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.
Trump warned his second term would mean ‘retribution’. His alarming cabinet picks show he means it
Trump makes not-so-subtle jab at RFK Jr during Mar-a-Lago speech: ‘Don’t get too popular Bobby’
Trump’s Cabinet tracker: Who has been tapped to carry out his agenda
Trump emerges from Mar-a-Lago seclusion to raucous reception at UFC with key allies
‘He’s like the sleeper’: Lara Trump details Barron’s influence over his father
ICYMI: Speaker says he will ‘strongly request’ committee does not release Gaetz’s ethics report
Speaker Mike Johnson has said that he will request that the House Ethics Committee not release its report into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use made against former Florida Congressman and Attorney General nominee Matt Gaetz.
Asked if he thinks the report should come out, Johnson told reporters: “I do not. No, I think it’s a terrible breach of protocol.”
Gustaf Kilander reports.
House speaker says he will ‘request’ committee does not release Gaetz’s ethics report
Republican senators say Gaetz is not ‘a serious’ nominee who doesn’t have the ‘moral authority’ to lead the Department of Justice
Lara Trump says Barron deserves ‘serious credit’ for role in father’s election victory
Lara Trump has shared details of how Barron influenced his father – and said the teenager should be given “serious credit” for his role in getting Donald Trump reelected.
Trump’s daughter-in-law, who is married to Eric, gushed about 18-year-old Barron on Patrick Bet-David’s podcast, explaining that the NYU student stayed in the shadows when it came to the 2024 presidential campaign.
“Barron Trump is so cool. He’s like the sleeper a little bit. He’s kind of stayed out of the spotlight, probably intentionally,” she said.
Read more below.
‘He’s like the sleeper’: Lara Trump details Barron’s influence over his father
Lara Trump talked about how the NYU student stayed in the shadows when it came to the 2024 presidential campaign
Who is Chris Wright? Trump’s pick for Energy Secretary who is loud voice in efforts to fight climate change
Chris Wright, CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking, a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.
Wright has won support from influential conservatives, including oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm.
Hamm, executive chairman of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and adviser who played a key role on energy issues in Trump’s first term.
Hamm helped organize an event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in April where Trump reportedly asked industry leaders and lobbyists to donate $1 billion to Trump’s campaign, with the expectation that Trump would curtail environmental regulations if re-elected.
Wright has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change and could give fossil fuels a boost, including quick action to end a year-long pause on natural gas export approvals by the Biden administration.
Wright has criticized what he calls a “top-down” approach to climate by liberal and left-wing groups and said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.”
How can Trump can bypass FBI background checks and security clearance for his key cabinet picks?
The FBI has vetted cabinet picks since President Dwight D Eisenhower was in the White House.
But if he so chooses, Donald Trump, himself a convicted felon, can bypass background checks for those he has nominated for key roles in his administration.
Incoming cabinet members have traditionally faced intensive screening from the FBI with a binary purpose: to help with the Senate confirmation process and to vet nominees for security clearance.
Criminal histories, conflicts of interest, financial problems or other potentially disqualifying factors are typically investigated through this process.
But, despite established procedure, the president does have the power to bypass such checks and grant immediate security clearance to officials.
James Liddell explains.
How Trump can bypass FBI background checks and security clearance for cabinet picks
President-elect allegedly granted clearance to at least 25 people flagged by the FBI as possible dangers to national security in his first term
Who’s who in Trump’s proposed cabinet
President-elect Donald Trump is filling key posts in his second administration, putting an emphasis so far on aides and allies who were his strongest backers during the 2024 campaign.
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
Could a bankruptcy judge could pump the brakes on The Onion’s purchase of InfoWars?
The bankruptcy judge overseeing the auction of Alex Jones’s InfoWars has raised concerns over the process by which satirical publication The Onion won the bid for the conspiracy theorist’s website and related properties, ending his 25-year run of the media company.
During a status conference on Thursday, hours after Jones raged on his final InfoWars broadcast that the “deep state” was shutting him down, District Judge Christopher Lopez said “no one should feel comfortable with the results of this auction.”
Alex Woodward reports.
Bankruptcy judge could pump the brakes on The Onion’s purchase of InfoWars
The satire publication won a bid for the conspiracy theorist’s website and properties and a sale is underway
Iran sent note to the White House promising not to kill Trump
Iran sent a private letter to the Joe Biden administration last month vowing it wouldn’t plot to kill Donald Trump, according to a report.
The letter from Tehran — delivered on October 14 — came in response to US officials’ private hand-written warning to the country in September, relating that any threats against the then-Republican nominee’s life would be “treated as an act of war,” the Wall Street Journal first reported.
Kelly Rissman has the story.
Iran sent note to the White House promising not to kill Trump
The message came in response to a September letter from the US warning against making any threats against Trump’s life
Trump’s cabinet picks show he’s ‘running the country like a reality show’, says Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel has mocked Donald Trump for “running the country like a reality show” as the president-elect works to fill his second administration.
In the past two days, Trump has nominated former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence, former Florida representative Matt Gaetz as attorney general, vocal anti-vaxxer Robert F Kennedy Jr as Health and Human Services secretary and Fox News contributor Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon.
While Republicans and Democrats have reacted to Trump’s controversial cabinet picks with a mixture of praise, criticism and confusion, the Jimmy Kimmel Live host described the nominations as being even “crazier “ than predicted.
James Liddell reports.
Jimmy Kimmel says Trump’s cabinet picks show he’s ‘running US like a reality show’
‘Who better to be in charge of health in humans than a guy whose brain was partially devoured by a worm?’ the late night host said of RFK Jr
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
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