Joe Biden’s nominees for CIA director and State Department deputy director were never in question. Still, Senator Ted Cruz vowed to slow their confirmations until he heard what the administration planned to do to keep the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from completion. That is until yesterday, when the State Secretary hinted that the Biden administration will not sit idly by and watch the pipeline connect Russian natural gas to Germany. Anthony Adragna is an energy reporter for POLITICO and host of POLITICO Energy. Ben Lefebvre covers energy for POLITICO. Carlos Prieto is a Politico podcast producer. Jenny Ament is the senior producer of POLITICO audio. Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO audio.