Trump’s defense nominee Pete Hegseth ripped by Tammy Duckworth as GOP grilled on cabinet picks: Live updates
President-elect also made flurry of nominations on Friday night to form his new administration
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has named Brooke Rollins, founder of the America First Policy Institute, as his pick for secretary of agriculture, completing nominations for his cabinet.
The president-elect wasted little time after Matt Gaetz said he was withdrawing from consideration for attorney general. Hours later, Trump named Pam Bondi, former Florida AG, as his choice to lead the Department of Justice. Bondi represented him in his first impeachment trial.
Trump also announced hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as his choice for treasury secretary, and in a flurry of announcements on Friday night, he named Project 2025 co-author Russell Vought as the White House budget chief.
Trump also picked heads for the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a surgeon general — rounding out his nominees to join Robert F Kennedy Jr in radically transforming the nation’s healthcare and disease preparedness agencies.
On Sunday morning’s political talk shows, Republican lawmakers stepped up to defend some of Trump’s choices, including defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth who has been mired in scandal all week because of sexual assault allegations and views on women in combat roles.
Democratic senator Tammy Duckworth, a veteran, called him “unqualified and dangerous”.
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Gaetz without ‘the baggage’: Trump’s new pick Pam Bondi could still disrupt Justice Department
What to know about Brooke Rollins, Trump's pick for agriculture secretary
Trump has now named all 15 heads of executive departments
- Agriculture - Brooke Rollins
- Commerce - Howard Lutnick
- Defense - Pete Hegseth
- Education - Linda McMahon
- Energy - Chris Wright
- HHS - RFK Jr.
- Homeland Security - Kristi Noem
- HUD - Scott Turner
- Interior - Doug Burgum
- Labor - Lori Chavez-DeReme
- State - Marco Rubio
- Transportation - Sean Duffy
- Treasury - Scott Bessent
- Veterans Affairs - Doug Collins
- Attorney General - Pam Bondi
Hegseth threatens ‘educational insurgency’ in schools
Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick to be secretary of defense, has called for an “educational insurgency” to take over American schools in an appearance on a right-wing podcast.
During a CrossPolitic discussion about religiously affiliated schools, Hegseth explained his idea for a system of “classical Christian schools” to provide “recruits” for an underground army that could eventually launch an “educational insurgency”.
Read on...
Trump’s defense pick Pete Hegseth threatens ‘educational insurgency’ in schools
Pete Hegseth says ‘classical Christian schools’ can act as boot camps to establish ‘foothold’
Trump names Brooke Rollins as his pick for secretary of agriculture
As first reported by The Wall Street Journal earlier today, Donald Trump has picked Founder and CEO of the America First Policy Institute Brooke Rollins as his choice to be secretary of agriculture.
The president-elect released the following statement:
It is my Great Honor to nominate Brooke L. Rollins, from the Great State of Texas, to serve as the 33rd United States Secretary of Agriculture.
Brooke was on my 2016 Economic Advisory Council, and did an incredible job during my First Term as the Director of the Domestic Policy Council, Director of the Office of American Innovation, and Assistant to the President for Strategic Initiatives. In these roles, she helped develop and manage the transformational Domestic Policy Agenda of my Administration. Brooke has spent the past four years as the Founder and CEO of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) and America First Works (AFW), building a team of loyal Patriots, and championing the Policies of our America First Agenda.
Brooke’s commitment to support the American Farmer, defense of American Food Self-Sufficiency, and the restoration of Agriculture-dependent American Small Towns is second to none. A proud Graduate of Texas A&M University, Brooke earned a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Agriculture Development, and J.D., with Honors. From her upbringing in the small and Agriculture-centered town of Glen Rose, Texas, to her years of leadership involvement with Future Farmers of America and 4H, to her generational Family Farming background, to guiding her four kids in their show cattle careers, Brooke has a practitioner’s experience, along with deep Policy credentials in both Nonprofit and Government leadership at the State and National levels.
As our next Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke will spearhead the effort to protect American Farmers, who are truly the backbone of our Country. Congratulations Brooke!
Earlier reporting indicated that Trump might pick former Georgia senator Kelly Loeffler.
Gaetz appears to hint at Florida gubernatorial run
Responding to a post on X that he will be the next governor of the state of Florida with a gif of the state flag, former congressman Matt Gaetz appeared to confirm he is considering a gubernatorial run in 2026.
The current governor Ron DeSantis is term-limited and cannot seek reelection.
ANALYSIS: What do Republican doctors really think of RFK Jr? I asked them
Eric Garcia writes:
Senator Bill Cassidy stood up to Donald Trump in 2021 after the January 6 riot — he was one of seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump. And in January, he will become chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, making the Republican gastroenterologist from Louisana one of the most influential doctors in America.
But when it comes to Trump’s nomination of Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has for years spread lies and misinformation about vaccines, Cassidy wants a second opinion.
Continue reading...
What do Republican doctors really think of RFK Jr? I asked them
‘I think it’s a long answer,’ one Republican tells Eric Garcia
Trump endorses Randy Fine for Florida congressional run
Donald Trump has endorsed Florida State Senate member Randy Fine as he considers a run for Congress representing the state’s 6th District.
Current congressman Mike Waltz is joining the Trump administration as national security adviser. The district was also represented by current Florida Governor Ron De Santis from 2013 to 2018.
In a post on Truth Social, the president-elect wrote:
I am hearing that America First Patriot Randy Fine is considering launching his Campaign for Congress in Florida's 6th Congressional District!
A Harvard Educated, Successful Businessman, and Highly Respected State Legislator, Randy has been an incredible Voice for MAGA, and the Great People of Florida. In Congress, Randy will be an INCREDIBLE Fighter who will work tirelessly with me to Stop Inflation, Grow our Economy, Secure the Border, Champion our Military/Vets, Restore American Energy DOMINANCE, Protect our always under siege Second Amendment, and Restore PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.
Should he decide to enter this Race, Randy Fine has my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, RANDY, RUN!
Fine was a champion of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law and the conflict with Disney.
Despite Trump saying he has ‘no idea’ what it is, his cabinet is filling up with Project 2025 authors
Donald Trump said he has “no idea” who’s behind it. His presidential transition chair and the man he picked to be the secretary of commerce said he wouldn’t touch it. “They made themselves nuclear,” he said.
But the authors of Project 2025 — a 900-page playbook from a right-wing think tank for the next Republican president’s agenda — are all over Trump’s incoming administration.
Alex Woodward reports.
Trump’s cabinet is filling up with Project 2025 authors
Trump said he didn’t know who’s behind the blueprint for his return. He just hired the authors for key roles
Democrats warn of ‘massive harm’ on millions of Americans if Russell Vought leads OMB
Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and Rep. Melanie Stansbury, Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, issued the following statement following Donald Trump’s selection of Russell Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB):
“After vehemently denying his links to Project 2025 through the campaign, the President-elect just tapped its lead architect, Russell Vought, to run his coming all-of-government purge as Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
“Vought wants to dismantle the expert federal workforce, replacing qualified, nonpartisan federal employees with sycophants selected not for their merit but for their willingness to place party and personal loyalty over their constitutional oaths of office. Vought’s agenda would inflict massive harm on the tens of millions of Americans who rely on federal workers to provide health care at the VA, Social Security checks to their parents, infrastructure aid to local governments, and financial assistance to small businesses. In his own words, Vought wants our federal workers to be ‘traumatically affected,’ no matter the costs added to our economy or the problems imposed on the American people. Pain is itself the agenda.
“As Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Vought oversaw the largest government shutdown in our nation’s history, carried out a Trump executive order to halt diversity initiatives in federal government, and tried to implement Trump’s assault on the expert, non-partisan civil service through an executive order called ‘Schedule F’—which he said he would revive on ‘day one’ in the next administration. And he is now urging the incoming president to move aggressively and with little regard for the law under a ‘radical constitutional perspective’ to dismantle and replace the federal workforce.
“As Democratic Members of the House Oversight Committee, the headquarters of resistance to this plan, we will fight Vought’s radical agenda, act to protect vital government services the American people depend on, and stand up to defend our fellow citizens who are honorable federal workers every step of the way.”
Trump did a complete 180 on transgender bathroom controversy
“Kamala is for they/them. Trump is for you,” was the message of a widely aired ad for Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign.
But a resurfaced 2016 clip shows how much the president-elect’s view on transgender rights has shifted in eight years.
Kelly Rissman reports.
Resurfaced clip shows how Trump did complete 180 on transgender bathroom controversy
‘People go. They use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate,’ Trump said in 2016 about a North Carolina bathroom bill
ICYMI: Trump’s hush money sentencing indefinitely postponed as judge considers tossing conviction
The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial has postponed his sentencing indefinitely as he considers arguments from the president-elect’s legal team to toss the case altogether.
New York Justice Juan Merchan will hear legal briefs from Trump’s attorneys who claim that the conviction and sentencing of the president-elect will disrupt the “orderly transition of executive power” and be “uniquely destabilizing” to the country.
Trump’s sentencing date was postponed to November 26. That date is now off the calendar.
Instead, Judge Merchan has asked Trump’s attorneys to file their arguments by December 2, according to a filing in Manhattan criminal court on Friday.
Prosecutors will have until December 9 to reply.
Alex Woodward, who closely followed the case for The Independent, filed this report on Friday.
Trump’s hush money sentencing indefinitely postponed as judge considers tossing case
Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts after a years-long legal saga involving his 2016 campaign
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