to be blocked with Charles Warren in 1925. 

President Calvin Coolidge nominated Warren, a former ambassador to Japan and Mexico, as Attorney General. But he faced accusations that his business associations made him unsuitable to enforce anti-trust laws. 

Initially the confirmation deadlocked 40-40, but Senator Lee Overman of North Carolina switched his vote. When the nomination was resubmitted, he was rejected with 46 votes against him to 39 in favor.  

Henry Stanbery

Henry Stanbery first became attorney general in 1866 under President Andrew Johnson. However, he resigned from the position to defend Johnson during his impeachment trial in 1868.

He was later renominated by Johnson for attorney general after Johnson was acquitted, but the nomination was blocked by the Senate with 29 votes against him with only 11 in favor. 

President John Tyler's four nominees

President John Tyler had four nominees who were blocked by the Senate during his time in office. He first nominated Caleb Cushing as Treasury Secretary who was blocked on March 3, 1843.

After he was rejected, Tyler renominated him twice more that day but he was rejected again, meaning he was blocked three times.

Tyler's Secretary of the Navy David Henshaw received the post under a recess appointment,  but when he was formally nominated for the position, he ended up being rejected by the Senate in January 1844.

Tyler also nominated James Green as Treasury Secretary but he was rejected in 1844. The Senate also blocked the confirmation of James Madison Porter as Secretary of War with only three votes in his favor after he also started the job as a recess appointment.

Roger Taney 

The first Cabinet nomination to be blocked by the Senate happened under President Andrew Jackson in 1834.

Jackson named Roger Taney as Treasury Secretary with a recess appointment in 1833. At the time, Taney was serving as Attorney General, but Jackson wanted him to help dismantle the Second Bank of the U.S.

In the end, the Senate rejected his nomination with 28 votes against him. He would later go on to become Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court less than two years later after the Democrats took control of the Senate.

Nominees Withdrawn

While it has been rare for a presidential nominee to a Cabinet level position to be blocked completely, there have more often been nominees whose names have been withdrawn from consideration including during Trump's first term.

Congressman Ronny Jackson, who was then serving as Physician to the President, was nominated as Secretary of Veterans Affairs in 2018. After accusations of creating a hostile work environment and drinking on the job, it was not clear whether his nomination would be confirmed. 

While Jackson denied the allegations, he withdrew from consideration that April.

President Biden's nominee for the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, which has Cabinet-rank status though is not an official Cabinet position, also faced opposition in 2021. The White House ended up pulling Neera Tanden's name from consideration.

Senator Tom Daschle was nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services by President Obama. 

But the former Senate Majority Leader ended up withdrawing his name in February 2009 amid criticism for more than $100,000 in unpaid taxes. 

'Most of these people, they withdrew before because they can count the votes, and presidents and president-elects, they don't like the spectacle of one of their nominees going down in defeat,' said Dallek.

Recess Appointments 

Past presidents including Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama have all made recess appointments. 

Clinton made 139 recess appointments and Bush made 171, according to the Congressional Research Service. But their recess appointments did not include Cabinet posts.

President Obama continued the practice with 32 recess appointments, but in 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that some of Obama's recess appointments were unconstitutional including three officials to the National Labor Relations Board. 

The country's highest court also unanimously ruled the Senate must adjourn for ten days for a president to make a recess appointment.