U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden said Saturday that he will oppose most nominees for cabinet positions in President Donald Trump’s administration. Wyden addressed the new administration in a town hall at Chemeketa Community College that drew approximately 40 people. Wyden discussed his plans to push his agenda through a Republican-controlled Congress and White House, and addressed concerns over drug prices, immigration, ethics and privacy. He said he opposed a new operation proposed by Trump and Elon Musk — the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).  “Nobody knows what they’re really up to. We’ll be watching them closely,” he said.  Wyden said he considers Musk’s attempt to make government efficient to be hypocritical after Trump and Musk opposed his Patients Before Middlemen Act, a bill which would have regulated the compensation of middlemen in drug negotiations. Without Trump’s and Musk’s intervention, the legislation could have passed and ended “the practice of profiting off of higher prices in Medicare,” he argued on the Senate floor in December. Trump is “cozy with drug companies” instead of fighting for the American consumer, Wyden said. He added that lowering drug prices is at the top of his priority list. Wyden, 75, also talked about his background as the son of a Jewish journalist who taught him to ask tough questions. His daughter jokes that “the Senate is the only place where someone your age is still kind of young,” he told the audience. He is committed to empowering youth because “when young people ask, we have the chance to light a fire.” An attendee at U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden’s town hall at Chemeketa Community College on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, asks a questions about cancer policy. (Alan Cohen/Salem Reporter) The audience also asked about the protection of people of color and immigrants during the Trump administration. Wyden anticipated that there would be a “big battle” over their civil rights. He said he opposed family separation and the deportation of undocumented immigrants who have not been convicted of violent crimes. “We’ll talk about immigration a lot at town halls,” he said. Another issue at the town hall was U.S. Supreme Court accountability, after an attendee asked Wyden about Justice Clarence Thomas’ failure to disclose expensive gifts and travel. Despite a decrease in public support for the court due to the Thomas scandal, any disciplinary action would depend almost entirely on Chief Justice John Roberts, Wyden said. He noted that he requested the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Thomas’ alleged ethics and tax violations. Held two days before Trump’s inauguration, the town hall was shaped by uncertainty about the next Republican cabinet. Wyden called most of Trump’s nominations “a mockery,” and called out Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “outlandish comments” on vaccine safety. Kennedy is up to lead the federal Department of Health and Human Services.  He added that the only cabinet nominee he will support is Marco Rubio, the nominee for secretary of state. He said last year that he and Rubio worked on several matters together when Rubio was in the Senate. Wyden was also asked about protections such as abortion and voting rights. Some Republicans “believe in states’ rights if they think the state is right.” He said that approach can “harm states like Oregon, and I will make sure it doesn’t happen.” He also addressed concerns over privacy under a second Trump term and the dangers of unregulated data brokers after location data at 600 Planned Parenthood sites were allegedly used to carry out an online anti-abortion ad campaign last year. Sharing an anecdote about his father in Nazi Germany, he warned that privacy violations were incompatible with American democracy.  Contact reporter Alan Cohen: [email protected]. A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE– If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE. The post Wyden to oppose most Trump nominations, watch administration closely appeared first on Salem Reporter.