Trump’s cabinet latest updates: President-elect selects Tulsi Gabbard and Marco Rubio to join administration
Donald Trump returns to Washington DC on Wednesday for sitdown with Joe Biden to discuss transition after announcing a series of new cabinet appointments
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Your support makes all the difference.President-elect Donald Trump has selected former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio to join his administration.
Gabbard is set to serve as the director of national intelligence while Rubio has been nominated to be secretary of state.
Meanwhile, the Republicans are projected to retain control of the House, completing their trifecta.
Trump met with Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday to discuss a transition schedule, with their opening sitdown warm and cordial in tone.
Their remarks lasted about a minute, with Trump observing “Politics is tough” and adding: “And in many cases, it’s not a nice world. But it’s a nice world today.”
The men subsequently met in private without the press pack present, with Trump apparently getting a laugh by joking about bringing an end to term limits.
“I suspect I won’t be running again unless you say, ‘He’s so good we’ve got to figure something else out’,” he said.
On a busy day in Washington DC, Republican senators also elected a new majority leader in place of Mitch McConnell, with South Dakota’s John Thune coming out on top.
Watch live: Senate Republicans speak for first time since John Thune elected Senate majority leader
Watch live as the Senate Republicans speak for the first time since John Thune was elected to serve as Senate majority leader for the next two years.
Senate Republicans nominated the Senate Minority Whip to succeed Mitch McConnell as majority leader, setting him up to be the main force to push through President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda.
The South Dakotan beat Florida Senator Rick Scott, a favourite of allies of Trump’s such as Elon Musk, and Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who previously held the job of whip.
Trump and Thune have previously clashed, at one point seeing the President-elect encouraging South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to challenge Thune for his seat.
The two appear to have put their differences aside after the minority whip endorsed Trump.
Watch: Trump ally hints she could serve as his press secretary
New Senate majority leader called Trump’s actions ‘inexcusable'
Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota blasted Trump after his second impeachment trial, saying that his “vote to acquit should not be viewed as exoneration ... What former President Trump did to undermine faith in our election system and disrupt the peaceful transfer of power is inexcusable.”
Trump and Biden played nice in the Oval Office. Elsewhere at White House, it felt like the circus was back
Nearly four years after he left Washington, DC, under a cloud of ignominy rather than attend Joe Biden’s inauguration, President-elect Donald Trump’s bespoke 757 touched down at Joint Base Andrews and taxied to nearly the exact spot from which he departed the same airfield aboard Air Force One.
This time, there was no red carpet there to meet him. There were no salutes rendered upon his arrival, and only a single Air Force officer waiting to greet the man who will, for the second time, become the commander-in-chief of the world’s most powerful military in just a few short months. Roughly 20 miles away at the White House, Trump wasn’t greeted by anything near the pageantry that will await him following his inauguration on January 20, four years to the day after he left without welcoming Biden upon his arrival.
Trump and Biden played nice in the Oval Office as the circus returned to Washington
Analysis: Andrew Feinberg reports how the calm scene in the Oval Office belied the chaos just steps away as the world’s press covered Trump’s return
WATCH: Trump and Biden shake hands as president-elect visits White House
Barrasso elected majority whip
Wyoming Senator John Barrasso has been elected Republican majority whip after running for the role unopposed, according to Politico.
Barrasso, 72, joined the Senate in 2007 and is the current chair of the Senate Republican Conference, the number three spot in the caucus.
Thune elected as first new Senate GOP leader in nearly two decades
John Thune was elected in a secret ballot and is set to take over as the new Senate majority leader in January at the beginning of the new Congress.
Thune is the first new Republican Senate leader in 18 years, following the longest-serving Senate leader Mitch McConnell.
The South Dakota Senator will take on the leadership of the Republican Senate caucus as the GOP takes control of both chambers of Congress as well as the White House.
Thune is the current Republican whip, and at 63, he’s seen as relatively young by GOP leadership standards. He succeeds McConnell, 82, and won in the second round of voting against John Cornyn, 72.
Republicans are set to govern with a 53-seat majority in the Senate as they take on cutting taxes, cracking down on immigration, and looking at energy policy.
Watch: Trump’s new defense secretary ‘can’t remember washing hands once over last decade’ in bizarre resurfaced footage
Trump’s defense secretary ‘can’t remember washing hands once over last decade’
President-elect Donald Trump's new defense secretary once said that he could not remember washing his hands in ten years in bizarre footage that has resurfaced following his appointment. In 2019, Fox News host Pete Hegseth declared on air that he has not washed his hands for 10 years because "germs are not a real thing". He said he believes that germs do not exist because they cannot be seen with the naked eye. Mr Trump will nominate Mr Hegseth to his Cabinet, the latest in a flurry of announcements about the shape of the incoming administration.
John Thune elected new Senate GOP leader
South Dakota Senator John Thune has been elected the new Senate GOP leader by a margin of 29 votes to 24 for Texas Senator John Cornyn, according to Punchbowl.
Thune won re-election in 2022, meaning that he’s not up for election again until 2028 when Trump’s second term will be coming to an end.
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