Elon Musk’s first 30 days: How DOGE is reshaping the federal government
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(WASHINGTON) — Elon Musk is the world’s richest man. He’s revolutionized electric cars as CEO of Tesla, launched rockets as head of SpaceX and seized control of a social media platform by buying Twitter for $44 billion.
The South African-born businessman spent $270 million to help President Donald Trump get reelected. When Trump returned to office on Jan. 20, he empowered Musk to slash federal spending and make key decisions about the future of the U.S. as a lead adviser in the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The following day, the Office of Personnel Management — which acts as the government’s human resources department — directed agencies to compile a list of workers whose positions could be eliminated.
By Jan. 22, there was a federal hiring freeze. All agencies were directed to put diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff on leave, related programs were shuttered and employees were ordered to remove pronouns from their signatures.
The next several days set off confusion and panic for many workers across the country. A federal funding freeze briefly denied Head Start — free early childhood development programs designed to help low-income households — access to funding on Jan. 27, despite a federal judge’s court order to the contrary.
Then, on Jan. 28, some 2 million federal workers received an email with an offer to resign and be paid through September or risk being fired. The email subject line “Fork in the road” mirrored the language Musk used when he slashed Twitter’s workforce in 2022.
Within 30 days, DOGE gained access to personal information of millions of Americans through at least 15 federal agencies. Much of Musk’s staff consisted of young engineers who moved into the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Musk initially wanted an office in the West Wing, but told people he thought what he was given was too small, multiple people familiar with his comments told ABC News earlier this month.
Only Congress has the power to eliminate entire agencies, but Musk and his team proved they can still be stripped down when they went into the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
“DOGE was in the building. We took down our Pride flags,” USAID contractor Kristina Drye told ABC News on Feb. 3. “I took out any books I felt would be incriminating. No one was talking.”
At the same time, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) workers were told to stay home — its headquarters closed and all work stopped. The consumer watchdog was created after the 2008 financial crisis and housing crash to protect American families from unfair and deceptive practices.
Around 75,000 workers took the Trump administration’s offer to resign, according to the White House. However, some people — like Kansas-based Department of Agriculture natural resource specialist Nick Detter — say they accepted within the timeframe and were fired anyway. The administration acknowledged that this has happened by mistake.
“I would never say that there’s no room for improvement, efficiency in the federal government,” Detter told ABC News. “But in my experience over the last month with this whole thing, that’s not what this has been.”
After the buyout offer closed, many federal workers said they started receiving emails and calls informing them that they were fired. Justine Beaulieu, who worked for the Department of Agriculture until last week, said she was among them.
“I was three days away from my due date on Friday when I got that termination letter. And I had my baby yesterday, right on time,” she told ABC News. “Paid maternity leave is off the table, and my health insurance is set to lapse at the end of this month.”
The administration has been reversing course in some cases, working to rehire the workers who manage the country’s nuclear weapons and the inspection officers who worked on containing the bird flu outbreak.
Musk has been designated as a special government employee. His companies Tesla and SpaceX have been awarded $18 billion in federal contracts over the last decade. Some of this money has come from agencies the president asked Musk to review, but Musk dismissed the notion that there could be conflicts of interest.
“No, because you have to look at the individual contract and say, first of all, I’m not the one, you know, filing the contract — it’s people at SpaceX,” he told ABC News on Feb. 11.
On the same day, Trump assured ABC News any possible conflicts of interest would be addressed.
“If we thought that, we would not let him do that segment or look in that area, if we thought there was a lack of transparency or a conflict of interest,” the president said.
Trump has fired independent watchdogs like Defense Department Inspector General Robert Storch.
“When you just wholesale fire people like that without giving any reasons for doing it, it sends a message that that sort of oversight, that productive oversight, isn’t really valued,” Storch told ABC News on Feb. 12.
The total savings DOGE has made so far is still unclear, but the group’s work has already set the stage for one of the biggest modern shakeups of the federal government.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s rapid reshaping of the federal government continues with executive orders and action from his acting agency heads.
Federal departments face a 5 p.m. deadline Tuesday to cease spending on any financial assistance programs, according to a memo from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. More firings of career officials at the Justice Department unfolded on Monday and Trump signed four military executive orders, one targeting transgender service members.
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joined immigration enforcement operations in New York. More Trump Cabinet nominees, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, will face highly-anticipated confirmation hearings later this week.
EPA temporarily pauses disbursement of federal financial aid
The Environmental Protection Agency is “temporarily pausing” its disbursement of federal financial aid in response to the order from the White House Office of Management and Budget, the agency confirmed in a statement to ABC News.
The EPA grants fund a wide array of national, state and tribal programs, including some to assist with air and water quality. A list of its grant programs can be found here.
The agency said it is “continuing to work with OMB as they review processes, policies, and programs, as required by the memorandum.”
-ABC News’ Kelly Livingston
Karoline Leavitt, youngest WH press secretary, to hold 1st briefing
Karoline Leavitt will make her first appearance behind the podium in the James S. Brady briefing room on Tuesday.
Leavitt, 27, is the youngest White House press secretary in history. She served as the spokesperson for Trump’s 2024 campaign and transition team.
On Monday, she held her first gaggle with reporters aboard Air Force One. There, she fielded questions on Trump’s upcoming moves on FEMA and his attempts to end birthright citizenship. She’ll face more questions, likely about Trump’s recent actions regarding the military and federal aid programs, at 1 p.m.
Trump weighs in on possible deal for Microsoft to buy TikTok
President Donald Trump discussed a possible deal for Microsoft to buy TikTok while speaking with reporters by phone from Air Force One on Monday evening.
Trump was asked whether Microsoft was in discussions to acquire the embattled social media app amid its looming U.S. ban deadline.
“I would say yes,” Trump said, before adding, “A lot of interest in TikTok, there’s great interest there.”
When asked whether he liked the idea of a bidding war for the app, Trump said he likes bidding wars.
“I like bidding wars because you make your best deal,” he said.
“It’s very clear, if I sign, then somebody’s going to buy it, pay a lot of money, have a lot of jobs, keep a platform open and have it be very secure. If I don’t sign, then it closes,” Trump added of TikTok’s future in America.
He was asked about what other companies were looking to buy the app, and he declined to respond but said that they are all “top of the line.”
White House budget office suspends federal financial aid programs for internal review
The White House budget office is ordering federal agencies to cease any financial assistance spending if they suspect the program might conflict with President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
In a memo obtained by ABC News, Matthew Vaeth, acting director of the Office and Management and Budget, told agency chiefs that they must report back by Feb. 10 on all programs that apply.
“The memo requires federal agencies to identify and review all federal financial assistance programs and supporting activities consistent with the President’s policies and requirements,” according to the document.
The memo says it is directed at programs providing “financial assistance for foreign aid, non-governmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology and the Green New Deal.”
The order does not specify which financial aid programs would have to be suspended, although it could have sweeping implications. The federal government funds thousands of programs, including research programs, housing subsidies and educational grants.
Quakers sue to keep ICE out of houses of worship
Five Quaker congregations sued the Department of Homeland Security on Monday over last week’s policy reversal that allows immigration agents to conduct searches and arrests in so-called “sensitive areas” like churches and schools.
The Quaker groups, known as the Religious Society of Friends, alleged that the policy change harms their congregations by deterring immigrants from worshipping in person, violating their First Amendment rights to freely associate and exercise religion.
“Allowing armed government agents wearing ICE-emblazoned jackets to park outside a religious service and monitor who enters or to interrupt the service and drag a congregant out during the middle of worship is anathema to Quaker religious exercise,” the federal lawsuit filed in Maryland said.
Quaker worship generally involves multiple congregants sitting together in silence to await a message from God, which can be received and shared by anyone in attendance, according to the lawsuit.
“Being able to receive those messages is fundamental to Quaker religious exercise,” the lawsuit said.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman said in a statement announcing the policy change on Jan. 24. “The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
-ABC News’ Peter Charalambous, James Hill and Laura Romero
Trump says he wants to deport ‘repeat offenders’ in US legally
Trump said Monday he wants to deport repeat criminal offenders who are in the U.S. legally, offering that they be held in foreign jails.
“I don’t want these violent repeat offenders in our country any more than I want illegal aliens from other countries who misbehave,” Trump said during his remarks at the House GOP retreat.
“This is subject to getting it approved, but if they’ve been arrested many, many times, they’re repeat offenders by many numbers, I want them out of our country,” he added. “We’ll be seeking permission to do so. We’re going to get approval hopefully to get them the hell out of our country along with others.”
Trump suggested that they could be maintained in a foreign country “for a very small fee.”
-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow
ICE arrests 1,179 undocumented immigrants on Monday
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it arrested 1,179 undocumented immigrants on Monday.
That marks an increase from Sunday, when the agency said it made 956 such arrests.
ICE is operating at an increased tempo since the new administration took office.
-ABC News’ Luke Barr
Trump says DeepSeek is a ‘wake-up call’ for American companies
During his remarks at the House GOP retreat, Trump discussed the emergence of Chinese AI technology DeepSeek, saying it should be a “wake-up call” for American companies.
“The release of DeepSeek AI from a Chinese company should be a wake-up call for our industries that we need to be laser-focused on competing to win, because we have the greatest scientists in the world, even Chinese leadership told me that,” Trump said.
He also cast the technology as an “asset” for how it could revolutionize technology due to its less-expensive method.
Trump said that he hoped American companies could come up with the “same solutions” without investing billions of dollars and repeated his promise to “unleash” American tech companies to “dominate the future.”
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
CDC officials told to cease communications with the WHO
Public health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been told to cease communications with the World Health Organization, an official with the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to ABC News.
This comes after Trump signed an executive order on his first day of office ordering the withdrawal of the U.S. from the WHO. The U.S. is the biggest financial contributor to the global public health organization and public health experts immediately denounced the move as a risk to national security and pandemic outbreak prevention.
Any country’s withdrawal from the WHO is supposed to be preceded by a one year advance notice, which experts interpreted Trump’s executive order to serve as. But the recent order for CDC public health officials to immediately stop communicating with their WHO counterparts suggests that Trump is not adhering to those governing rules.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Trump addresses new executive orders on the military
Trump said “in a little while” he will be signing four new executive orders addressing the military, during his remarks at a retreat of House Republicans at his Doral golf resort in Miami on Monday.
One will direct Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to “immediately begin” the construction of an “Iron Dome” missile defense shield, a nod to the Israeli missile defense system.
“We protect other countries, but we don’t protect ourselves,” he said.
Trump said his administration will also “get transgender ideology the hell out of military” and “stop our service members from being indoctrinated with radical left ideologies such as critical race theory.”
Trump didn’t go into detail, though the White House earlier Monday said that Trump is expected to sign an order directing the Department of Defense to update its guidance “regarding trans-identifying medical standards for military service and to rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness.”
The order will also end the use of pronouns in the Department of Defense and will also prohibit males from “sharing sleeping, changing, or bathing in facilities designated for females.”
Another order that Trump is expected to sign takes aim at diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. The order will ban the use of “discriminatory race- or sex-based preferences,” according to a fact sheet about the move.
Trump also addressed another order that will offer a “full reinstatement” to service members who were expelled from the armed forces due to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Scott Bessent confirmed as treasury secretary
The Senate on Monday evening confirmed Scott Bessent to serve as secretary of treasury by a vote of 68-29.
Bessent becomes the fifth member of Trump’s team to be confirmed by the Senate, following Marco Rubio, John Ratcliffe, Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem.
The Senate is now taking a test vote on Sean Duffy’s nomination to lead the Department of Transportation. He’s expected to easily clear this procedural hurdle to tee up a final vote likely on Wednesday.
-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
Trump: ‘Am I allowed to run again?’
During his remarks at a retreat of House Republicans at his Doral golf resort in Miami on Monday, Trump raised the questiion whether he could run for a third term.
“I’ve raised a lot of money for the next race that I assume I can’t use for myself, but I’m not 100% sure, because I don’t know,” he said to some laughs in the crowd. “I think I’m not allowed to run again. I’m not sure, am I allowed to run again?”
Last week, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn. introduced a House joint resolution to allow a president to be elected for no more than three terms, instead of two.
Air Force chief of staff releases statement on Tuskegee Airmen videos
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin wrote a statement Monday regarding curricula on the Tuskegee Airmen and women pilots, saying no such material has been removed from basic military training.
“Allow me to clearly dispel a rumor — while we are currently reviewing all training courses to ensure compliance with the Executive Orders, no curriculum or content highlighting the honor and valor of the Tuskegee Airmen or Women Air Force Service Pilots has been removed from Basic Military Training,” Allvin wrote. “The historic legacy and decorated valor these Airmen embodied during World War II and beyond will continue to guide our newest recruits and all who serve in our ranks.”
The statement comes after an Air Force spokesperson confirmed to the Associated Press that training courses with such videos were removed last week after Trump’s executive order to eliminate DEI initiatives in the federal government. The Air Force later clarified to the AP that the courses were edited but that the Tuskegee Airmen and WASP content would still be shown.
Allvin also said in his own statement on Monday that the Air Force is “faithfully executing” all of Trump’s executive orders, including on DEI.
JD Vance surveys hurricane damage in Virginia
Vice President JD Vance’s first official trip since taking office was to Damascus, Virginia, to survey damage from last year’s devastating Hurricane Helene.
In remarks alongside Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Vance said he was heartened by the stories he’s heard on the ground of “good people helping their neighbors rebuild.”
Without providing evidence, he also criticized the federal response to the flooding, claiming federal agencies had acted as “a barrier, as opposed to a facilitator” of getting resources into the communities who needed it.
This comes on President Donald Trump’s assessment of storm damage in North Carolina last Friday. During that visit, he floated getting rid of FEMA. He also signed two executive orders Friday that focused on emergency response, one of which creates a task force to conduct a “a full-scale review” of FEMA.
Vance was asked about what changes he would like to see made to FEMA, including possibly eliminating the agency. Vance did not mention the agency being terminated, which Trump could not do unilaterally, but once again reinforced the idea that bureaucrats were getting in the way of rebuilding.
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
Trump spoke with India’s Modi
President Donald Trump spoke with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, continuing his calls with foreign leaders since taking office. Trump’s first call was to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Trump and Modi discussed “expanding and deepening cooperation” between their countries along with “a range of regional issues, including security in the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East, and Europe,” the White House said.
“The President emphasized the importance of India increasing its procurement of American-made security equipment and moving toward a fair bilateral trading relationship,” according to a readout of the call.
The two leaders also talked about plans for Modi to visit the White House. The prime minister visited the White House as well as former President Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington during the previous administration and made visits to the White House during the first Trump administration.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Mexico’s received 4,094 migrants deported from US, president says
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said her country has received 4,094 migrants, most of whom are Mexican nationals, deported from the U.S. since Jan. 20.
“Mexico has a very important history of repatriation with the United States. First with the Trump administration and then with the Biden administration. There are coordination mechanisms,” Sheinbaum said. “We ask for respect for human rights.”
Sheinbaum said four planes with deportees arrived this past weekend. But she noted it has happened in the past and that there has not been “a sustained increase” of deportations.
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
VA says 60 employees placed on leave after DEI order implementation
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced it has completed its initial implementation of ending its DEI program, which has included placing nearly 60 employees on paid administrative leave. The release said the employees in question had been solely focused on DEI initiatives.
According to the release, the combined annual salary of those employees totals more than $8 million, an average of more than $136,000/year per employee. One such employee is making more than $220,000 per year.”
Additionally, the VA has identified other DEI-related expenses totaling more than $6.1 million, which the department said it is working to cancel.
This comes after President Donald Trump signed an order last week to eliminate DEI initiatives in the federal government. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier Monday indicated Trump would take more executive action toward “fully removing DEI inside the Pentagon.”
-ABC News’ Nathan Luna
Trump to sign executive order reinstating service members removed for refusing COVID vaccine
President Donald Trump will sign two executive orders relating to the military, a White House official confirmed to ABC News.
The first executive order Trump is expected to sign will reinstate service members removed from the military for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, restore their rank, and provide back pay.
The second executive order directs the Department of Defense to determine a policy regarding transgender service members based on readiness. It does not put an immediate ban on trans service members. It simply directs the DOD to come up with a policy.
Last week, Trump revoked a Biden administration order allowing transgender people to serve in the military.
– ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Trump cabinet confirmation hearings this week
All eyes will be on the Senate this week as confirmation hearings continue for Trump’s cabinet choices.
Health and Human Services pick Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be facing the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday morning.
On Thursday, FBI nominee Kash Patel’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee will take place, in addition to Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard’s hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Army Secretary nominee Daniel Driscoll’s confirmation will also be voted on Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Texas Gov. Abbott to send 400 troops, military resources to Rio Grande Valley
Texas Gov. Abbott is sending an additional 400 soldiers from military bases in Forth Worth and Houston to assist Border Patrol and the Trump administration’s mission to “secure the border.”
The 400 soldiers join the thousands of troops Abbott has already deployed under his border mission, Operation Lone Star.
In addition to troops, he’ll also be sending C-130s and Chinook helicopters.
“Texas has a partner in the White House we can work with to secure the Texas-Mexico border,” Abbott said in a statement, thanking Trump for his “decisive leadership on the southern border.”
– ABC News’ Armando Garcia
Hegseth responds after uproar over removal of Tuskegee Airmen video
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday had to respond to criticism after videos of Tuskegee Airmen and Women Air Force Service Pilots were removed from basic training courses, according to a report from Reuters.
An official told Reuters the videos were removed pending a review to comply with Trump’s order to eliminate DEI efforts in the federal government. Hegseth, too, has made eliminating DEI from the military a top priority.
But uproar quickly grew over the removal of the videos, including from Alabama Republican Sen. Katie Britt. Britt called the removal of the videos “malicious compliance” that had to be corrected.
“We’re all over it Senator. This will not stand,” Hegseth said in response. Hours later, he posted, “This has been immediately reversed.”
Reuters reported on Sunday that the Air Force said the videos will be taught.
Trump signs executive orders for ‘full-scale review’ of FEMA, seeks control over California water system
President Donald Trump signed two executive orders Friday focused on emergency response, one which creates a task force to conduct a “a full-scale review” of FEMA to “recommend to the President improvements or structural changes to promote the national interest and enable national resilience.”
The task force — which is intended to be no larger than 20 people — is expected to “meet regularly” for a year. Among the directives in the order is to evaluate “whether FEMA can serve its functions as a support agency, providing supplemental Federal assistance, to the States rather than supplanting State control of disaster relief.”
They could recommend that FEMA be dismantled, but Congress would need to act in order to do away with the agency.
The second executive order, called “Emergency Measures To Provide Water Resources In California And Improve Disaster Response In Certain Areas,” calls for a plan for the federal government to assert power over California’s water system.
One section outlines actions for the government to go around state and federal law to more directly assert control of California’s water management — though it’s not clear how much of an impact this order will have.
– ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Pete Hegseth arrives for 1st full day at Pentagon as defense secretary
Arriving for his first full day at the Pentagon as defense secretary, Pete Hegseth stopped to talk to reporters to lay out some of his priorities.
“It’s an honor to be here,” Hegseth said after being greeted by Gen. CQ Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Hegseth said that would include removing DEI efforts inside the Pentagon, reinstating service members discharged because of COVID-19 vaccine mandates and building an Iron Dome — though experts have said the latter may not be realistic for the U.S.
He also said the Pentagon would provide “whatever’s needed” at the southern border as Trump carries out his immigration crackdown.
Hegseth previously suggested the firing of Brown as well as other senior officers who were involved either in the chaotic withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan or “woke” DEI initiatives.
Asked on Monday if he wants to fire Brown, Hegseth said: “I’m standing with him right now. Look forward to working with him.”
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge appears poised to block the Trump administration if the Department of Defense attempts to place limitations on or ban transgender service members.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes is still hearing arguments Tuesday in the case but signaled deep skepticism with the claim that transgender service members lessen the military’s lethality or readiness.
“You and I both agree that the greatest fighting force that world history has ever seen is not going to be impacted in any way by less than 1% of the soldiers using a different pronoun than others might want to call them. Would you agree with that?” Judge Reyes asked during a hearing this morning.
“No, Your Honor, I’m not. I can’t agree with that,” a lawyer for the Department of Justice responded.
At issue is Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order that directed the DOD to update its guidance “regarding trans-identifying medical standards for military service and to rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness.” While the Department of Defense has not issued final guidance on transgender service members, the order led to a pause in gender affirming care for service members and is expected to lead to a significant curtailment of transgender service members based on “readiness and lethality.”
With the DOD policy expected to be finalized over the coming week, Reyes said she would hold off on issuing an order but had largely made up her mind about the legality of the order, at one point remarking that “smarter people on the D.C. Circuit would have to tell me I’m wrong” about the policy. She added that the central premise of the executive order — that only two genders exist — is “not biologically correct.”
Reyes also raised concerns about the wording of the executive order, which she criticized for being intentionally imprecise and a pretext for a ban on transgender soldiers.
“If we had President Trump here right now, and I said to him, ‘Is this a transgender ban?’ What do you think he would say?” Reyes asked.
“I have no idea, Your Honor,” said DOJ attorney Jason Lynch.
“I do. He would say, ‘Of course it is.’ Because he calls it a transgender ban, because all the language in it is indicative,” Reyes said.
The judge — who began the hearing by noting that every service member regardless of their gender ideology “deserves our gratitude” — also spent a portion of the hearing questioning Lynch about the group of transgender soldiers who filed the lawsuit.
“If you were in a foxhole, you wouldn’t care about these individuals’ gender ideology, right? You would just be happy that someone with that experience and that bravery and that honorable service to the country was sitting right next to you. Right?” Reyes asked.
“Don’t want to testify as a witness, Your Honor, or offer my personal views of hypothetical,” Lynch responded before conceding, “If I were in a foxhole, I doubt that the gender identity would be a primary concern.”
Reyes also pushed the lawyer for the Department of Justice — who she later commended for arguing his case well — to admit that the transgender soldiers made the country “safer.”
“Are they honorable, truthful, and disciplined?” Reyes asked. “As far as I know, among them, they have over 60 years of military service.”
“That’s correct,” Lynch said.
“And you would agree that together, the plaintiffs have made America safer?” Reyes asked.
(WASHINGTON) — Lara Trump, the daughter-in-law of President-elect Donald Trump whom he tapped to co-chair the Republican National Committee for the 2024 election cycle, said she intends to step down from her position.
The move comes amid mounting speculation that she could be tapped to fill an upcoming Senate vacancy in Florida, whose Sen. Marco Rubio has been nominated for secretary of state.
“The job I came to do is now complete and I intend to formally step down from the RNC at our next meeting,” Lara Trump said in a post on X.
Should Rubio be confirmed as secretary of state in Trump’s incoming administration, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would need to choose a successor to serve out the rest of Rubio’s term, which expires in 2026.
“It is something I would seriously consider,” Lara Trump said in an interview with The Associated Press.
She added, “If I’m being completely transparent, I don’t know exactly what that would look like. And I certainly want to get all of the information possible if that is something that’s real for me. But yeah, I would 100% consider it.”