Trump to kick transgender troops from military as Pete Hegseth’s cabinet nomination in doubt: Live updates
President-elect planning to reinstate ban on trans soldiers as nominees Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F Kennedy Jr facing questions about past statements
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order that would remove transgender service members from the US military as soon as his first day in office.
The president-elect is reportedly preparing to issue an order following his inauguration on January 20 that would effectively ban trans people from serving – and then medically discharge the thousands of currently serving trans service members of the armed forces.
Trump declared that the US would no longer “accept or allow” trans people in the military during his first term, citing “tremendous medical costs and disruption” and the ban took effect in 2019 but was reversed by Joe Biden.
Trump is now understood to be planning to reinstate it.
Meanwhile, Pete Hegseth, his controversial nominee for defense secretary, is facing further questions about his suitability for the role given his past comments about America’s international allies, with quotes from the former Fox weekend anchor’s recent book American Crusade circulating in which he criticizes Nato and the UN and argues US troops should not be bound by the Geneva conventions.
Other Trump nominees likewise expected to face rocky confirmation hearings before the Senate include Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F Kennedy Jr.
GOP senators warned they must ‘step up’ to approve Trump Cabinet picks or face recess appointments
Trump reportedly plans to kick trans troops out of the military within days of inauguration
America’s first trans member of Congress isn’t taking Nancy Mace’s rage bait
Trump’s Cabinet and staff tracker: Here’s who is among the White House appointments so far
Elon Musk mocks own government efficiency department with ‘I can’t believe DOGE is real’
The world’s richest man posts laughing emojis on the social media platform he owns over the prospect of being allowed to carve up the US government thanks to a new department founded especially for him with a joke name of his own choosing.
What a world.
Rhian Lubin has more.
Elon Musk mocks own government efficiency department: ‘I can’t believe DOGE is real’
Musk will advise on gutting federal departments and which staff should be fired
Dr Oz invested millions in businesses regulated by the agency Trump wants him to lead
Dr Mehmet Oz, the television personality turned politician, held multiple investments in companies regulated by or closely tied to the federal agency that Donald Trump has tapped him to head – opening the door for questions and concerns about a conflict of interest.
Last week, Dr Oz was nominated to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that provides health insurance coverage to more than 160 million people in the United States through Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Health Insurance Marketplace.
Yet on his 2022 Senate financial disclosure form, Dr Oz indicated he had at least $280,000 worth of stakes in health insurance companies, such as UnitedHealth Group and Cigna, that work with the government to provide insurance under Medicaid or Medicare.
Ariana Baio reports.
Dr. Oz invested millions in businesses regulated by the agency he could lead
Dr. Oz holds a plethora of investments in healthcare, pharmaceutical, health insurance and health research companies
Watch: Biden pardons Thanksgiving turkeys at the White House
Peach and Blossom were the names of the lucky fowls given a late November reprieve.
Megyn Kelly takes swipe at Hegseth not being marriage material while defending him from sexual assault allegations
Speaking of Trump’s preferred defense secretary, here’s Katie Hawkinson with some rather odd criticism of him in the process of trying to brush aside the sexual assault allegation raised against him by woman he met at a conservative conference in Monterey, California, in 2017.
Hegseth has denied wrongdoing in the case.
Megyn Kelly defends defense secretary pick Hegseth from sexual assault allegations
A woman accused Pete Hegseth of sexually assaulting her in Monterey, California in 2017
Pete Hegseth under scrutiny over past statements about international allies
Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, is facing questions about his suitability about the role given his past comments about America’s international allies, The Guardian reports, citing quotes from a book by the former Fox weekend man criticising Nato and the UN and expressing his belief contention that US troops should not be bound by the Geneva conventions.
“Why do we fund the anti-American UN?” Hegseth asks in his 2020 book American Crusade.
“Why is Islamist Turkey a member of Nato?”
Of the North Atlantic military alliance, he writes: “Nato is not an alliance; it’s a defense arrangement for Europe, paid for and underwritten by the United States.
He continues: “Europe has already allowed itself to be invaded. It chose not to rebuild its militaries, happily suckling off the teat of America’s willingness to actually fight and win wars.
“The defense of Europe is not our problem; been there, done that, twice.
“Nato is a relic and should be scrapped and remade in order for freedom to be truly defended. This is what Trump is fighting for.”
Meanwhile, here’s some new polling from Reuters/Ipsos revealing that 72 percent of the US public disagree with him on the question of female soldiers being deployed in combat roles.
America’s first trans member of Congress isn’t taking the rage bait
With Republicans determined to make her arrival in Washington DC a spectacle, Sarah McBride is calmly shutting down their provocations as a “distraction” from their agenda.
America’s first openly transgender member of Congress has been far from the most vocal of candidates on the Democratic side since the party’s disastrous Election Day but the incoming representative from Delaware nevertheless finds herself in the center of the House GOP’s crosshairs.
And she isn’t taking the rage bait.
Here’s John Bowden’s profile.
America’s first trans member of Congress isn’t taking Nancy Mace’s rage bait
Sarah McBride opens up about losing her husband to cancer as she shoots down anti-trans attacks
Why Trump’s most radical cabinet pick might be a man you’ve never heard of
The incoming president has made a series of wild selections to run his key government departments, writes Alan Rusbridger.
Matt Gaetz may have crashed and burned in his bid to become attorney general, but there are plenty of others who will offer Trump both loyalty and extreme ideologies.
The first rule of a Trump government: there are no rules
The incoming president has made a series of wild selections to run his key government departments, writes Alan Rusbridger. Matt Gaetz may have crashed and burned in his bid to become attorney general, but there are plenty of others who will offer Trump both loyalty and extreme ideologies
Joe Rogan accused of pushing Russian propaganda by Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko
Klitschko has hit out at the influential American podcaster over his recent interview with music producer Scott Storch, which saw the duo slam President Biden’s decision last week to allow Volodymyr Zelensky to use American-made long-range missiles against Russia.
Rhian Lubin has the story.
Joe Rogan accused of pushing Russian propaganda by Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko
Rogan said that Biden’s decision to let Ukraine use US long-range missiles against Russia ‘could start World War III’
Trump’s counter-terror pick Sebastian Gorka labeled a ‘conman’
The president-elect’s former national security adviser John Bolton did not hold back on the subject of Trump’s pick for counter-terrorism director when he appeared on CNN over the weekend.
“Sebastian Gorka is a con man,” Bolton told host Kaitlan Collins.
“He needs a full-field FBI background investigation about his educational claims and things like that.
“I think he is a perfect example of somebody who owes his position purely to Donald Trump, he doesn’t display loyalty, he displays fealty, and that’s what Trump wants.”
Gustaf Kilander has more.
Trump’s counter terror pick Sebastian Gorka is a ‘conman,’ John Bolton says
Former Trump national security adviser calls right-wing personality the ‘perfect example of somebody who owes his position purely to Donald Trump’
Elon Musk and Don Jr suggest buying MSNBC
The tech billionaire and Trump’s eldest son have been revelling in the idea of the former (seemingly now resident at Mar-a-Lago) buying up the liberal network and using it to parp out MAGA propaganda.
Gustaf Kilander reports.
‘Funniest idea ever’: Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr suggest buying MSNBC
‘The most entertaining outcome, especially if ironic, is most likely’
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