Trump cabinet latest updates: Matt Gaetz withdraws from attorney general nomination
Former Florida congressman withdrew from consideration as more details of ethics investigation leaked
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Your support makes all the difference.Matt Gaetz, the controversial Trump pick for attorney general has withdrawn his name from consideration for the role. In a statement on X, he said: “While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.”
The former Florida congressman was the subject of investigations into drug use and sex with a minor, allegations which he has always denied.
Meanwhile, police have released a detailed investigative report into Pete Hegseth, the Fox News personality and military veteran Donald Trump has nominated to be America’s next defense secretary, after he was accused of sexual assault by a woman he met at a conservative conference in Monterey, California, in 2017, the latest resurfaced scandal to dog the incoming administration.
Hegseth told officers at the time that the encounter in question had been consensual and denied any wrongdoing. On Thursday, he told reporters on Capitol Hill “the matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared.”
The president-elect has meanwhile unveiled a new range of branded guitars and made further additions to his proposed cabinet, naming Matthew Whitaker and Peter Hoekstra his ambassadors to NATO and Canada, following the nominations of Linda McMahon, Dr Mehmet Oz and Howard Lutnick earlier this week.
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Vance faces flack from own party for helping Democrats push through Biden judicial nominees
Republican senators not attending the last few days of the legislative session are facing criticism from colleagues as Democrats work to fill as many judicial vacancies as possible before they lose the majority in January.
That includes Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, the Ohio Senator. Senate Republicans shared their ire after Vance and some other Republican Senators skipped some votes Monday when Democrats worked late into the night to confirm their nominees to the federal bench.
Republicans worked to slow down the voting headed by outgoing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York to push through more than a dozen judicial nominees. However, the GOP Senators were unsuccessful as some members of their conference didn’t attend the session, which ended near midnight.
Gustaf Kilander has the story.
JD Vance faces flack from GOP for helping Democrats push through judicial nominees
Frustrated Republican Senator says ‘we’ve got potentially dozens’ of judges ‘we could have shoved down our throat’
Number of GOP senators who were hard ‘no’ on Gaetz rises to eight, report says
Speaker Johnson echoes Trump saying Gaetz has ‘bright future ahead of him'
Nikki Haley issues scathing takedown of two Trump cabinet picks
Nikki Haley has launched into a blistering critique of Donald Trump’s cabinet picks Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F Kennedy Jr, slamming the former as “a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer.”
The former United Nations Ambassador in Trump’s first administration raised major concerns about Gabbard, who was picked as director of national security, and RFK Jr, who was nominated Health and Human Services secretary, during her SiriusXM show Nikki Haley Live on Wednesday.
James Liddell reports.
Nikki Haley issues scathing putdowns of Trump cabinet picks Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr
Former UN ambassador in Trump’s first administration warned against ‘Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer’ Gabbard
Watch: GOP senator calls Hegseth police report ‘a pretty big problem’
McConnell announces new roles in Congress
Senator Mitch McConnell, who will soon be stepping down as minority leader as Republicans take control of the Senate, has announced his new roles in the upper chamber of Congress when the 119th session begins.
The Kentucky lawmaker will chair the Senate Rules Committee and the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee.
Right-wing podcaster and former agent Dan Bongino in line to head Secret Service, report says
Donald Trump is reportedly considering right-wing radio host Dan Bongino to head the Secret Service, as the embattled security outfit seeks to rebuild credibility after multiple near-miss assassination attempts against Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign.
The host of the Dan Bongino Show political podcast previously served as a Secret Service agent, and was a regular commentator and host on Fox News until last year.
Josh Marcus reports.
Trump looking at right-wing radio host Dan Bongino to head the Secret Service: Report
The former Fox News personality previously served in Secret Service
Trump told Gaetz his AG confirmation was not going to happen, report says
PerThe Bulwark:
Eight days after making the snap decision to nominate Matt Gaetz to be the nation’s next attorney general, Trump phoned him Thursday morning to tell him he wouldn’t get confirmed, according to a source briefed on the conversation. The president-elect explained that Republican senators were too troubled by the sex scandals and investigations surrounding Gaetz and that the constant and salacious distractions had doomed him.
“You don’t have the votes,” Trump said, according to the source. “These senators aren’t moving.”
Another source familiar with the conversation between Trump and Gaetz said Gaetz had acknowledged he had between four and six Republican votes against him. He could only lose three.
Watch: Trans activist confronts Nancy Mace
Trans activist confronts Nancy Mace at Georgetown conference
A trans rights activist was forcefully removed from a Georgetown University event featuring Nancy Mace after confronting the congresswoman over her Congress anti-trans bathroom campaign. The incident comes after Mace introduced a resolution that prohibits people from “using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.”, targeting her new colleague Sarah McBride, the first transgender member of Congress. Evan Greer was attending the "Summit on the Future of the Internet" event hosted by Project Liberty was held on November 21st, 2024, directly following Trans Day of Remembrance. Mace began to complain about the backlash she had received when Greer stood up and stated, "We’ve had dozens of trans people die this year because of the lies you’re spreading. Is this the future of the Internet we want?" After Greer was removed, Mace doubled down on her comments and was then booed by the crowd.
Democrats are breaking with Biden over Israel and Gaza
In the Senate on Wednesday evening, three resolutions to block arms sales to Israel were defeated on the floor — one sponsored by Bernie Sanders, the chamber’s only avowed socialist member, and two others were sponsored by Jeff Merkley and Peter Welch. The outcome was all but preordained. What was notable instead was the number of members from Biden’s party who joined them — in direct defiance of both Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the White House, which lobbied against the resolution and accused its supporters of aiding Hamas.
Nineteen senators in the Democratic caucus voted in support of ending or halting aid to Israel, a number that represents nearly a third of the caucus. Many were outspoken in their rebukes of both Israeli policy and US complicity in the tactics utilized by Israeli forces on the ground, as well as the conditions perpetuated by the war.
The message was clear: Joe Biden’s hold on his party is gone, and there is significant doubt among elected Democrats about his handling of the US-Israeli relationship since October 7, 2023.
John Bowden and Eric Garcia report from Washington, D.C.
‘The president’s Middle East policy has failed’: Democrats break with Biden on Israel
Nearly a third of Senate Democratic caucus voted to halt arms sales on Wednesday, in direct defiance of the White House. This large number represents trouble for Biden’s legacy
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