Vance tells senators Trump ‘deserves’ loyal cabinet; House ethics committee to vote on releasing Matt Gaetz report: Live updates
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 is currently 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. Vance says Trump “deserves” a loyal cabinet for helping Republicans retake the Senate.
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, Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary, and Matthew Whitaker as NATO ambassador.
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. 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’.
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’
Profile: Howard Lutnick, Trump’s pick for secretary of commerce
President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Howard Lutnick, head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and cryptocurrency enthusiast, as his nominee for commerce secretary.
The nomination would put Lutnick in charge of a sprawling Cabinet agency that is involved in funding new computer chip factories, imposing trade restrictions, releasing economic data and monitoring the weather. It is also a position in which connections to CEOs and the wider business community are crucial.
Lutnick, a co-chair of Trump’s transition team, along with Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration, once appeared on Trump’s NBC reality show, “The Apprentice.” He has become a part of the president-elect’s inner circle.
Here are things to know about the billionaire who, if confirmed by the Senate, will lead the Commerce Department:
ANALYSIS: Where do Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema go for their apologies now?
Eric Garcia writes:
n Monday, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, the soon-to-be retired Democrat-turned-independent from Arizona, responded to remarks from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urging Republicans to not “misread the will of the people” and “abandon the need for bipartisanship.”
“What’s the one tool that requires the Senate to work in a bipartisan way?” she said on X/Twitter. “Oh look, the filibuster.”
Elsewhere, Senator Joe Manchin, the conservative Democrat who also became an independent, made it clear that he felt a small amount of vindication, after he’d spent much of Joe Biden’s first two years in office harping about inflation.
“I’m not going to say I told you so,” he told The Independent on Monday, but, as he boarded the Senate elevator, he added that people should have been paying attention. He was sort of right, given that the 2024 election turned out to largely be a referendum on the high cost of living.
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Will Democrats apologize to Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema now?
The two most controversial Democrats in Congress saw what was coming a mile off, writes Eric Garcia
MTG says she will expose ‘sexual harassment claims’ against Republicans if Gaetz report released
Right-wing lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene says she will expose “sexual harassment and assault claims” against her fellow Republicans if the House Ethics Committee releases their “highly damaging” report on Matt Gaetz.
Representative Greene of Georgia defended Gaetz, Trump’s pick for attorney general, on Tuesday morning. She warned that “if we are going to release ethics reports and rip apart our own that Trump has appointed,” she will “put it ALL out there.”
“Yes..all the ethics reports and claims including the one I filed,” Greene wrote on X. “All your sexual harassment and assault claims that were secretly settled paying off victims with tax payer money.”
Katie Hawkinson has the full story.
MTG will expose Republicans’ ‘sexual harassment claims’ if Gaetz report released
Greene has been a staunch defender of Trump’s appointment
Joe Scarborough, Trump and 20 years of sick conspiracies about the death of ‘Morning Joe' host’s aide
Since announcing their post-election meeting with Donald Trump, Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski have received a fierce backlash from the GOP and fellow members of the media, who described the stunt as “dishonest.”
The pair have defended their decision to visit the President-elect for the first time in seven years as an opportunity to “restart communications” after being fierce critics of Trump in the run-up to the 2024 election. In their coverage, Scarborough and Brzezinski described Trump as “erratic,” slamming his election fraud efforts and warning of “how dark of a place” the US would be if Trump won. In September, Scarborough said that it was “not a reach” to compare the President-elect to Hitler.
However, aside from the acrimony of the 2024 election cycle, a meeting between Scarborough and Trump is even more astonishing given their previous interactions, centered around the death of a young congressional staffer Lori Klausutis more than 20 years ago.
Mike Bedigan reports.
Joe Scarborough, Trump and sick conspiracies about death of Morning Joe host’s aide
Joe Scarborough’s controversial meeting with Donald Trump is all the more remarkable given the things Trump has said about the Morning Joe host. Mike Bedigan examines the history between the pair
Trump deportation surge: How many people did Obama, Biden and Trump actually deport?
Donald Trump has threatened to use the military to enact mass deportations after making illegal immigration one of his flagship policies during the 2024 election — with the president-elect saying he will boot millions of people from the country.
Trump has boasted of planning the “largest deportation operation in American history,” saying there is no price tag for the scheme. His chosen border czar Tom Homan is a hardliner, having promised “shock and awe” when he starts the job and describing current government policy on immigration as “national suicide.”
But beyond the hyperbole, how many migrants would Trump have to remove for it to be the biggest deportation the U.S. has ever seen?
Here is a look at the track record of the last three presidents — including Trump — on how many people have actually been deported:
How many people did Obama, Biden and Trump actually deport?
President elect Trump has threatened to use the military to enact his mass deportation plan — but how does his track record compare to his Democrat rivals?
Biden's $100 billion disaster aid request includes money to rebuild the collapsed Baltimore bridge
President Joe Biden’s pending request for nearly $100 billion in emergency disaster aid includes money to rebuild Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed under the impact of a massive container ship that lost power and veered off course in March.
Within hours of the disaster, Biden said the federal government will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge, and I expect the Congress to support my effort.” He visited Baltimore in the weeks that followed and reiterated his pledge of support.
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Biden's $100 billion disaster aid request includes money to rebuild the collapsed Baltimore bridge
President Joe Biden’s pending request to Congress for nearly $100 billion in emergency disaster aid includes money to rebuild Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge after its deadly collapse in March
Watch: GOP senator says recess appointment of Gaetz ‘not even on the cards'
Who’s who in Trump’s upcoming administration
President-elect Donald Trump is filling key posts in his second administration, rewarding longtime loyalists and aides and allies who were his strongest backers during the 2024 campaign and in his legal battles.
Here’s a look at who he’s selected so far.
Trump’s Cabinet tracker: Here’s who is among the White House appointments so far
Here is who Donald Trump has chosen to fill key cabinet positions in his second administration
Full story: SpaceX aborts ‘chopstick’ catch of Starship rocket as Musk and Trump watch on
If you listened to any of Trump’s rallies in the weeks before the election — and indeed (bizarrely) his victory speech — you’ll know that the “chopstick” catch is his favorite part.
Maybe they’ll pull it off next time.
SpaceX aborts ‘chopstick’ catch of Starship rocket as Musk and Trump watch on
SpaceX has aborted an attempt to catch its Starship rocket using a “chopsticks” system.
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