Once the presumptive nominee, President Biden to spend Election Day at White House with no public events
(WASHINGTON) — For the better part of 2023 and 2024, President Joe Biden plotted a course to Nov. 5, 2024. As the incumbent, the veteran politician was the presumptive Democratic nominee, clinching enough delegates in March, and locked in a tight race with former President Donald Trump.
But instead of spending Election Day preparing for an evening speech, the president’s daily schedule is empty beyond his daily briefing by aides: No public events.
The president and first lady Jill Biden will spend election night watching the election results in the White House residence with “long time aides and senior White House staff,” according to a White House official.
“The President will receive regular updates on the state of races across the country,” the official added.
Monday night, Biden also held calls with Democratic state party chairs across the country. Ben Wikler, the chair of the Wisconsin state Democratic Party, told ABC News’ MaryAlice Parks that the call was “electrifying.”
“It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President,” he wrote, in part, in a letter posted on social media. “And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
Biden created last-minute controversy on Oct. 29 when he seemed to call Trump supporters “garbage” during a campaign call hosted by the nonprofit Voto Latino.
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been,” Biden said.
Trump quickly seized on the comments, saying Biden “meant it,” though the president posted a clarification, saying his comment was about the comedian who made the joke and “referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage — which is the only word I can think of to describe it.”
“His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation,” Biden said in the post on X.
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump continues to announce his picks for top jobs inside his administration, most recently naming nominees for energy secretary and to helm the Federal Communications Commission.
Meanwhile, fallout continues for former Rep. Matt Gaetz, Trump’s choice to serve as attorney general. The House Ethics Committee was investigating Gaetz for alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. Calls are growing for the panel to release its report on Gaetz, who resigned from the House last week.
Trump announces Matt Whitaker as NATO ambassador
In a statement Wednesday, President-elect Trump announced former acting attorney general Matt Whitaker as ambassador to NATO.
Whitaker was an active member of Trump’s 2024 campaign.
“Matt is a strong warrior and loyal Patriot, who will ensure the United States’ interests are advanced and defended,” Trump said.
Gaetz, Vance meet with senators on Capitol Hill ahead of House Ethics Committee meeting
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, President-elect Trump’s nominee to be attorney general, is meeting with senators on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning alongside Vice President-elect JD Vance — hours before the House Ethics Committee is set to discuss its report on Gaetz.
The fate of the Gaetz report is in the hands of the committee, which has a reputation for being tight-lipped. It’s not clear if the committee will vote on whether to release the report.
GOP Sens. Josh Hawley and Lindsey Graham met with Vance and Gaetz Wednesday morning.
Graham told reporters that the meeting went well and that Gaetz deserves a fair nomination process.
“Here’s what I told him, no rubber stamps and no lynch mob. I’m not going to be part of a process that leaks information that shouldn’t be leaked,” Graham told reporters. “I’m not going to legitimize the process to destroy the man because people don’t like his politics. He will be held to account in the confirmation process. He deserves a chance to make his argument why he should be attorney general.”
Hawley was walking into the meeting when he told reporters that in his view, Congress should move forward with Gaetz’s confirmation process and respond to the allegations against him.
“Do the hearing and let him respond to everything under oath in public,” Hawley told reporters before entering the meeting.
-Allison Pecorin, Julia Cherner, Hannah Demissie
What to know about Dr. Oz
President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that heart surgeon-turned-TV-host Dr. Mehmet Oz would lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
So is he a real doctor? What would he be in charge of in the role? And what are some of his past controversies?
Read more here about what to know about Oz, his medical career and some medical claims he’s made that have come under fire.
Lara Trump said she would ‘absolutely’ accept Senate appointment to fill Rubio seat if asked
Lara Trump, Republican National Committee co-chair and daughter-in-law of President-elect Trump, said Wednesday morning on Fox and Friends First that she would “absolutely” accept an appointment to the U.S. Senate to replace Sen. Marco Rubio Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis chooses her.
DeSantis will need to appoint someone to replace Rubio, who has been nominated to be Trump’s secretary of state. Rubio has not resigned from the Senate yet and like all Cabinet picks, is not confirmed yet — although his confirmation process is expected to go smoothly.
“I would be honored … to serve as the next senator from my state — right now, I’ve lived here for three and a half years — of Florida. Absolutely,” Lara Trump said.
Later, she added that DeSantis would “choose the best person for this position.”
“If he asks me to do it, yes, absolutely. It would be an honor,” she said.
-Oren Oppenheim
Stephen Miller indicates Trump would use recess appointments for Cabinet
Stephen Miller, President-elect Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff of policy, joined Hannity on Tuesday evening where he discussed a wide range of topics including several of Trump’s day one missions — including recess appointments to his Cabinet.
Asked if some Cabinet appointments were to become troublesome if Trump would use the recess appointment process, Miller said he would.
“Yes, the president has won a mandate, and he will use all lawful constitutional means to fulfill that mandate on behalf of the people who voted for him in record numbers,” Miller said.
Indicating that immigration will be a priority, Miller said mass deportations will occur immediately.
“It is going to be at light speed,” Miller said. “The moment that President Trump puts his hand on that Bible and takes the oath of office, as he has said, the occupation ends, liberation day begins.”
Miller added that Trump will “immediately sign executive orders sealing the border shut, beginning the largest deportation operation in American history, finding the criminal gangs, rapists, drug dealers and monsters that have murdered our citizens and sending them home.”
-Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa, Soorin Kim
Trump is the ‘decision-maker,’ his press secretary replies when asked about her role
Karoline Leavitt gave her first interview since being chosen as President-elect Donald Trump’s press secretary last week.
Asked if there would be daily press briefings during her appearance on Fox News, Leavitt punted to Trump.
“It’s certainly something I’ll discuss with President Trump. Ultimately, he is the decision-maker, as you know, that was the way in his first White House. It was the way on our campaign, and I will defer to him,” Leavitt said.
She didn’t address whether they’d knock traditional media aside for right-side broadcasters or podcasters, as some news outlets have indicated.
“We hope there will be decorum, certainly, and we will try to instill that. But we’re not shy of the hostile media,” she said. “We’ve dealt with that now in the campaign for the last year. Nobody does it better than President Trump.”
Explaining that the most effective communication methods might include “bringing different voices into the press briefing room” and vaguely stating that it might also “include some different rules,” she added: “Ultimately, it’s about serving the American people and getting President Trump’s message across to them.”
-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Kelsey Walsh
Trump picks Linda McMahon for education secretary
President-elect Donald Trump announced he is nominating Linda McMahon, a former World Wrestling Entertainment executive and the former Small Business Services secretary, to lead the Department of Education.
McMahon, who served as Trump’s Small Business Services administrator for two years, has no teaching or experience but served one year on the Connecticut State Board of Education.
Her appointment must be approved by the Senate.
ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa and Soo Rin Kim
Texas land commissioner offers 1,400 acres to Trump for ‘deportation facilities’
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham is offering the incoming Trump administration 1,402 acres the office has purchased along the Texas-Mexico border to be used for a mass deportation operation, according to a letter on Tuesday to the president-elect.
Buckingham said she’s offering the land “to be used to construct deportation facilities.”
“My office is fully prepared to enter into an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or the United States Border Patrol to allow a facility to be built for the processing, detention, and coordination of the largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation’s history,” Buckingham wrote.
The move shows that despite the governors of border states California and Arizona pledging to not aid the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans, the incoming administration will have allies in Republican-led states.
Buckingham said she is “100% on board” with the incoming administration’s promise to deport criminals in an interview with Fox News, which was the first to report the news.
The plot of land is in Starr County, about 35 miles west of McAllen, Texas. The Texas General Land Office purchased it from a farmer in October to facilitate Texas’ efforts to build a wall.
“It’s essentially farmland, so it’s flat, it’s easy to build on,” Buckingham told Fox News. “We can very easily put a detention center on there — a holding place as we get these criminals out of our country.”
-ABC News’ Armando García
House Ethics Committee to meet behind closed doors Wednesday
The bipartisan House Ethics Committee is scheduled to meet Wednesday afternoon to discuss its report on the investigation of former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who resigned from office last week after Trump chose him as his nominee for attorney general.
It’s not entirely clear if the committee will hold a vote on whether to release the report.
-ABC News’ Lauren Peller, John Parkinson and Will Steakin
Dr. Oz picked as Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator
Dr. Mehmet Oz has been selected to serve as the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Trump announced.
The agency is within the Department of Health & Human Services. The position requires Senate confirmation.
Trump indicated that Dr. Oz will work closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to take on chronic diseases.
Oz, a former heart surgeon turned TV talk show host, unsuccessfully ran for Senate in Pennsylvania in 2022, losing to Democratic Sen. John Fetterman.
Fetterman told reporters Tuesday that as long as Oz protects Medicare and Medicaid, he’s open to confirming him.
“He’s not my first choice and certainly, Trump was definitely not my first,” Fetterman said. “We’re going to have to work with these individuals, and if he’s about protecting and preserving Medicaid and Medicare, then, I don’t know why that’s controversial.”
-ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Hannah Demissie
Trump says he’s not reconsidering Gaetz nomination
President-elect Trump attended Tuesday’s SpaceX launch in Texas, joining Elon Musk– SpaceX CEO and now a close ally of Trump’s.
Trump was asked by a reporter if he was reconsidering the nomination of former Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general.
“No,” he said.
-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Kelsey Walsh
Dr. Oz picked as Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator
Dr. Mehmet Oz has been selected to serve as the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service, Trump announced.
The agency is within the Department of Health & Human Services. The position requires Senate confirmation.
Trump indicated that Dr. Oz will work closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to take on chronic diseases.
Oz, a former heart surgeon turned TV talk show host, unsuccessfully ran for Senate in Pennsylvania in 2022, losing to Sen. John Fetterman.
-ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa and Soo Rin Kim
Vance arranging meetings for Gaetz and Hegseth on Capitol Hill this week
Vice President-Elect JD Vance will make the rounds on Capitol Hill this week, arranging meetings between key GOP senators and Trump’s Cabinet nominees — attorney general pick Matt Gaetz and defense secretary pick Pete Hegseth — a source familiar with the plans confirmed to ABC News.
In a statement to ABC News, Trump’s transition team said it is working quickly to ensure the president-elect’s nominees get through their confirmation process. The statement also said that former Rep. Doug Collins, Trump’s pick for veterans affairs secretary, and Rep. Elise Stefanik, who was nominated as U.N. ambassador, will also visit the Hill.
“President Trump’s incoming administration is moving at an accelerated schedule in order to make good on getting key nominees confirmed in order to start delivering for the American people. Rep. Collins, Rep. Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, and Rep. Stefanik will all begin their meetings this week with additional Hill visits to continue after the Thanksgiving recess,” said Trump-Vance transition spokesman Brian Hughes.
Senators on Capitol Hill have told ABC News that they plan to meet with Vance and Trump’s Cabinet nominees.
Republican Sens. John Kennedy and Mike Lee told reporters that they would meet with Gaetz and Vance on Wednesday.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie and Allison Pecorin
Trump nominates Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary
Trump has announced Howard Lutnick as his commerce secretary pick.
The appointment requires Senate confirmation.
CEO of investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, Lutnick has been serving as co-chair of the Trump Transition team alongside Trump’s former Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon, spending the past two weeks at the Trump Transition War Room he has set up at Mar-a-Lago recommending and vetting potential candidates for Trump’s administration officials.
Lutnick has frequently joined Trump on the campaign trail and hosted numerous fundraisers for Trump alongside some of the major Republican donors like John Paulson, Duke Buchan and Woody Johnson.
The billionaire businessman was also vying for the job of treasury secretary, sources said, competing against investor and hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, who has also been considered a top contender for the role.
Lutnick’s aggressive push to be tapped as Trump’s treasury secretary as he spent hours with the president-elect nearly every day as a co-head of the transition team had frustrated some close to Trump, sources said.
Elon Musk has been a close ally of Lutnick, publicly endorsing him for the treasury spot recently and often seen together at events, including at the AFPI gala last week.
He had donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee in 2017 and most recently donated $5 million to pro-Trump super PAC Make America Great Again Inc.
Lutnick has been a vocal advocate for cryptocurrency, speaking at the annual Bitcoin Conference in Nashville earlier this year where Trump and RFK Jr. also spoke.
-ABC News’ Soo Rin Kim, Lalee Ibssa and Kelsey Walsh
Nearly 100 House Dems urge release of Gaetz draft report
Nearly 100 House Democrats urged House Ethics Committee leadership on Tuesday in a letter to immediately release their draft report of allegations into “serious misconduct” by former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida.
In the letter — which was led by Illinois Democratic Rep. Sean Casten and sent to committee Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., and ranking member Susan Wild, D-Penn. — the members wrote that “given the seriousness of the charges against Representative Gaetz,” withholding any findings of their investigation might “jeopardize the Senate’s ability to provide fully informed, constitutionally required advice and consent regarding this nomination.”
“Representative Gaetz’s abrupt resignation from Congress should not circumvent the Senate’s ability to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities,” the letter, signed by 97 Democrats, stated.
Speaker Mike Johnson has insisted the report should not be publicly released, as Gaetz is now a former member of the House. He has also stressed that the same principle should apply to potential access for senators reviewing the nominees.
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray, Lauren Peller and John Parkinson
Speaker Johnson denies discussing Gaetz draft report with House Ethics chairman
House Speaker Mike Johnson denied that he has discussed the details of the draft ethics report on Matt Gaetz with House Ethics Chairman Michael Guest, and further denied that President-elect Donald Trump or Gaetz have pressured him to bury the report.
“I haven’t talked to Michael Guest about the report. I talk to all my colleagues but I know where the lines are. I have no idea about the contents of the report,” Johnson told reporters as he walked back to his office after his news conference this morning.
Despite persistent questions, Johnson maintained his position that Gaetz’s resignation from the House last week should put an end to the ethics inquiry.
“My job is to protect the institution and I have made very clear that I think it’s an important guardrail for our institution that we not use the House Ethics Committee to investigate and report on persons who are not members of this body,” Johnson declared. “Matt Gaetz is not a member of the body anymore.”
Johnson denied that Gaetz or Trump had pressured him to block release of the draft report, repeating that the speaker “has no involvement” in the ethics report and “can’t direct the ethics committee to do anything.”
“I’ve simply responded to the questions that have been asked of me about my opinion on whether that should be released. Matt Gaetz is no longer a member of Congress and so we don’t issue ethics reports on non-members,” he said. “I think it’s an important guardrail for us to maintain for the interest of the institution so that’s my position.”
“I wouldn’t have that conversation with [Gaetz]. Because that’s not appropriate for us to do that,” Johnson continued. “President Trump respects the guardrails of our institution as well, and I’m very guarded about those things. So neither of those gentlemen would breach that.”
-ABC News’ Jay O’Brien, John Parkinson, Lauren Peller, Isabella Murray
Musk backs Gaetz for AG amid allegations: ‘Gaetz will be our Hammer of Justice’
Billionaire Elon Musk is throwing his support behind Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, as allegations continue to surface surrounding what witnesses told the House Ethics Committee regarding the former congressman.
“Matt Gaetz has 3 critical assets that are needed for the AG role: a big brain, a spine of steel and an axe to grind,” Musk wrote on X. “He is the Judge Dredd America needs to clean up a corrupt system and put powerful bad actors in prison.”
“Gaetz will be our Hammer of Justice,” he added.
Musk also directly addressed the allegations against Gaetz, stating that he considers them “worth less than nothing.”
Musk’s public support for Gaetz comes as the billionaire continues to play a large role in Trump’s transition, as ABC News has previously reported.
Speaker Johnson says he hasn’t discussed Gaetz ethics drama with Trump
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Monday he has not talked to Trump about a draft report on the House Ethics Committee’s investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz — as members on both sides of the aisle call on the speaker to release the draft despite Gaetz’s resignation and the committee’s lack of jurisdiction over former members.
“I have not discussed the ethics report with President Trump. And as you know, I’ve spent a lot of time with him,” Johnson, R-La., said. “He respects the House and the parameters, and he knows that I would not violate any of those rules or principles, and so it has not been discussed.”
The speaker also said he hasn’t discussed the report with Trump’s advisers.
“They’re busy filling the Cabinet,” he said. “This has not been a subject of our discussion.”
Johnson reiterated his position against the release of the draft report. He also brushed off the fact that there is some precedent for its release following a member’s exit from Congress, saying the House is now in a “different era.”
“I’ve made this really clear. There’s a very important principle that underlies this, and that is the House Ethics Committee has jurisdiction over members of Congress — not former members, not private citizens, not someone who’s left the institution,” he said. “I think that’s a really important parameter for us to maintain. I think it’s important for the institution itself.”
Johnson said that he would not support a private viewing of the report for senators under the “same principle.”
-ABC News’ John Parkinson, Isabella Murray and Lauren Peller
Top Dem on House Ethics Committee says Gaetz report should be released
The top Democrat on the House Ethics Committee — Pennsylvania Rep. Susan Wild — told reporters Monday that she believes the committee’s report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz should be disclosed to the public.
“You either are going to disclose it or you’re not going to disclose it. So, and there’s plenty of precedents in the Ethics Committee to disclose the report even after a member has resigned,” Wild said.
Wild, who is leaving office at the end of this session, said it’ll take “one or more” Republicans to join Democrats on the committee to achieve a majority vote to release the report.
Asked if that’s a possibility, Wild said she hasn’t talked to all of the members and doesn’t know, but she stressed that all eight members of the ethics panel now have access to the draft report.
“I believe there will be a unanimous Democratic consensus that it should be released,” she added.
Wild said there is a scheduled committee meeting on Wednesday, but said it “remains to be seen” what the chairman’s agenda is.
“But I believe we should vote on whether we are to disclose it [Gaetz report] or not, and we’ll see what happens after that,” she said.
House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., told reporters Monday that he has read the Gaetz report but declined to comment further due to the confidentiality of the committee.
-ABC News’ Lauren Peller, John Parkinson and Isabella Murray
Trump nominates Sean Duffy as transportation secretary
Trump announced Monday he is nominating former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy for transportation secretary.
The position requires Senate confirmation.
“He will prioritize Excellence, Competence, Competitiveness and Beauty when rebuilding America’s highways, tunnels, bridges and airports,” Trump said in a statement. “He will ensure our ports and dams serve our Economy without compromising our National Security, and he will make our skies safe again by eliminating DEI for pilots and air traffic controllers.”
Duffy co-hosts “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business and is a Fox News contributor.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie
Trump to attend SpaceX launch on Tuesday: Sources
Trump is expected to attend Tuesday’s SpaceX launch in Texas, multiple sources told ABC News.
SpaceX said it is planning to hold the sixth integrated flight test of its Starship megarocket from its Starbase in Cameron County, Texas, on Tuesday afternoon.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who will co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency, has rarely left Trump’s side since the election — appearing in family photos with Trump at Mar-a-Lago and even traveling with him to New York for Saturday’s UFC fight.
Trump frequently marveled at the intricacies of the SpaceX rocket launch while on the campaign trail.
“It was so exciting, so I’m watching it, and this monstrous thing is going down, right and it’s coming down, it’s first of all, doing all sorts of flips up in the air,” Trump said at his last campaign rally of the cycle in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
-ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa and Katherine Faulders
How Democrats could force the Ethics Committee to release the Gaetz report
All eyes will be on the House Ethics Committee’s expected closed-door meeting this Wednesday — but it’s possible that Congress can go around the committee entirely to release the panel’s findings on former Rep. Matt Gaetz.
According to House rules, any member of Congress can go to the floor and tee up a vote on a “privileged resolution” that would force the Ethics Committee to release its report on Gaetz, within two legislative days.
The member would only have to argue that not releasing the report impacts the “dignity” or “integrity” of the House or “reputation” of its members.
The action would be unusual, but not unprecedented. In the 1990s, Democrats repeatedly tried to force the Ethics Committee to divulge information about investigations into then-Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Those efforts came up short because Republicans closed ranks around Gingrich and the majority. But Gaetz is incredibly unpopular on Capitol Hill, and it would only take a handful of Republicans — along with all Democrats — to pass the resolution.
“If you’re a member of Congress, do you really want to be in the business of defending Matt Gaetz?” former Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pennsylvania, who led the Ethics Committee, said to ABC News on Monday.
The Ethics Committee was investigating allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use against Gaetz, who resigned last week after being named Trump’s pick for attorney general.
If the Ethics Committee doesn’t vote to release its findings on Wednesday, expect more Democrats to raise the possibility of forcing a floor vote — one that would force Republicans on the record about Gaetz.
-ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel
Hegseth flagged as potential ‘insider threat’ by Guardsman who was ‘disturbed’ by ‘Deus Vult’ tattoo
The National Guardsman who in 2021 pegged Pete Hegseth as a potential “insider threat” clarified in an interview with ABC News that his complaint targeted a “Deus Vult” tattoo on the Fox News host’s arm, not a cross on his chest, as Hegseth has repeatedly claimed.
As Reuters and The Associated Press first reported, Sgt. DeRicko Gaither sent an image of the “Deus Vult” tattoo to Maj. Gen. William Walker shortly before President Joe Biden’s inauguration. The phrase, which translates to “God wills it,” has since been co-opted by white nationalist groups.
“This information is quite disturbing, sir,” Gaither wrote in the email to Walker, who has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment. “This falls along the lines of (an) Insider Threat.”
Hegseth — Trump’s pick for defense secretary — claimed in his book, “The War on Warriors,” that he was removed from service ahead of Biden’s inauguration because fellow servicemembers had flagged a tattoo of the Jerusalem Cross on his chest as a white nationalist symbol.
But Gaither clarified in a text message to ABC News that his complaint targeted the “Deus Vult” tattoo, despite “the narrative that has been out there.”
“Just so we are clear. This has NOTHING to do with the Jerusalem Cross tattoo on his chest,” Gaither said. “This has everything to do with the ‘DEUS VULT’ Tattoo on his inner bicep.”
Gaither, who confirmed the contents of his complaint to ABC News, emphasized that “this wasn’t then and isn’t now a personal attack towards Pete Hegseth.”
“The information received and [the] email sent on January 14th was the protocol that had to be followed because of the position assignment that I was assigned to,” explained Gaither, who was at the time assigned as the Guards’ head of security. “The protocol was followed and would be followed again if this issue involved any other service member, myself included.”
Hegseth fired back at the initial coverage of this matter in the AP by claiming it was “Anti-Christian bigotry.”
“They can target me — I don’t give a damn — but this type of targeting of Christians, conservatives, patriots and everyday Americans will stop on DAY ONE at DJT’s DoD,” Hegseth wrote on social media on Friday.
-ABC News’ Nathan Luna and Lucien Bruggeman
Homan says he’s headed to Mar-a-Lago to put ‘final touches’ on deportation plan
Incoming “border czar” Tom Homan said Monday that Trump’s new administration is already working on a plan to deport undocumented immigrants and that he’s headed to Mar-a-Lago this week “to put the final touches” on it.
Speaking on Fox News’ America Reports, Homan reiterated his plan to “take the handcuffs of ICE” and ramp up arrests.
“ICE knows what they’re looking for. They just never go arrest them, because Secretary Mayorkas has told them [to] tone down the arrests,” Homan said.
Homan also repeated his claim that ICE will “arrest the bad guys first.” He said that under the Biden administration, the removal of “criminal aliens” has decreased 74%. ABC News has not independently verified the accuracy of that claim.
Homan acknowledged during the interview that a mass deportation plan will require significant resources and that he doesn’t know what the current ICE and Customs and Border Protection budgets are, though added that Trump is “committed” to getting the funding for his plan.
-ABC News’ Armando García
‘Dangerous’: Caroline Kennedy weighs in on RFK’s views on vaccines
Caroline Kennedy weighed in on her cousin Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s views on vaccines during remarks on Monday after he was announced as the nominee for Health and Human Services secretary.
“I think Bobby Kennedy’s views on vaccines are dangerous, but I don’t think that most Americans share them. So we’ll just have to wait and see what happens,” she said at the National Press Club of Australia.
“You know, I grew up with him,” she added. “So, I have known all this for a long time and others are just getting to know him.”
Kennedy added that her uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy, had fought for affordable health care, and that her family was proud of President Barack Obama signing the Affordable Care Act, which she said was built on Sen. Kennedy’s work.
“I would say that our family is united in terms of our support for the public health sector and infrastructure and has greatest admiration for the medical profession in our country, and Bobby Kennedy has got a different set of views,” Caroline Kennedy said.
–ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim
Trump transition live updates: Ethics Committee expected to meet on Gaetz: Sources
President-elect Donald Trump continues to announce his picks for top jobs inside his administration, most recently naming nominees for energy secretary and to helm the Federal Communications Commission.
Meanwhile, fallout continues for former Rep. Matt Gaetz, Trump’s choice to serve as attorney general. The House Ethics Committee was investigating Gaetz for alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. Calls are growing for the panel to release its report on Gaetz, who resigned from the House last week.
‘Dangerous’: Caroline Kennedy weighs in on RFK’s views on vaccines
Caroline Kennedy weighed in on her cousin Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s views on vaccines during remarks on Monday after he was announced as the nominee for Health and Human Services secretary.
“I think Bobby Kennedy’s views on vaccines are dangerous, but I don’t think that most Americans share them. So we’ll just have to wait and see what happens,” she said at the National Press Club of Australia.
“You know, I grew up with him,” she added. “So, I have known all this for a long time and others are just getting to know him.”
Kennedy added that her uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy, had fought for affordable health care, and that her family was proud of President Barack Obama signing the Affordable Care Act, which she said was built on Sen. Kennedy’s work.
“I would say that our family is united in terms of our support for the public health sector and infrastructure and has greatest admiration for the medical profession in our country, and Bobby Kennedy has got a different set of views,” Caroline Kennedy said.
–ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim
House Ethics Committee expected to meet to discuss Gaetz report
The House Ethics Committee is expected to meet on Wednesday and discuss its report of Rep. Matt Gaetz, multiple sources tell ABC News.
While the meeting can still be cancelled, sources said the committee could potentially take a vote on whether to release the report.
-ABC News’ Rachel Scott and Will Steakin
‘Morning Joe’ co-hosts say they met with Trump on Friday
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski said on Monday morning that they had met with President-elect Donald Trump on Friday at Mar-a-Lago.
The goal of the meeting, they said, was to “restart communications” among the liberal-leaning morning show hosts and the incoming administration.
“Last Thursday, we expressed our own concerns on this broadcast, and even said we would appreciate the opportunity to speak with the president-elect himself. On Friday, we were given the opportunity to do just that. Joe and I went to Mar-a-Lago to meet personally with President-elect Trump. It was the first time we have seen him in seven years,” Brzezinski said.
Scarborough said the hosts and Trump did not “see eye to eye on a lot of issues, and we told him so.”
“What we did agree on was to restart communications,” Brzezinski added, noting that Trump seemed “cheerful” and “upbeat.”
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Republicans are poised to make a historic decision on Wednesday when they’ll gather behind closed doors to select their new party leader — and President-elect Donald Trump’s influence in undeniable as he insists that whoever be selected support his ability to install recess appointments to his Cabinet.
With Trump’s victory and Senate Republican’s majority secured, the lead up to the race has intensified the jockeying between the three major contenders for the position: Sen. John Thune, Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. Rick Scott.
The leadership election, slated to occur just one day after the Senate returns from its monthlong election recess, will see Senate Republicans selecting their first new leader since 2007, when current Republican Leader Mitch McConnell first won the job. McConnell is the longest-serving party leader in United States history, but announced earlier this year he’d be stepping aside after the election.
Thune, a South Dakota Republican who currently serves as the No. 2 Republican, is somewhat of a front-runner in the race. He has served as the party whip for the last six years and in that time has notched a number of policy wins for the party, and has been working behind closed doors to whip support for the role for months. Thune said he keeps in regular contact with Trump and his team, but the two have at times had an icy relationship.
Running against Thune is Cornyn, a Texas Republican and another established GOP leader who served as the party’s whip for the six years prior to Thune before being term-limited out of the role. Though Cornyn has a slightly more conservative track record than Thune, he also faced ire from Trump for his support of the bipartisan gun safety bill that passed in the wake of the shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
Also vying for the role is Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican who just won reelection. Scott has attempted to brand himself as the most Trump-aligned of the contenders, but is less popular among some of his Senate colleagues after a stint atop the Senate GOP’s campaign arm in 2022 led to a less-than-successful night for Senate Republicans.
Trump won’t get a vote in this secret-ballot race, but his influence over it is palpable.
Many Republicans see Trump’s comfortable victory in Tuesday’s elections coupled with Senate Republicans’ new majority as a sweeping mandate to implement Trump’s policies, and as such, potential party leaders seem to be cozying up to Trump ahead of the vote.
Trump has not yet endorsed a specific candidate for the race, and it’s unclear whether he ultimately will. Instead, Trump has attempted to exert influence over the race by arguing that whoever is slated to fill the role supports a modification to what has become the Senate’s normal operating procedure to allow him to temporarily install appointments to federal vacancies without Senate approval during the Senate recesses.
“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. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again. We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY!” Trump wrote on his social media platform on Sunday.
Recess appointments are permitted by the constitution, and allow presidents to fill federal vacancies during Senate recesses. Though once a regular occurrence, the Senate has operated in such a way as to block all recess appointments since former President Barack Obama’s first term. Allowing recess appointments for Trump’s second term could allow controversial nominees who may otherwise fail to get the support they need from the GOP-controlled Senate to serve for nearly two years without Senate approval.
None of the top contenders have ruled out supporting the use of these recess appointments, and their responses to Trump’s post show how far each is willing to go to show that they’re on Trump’s side.
Though Thune said in an interview on Thursday that his “preference” would be for Trump to stay out of the Senate leadership race, he issued a statement Sunday night following Trump’s post affirming his commitment to installing Trump’s Cabinet, and not ruling out the appointments Trump is seeking.
“One thing is clear: We must act quickly and decisively to get the president’s cabinet and other nominees in place as soon as possible to start delivering on the mandate we’ve been sent to execute, and all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments,” Thune said in a statement. “We cannot let Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats block the will of the American people.”
Cornyn meanwhile discussed the use of recess appointments with Trump prior to his post, per a source familiar. In a post on X Sunday afternoon, Cornyn affirmed his support, noting that if he is elected leader, he will keep the Senate in session continuously until nominees are confirmed.
“It is unacceptable for Senate Ds to blockade President @realDonaldTrump’s cabinet appointments. If they do, we will stay in session, including weekends, until they relent. Additionally, the Constitution expressly confers the power on the President to make recess appointments,” Cornyn wrote.
Almost immediately after Trump posted on Sunday, Scott posted on X that he was in lockstep with Trump on this policy.
“100% agree. I will do whatever it takes to get your nominations through as quickly as possible,” Scott wrote, reposting Trump’s post.
A small handful of senators have come out publicly to endorse their chosen candidate.
Scott, for his part, has picked up endorsements from some of Trump’s most out-and-proud supporters in the Senate as well as a number of Trump-aligned outside voices, including Robert F. Kennedy and Elon Musk.
But this critical race has a very small constituency: only Republican senators serving in the incoming Senate get a vote. ABC News has not yet reported a projection in the Pennsylvania Senate race, but that means only about 52 people will get to cast ballots.
Senators are also shielded behind closed doors and by secret ballot in this race. In order to win the election, a candidate must amass a simple majority of the vote. If all candidates fail to get a simple majority, the lowest vote earner is eliminated from the process, and senators vote again.
Because of the secret nature of the vote, it’s unclear how much of an influence any outside factor, including Trump, will ultimately wield.
Newly elected incoming senators including Bernie Moreno of Ohio, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and John Curtis of Utah and Tim Sheehy of Montana will all be in attendance to cast votes.
Sen. JD Vance, who is now the vice president-elect, is also eligible to cast a vote in the election if he so chooses, but his team has not yet said whether he ultimately will attend Wednesday’s vote.
In addition to the closely-watched race for party leader, a number of other positions will also be selected during Wednesday’s vote. Sen. John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican, is running unopposed to becoming the No. 2 Senate Republican. Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican, and Sen. Tom Cotton, the Republican from Arkansas, are in a race to become the conference chair. Additional down-ballot races will also be voted on Wednesday.
(WASHINGTON, D.C) — Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in portions of a New York Times podcast interview published Friday, blamed Vice President Kamala Harris’ election loss on President Joe Biden’s late exit from the presidential race and the lack of Democratic primary.
Pelosi told Lulu Garcia-Navarro, a host of “The Interview,” that “had the president [Biden] gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” the paper said in a story about the Thursday interview. The exchange won’t be posted in full until Saturday.
“The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” Pelosi said.
“And as I say, Kamala may have, I think she would have done well in that and been stronger going forward. But we don’t know that. That didn’t happen. We live with what happened. And because the president endorsed Kamala Harris immediately, that really made it almost impossible to have a primary at that time. If it had been much earlier, it would have been different,” she added.
As ABC News has reported, Pelosi worked behind the scenes to urge Biden to drop out of the presidential race following his performance at CNN’s debate.
The Times reported Pelosi also took issue with Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders saying, after Harris’ loss, that “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.”
“Bernie Sanders has not won,” she said. “With all due respect, and I have a great deal of respect for him, for what he stands for, but I don’t respect him saying that the Democratic Party has abandoned the working-class families.”
The paper reported she suggested that cultural issues were more to blame for Democrats’ losses among working-class voters.
“Guns, God and gays — that’s the way they say it,” she reportedly said. “Guns, that’s an issue; gays, that’s an issue, and now they’re making the trans issue such an important issue in their priorities; and in certain communities, what they call God, what we call a woman’s right to choose.”