Trump Cabinet is changing at a crucial time

US President Donald Trump’s new picks for secretary of state and CIA chief could face tough confirmation hearings before the Senate, though some have welcomed the biggest White House shakeup since Trump assumed office last January.

Trump fired Rex Tillerson via tweet Tuesday morning, saying his replacement would be CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

Gina Haspel, Pompeo’s deputy at the CIA, would be the first woman to lead the agency. Both nominees face a confirmation hearing by the Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged the US Senate to act quickly to confirm the nominees.

“Both of these nominees seem to be well-qualified and ... we hope they’ll not be subjected to undue delay, which has been an enormous problem,” Reuters cited McConnell as saying on Tuesday.

But the president’s Republican Party has a slim majority with 51 seats in the Senate, meaning confirmation is not certain.

If confirmed by the Senate to replace Tillerson, Pompeo could breathe new vigor into an agency all too often sidelined on many of the nation’s most pressing national security matters under Tillerson, The Associated Press reported.

Pompeo, reportedly more in sync with Trump than Tillerson, will face a trying test upon his arrival in Foggy Bottom: how he will play a role in putting together a TrumpKim summit agreed to last week.

Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a Senate Intelligence Committee member, said he opposed the nominations of both Pompeo and Haspel to their new positions.

“Before and after his confirmation as CIA director, Mike Pompeo has demonstrated a casual relationship to truth and principle,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Rex Tillerson, who will be replaced as secretary of state