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.
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
Profile: Interior secretary nominee Doug Burgum
President-elect Donald Trump has chosen North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to head the Interior Department.
Trump made the announcement during a speech at a black-tie gala held at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday.
Sam Rkaina reports.
Who is Doug Burgum? Everything to know about Trump’s pick to run Interior Department
Burgum has been an outspoken supporter of the president-elect and was on the shortlist for VP
ICYMI: Trump feels ‘obligation’ to Americans to work with press, even those who treat him badly
In an interview with Fox News Digital this morning, Donald Trump said that it is “vital” to have a “free, fair and open media” and that he feels he has “an obligation” to the American people to work with the press — even those who had treated him “badly beyond comprehension”.
The president-elect also spoke of his meeting with the MSNBC hosts of Morning Joe: “I received a call from Joe Scarborough requesting a meeting for him and Mika [Brzezinski], and I agreed that it would be a good thing if such meeting took place.”
Trump said he met with the two at 8am on Friday morning at Mar-a-Lago and that it was “extremely cordial”.
“Many things were discussed, and I very much appreciated the fact that they wanted to have open communication,” he said. “In many ways, it’s too bad that it wasn’t done long ago.”
The president-elect said they discussed his campaign and his cabinet picks and the meeting ended with an agreement to speak in the future.
He said his obligation is “to be open and available to the press” but added: “If not treated fairly, however, that will end.”
Who’s who in Trump’s prospective administration?
President-elect Donald Trump is filling key posts in his second administration, putting an emphasis so far on aides and allies who were his strongest backers during the 2024 campaign.
Here’s a look at who he’s selected so far:
Trump’s Cabinet tracker: Here’s who is among the White House appointments so far
Here is who Donald Trump has chosen to fill key cabinet positions in his second administration
Analysis: Trump warned his second term would mean ‘retribution’. His alarming cabinet picks show he means it
Alex Woodward writes:
Trump’s first wave of cabinet nominations and White House appointments, within the week after he won the 2024 presidential election, have stunned members of Congress, veterans and active-duty service members, public health advocates and democratic advocates, who have warned for years that he is building a government of loyalists to fulfill his campaign-trail promises to deliver “retribution” by destroying the “deep state.”
They’re shocking choices, but they shouldn’t be surprising. When Trump formally launched his 2024 campaign from Waco, Texas, he declared himself a “warrior” and the election a “final battle.”
Read on...
Trump promised ‘retribution’ in his second term. His cabinet picks show he means it
Analysis: Trump’s cabinet choices are shocking, but not surprising, Alex Woodward reports
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.”
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