Gaetz, Gabbard and Hegseth are unqualified — Senate Republicans should reject them

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated three political hacks to highly sensitive and important federal positions: Rep. Matt Gaetz to be attorney general, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to be director of National Intelligence and Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be secretary of Defense.

All three nominees have the same disqualifying characteristics: no experience in the substance of the respective agencies to which they have been nominated, and no prior background in managing an organization, let alone leading anything close to the massive bureaucracies to which each has been nominated. The only explanation for their appointments is their loyalty to Trump to serve without reservation as instruments of his promised retribution against his political enemies.

What stands between them and our democracy is the power of the Senate Republicans to block their nominations. The Senate is charged with the constitutional duty of “advice and consent” on all significant presidential appointments. The Senate’s job is to determine whether Trump’s appointees have the appropriate qualifications and temperament to be confirmed to hold these extremely sensitive positions.

In making their decision, Senate Republicans should reflect on the actions of the top three Republicans in the Department of Justice in October 1973, in what became known as the “Saturday Night Massacre.” These three men blocked President Richard Nixon from installing a political hack as the head of the Justice Department.

Nixon had resisted the Supreme Court order to produce the original tape recordings of Oval Office conversations to Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. When Cox refused to compromise, Nixon directed Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Cox. When Richardson refused, Nixon fired Richardson.

Nixon then ordered the next in the line of command, Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus, to fire Cox. Ruckelshaus refused, and Nixon fired him. The next in line, Solicitor General Robert Bork, complied with Nixon’s directive and fired Cox.

At the time, I was an Assistant Special Watergate Prosecutor under Cox. Many years later, Ruckelshaus explained to me that he, Richardson and Bork — all with unquestionably solid Republican credentials — agreed that Bork would fire Cox in order to prevent Nixon from firing Bork and replacing Bork with a political hack in charge of the Department of Justice.

Trump’s three appointments pose another great threat to our democracy in line with Nixon’s firing of the Watergate Special Prosecutor. All three entities — the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense and the U.S. Intelligence Community — have access to the nation’s most valuable classified information.

Without trusted qualified professionals leading these agencies, America’s allies will have legitimate concerns about continuing to share their classified information with political hacks — one of whom, Gabbard, has expressed sympathy towards Russian President Vladimir Putin. That lack of trust and failure to maintain the sharing of classified information would make the U.S. much less secure.

Equally of concern is that all three nominees, if confirmed, would gut the effectiveness of their respective agencies. Hegseth has said he will fire generals whose political policies he abhors, such as making the military more ethnically representative of our country and allowing women in combat. Gaetz has previously threatened to abolish the Justice Department, which had investigated him for sex trafficking.

There is also little doubt there will be a mass exodus of professional employees from these agencies who do not want to answer to a political flunky. That may in fact be Trump’s plan. The loss of their expertise would in turn make the nation much less secure. It would take years to rebuild the competency of the current workforce.

Now is the time for the Senate Republicans to emulate their inner Richardson, Ruckelshaus and Bork, and perform their duty of advice and consent. They must convene full-scale public confirmation hearings, refuse recess appointments for these three nominees, reject all three and insist on well-qualified candidates for each of these critical roles.

Nick Akerman, a former Assistant Special Watergate Prosecutor and a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, is an attorney in New York City.