Trump treats RFK Jr to McDonald’s after health secretary nominee slams his diet: Live updates
Donald Trump returned to Madison Square Garden tonight after naming fracking CEO Chris Wright as his pick for energy secretary
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has returned to Madison Square Garden tonight to attend an Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the New York City arena.
The president-elect returned to the famed venue just weeks after his controversial campaign rally there. Attendees met him with thundering cheers as he entered alongside UFC CEO Dana White, billionaire ally Elon Musk, cabinet pick Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Popular podcaster Joe Rogan also attended, greeted Trump with a friendly handshake.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to fill key posts in his second administration and tonight named fracking CEO Chris Wright as his choice for energy secretary.
Wright, CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development and one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change.
Trump's transition team is also firefighting serious allegations surrounding Matt Gaetz for attorney general and Pete Hegseth for defense secretary.
A woman who gave testimony to the House Ethics Committee probing Gaetz claims that she witnessed him having sex with a minor, her lawyer told ABC. Gaetz denies all wrongdoing.
The president-elect's transition team is also reportedly "stunned" by a sexual assault allegation regarding Hegseth that only emerged within 48 hours of announcing him for the top defense job, CNN reports. He denied all the accusations.
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How much power will RFK Jr have if he is confirmed as health secretary?
Donald Trump has nominated vaccine skeptic and conspiracy-spreader Robert F Kennedy Jr to lead America’s largest public health body, the Department of Health and Human Services.
It is unclear whether Kennedy could get confirmed, even with a Republican Senate majority. Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president, made the rare move of denouncing Kennedy as insufficiently opposed to abortion.
Needless to say, almost all, if not all, Democrats will oppose Kennedy’s confirmation. Plenty of Republicans might have some objections as well.
Eric Garcia breaks down just how much power Kennedy would have should he lead the agency.
RFK Jr could soon oversee Health in the US - here’s what he’ll have control over
Eric Garcia breaks down just how much power Kennedy would have should he lead the agency
Explainer: Will Trump’s cabinet picks get approved?
In addition to the 15 officials Trump will choose to join his cabinet, there are hundreds of positions, including ambassadors and lower-level roles, that typically require Senate approval.
Nominees face a grilling during the Senate confirmation process as it typically requires them to submit financial disclosures and testify before a committee.
Members from both political parties get a chance to interrogate nominees about their plans for the post and their backgrounds.
The Senate committee votes on the nominee following the hearing and if it passes, it then goes to the full Senate for a vote.
However, last weekend Trump signaled he could bypass the process via recess appointments.
“Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner,” Trump wrote in a social media post on X on Sunday before John Thune was confirmed as the next majority leader Wednesday, replacing the outgoing Mitch McConnell.
Recess appointments would allow Trump to make administration appointments without a vote in the Senate while the upper chamber is in recess. The process is not unconstitutional, and it has been done before by other administrations.
Bill Clinton made 139 recess appointments while in the White House, and Barack Obama made 32. George W. Bush made 171, ABC noted, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Could a tattoo derail Trump’s pick for defense secretary?
There is yet more controversy surrounding Trump’s defense secretary pick.
Concerns have been raised over a tattoo belonging to Pete Hegseth, the Fox News host nominated by Trump to lead the Department of Defense – with opinion divided over whether it is a “Christian motto” or a white nationalist dog whistle.
Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran, has the words “Deus Vult” tattooed on his bicep, which has been associated with white supremacist groups. “Deus Vult” is a Latin phrase meaning “God Wills It,” and was a rallying cry for Christian crusaders in the Middle Ages.
The Associated Press reported that the tattoo previously resulted in Hegseth being flagged as a possible “Insider Threat” by a fellow service member. However, the AP report has led to outrage on both sides, including from Vice President-elect JD Vance.
Mike Bedigan reports.
Could a tattoo derail Trump’s pick for defense secretary?
Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran, has the words ‘Deus Vult’ tattooed on his bicep, a rallying cry for Christian crusaders in the Middle Ages
Watch: Trump releases new ad saying 'everyone thought he was done’ after winning presidency
The President-elect has released a new advert on X today to those who voted for him.
Woman testified to House Ethics Committee she saw Matt Gaetz have sex with minor, her lawyer says
A woman testified in front of the House Ethics Committee that she saw Matt Gaetz have sex with a minor, according to her lawyer.
Attorney Joel Leppard represents two women who gave closed-door testimony in the summer to the committee probing President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial pick for attorney general, ABC first reported.
“My client testified to the House Ethics Committee that she witnessed Matt Gaetz having sex with a minor,” Leppard told the outlet.
Gaetz denies any wrongdoing.
Read the full story below.
Woman testified to ethics committee she saw Gaetz have sex with minor, lawyer says
Two women gave closed-door testimony to the committee probing Trump’s controversial pick for attorney general
Trump aide in charge of mass deportations threatens ‘shock and awe’ on day one of new administration
Trump border czar Tom Homan has pledged to institute a regime of “shock and awe” on the first day of the new administration.
The former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took part in Donald Trump Jr’s program on the video streaming platform Rumble this week.
The pair discussed Homan’s plans to put together mass deportations of millions of illegal immigrants.
Gustaf Kilander reports.
Trump aide in charge of mass deportations threatens ‘shock and awe’
‘You’re going to see us take this country back and ... it isn’t just about the deportation operation,’ Tom Homan says
IN DEPTH: Putin and Trump are deluded about one another – and Ukraine will pay the price
Tom Watling reports:
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin seriously underestimate what the other is capable of and that carries far-ranging risks for Ukraine over Russia’s invasion, Britain’s former spy chief and ex-diplomats have told The Independent.
Trump’s US election victory last week has upended Europe’s plan to back Kyiv for “as long as it takes”. His focus is on ending the war quickly, even if that potentially means pushing Kyiv to cede territory currently occupied by Russia.
Sir Alex Younger, former chief of MI6 from 2014 to 2020, believes both the incoming president and his Russian counterpart overestimate their ability to influence the other.
“I think Trump overestimates his ability to force Putin into a land swap where Putin clearly wants a lot more, when he feels that he is winning and when he has to show [the Russian people] a lot more if he is to justify the appalling sacrifice he’s imposed,” he says. “Trump is underestimating the challenge and overestimating his influence.”
Continue reading...
Putin and Trump are deluded about one another – and Ukraine will pay the price
With Donald Trump vowing to the end war in Ukraine quickly, Tom Watling speaks to American and British former officials about the overconfidence of both the US president-elect and the Russian leader
Why is RFK Jr facing pushback to his nomination from the right?
Robert F Kennedy Jr has questioned the effectiveness of vaccines and slammed the FDA’s “aggressive suppression” of raw milk — but some Republicans are warning he may not be right to lead federal health agencies for an entirely different reason: his stance on abortion.
Kelly Rissman explains.
ANALYSIS: Trump warned his second term would mean ‘retribution’. His alarming cabinet picks show he means it
Alex Woodward writes:
Trump’s first wave of cabinet nominations and White House appointments, within the week after he won the 2024 presidential election, have stunned members of Congress, veterans and active-duty service members, public health advocates and democratic advocates, who have warned for years that he is building a government of loyalists to fulfill his campaign-trail promises to deliver “retribution” by destroying the “deep state.”
Continue reading...
Trump promised ‘retribution’ in his second term. His cabinet picks show he means it
Analysis: Trump’s cabinet choices are shocking, but not surprising, Alex Woodward reports
AOC: Tulsi Gabbard’s appointment the most worrisome
New York Democratic Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said that the nomination of former Hawaii Rep Tulsi Gabbard to be the director of national intelligence is the most worrisome nomination so far among president-elect Donald Trump’s administration picks.
“I actually think, almost more than Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard’s appointment is devastating,” Ocasio-Cortez said on MSNBC on Thursday of Gabbard and the former Florida Rep nominated to be attorney general.
Gustaf Kilander reports.
AOC calls Tulsi Gabbard’s appointment the most worrisome
‘Let’s be very clear. A Tulsi Gabbard nomination is a pro-war nomination globally. Point blank, period,’ New York Democrat says
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