Trump cabinet live updates: Receipts allegedly show Gaetz’s sex payments as House committee to vote on ethics 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 allegations against him that he paid for sex with a minor in 2017 that it investigated in 2022.
ABC News reports that the former Florida congressman sent two women who testified as part of the probe more than $10,000 in Venmo payments over two years, some of which they said were for sex, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
Gaetz 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 from 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.
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
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
WWE fans react to Trump picking ‘totally unqualified’ Linda McMahon as education secretary
If you’re not familiar with McMahon, here’s a starter pack:
For more, here’s our resident wrestling buff Greg Evans with the insiders’ response to Trump’s choice.
WWE fans react to Trump picking ‘totally unqualified’ Linda McMahon in his cabinet
‘Linda will fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families,’ claims Trump
Watch: Trump’s incoming border czar threatens prosecution for hiding illegal immigrants
Manhattan prosecutors reject Trump’s attempts to derail hush money conviction
In New York, Manhattan prosecutors have urged the judge overseeing Trump’s criminal hush money trial to reject his attempts to toss out his conviction and derail his sentencing.
But District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his team do not oppose a delay in the proceedings so they can address Trump’s upcoming arguments to dismiss the case, according to a letter to New York Justice Juan Merchan on Tuesday.
Trump’s sentencing was initially scheduled for next week, on November 26, roughly three weeks after he won the 2024 presidential election.
He will return to the White House on January 20, potentially upending the multiple criminal and civil cases against him.
Prosecutors have also floated delaying a sentencing hearing until 2029, “after the end of Defendant’s upcoming presidential term.”
While prosecutors are “mindful of the demands and obligations of the presidency” and understand that Trump’s return to the White House “will raise unprecedented legal questions,” they also “deeply respect the fundamental role of the jury in our constitutional system.”
Bragg’s office has asked to respond to Trump’s motion to dismiss the conviction no later than December 9.
“This is a total and definitive victory for President Trump and the American People who elected him in a landslide,” Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.
“The Manhattan DA has conceded that this Witch Hunt cannot continue. The lawless case is now stayed, and President Trump’s legal team is moving to get it dismissed once and for all.”
Here’s Alex Woodward’s report.
Manhattan prosecutors reject Trump’s attempts to derail hush money conviction
Alvin Bragg’s office wants to keep fighting Trump’s attempts to get his case dismissed and conviction thrown out
Vance, Gaetz, Hegseth and more heading to Capitol Hill to court Republican support
Vice President-Elect JD Vance is due on Capitol Hill today leading a delegation of Trump administration nominees that will reportedly include Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, Elise Stefanik and Doug Collins in order to lobby Republican senators and try to tie down their support ahead of the upcoming cabinet confirmation hearings, according to CNN.
Both Trump himself and Gaetz have reportedly been hitting the phones as part of their effort to secure the latter’s place as attorney general, with Missouri Senator Josh Hawley saying the ex-Florida congressman had implored him “to give him a shot” at the role.
Meanwhile, veteran GOP senator Chuck Grassley, who is set to be the next chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has stirred the pot by urging the House Ethics Committee to publish its report on Gaetz, perhaps suggesting he’ll use it to oppose his nomination.
“I think that if they want a speedy consideration of this nomination… we’ve got to have as much transparency as we can have,” Grassley said.
“You’ve heard my colleagues, especially on the Republican side, say that they have some questions… and I think it would help faster consideration, the extent to which they would make as much available as they can.”
Here’s more.
Matt Gaetz and JD Vance head to Capitol to shore up GOP support for Trump AG pick
The visit to shore up support for Gaetz comes the same day the House Ethics Committee is set to meet to discuss its report
House Ethics Committee to meet today to discuss Matt Gaetz report
The House Ethics Committee will meet later today to discuss whether to publish its dossier on Matt Gaetz, Trump’s controversial candidate for attorney general, after it investigated him in 2022 over allegations he paid for sex with a minor.
It emerged on Tuesday that a hacker reportedly gained access to a computer file that contained damaging testimony made about the former Florida congressman.
The file is said to include testimony from a woman who claimed that she had sex with Gaetz in 2017 when she was 17, as well as corroborating evidence by a second woman who said that she witnessed the incident, a source told The New York Times.
It comes amid ongoing concerns over Gaetz’s nomination.
The 42-year-old previously faced a Justice Department probe into allegations he sex-trafficked a minor but this has since been closed.
The Ethics Committee likewise investigated allegations of sexual misconduct against Gaetz, with pressure now mounting for its report to be released ahead of the upcoming Senate confirmation hearings.
Mike Bedigan reports.
Hacker reportedly accessed file with damaging testimony about Matt Gaetz
It comes amid ongoing concerns over the former Florida congressman’s nomination for Attorney General by Donald Trump
Trump watches SpaceX launch in Texas with Elon Musk and Ted Cruz
This is how the president-elect and his new tech bro billionaire buddy spent their Tuesday.
Trump names Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary as ‘consolation prize’ for missing out on Treasury
The last of yesterday’s major nominees was Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, whom Trump has chosen as his preferred commerce secretary, a gig CNN reporter Kristen Holmes characterised as a “consolation prize” for Lutnick missing out on the chance to be treasury secretary.
Co-chair of Trump’s transition team along with McMahon, Lutnick had been under consideration to lead the Treasury, a role that has still yet to be filled and which is reportedly the cause of much disagreement behind the scenes among Trump’s courtiers at Mar-a-Lago – or even a “knife fight”, as Holmes put it.
Here’s more from Gustaf Kilander.
Trump names billionaire and longtime pal Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary
Financier likely to play important role when introducing president-elect’s planned tariffs on goods coming into the U.S.
Trump names Dr Oz to lead Medicare and Medicaid
The president-elect also announced yesterday that he had tapped Dr Mehmet Oz, the TV personality and failed Pennsylvania Senate candidate, to serve as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator.
Here’s his statement on that one:
Kelly Rissman reports.
Trump names Dr. Oz to lead Medicare and Medicaid
The TV doctor will work closely with RFK Jr, Trump announced on Tuesday
Donald Trump nominates former WWE boss Linda McMahon as education secretary
Good morning!
Donald Trump has made a further series of additions to his new cabinet, among the most surprising of which was his move on Tuesday to nominate former WWE boss Linda McMahon as education secretary.
Here’s his statement explaining the choice:
Gustaf Kilander has the full story.
Trump nominates wrestling billionaire Linda McMahon as education secretary
The billionaire former WWE CEO served as the head of the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019
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