Roberts Whispers Opinion On Kobach’s Viability For DHS Post: ‘We Can’t Confirm Him’

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach listens as US President Donald Trump speaks during the first meeting of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building nex... Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach listens as US President Donald Trump speaks during the first meeting of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House in Washington, DC, July 19, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) seemed to forget that “on the record” rules apply no matter voice volume when he whispered his opinion on former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s viability for one of the now-open DHS slots.

“Don’t go there,” he hissed to a Kansas City Star reporter on his way into a Senate vote. ‘We can’t confirm him.”

“I never said that to you,” Roberts added hastily.

Amid the many vacancies left by President Donald Trump’s purge of the department, Kobach’s name has been floated as a possible replacement for ousted DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen or maybe nixed ICE chief nominee Ronald Vitiello. However, the general thinking seems to be that Kobach has no chance of getting through a Senate confirmation process.

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