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.
Trump warned his second term would mean ‘retribution’. His alarming cabinet picks show he means it
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Sylvester Stallone calls Trump ‘the second George Washington’ in Mar-a-Lago warm-up speech
Trump’s Cabinet tracker: Who has been tapped to carry out his agenda
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.
Gaetz denies any wrongdoing.
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 aide in charge of mass deportations threatens ‘shock and awe’ on day one of new administration
Trump border czar Tom Homan has pledged to institute a regime of “shock and awe” on the first day of the new administration.
The former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took part in Donald Trump Jr’s program on the video streaming platform Rumble this week.
The pair discussed Homan’s plans to put together mass deportations of millions of illegal immigrants.
Gustaf Kilander reports.
Trump aide in charge of mass deportations threatens ‘shock and awe’
‘You’re going to see us take this country back and ... it isn’t just about the deportation operation,’ Tom Homan says
IN DEPTH: Putin and Trump are deluded about one another – and Ukraine will pay the price
Tom Watling reports:
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin seriously underestimate what the other is capable of and that carries far-ranging risks for Ukraine over Russia’s invasion, Britain’s former spy chief and ex-diplomats have told The Independent.
Trump’s US election victory last week has upended Europe’s plan to back Kyiv for “as long as it takes”. His focus is on ending the war quickly, even if that potentially means pushing Kyiv to cede territory currently occupied by Russia.
Sir Alex Younger, former chief of MI6 from 2014 to 2020, believes both the incoming president and his Russian counterpart overestimate their ability to influence the other.
“I think Trump overestimates his ability to force Putin into a land swap where Putin clearly wants a lot more, when he feels that he is winning and when he has to show [the Russian people] a lot more if he is to justify the appalling sacrifice he’s imposed,” he says. “Trump is underestimating the challenge and overestimating his influence.”
Continue reading...
Putin and Trump are deluded about one another – and Ukraine will pay the price
With Donald Trump vowing to the end war in Ukraine quickly, Tom Watling speaks to American and British former officials about the overconfidence of both the US president-elect and the Russian leader
Why is RFK Jr facing pushback to his nomination from the right?
Robert F Kennedy Jr has questioned the effectiveness of vaccines and slammed the FDA’s “aggressive suppression” of raw milk — but some Republicans are warning he may not be right to lead federal health agencies for an entirely different reason: his stance on abortion.
Kelly Rissman explains.
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.”
Continue reading...
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
AOC: Tulsi Gabbard’s appointment the most worrisome
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.
Gustaf Kilander reports.
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
ANALYSIS: Trump’s controversial cabinet picks will cost him political capital. Will they bankrupt him before he even takes office?
Andrew Feinberg writes:
Just over a week ago, Donald Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win both the Electoral College and the national popular vote since George W Bush in 2004.
And he appears to be repeating one of Bush’s most infamous mistakes.
Read on...
Trump’s latest cabinet picks could echo a major Bush-era post-election blunder
ANALYSIS: Trump could be blowing his political capital on cabinet choices who his own party can’t stomach
ICYMI: Speaker says he will ‘strongly request’ committee does not release Gaetz’s ethics report
Speaker Mike Johnson has said that he will request that the House Ethics Committee not release its report into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use made against former Florida Congressman and Attorney General nominee Matt Gaetz.
Asked if he thinks the report should come out, Johnson told reporters: “I do not. No, I think it’s a terrible breach of protocol.”
Gustaf Kilander reports.
House speaker says he will ‘request’ committee does not release Gaetz’s ethics report
Republican senators say Gaetz is not ‘a serious’ nominee who doesn’t have the ‘moral authority’ to lead the Department of Justice
How can Trump can bypass FBI background checks and security clearance for his key cabinet picks?
The FBI has vetted cabinet picks since President Dwight D Eisenhower was in the White House.
But if he so chooses, Donald Trump, himself a convicted felon, can bypass background checks for those he has nominated for key roles in his administration.
Incoming cabinet members have traditionally faced intensive screening from the FBI with a binary purpose: to help with the Senate confirmation process and to vet nominees for security clearance.
Criminal histories, conflicts of interest, financial problems or other potentially disqualifying factors are typically investigated through this process.
But, despite established procedure, the president does have the power to bypass such checks and grant immediate security clearance to officials.
James Liddell explains.
How Trump can bypass FBI background checks and security clearance for cabinet picks
President-elect allegedly granted clearance to at least 25 people flagged by the FBI as possible dangers to national security in his first term
Who’s who in Trump’s proposed cabinet
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
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