Trump cabinet live updates: President-elect joins Musk for SpaceX launch and taps Dr Oz for key role
TV doctor joins Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick as latest additions to new Trump administration, as Treasury role remains vacant
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump joined Elon Musk in Texas to watch this afternoon’s SpaceX Starship test launch as his proposed administration continues to take shape.
On Tuesday, the president-elect named Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary. Lutnick was under consideration for treasury secretary, with reports that there is a “free for all” and a “mad dash to find someone pro-tariff” to take up the role.
Trump also tapped Dr Mehmet Oz as Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator — working closely with Robert F Kennedy Jr. Trump is also set to name former WWE CEO Linda McMahon as education secretary, according to a report.
On Capitol Hill, the controversial choice of Matt Gaetz as potential attorney general continues to cause a stir, with reports that a hacker has accessed a file of damaging testimony about the former congressman from an ethics investigation.
In other developments, Trump confirmed his intention to deploy the military to carry out his mass deportation plan in a Truth Social post, and on Fox News, his incoming border czar Tom Homan threatened prosecution for anyone who hides migrants.
Finally, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has told Judge Juan Merchan he will not oppose postponing Trump’s sentencing in his hush-money case but rejects attempts by the defense to throw out the conviction.
Trump joked about a third term in 2028. So can he run again?
Helping out the First Buddy: Musk’s Tesla stock soars after reports Trump will ease rules on driverless cars
Doctors worry about RFK Jr’s anti-Ozempic stance (and many of his other views)
Trump’s Cabinet and staff tracker: Here’s who is among the White House appointments so far
What would RFK Jr be in charge of if he joins Trump cabinet?
Eric Garcia writes:
When president-elect Donald Trump announced that he would nominate Robert F Kennedy Jr to be his secretary of Health and Human Services, the move shocked many. Kennedy, the son of the late senator from New York and US attorney general, has made a name for himself primarily promoting the bogus link that vaccines cause autism.
It is unclear whether Kennedy could get confirmed, even with a Republican Senate majority. Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president, made the rare move of denouncing Kennedy as insufficiently opposed to abortion.
Needless to say, almost all, if not all, Democrats will oppose Kennedy’s confirmation. Plenty of Republicans might have some objections as well.
Continue reading...
RFK Jr is Trump’s pick to oversee Health. Here’s all the agencies he could control
Eric Garcia breaks down just how much power Kennedy would have should he lead the agency
Sarah Palin appears miffed at lack of Trump cabinet spot
Sarah Palin appears to be miffed that President-elect Donald Trump hasn’t picked her to serve in his cabinet.
As Trump rolls out his cabinet picks, the former vice presidential nominee and governor of Alaska has been busy posting a series of screenshots from her supporters expressing their frustration that she hadn’t been chosen for a cabinet role — perhaps signaling that she shares that frustration.
Kelly Rissman reports.
Sarah Palin’s appears miffed Trump isn’t nominating her for a cabinet spot
‘Sarah Palin is the Mother of MAGA,’ one social user wrote. Then added that it looks like ‘she will not get a seat at the table that she helped set’
Court cancels oral arguments in Trump’s Fani Willis disqualification appeal
The Georgia Court of Appeals has canceled the December 5 oral argument it previously scheduled to hear Donald Trump’s appeal seeking to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who charged him in the sprawling 2020 election interference case.
The argument is canceled “until further order of this court”.
The court previously granted a request for the oral argument and as recently as October extended the time allotted to the parties for argument.
It is not clear what led to the hearing’s cancellation. However, as Anna Bower of Lawfare notes, the court is able to issue a ruling on the matter based on the briefs submitted by either side without hearing oral arguments.
Profile: Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth
Pete Hegseth has been nominated for Secretary of Defense under President-elect Donald Trump - but who is the relative unknown to the DC sphere?
Amber Raiken reports.
Who is Pete Hegseth? The Fox News anchor turned nominee for Defense secretary
The ‘Fox and Friends’ co-host married television producer Jennifer Rauchet in 2019
‘The View’ co-host accuses ‘Morning Joe’ of ‘kissing the ring’ after Trump meeting
The View co-host Sunny Hostin has criticized MSNBC’s Morning Joe anchors Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski for visiting President-elect Donald Trump, saying: “I don’t think you need to sit down for 90 minutes at Mar-a-Lago and kiss his ring to be able to speak truth.”
Scarborough and Brzezinski had been highly critical of Trump leading up to the election, but the pair recently revealed they met with the president-elect on Friday for the first time in seven years to “restart communications.”
Kevin E G Perry has the story.
Sunny Hostin accuses Morning Joe hosts of ‘kissing the ring’ after Trump meeting
‘America needs a free press that is willing to speak truth to power right now, more than ever,’ said Hostin
ACLU sues ICE for records on how air operations may expand for Trump’s deportation plans
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to obtain records revealing how ICE Air Operations — the network of for-profit, commercial, and privately chartered deportation flights run by ICE — could be expanded to carry out a mass deportation and detention program.
Lawyers for the ACLU said the information is urgent as Donald Trump will take office in just two months and has reiterated his promise to undertake the largest deportation program in US history.
The ACLU says that in 2023 alone, planes chartered by ICE Air Operations deported more than 140,000 people. Flights chartered by ICE are also used to transport people between ICE detention facilities across the country. Immigrants’ rights advocates have continuously raised concerns that ICE’s infrastructure, including its air operations network, could be expanded to assist the Trump administration in its efforts to deport more than 11 million people from the United States.
“For months, the ACLU has been preparing for the possibility of a mass detention and deportation program, and FOIA litigation has been a central part of our roadmap,” said Kyle Virgien, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s National Prison Project. “A second Trump administration underscores the urgency of our litigation.”
The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California.
“Little is known about how President-elect Trump would carry out its mass deportation agenda, but what we do know is that this proposal has already instilled fear among immigrant communities,” said Eva Bitran, director of immigrants’ rights at ACLU SoCal. “The public has a right to know how its taxpayer dollars could be used to fund deportation flights that would tear apart not only families, but also our communities.”
Giuliani demands court delay so he can attend Trump’s inauguration
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is asking the court to delay his trial with the pair of election workers he defamed so he can attend Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Giuliani’s trial is scheduled for January 16, 2025, four days before President-elect Trump’s inauguration. The cash-strapped former mayor has now asked the court to adjourn the trial - which is to enforce the $150 million bankruptcy court judgment against Giuliani - until on or after January 22, so that he can attend the inauguration events.
Kelly Rissman has been following the case.
Giuliani demands court delays his trial so he can attend Trump’s inauguration
The former mayor has relinquished control of his Mercedes-Benz — a move he called ‘wholly improper’
Gaetz paid two House ethics committee witnesses for sex, lawyer says
Two women who testified to the House Ethics Committee told investigators that now-former Republican congressman Matt Gaetz paid both of them for sex, according to their attorney.
One of his clients also told the committee that she had witnessed Gaetz having sex with a third woman who was 17 years old at the time.
“She testified that in July of 2017, at this house party, she was walking out to the pool area, and she looked to her right, and she saw Representative Gaetz having sex with her friend, who was 17,” attorney Joel Leppard told ABC News.
Alex Woodward has the full story.
Matt Gaetz paid two ethics committee witnesses for sex, lawyer says
Attorneys for women who testified to ethics panel are putting pressure on lawmakers to release report
Is the shine coming off the Musk-Trump bromance for MAGAworld?
John Bowden reports on how as Elon Musk pushes his influence on Trump cabinet picks, he starting to fall out with others surrounding the president-elect.
Elon Musk’s bromance with Trump is starting to irritate MAGAworld
He may have reached ‘uncle status’ with Trump’s granddaughter Kai, but Musk has already started to fall out with the people surrounding the president-elect. That hasn’t stopped him continuing to push to influence Cabinet picks, however
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