Trump returns to MSG for UFC fight night as he picks oil CEO Chris Wright for energy secretary: Live
Donald Trump returned to Madison Square Garden tonight after naming fracking CEO Chris Wright as his pick for energy secretary
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has returned to Madison Square Garden tonight to attend an Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the New York City arena.
The president-elect returned to the famed venue just weeks after his controversial campaign rally there. Attendees met him with thundering cheers as he entered alongside UFC CEO Dana White, billionaire ally Elon Musk, cabinet pick Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Popular podcaster Joe Rogan also attended, greeted Trump with a friendly handshake.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to fill key posts in his second administration and tonight named fracking CEO Chris Wright as his choice for energy secretary.
Wright, CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development and one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change.
Trump's transition team is also firefighting serious allegations surrounding Matt Gaetz for attorney general and Pete Hegseth for defense secretary.
A woman who gave testimony to the House Ethics Committee probing Gaetz claims that she witnessed him having sex with a minor, her lawyer told ABC. Gaetz denies all wrongdoing.
The president-elect's transition team is also reportedly "stunned" by a sexual assault allegation regarding Hegseth that only emerged within 48 hours of announcing him for the top defense job, CNN reports. He denied all the accusations.
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Trump emerges from Mar-a-Lago seclusion to raucous reception at UFC with key allies
‘He’s like the sleeper’: Lara Trump details Barron’s influence over his father
Recap: Marjorie Taylor Greene and Donald Trump Jr accuse Biden of trying to start WWIII with Ukraine missiles move
If you missed this one earlier, two of Trumpworld’s loudest voices have accused Joe Biden of trying to start World War III after he gave Ukraine the green light to use US-supplied long-range supersonic missiles to strike inside Russia for the first time.
James Liddell has more.
Marjorie Taylor Greene and Donald Trump Jr accuse Biden of trying to start WWIII
Biden’s decision marks a change in stance in the president’s final days in office, before President-elect Donald Trump – who has indicated he will limit US support for Ukraine – returns to the White House in January
Watch: Morning Joe hosts reveal they went to Mar-a-Lago to ‘restart communications’ with Trump
Over half of voters were surprised by Trump’s win – including Republicans, new poll reveals
A majority of Americans were surprised by Trump’s win in the presidential election – including 43 percent of Republicans, according to exclusive data.
A poll of 1,941 US adults by Prolific, exclusively for The Independent, found that, following months of predictions on a knife’s edge, Americans on all sides ended up being surprised by the final outcome of the White House race.
Some 54 percent of people were at least quite surprised by the outcome of the election, with 14 percent of those “very surprised.”
A third were not very surprised, and 16 percent not surprised at all.
Here’s more from Alicja Hagopian.
Over half of voters were surprised by Trump’s win — including Republicans
Exclusive: 43 percent of Republicans were surprised by the election result – while most Americans think their neighbor voted for Trump
‘Trump dance’ catches on in the NFL
LA Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, Detroit Lions defenders Malcolm Rodriguez and Za’Darius Smith and Tennessee Titans wide receiver Calvin Ridley were all doing the president-elect’s signature move at the weekend.
It’s even reached League One in England, thanks to Barnsley FC.
Here’s more.
Even Matt Gaetz’s dad was surprised Trump picked him for attorney general
A number of the president-elect’s nominations to his new cabinet have raised eyebrows among political observers, but none more so than Matt Gaetz, who has been tapped to become America’s next attorney general.
Gaetz, 42, is known as a MAGA firebrand on Capitol Hill who was instrumental in the ousting of previous House speaker Kevin McCarthy.
He is also known for being the subject of a Department of Justice (DOJ) sex trafficking investigation and House Ethics Committee probe.
He has never been criminally charged and denies the allegations.
Few, it seems, saw him as a likely head of the DOJ – and, it turns out, that includes Gaetz’s his own father.
Even Matt Gaetz’s dad was surprised Trump picked him for attorney general
When asked if he thinks his son will get approval from the Senate, Don Gaetz said that ‘confirmation is always a dice roll’
CBS’s 60 Minutes sparks right-wing backlash over brutal takedown of Trump’s cabinet picks
Host Scott Pelley began Sunday’s show with a monologue dissecting Donald Trump’s choices for his future administration, detailing one-by-one how the likes of Pete Hegseth, Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F Kennedy Jr have “no compelling qualifications” and “no government experience” to take up the jobs they’ve been nominated for.
Trump’s incoming White House Communications Director Steven Cheung took to X shortly after to claim that Pelley’s segment was riddled with “disgusting bias” and was soon joined in his outrage by Elon Musk, Charlie Kirk and many other members of the MAGA-verse.
Here’s more from James Liddell.
60 Minutes sparks right-wing backlash over brutal takedown of Trump’s cabinet picks
Elon Musk took a swipe at CBS correspondent Scott Pelley for his ‘trash propaganda piece’
Truth Social: Trump whitewashes Covid response and leans on Republicans to fall in line
Here are the latest posts from Trump’s non-Elon social media feed, which find him taking a revisionist attitude towards his first administration’s pandemic response and issuing a veiled threat to the GOP not to engage in any funny business.
Trump’s pick of Marco Rubio as secretary of state ignites fears of fiercer US-China rivalry
Donald Trump once belittled him as “Little Marco” and a “choke artist”, only to then nominate him as his US secretary of state and describe him as “a strong advocate for our nation, a true friend to our allies and a fearless warrior who will never back down to our adversaries”.
The Florida Senator’s appointment as arguably the most powerful diplomat in the world will likely reshape American foreign policy towards allies and rivals alike – and dealing with China’s continued economic, diplomatic and military rise is set to be one of his top priorities.
That Trump moved swiftly to staff his foreign policy and national security team with China hawks is an indication that relations between the two superpowers will deteriorate further, writes Shweta Sharma.
Trump’s pick of Marco Rubio ignites fears of tougher US-China rivalry in second term
Florida senator, who sees China as America’s No 1 enemy, will be a major headache for Beijing but will also present it an opportunity, Shweta Sharma reports
RFK Jr dines on McDonald’s with Trump as ex-health sec warns role is ‘life or death’
The president-elect’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was pictured looking slightly awkward in the company of Don Jr, Elon Musk and Mike Johnson over the weekend as the group posed with boxes of McDonald’s junk food aboard the Republican’s private plane.
That “Make America Healthy Again” agenda already appears to be in jeopardy.
Meanwhile, this is what one of RFK Jr’s predecessors in that office, Kathleen Sebelius, had to tell MSNBC anchor Jonathan Capehart about the seriousness of the role the notorious vaccine sceptic has been nominated to:
“I think that we’re talking about magnitudes of danger beyond erroneously making legal decisions. This is life or death. The HHS affects people from birth to their grave and is intimately connected with every state in the country. So this could be very dangerous. I think it’s totally disqualifying for anyone who seeks to lead the major health agency in this country and one of the leaders in the world to just unequivocally say there is no safe and effective vaccine.
“That in and of itself, from the bully pulpit of HHS, could end up killing people, could end up harming children. My grandson is too young to get a lot of vaccinations yet, and having him exposed to unvaccinated people with polio and measles is a terrifying thought. Having eradicated those diseases as a major health initiative, Jonathan, I think this is absolutely terrifying and people should understand how serious it is.”
Mike Johnson denies discussing Matt Gaetz ethics report with Trump
The House speaker defended his call for the House Ethics Committee to withhold the release of its report on the investigation into Matt Gaetz – Trump’s pick for attorney general – during a round of TV appearances on Sunday amid allegations that the former Florida congressman paid for sex with an underage girl.
"The president and I have literally not discussed one word about the ethics report,” Johnson told CNN’s State of the Union yesterday.
“Not once.”
Here’s more from John Bowden.
Mike Johnson denies consulting with Trump on Matt Gaetz ethics report
GOP senators fret Trump will expend political capital getting scandal-plagued Gaetz through tough confirmation vote
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