The Senate voted 51-45 on Tuesday to confirm billionaire Howard Lutnick as U.S. commerce secretary. Lutnick was the chief executive of the Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald and co-chaired Trump’s 2024 transition team. A financial disclosure form shows he has ties to more than 800 individual firms, many of which stand to benefit from Trump administration policies.

Also on Tuesday, the Senate advanced the nomination of Trump’s pick to head the FBI, Kash Patel. Illinois Senator Dick Durbin was among Democrats in opposition. 

Sen. Dick Durbin: “My Senate Republican colleagues, sadly, are willfully ignoring myriad red flags about Mr. Patel, especially his recurring instinct to threaten retribution against his political enemies and President Trump’s perceived enemies.”