Trump cabinet latest: Hegseth and Gaetz’s nominations under fire over sexual misconduct allegations
Donald Trump’s cabinet picks of Matt Gaetz for attorney general and Pete Hegseth for defense secretary continue to face backlash
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump's transition team is firefighting serious allegations surrounding two of his top cabinet picks – 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 investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use against the former Florida representative was dropped after Gaetz immediately resigned from the House on Wednesday following Trump's decision to nominate him to run the Justice Department.
However, there are growing calls for the ethics report to be released.
It comes as the president-elect's transition team is 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.
Trump's communications director Steven Cheung told the network that Hegseth “has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no charges were filed.”
Meanwhile, Trump has announced Karoline Leavitt will be his White House press secretary and tapped Doug Burgum to lead the Interior Department and be chair of the newly-created National Energy Council.
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NEW: Trump announces Will Scharf as White House staff secretary
Trump has also announced that Will Scharf, one of his personal attorneys, will be his White House staff secretary.
In a statement shared on Truth Social, Trump credited Scharf with playing “a key role in defeating the Election Interference and Lawfare waged against me, including by winning the Historic Immunity Decision in the Supreme Court.”
NEW: Trump nominates oil boss Chris Wright as Energy Secretary
Trump has announced that he is nominating oil industry CEO Chris Wright to be his Energy Secretary.
In a statement, Trump said:
“I am thrilled to announce that Chris Wright will be joining my Administration as both United States Secretary of Energy, and Member of the newly formed Council of National Energy.
“Chris has been a leading technologist and entrepreneur in Energy. He has worked in Nuclear, Solar, Geothermal, and Oil and Gas. Most significantly, Chris was one of the pioneers who helped launch the American Shale Revolution that fueled American Energy Independence, and transformed the Global Energy Markets and Geopolitics.
“As Secretary of Energy, Chris will be a key leader, driving innovation, cutting red tape, and ushering in a new “Golden Age of American Prosperity and Global Peace.”
Two Senators call for investigation into Elon Musk amid alleged contact with Vladimir Putin
Two Democratic senators have urged for a review into Elon Musk’s alleged contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid the contracts his companies currently hold with the federal government.
Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a senior Democrat on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, called for the Pentagon and Justice Department to review the contracts in light of the reported contact with Russia, the BBC reports.
Last month The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk had been in regular contact with Putin and the pair have spoken on the phone about business and geopolitical matters.
In their letter, Shaheen and Reed wrote: “We urge an immediate review to ascertain whether Mr Musk’s relationship with multiple high-level Russian officials warrant an investigation and a determination by the Department of Defense’s senior debarment official whether SpaceX should exclude Mr Musk’s involvement in current or future US Government contracts.”
When reached for comment from Musk at the time, a SpaceX spokesperson told The Independent the claims in the Journal were “misleading” and “unsubstantiated.”
ICYMI: Woman testified to House Ethics Committee she saw Matt Gaetz have sex with minor, her lawyer says
A woman testified in front of the House Ethics Committee that she saw Matt Gaetz have sex with a minor, according to her lawyer.
Attorney Joel Leppard represents two women who gave closed-door testimony in the summer to the committee probing President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial pick for attorney general, ABC first reported.
“My client testified to the House Ethics Committee that she witnessed Matt Gaetz having sex with a minor,” Leppard told the outlet.
Read the full story below.
Woman testified to ethics committee she saw Gaetz have sex with minor, lawyer says
Two women gave closed-door testimony to the committee probing Trump’s controversial pick for attorney general
Trump’s transition team standing by Pete Hegseth for defense secretary
Trump’s transition team is standing by Pete Hegseth for defense secretary.
Hegseth shared a post from the Trump War Room on X, one of the 2024 campaign’s social media accounts, with a supportive quote from Steven Cheung, who has been named as Trump’s communications director.
Longtime GOP adviser - if Matt Gaetz has Senate hearing, it will be one 'of the most insane’
Brendan Buck, a longtime GOP adviser, said if Matt Gaetz has a Senate confirmation hearing, it will be one “of the most insane.”
He told MSNBC’s Alex Witt that he “wouldn’t want to be in [Gaetz’s] position” right now.
“He’s obviously not coming in with a strong hand. I’m not ready to say that Republicans are going to reject him,” Buck said. “I think you have to appreciate how many Republicans see what Donald Trump just did and would be very concerned about crossing him.
“We’ve seen reports of as many as 30 Republican senators willing to vote against him but that’s all said anonymously.
“I do think if he gets to this point this will be some of the most insane confirmation hearings we’ve ever seen,” Buck added.
“The things that the House Ethics Committee has been looking into, whether or not the report comes out, are going to be front and center. Don’t think that Democrats on the committee will just let that go if it does not come out.”
ICYMI: AOC says Tulsi Gabbard is ‘most worrisome’ Trump cabinet pick
New York Democratic Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said that the nomination of former Hawaii Rep Tulsi Gabbard to be the director of national intelligence is the most worrisome nomination so far among president-elect Donald Trump’s administration picks.
“I actually think, almost more than Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard’s appointment is devastating,” Ocasio-Cortez said on MSNBC on Thursday of Gabbard and the former Florida Rep nominated to be attorney general.
“Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination, as much as she says that she’s an anti-war person, she’s not. She supports very pro-war individuals abroad,” she added.
Read more below.
AOC calls Tulsi Gabbard’s appointment the most worrisome
‘Let’s be very clear. A Tulsi Gabbard nomination is a pro-war nomination globally. Point blank, period,’ New York Democrat says
ICYMI: Trump was convicted in his hush money case. His lawyers were rewarded with top Justice Department jobs
The lawyers who defended Donald Trump in his criminal cases and demanded the Supreme Court shield him from prosecution have been awarded job offers for some of the biggest roles in federal law enforcement.
Todd Blanche, who has steered the defense of the former president in courtrooms in New York, Florida, and Washington DC, is nominated for the second highest role in the Department of Justice.
If confirmed, he could serve as deputy attorney general to far-right Trump ally Matt Gaetz, who Trump has nominated for attorney general, the nation’s top law enforcement official, in a role that is likely to be used to target the judges and prosecutors overseeing the mountain of litigation against the former president.
Emil Bove, Trump’s criminal defense attorney in his so-called hush money case, is nominated for principal deputy attorney general. He could be acting deputy attorney general while Blanche is awaiting confirmation in the Senate.
Alex Woodward writes how the three attorneys central to Trump’s criminal defense and ‘immunity’ victory could lead the daily operations of a Justice Department the president-elect wants to upend.
Trump’s hush money lawyers are rewarded with top Justice Department jobs
Three attorneys central to Trump’s criminal defense and ‘immunity’ victory could lead the daily operations of a Justice Department the president-elect wants to upend, Alex Woodward reports
Gaetz’s hire at DOJ will prompt ‘mass exodus’ - former federal prosecutor
A former federal prosecutor has said that Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, would fail a background check for an entry-level role at the DOJ.
Harry Litman, a former U.S. attorney, said that Gaetz’s hire could prompt a “major exodus” at the agency.
“There’s never been someone as unqualified, no prosecutorial experience, no legal experience to speak of, but that’s the least of it. Someone who comes to the department with actual contempt and hostility for it, it’s gonna prompt a major exodus,” Litman told MSNBC’s All in with Chris Hayes on Friday.
“It’s gonna prompt judges and juries around the country to have less credibility in the DOJ, which is the really stock and trade of the DOJ,” he added.
Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman says Democrats need to quit ‘freaking out’ about Trump
Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman is advising his fellow Democrats to “chill” about Donald Trump.
Fetterman pointed out during an NBC News interview on Friday that Trump “hasn’t even been inaugurated yet.”
He warned Democrats that they needed to “pace themselves” since it’s still very early days for the Trump presidency round two.
“And that’s the thing. If you’re already exhausted, freaking out, and it’s not even Thanksgiving, then you really ought to pace yourselves. Because he hasn’t even been inaugurated yet,” he said.
“So you really have to chill out, and you’re going to have to be more discerning or discriminate on what’s going to freak you out, or what’s just trolling, Because it’s not the weather, it’s the climate now for the next four years.”
Graig Graziosi has the details.
John Fetterman says Dems ‘freaking out’ about Trump need to ‘chill’
Fetterman said Trump’s decision to pick former Congressman Matt Gaetz as his attorney general was ‘nothing but trolling’
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