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Your support makes all the difference.Matt Gaetz, the controversial Trump pick for attorney general has withdrawn his name from consideration for the role.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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Pete Hegseth blocked woman from leaving room and sexually assaulted her after she said no, accuser claims in police report
A woman told police that she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by Pete Hegseth, a Fox News personality and the president-elect‘s nominee to be defense secretary, after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report made public late on Wednesday.
Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and denied any wrongdoing, the report said.
News of the allegations surfaced last week when local officials released a brief statement confirming that a woman had accused Hegseth of sexual assault in October 2017 after he had spoken at a Republican women’s event in Monterey.
Here’s the latest from Rhian Lubin.
Police report reveals graphic details about Hegseth sexual assault allegation
The police report said that Hegseth, tapped as Trump’s defense secretary, physically blocked the door to stop the woman from leaving his hotel room before sexually assaulting her
Truth Social: Trump turns guitar salesman after attacking Laken Riley’s killer and accusing Democrats of ‘dirtying up’ nominees
Good morning!
It was a fairly typical evening on the president-elect’s social media platform, where he unveiled his latest grift exciting product offering, a “Make America Great Again” axe selling for as much as $10,000, yours just in time for Christmas.
A very long way indeed from Woody Guthrie’s “This Machine Kills Fascists” model.
Otherwise, he was all politics, leaping on the murder of Laken Riley as evidence of the “migrant crime” he seeks to eradicate in the wake of Jose Ibarra’s sentencing and blasting Democrats for seeking to tarnish his cabinet selections by finding out the truth about their pasts before approving them for high office.
Explained: Cabinet confirmation process and recess appointments
Eric Garcia writes:
President-elect Donald Trump continues to push his friends and closest allies as nominees for key roles in government. The picks have sent shockwaves through the hall of Congress.
Trump has vowed to get them into their positions — and it’s been floated that he could do something that hasn’t been done in the nearly 250-year history of America to make it happen. How would he achieve this, when usually he would have to go through an official confirmation process? Through recess appointments.
Continue reading...
What’s the confirmation process for Cabinet picks — and what are recess appointments?
Eric Garcia details how Trump has previously hinted at using a never-used constitutional power. Would it be enough to get Matt Gaetz or Pete Hegseth through?
New York Post begs Trump to ditch ‘dreadful duo’ of Gabbard and Gaetz
Donald Trump’s decision to nominate controversial loyalists to his cabinet has caused a tidal wave of negative media coverage even by his typically friendly newspapers and criticisms from fellow Republicans.
Pointing to former congressman Tulsi Gabbard and outgoing congressman Matt Gaetz, the New York Post editorial board implored the president-elect to “rethink” his choices in an op-ed published on Tuesday. Gabbard was nominated as director of national intelligence while Gaetz was named as pick for attorney general.
“Gaetz and Gabbard are dreadful,” the board wrote. “They’re distracting chaos agents who won’t accomplish what Trump wants them to, and will most likely backfire on his agenda.”
Ariana Baio has the story.
New York Post begs Trump to ditch ‘dreadful duo’ Tulsi Gabbard and Matt Gaetz
Even media outlets who are friendly with the president-elect have raised eyebrows over Trump’s picks
Tommy Tuberville tells Steve Bannon 2020 election was stolen in offensive rant about Joe Biden
Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville questioned the validity of the 2020 election during an appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast with an offensive rant in which he called President Joe Biden a “bedridden dementia patient.”
Bannon, President-elect Donald Trump’s former White House chief strategist, asked Tuberville about the Democrats, saying “They’re there to fully stop Donald Trump and hopefully take their plans to take the House in two years and impeach him, right?”
Tuberville said the Democrats’ plan “was accelerated because they stole the election from President Trump and they were able to get four years with a bedridden dementia patient.”
Read more:
Tommy Tuberville tells Steve Bannon 2020 election was stolen in rant about Joe Biden
Alabama Senator says Democrats ‘were able to get four years with a bedridden dementia patient’
Trump cabinet picks described as ‘world’s first nuclear-armed reality television show’
There’s a common trait that President-elect Donald Trump is clearly prizing as he selects those to serve in his new administration: experience on television.
Trump loves that “central casting” look, as he likes to call it.
Read on...
Linda McMahon: How much does she actually know about education?
While Trump’s pick for education secretary is relatively unknown in academic circles, she is famous in another: the WWE ring.
Former wrestling mogul and billionaire Linda McMahon has stunned educators by being unveiled as Trump’s choice to run the Department of Education – or, perhaps, to lead the operation to scrap it altogether.
But how much education experience does she actually have?
Rhian Lubin takes a look at her qualifications:
How much does Trump education pick Linda McMahon actually know about education?
Trump stunned educators by unveiling Linda McMahon as his choice to run the Department of Education
VP-elect JD 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.
Vance and President-elect Trump’s nominee to lead the State Department, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, were two of the GOP Senators who were absent.
Read more:
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’
Trump nominates Pete Hoekstra as ambassador to Canada
I am very pleased to announce that former Ambassador, and former Congressman, Pete Hoekstra, has been nominated as my United States Ambassador to Canada.
Pete is well-respected in the Great State of Michigan - A State we won sizably.
He represented Michigan’s 2nd District in Congress for nearly 20 years, where he was also Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and was a great help to our Campaign as Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party.
I overhauled the disastrous NAFTA Agreement, the worst Trade Deal in the History of the United States, which was switched to the USMCA (Mexico/Canada), which no one thought could be done.
We brought Trade with Mexico and Canada to a level playing field for our wonderful Farmers and Working Families. In my Second Term, Pete will help me once again put AMERICA FIRST.
He did an outstanding job as United States Ambassador to the Netherlands during our first four years, and I am confident that he will continue to represent our Country well in this new role.
Thank you, Pete!
Pete Hegseth’s comments about women in the military met with outrage
Women veterans, service members and advocacy groups are outraged by recent remarks from Donald Trump’s pick to lead the nation’s military branches, a veteran and former Fox News host who does not want women serving in combat.
Pete Hegseth, who Trump has nominated to be the next secretary of defense, has been widely derided for a lack of qualifications to lead the country’s largest federal agency and its 3 million service members and civilian staff members.
In a recent podcast appearance, Hegseth said the nation’s military “should not have women in combat roles” and that men are “more capable” in those positions.
Alex Woodward reports.
Women veterans outraged with Trump’s pick Pete Hegseth to lead Defense Department
Trump’s pick for the Pentagon is signalling a ‘dangerous regression’ for women in the armed forces, they say
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