Trump cabinet live updates: Vance attempts to secure support for picks; Ethics Committee to vote on Gaetz report
President-elect’s pick for attorney general was investigated by House panel two years ago and its dossier could yet be published ahead of Senate confirmation hearings
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Your support makes all the difference.The House Ethics Committee will meet on Wednesday to discuss whether or not to publish a report into Donald Trump’s controversial choice for US attorney general, Matt Gaetz, examining alllegations against him that he paid for sex with a minor in 2017 that it investigated in 2022.
The former Florida congressman has always denied the accusations and resigned from the House of Representatives last week, ending the committee’s jurisdiction over him.
That has not stopped it facing pressure to reveal its findings just as Gaetz joins Vice President-Elect JD Vance and others on a mission to Capitol Hill lobby Republican senators ahead of January’s confirmation hearings.
Trump has meanwhile made a further series of additions to his new cabinet, moving on Tuesday to nominate former WWE boss Linda McMahon as education secretary, TV’s Dr Mehmet Oz as Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator and Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary.
The latter, co-chair of Trump’s transition team along with McMahon, had been under consideration for treasury secretary, a role that has still yet to be filled.
Also on Tuesday, Trump joined Elon Musk in Texas to watch a SpaceX Starship test launch.
Trump demands the Senate stop doing its job confirming judges before he takes office
John Fetterman says he is willing to confirm Dr Oz: ‘Do you think he’s my first choice?’
Trump names billionaire and longtime pal Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary
Trump’s Cabinet and staff tracker: Here’s who is among the White House appointments so far
RFK Jr helps chef who posted Nazi symbol publish children’s cookbook
Seriously, could we just get one normal day with this guy?
RFK Jr helps TV chef who posted Nazi symbol online publish children’s cookbook
Pete Evans falsely labeled the COVID-19 pandemic a hoax in 2020
Trump attorneys to file motion to dismiss defamation case by exonerated Central Park Five
Last night, Trump’s attorneys said they will be filing a motion to dismiss the defamation lawsuit from the now-exonerated Central Park Five. During his debate with Harris, Trump falsely said they had killed someone. He never apologized for any of his statements about the group.
Now, his attorneys claim their lawsuit should be thrown out under anti-SLAPP laws (which is ironic because Trump has been accused of doing the same thing), and that their case is an “attempt to stifle constitutionally protected speech.”
“President-Elect Trump’s statements during the 2024 Presidential Debate were not intended to defame Plaintiffs but to explain his rationale for actions taken decades earlier, grounded in his opinions on public safety and the criminal justice system,” attorneys wrote.
Here’s our initial reporting on the case:
Central Park Five sue Trump for defamation after decades of ‘outrageous conduct’
Exonerated men endured ‘severe emotional distress and reputational damage’ after years of Trump’s statements, including his latest false claims during September’s presidential debate
RFK Jr once said Covid-19 pandemic ‘feels very planned to me’
The president-elect’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services once suggested that the Covid-19 pandemic was a globalist plot, you might not be altogether surprised to learn.
Here’s Gustaf Kilander with the details.
RFK Jr. once said Covid-19 pandemic ‘feels very planned to me’
Kennedy once suggested COVID was part of a ‘biosecurity agenda that will enslave the entire human race and plunge us into a dystopian nightmare’
Vance, Gaetz and Rubio arrive on Capitol HIll to lobby for AG nomination
John Fetterman says he is willing to confirm Dr Oz: ‘Do you think he’s my first choice?’
The Pennsylvania Democratic senator who beat Dr Oz at the October 2022 midterms tells our own Eric Garcia he is prepared to confirm his erstwhile opponent, albeit through gritted teeth.
John Fetterman says he is open to confirm Dr Oz: ‘Do you think he’s my first choice?’
Exclusive: US Senator tells The Independent he is not worried that his former Republican opponent will make steep cuts to Medicare and Medicaid
Trump campaign slams 'known peddler of fake news’ Michael Wolff
The president-elect’s team has just issued this stinging dismissal of the author of the hit Trump books Fire and Fury, Siege and Landslide (2018-21), writing in a statement:
“A number of us have received inquiries from the disgraced author Michael Wolff, whose previous work can only be described as fiction. He is a known peddler of fake news who routinely concocts situations, conversations, and conclusions that never happened.
“As a group, we have decided not to respond to his bad faith inquiries, and we encourage others to completely disregard whatever nonsense he eventually publishes. Consider this our blanket response to whatever he writes.”
The above is undersigned by the following names, all senior members of Trump’s staff.
- Susie Wiles
- Chris LaCivita
- Danielle Alvarez
- James Blair
- Taylor Budowich
- Justin Caporale
- Steven Cheung
- Tony Fabrizio
- Vince Haley
- Brian Hughes
- Jason Miller
- Tim Murtaugh
- Tim Saler
- Andrew Surabian
- Travis Tunis
Trump transition team ‘quietly’ looking at alternatives to Pete Hegseth after he ‘wasn’t honest’ about past
Donald Trump’s transition team is said to be “upset” with Pete Hegseth because he “hasn’t been honest” about the sexual misconduct allegation from his past – prompting insiders to consider other options to lead the Pentagon.
Hegseth was tapped last week to become Trump’s defense secretary but now those in the president-elect’s inner circle are “quietly preparing a list of alternative” candidates, Vanity Fair reported.
“It’s becoming a real possibility,” a source told the outlet.
Here’s more from Rhian Lubin and Katie Hawkinson.
Trump transition team ‘quietly’ looking at alternatives to Pete Hegseth
Those in the president-elect’s inner circle are ‘quietly preparing a list of alternative’ defense secretary candidates, sources say
Trump demands the Senate stop doing its job confirming judges before he takes office
The president-elect has called on Republican senators to grind the business of the upper chamber of Congress to a halt in order to stop Democrats from confirming any more judges before the end of President Joe Biden’s term.
Senate Democrats held votes late into the night on Monday to confirm Biden’s picks to the federal bench, prompting this angry Truth Social post from Trump:
There was also internal GOP annoyance with Vice President-Elect Vance, secretary of state nominee Marco Rubio and others who skipped those Monday votes, enabling Chuck Schumer’s Democrats to greenlight Biden’s choices with less opposition.
“If we don’t show up, we lose,” huffed North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis, according to The Hill.
“I don’t care what the reasons were. We have fewer than 15 scheduled legislative days. You have to show up. Period. End of story. There’s nothing more important.
“We’ve got potentially dozens we could have shoved down our throat – except for us being here.
“We’ve got to talk to these folks like adults and show up.”
Gustaf Kilander has more.
Trump demands the Senate stop doing its job confirming judges before he takes office
President-elect accuses Democrats of ‘trying to stack the Courts with Radical Left Judges on their way out the door’
Morning Joe suffers ratings nosedive after hosts met Trump at Mar-a-Lago
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski’s house call on the president-elect appears to have gone down extremely badly with their viewers, as well as pundits on both sides of the political divide.
James Liddell has the latest.
Morning Joe suffers ratings nosedive after hosts met Trump at Mar-a-Lago
Viewing figures plummeted after Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski revealed they had met the president-elect
From ‘magic’ weight-loss coffee beans to red onion stopping cancer: Dr Oz’s history of baseless medical claims
Oh boy.
Here’s Rhian Lubin to look at the TV doctor’s long history of questionable quackery, from “miracle cures” to weight loss gimmicks and hydroxychloroquine advocacy during the pandemic.
Dr Oz’s history of baseless medical claims as he’s picked to lead Medicaid, Medicare
Dr Mehmet Oz has been nominated by Donald Trump to become the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator, working alongside vaccine-skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr. Rhian Lubin reports
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