John Thune elected as Senate Republican leader to succeed McConnell
Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Republicans on Wednesday elected John Thune to be the next Republican leader, succeeding Mitch McConnell in a position he’s held for 17 years.
With McConnell announcing his intent to step aside earlier this year, Thune, the current Republican whip, was running against Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas senator and former Republican whip and Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican who just won reelection to his second term.
Scott was eliminated after the first round of voting by secret ballot on Wednesday before the final round.
Ahead of the vote, Republicans gathered behind closed doors for over two hours Tuesday evening to hear arguments from Thune, Cornyn and Scott, as well as other senators who are running for down-ballot leadership positions. Any other candidate who might wish to throw their name in the running for party leadership would have been permitted to do so during the meeting.
It was described by senators in the room as “energetic” but not a debate.
When the meeting was over, Thune told reporters that Tuesday night was an opportunity for the conference to hear from the candidates.
When asked specifically about the whip count, Thune remained vague.
“You never know until the voters vote,” Thune said.
Cornyn kept quiet leaving the room, “I’ll make my pitch to my colleagues, not to you.”
Even before the Tuesday meeting, the candidates were beginning to make their closing arguments and working to assert their loyalty to Trump, whose influence could certainly sway the outcome of the race.
Cornyn wrote a letter to colleagues Tuesday, obtained by ABC News, in which he repeatedly touted his commitment to Trump’s agenda and confirmation of his Cabinet selections.
“It’s imperative that Republicans hit the ground running to implement President Donald Trump’s agenda for the American people,” Cornyn wrote in the letter, citing GOP success across the House, Senate, an White House.
Scott, meanwhile, has made appearances on cable news outlets in recent days and touted his endorsements from a number of Trump-aligned outside influencers, including Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He’s tried to position himself as the most Trump-aligned candidate.
And Thune, who perhaps has had the iciest relationship with Trump among the contenders, also made clear he’s been in regular contact with Trump’s team, and he’s made public statements supporting Trump proposals, including potential changes to Senate operating procedure.
Trump has not endorsed a candidate in the leadership race, opting instead to insist that whichever candidate is selected will support his use of recess appointments, which would allow him to temporarily fill federal vacancies without Senate approval.
All three candidates have signaled their willingness to use that strategy to quickly fill out Trump’s Cabinet.
(WASHINGTON) — Many of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees to serve in top Cabinet and senior advisory roles are slated to appear on Capitol Hill this week for hearings before Senate committees, a key test for many of them.
The marathon of nomination hearings will color the week leading up to Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. Republicans hope that by holding these hearings now, many of the nominees will be ready for consideration on the Senate floor shortly after Trump is sworn into office.
In total, 14 of Trump’s nominees will appear before their respective Senate panels before the week is out. More hearings will come in the following weeks.
There’s expected to be no shortage of fireworks as some of the top nominees face a grilling before their panels, but for some nominees the hearings are largely perfunctory.
Sen. Marco Rubio, Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of State, for example, is expected to fly through his hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday.
Rubio’s experience in the Senate serving as the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee, which deals closely with a number of classified issues, gives him the bona fides to make even some Democrats comfortable supporting his nomination.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., Rubio’s Democratic counterpart on the committee, applauded the Florida senator’s nomination in a statement calling him a “strong voice for American interests around the globe.” Rubio’s expected to pick up the support of a number of Senate Democrats including Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida over the weekend.
Fetterman is expected to be a Democratic ally for a number of other nominees as well. He’s expressed support for GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump’s nominee to serve as United Nations ambassador, and Sean Duffy, Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Transportation. Both of these nomination hearings are also expected to pass with little fanfare this week.
But for other nominees who have not been as warmly received on Capitol Hill, these hearings will be a major test.
During these public panels, nominees will take a public grilling from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including Democrats who have made clear they have no intention to go easy on nominees whose records they feel are lacking.
According to a source familiar with the discussion, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told Senate Democrats behind closed doors last week that confirmation hearings are a good opportunity to hold Trump nominees’ feet to the fire and hold them accountable for Trump’s agenda.
In floor remarks, Schumer has called for a “robust” vetting process of the nominees.
That’s why some Senate Republicans have been especially involved in getting Trump’s nominees ready for the gauntlet, holding practice hearings to help them prepare.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., has been part of mock hearings, which include everything from microphones to name tags, those familiar with the preparations told ABC News. Republican senators have stressed these hearings could be make or break — others have told nominees to watch video clips of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s high-stakes hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee for an idea of what could be ahead.
Trump’s nominees will benefit from having a Republican majority that is eager to quickly install his team. Still, with Republicans controlling 53 seats in the Senate, some of the more embattled nominees who will not receive any Democratic support can only afford to lose the support of three Republicans.
In a closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill last week, Trump urged his conference to stay united behind each of his nominees.
“He asked for strong unity and support to get his team through, and to get them through as soon as possible so they can get to work,” Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said leaving the Wednesday meeting.
Two sources in the room told ABC News that Trump made a special appeal for Pete Hegseth, his nominee to serve as the secretary of defense.
Ahead of his scheduled Tuesday hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Hegseth has been taking part in these practice hearings, ABC News is told.
Hegseth’s hearing will likely be one of the most closely watched of the week.
The former “Fox & Friends” anchor has faced scrutiny from lawmakers over his lack of experience and following reports of both financial and sexual misconduct. Hegseth has denied all of these allegations, but it has created some uncertainty about whether he will get the 50 votes he needs to be confirmed.
That makes Tuesday a make or break moment for him. He’ll face a number of tough lines of questioning from Democrats.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who serves on the Armed Services Committee, told ABC News she’ll focus her questioning on underscoring Hegseth’s lack of qualifications for the role.
Duckworth, a combat veteran, said she’ll focus on “whether or not he is qualified to do the job, whether or not he has the experience to do the job.”
“From everything that I’ve looked at so far he has never managed more than 40 personnel. I don’t know what the largest budget that he has ever successfully managed,” Duckworth said.
Other nominees to watch this week include Pam Bondi, who Trump nominated to be attorney general. Bondi will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Though she is ultimately expected to be confirmed, Bondi will no doubt face scrutiny from Democrats. So too will Kristi Noem, the nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, who comes before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday.
Notably, there are a number of high profile nominees whose hearings have not yet been noticed, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who Trump nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, and Tulsi Gabbard, who Trump wants as his spy chief.
For some of these nominees, confirmation hearings are apparently being stalled due to issues with receiving some of the necessary documents.
Sen. John Barrasso, the Republican whip, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that Gabbard’s nomination was being held up by a “paperwork problem” with the Office of Government Ethics.
“We had hoped to have the hearing later this week. It looks like it’s going to be the following week,” Barrasso said.
In the aftermath of Kamala Harris’ failed bid for president, Charlamagne Tha God called for unity and pointed to voters’ economic frustrations and concerns over safety as decisive in Donald Trump’s victory.
“I know it feels like the divided states of America over the last several years, but it is still the United States of America,” said the influential radio host who supported Harris. “We’ve got to unify in some way, shape or form.”
Charlamagne (né Lenard McKelvey) co-hosts the popular iHeart Radio program “The Breakfast Club,” which is heard by millions of monthly listeners, and is the author of the new book “Be Honest or Die Lying.”
Harris joined Charlamagne for an audio town hall in October, where she discussed how her economic plan would boost Black communities and cast a Donald Trump presidency in dark terms.
In an interview with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl on “This Week,” Charlamagne said he’s “optimistic” about America regardless of Harris’ loss.
“I do believe in the future of this country because I have no choice but to,” he said.
Following President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race and endorse Harris in August, Charlamagne applauded the vice president’s candidacy for energizing the Democratic Party.
Charlamagne said there was “no life whatsoever” with the Biden campaign and had previously called for him to not run for reelection.
“The vice president made a lot of people sit up on the couch and pay attention and at least be curious,” he said. “She has nothing to be ashamed of, she ran a great campaign”
In a stark demographic shift from 2020, Trump won one in three voters of color, notably gaining among Black and Latino voters. Charlamagne attributed part of this shift as “a backlash to race and gender and identity politics.”
Trump improved his 2016 and 2020 numbers in traditional Democratic strongholds, like New Jersey and New Mexico. Charlamagne said that “dinner table issues” were top of mind for voters.
“Every day people wake up and all they want to do is have more money in their pocket and they want to feel safe,” he said. “I don’t care if you’re black, white, gay, straight, whatever religion you are, those are the two things that you’re thinking about every day.”
He also said that Democrats “didn’t know how to message” their stance on immigration, including the bipartisan border bill that Trump and his allies effectively killed.
“It’s not like the Democrats didn’t want border security. They just didn’t know how to message it right,” Charlamagne said. “‘Build the wall’ may sound elementary, but you know what that signals to people? Border security.”
When asked if Harris should have done more to separate herself from Biden, Charlamagne said, “I think that if she wanted to go in a different direction, she should have expressed that.”
He also pointed to Harris’ appearances on “The View” and her interview with Fox’s Brett Baier, where she gave mixed answers on how she would be a different leader than the current president.
Even as an outspoken critic of Trump, Charlamagne said he’s choosing to have a positive outlook on the next four years.
“We just got to hope for the best,” said Charlamagne. “Like, I’m not wishing for America to fail. Why would I want that?”
(NEW YORK) — In a final lame-duck push, the Senate will attempt to pass legislation aimed at providing full Social Security benefits to millions of Americans this week.
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in floor remarks Monday he’d push for a vote on the Social Security Fairness Act before the week is out.
“We will vote and every Senator will choose. Where are you? Do you stand on the side of public retirees who deserve their benefits, or bungle this golden opportunity by blocking this bill?” Schumer said in a floor speech.
The closely-watched legislation repeals provisions that limit the ability of some retirees who also collect pensions from claiming social security benefits. Among those impacted are retirees who at one time worked as firefighters, teachers, postal worker, a police officer, or in other public sector jobs. A provision that limits the benefits allotted to those workers’ surviving spouses would also be eliminated.
The legislation already passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support in November, but Congress would need to act this week to avoid having to restart the process of passing the legislation in the new year.
The bipartisan bill has 62 Senate cosponsors, all but ensuring that it would have the necessary 60 votes it needs to overcome the Senate filibuster and pass.
It has strong advocates on both sides of the aisle.
“It is unfair to penalize Americans who have taught our children, protected our streets, and ran into burning buildings,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, the top Republican on the Senate’s Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee, said in a post on X earlier this month.
But there is some concern among Republicans about the cost of the bill and the increased strain it could put on the already underfunded Social Security trust fund.
The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that the bill would increase the deficit by $196 billion and increase the rate at which the Social Security trust fund becomes insolvent.
As a result, there could be challenges on the floor that limit the ability to expedite passage of this bill. And there’s certainly a time crunch to consider.
The Senate isn’t short on things to accomplish during this last week of the lame-duck session. It is currently working to process the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act. Senators must also approve a government funding bill before the end of the week if they wish to avert a shutdown.
If the Social Security Fairness Act is challenged in a way that slows the process of its passage, the Senate may run short on time to get this done.
It is not yet known when the Senate will vote on this legislation.
