Election 2024 live updates: Trump begins transition as Republicans expected to win House
President-elect Donald Trump names his victorious 2024 campaign manager as first-ever female White House chief of staff as he works on transition to Oval Office
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Your support makes all the difference.President-elect Donald Trump has begun preparing for the Oval Office by naming Susie Wiles as his new White House chief of staff.
The Republicans are expected to retain control of the House, likely handing the GOP a trifecta as they’re set to take back the Senate, possibly handing Trump full control of the levers of power in Washington.
Trump and President Joe Biden both had a trifecta for their first two years in office.
Wiles spearheaded Trump’s successful 2024 campaign and is the first of many appointees who will help to push his agenda, which includes the mass deportation of illegal immigrants, more trade tariffs and extended tax cuts.
The Republican also looks to be on course to win Nevada as he nears the completion of an astonishing clean sweep of the swing states, with only Arizona still to declare.
Trump shared several late-night election victory posts on Truth Social on Thursday – his first since his return to power was confirmed early on Wednesday morning.
The wave of posts included an Electoral College map, newspaper front pages recounting his triumph over Democrat Kamala Harris and a photo of a MAGA cap-clad Trump with the caption: “Get ready for the Golden Age.”
Meet Susie Wiles, the ‘ice maiden’ who propelled Trump to victory – and is his new chief of staff
I reported from across Pennsylvania through the election. The key to Trump’s victory was staring us right in the face
After Trump wins the ‘influencer election’, why some Democrats want to create their own Joe Rogan
‘The will of the people always prevails’: Biden promises ‘peaceful and orderly’ transition to Trump
Putin congratulates ‘brave man’ Trump on his election victory
Madonna has two-word message for Trump after he wins election
Madonna shared a forceful message to Donald Trump after he won the US election.
Trump’s presidency has led to a strong reaction from the world of celebrity, with famous Kamala Harris supporters, including several late-night hosts, making no secret of their upset over the result.
Days before election day, which took place on Tuesday (5 November), Madonna shared her endorsement for Democratic nominee Harris, revealing that she had returned home from a trip Paris, France so she could cast her vote.
Madonna has two-word message for Trump after he wins election
Singer went full Madonna in her takedown of US president
Republicans expected to retain House control as counting continues
The Republicans appear to be on track to retain control of the House as counting continues in close races.
So far, the Republicans have gained two seats, winning 211 seats so far, according to the AP.
The Democrats, meanwhile, have secured 199 seats, having lost two.
For a majority, 218 seats are needed.
Robert Lighthizer asked to return as Trump trade representative: Report
Robert Lighthizer has been asked to come back in his role as US Trade Representative in Donald Trump’s next administration, according to the Financial Times.
Lighthizer is a believer in tariffs was was one of the top people in Trump’s trade war with China during his first term in the White House.
He was also part of the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), with Mexico and Canada, Reuters noted.
VOICES: Believe it or not, there are worse ideas than ‘Ambassador Farage’
John Rentoul writes:
I assume that speculation about Nigel Farage becoming Britain’s ambassador to the United States is based on little more than putting two and two together: that Farage is a friend of Donald Trump’s and that Keir Starmer will need help in managing his relationship with the next president.
In fact, the Clacton MP and leader of Reform UK ruled himself out of consideration two weeks ago, saying: “Clearly, I’ve decided to get back into elected politics, so I’m off the table.”
He could of course rule himself back in again. Two days ago, he wrote an article for the Daily Telegraph offering his services in an informal role: “If I can be helpful in any way when it comes to bridging the divide that exists between Starmer’s government and Trump, I will be glad to assist.”
Believe it or not, there are worse ideas than ‘Ambassador Farage’
If the Reform UK leader is serious in his offer to be a bridge between Keir Starmer’s government and president-elect Donald Trump, the prime minister should hold him to it, says John Rentoul
Justice Department charges ‘asset of the Iranian regime’ targeting Donald Trump
The Department of Justice said in a statement on Friday that three people – Farhad Shakeri, 51, of Iran; Carlisle Rivera, also known as Pop, 49, of Brooklyn, New York; and Jonathon Loadholt, 36, of Staten Island, New York – have been charged after allegedly being involved in a plot to kill a U.S. citizen “of Iranian origin in New York.”
“Rivera was arrested in Brooklyn, New York, and Loadholt was arrested in Staten Island, New York, yesterday. Shakeri remains at large and is believed to reside in Iran,” the department said.
The Attorney General, Merrick Garland, said: “The Justice Department has charged an asset of the Iranian regime who was tasked by the regime to direct a network of criminal associates to further Iran’s assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald Trump.”
He added: “We have also charged and arrested two individuals who we allege were recruited as part of that network to silence and kill, on U.S. soil, an American journalist who has been a prominent critic of the regime.”
Voters misinformed about major issues more likely to vote Republican, pre-election poll shows
Dean Baker, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, took to X to point to a survey from before the election, showing that those who are misinformed about major issues are more likely to vote Republican.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in early October found that those who falsely believed that violent crime is at an all-time high in most major Americans were significantly more likely to back the GOP.
Racist text messages sent to people across several states after election
Racist text messages have been sent to people across several states stating that they’ve been “selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation.”
People in North and South Carolina received the messages, which identified individuals by their name and stated that they would be forced into slavery, according to WCNC. The texts came a day after Election Day.
The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James said people in the Empire State were also targeteted.
“The racist text messages targeting New Yorkers, including middle school, high school, and college students, are disgusting and unacceptable,” she said in a statement. “I unequivocally condemn any attempt to intimidate or threaten New Yorkers and their families. I encourage anyone in New York who has received an anonymous, threatening text message to report it to my office.”
Special Counsel to decide on how to proceed with Capitol riot case
Special Counsel Jack Smith told a federal judge on Friday that he may have a decision by December 2 on how to resolve the criminal case looking at Trump’s role in the Capitol riot.
Smith requested that Judge Tanya Chutkan remove all upcoming deadlines to allow his office to look at how to progress as Trump’s prepares to retake the White House in January.
The prosecutors wrote in a filing that “As a result of the election held on November 5, 2024, the defendant is expected to be certified as President-elect on January 6, 2025, and inaugurated on January 20, 2025.”
They added: “The Government respectfully requests that the Court vacate the remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy.”
“By December 2, 2024, the Government will file a status report or otherwise inform the Court of the result of its deliberations,” they said.
Fox News hosts joke that Trump prosecutors should ‘face death penalty’
Fox News hosts Dana Perino and Greg Gutfeld joked that prosecutors in Donald Trump’s criminal cases should get the death penalty.
With the Justice Department in talks with special counsel Jack Smith about dropping two of the federal cases he is overseeing against Trump, The Five panelists had some back-and-forth about what should happen to those who sought the president-elect behind bars.
“Dana… a lot of the people that were on this and wanted it so badly, how are they going to survive? Do you think they need therapy,” Gutfeld asked Perino on Thursday’s show.
Fox News hosts joke that Trump prosecutors should ‘face death penalty’
‘They definitely need therapy. Maybe also the death penalty,’ Dana Perino said on The Five
FBI thwarts Iranian murder-for-hire plan targeting Donald Trump
The Justice Department unsealed criminal charges Friday in a thwarted Iranian plot to kill President-elect Donald Trump before this week’s presidential election.
A criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan alleges that an unnamed official in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard instructed a contact this past September to put together a plan to surveil and ultimately kill Trump.
If the man, identified as Farjad Shakeri, was unable to create a plan by then, the complaint said, the official told him Iran would pause its plan until after the presidential election because the official believed Trump would lose and it would be easier to assassinate him then, the complaint said.
Shakeri told the FBI he didn’t plan to propose a plan to murder Trump within the seven days the official had requested, according to the complaint.
The plot, with the charges unsealed just days after Trump’s defeat of Democrat Kamala Harris, reflects what federal officials have described as ongoing efforts by Iran to target U.S. government officials, including Trump, on U.S. soil.
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