Vivek Ramaswamy to leave DOGE and announce run for Ohio governor, sources say
Saul Loeb/AFP/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Republican businessman Vivek Ramaswamy is planning to leave his new appointment leading The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and announce a run for Ohio governor, according to two sources familiar with the planning.
Ramaswamy is expected to announce his run for governor early next week, the sources said.
President-elect Donald Trump had tapped Ramaswamy to lead the newly created DOGE alongside Elon Musk, with the goal of slashing back government spending.
(WASHINGTON) — ABC projects that Democrat Adam Gray will win the race for California’s 13th Congressional District, unseating incumbent Republican John Duarte and flipping the final unresolved seat in the 2024 election.
With all 435 House races projected, ABC News estimates Republicans will hold 220 seats and Democrats 215 in the 119th Congress.
But it’s not clear how vacancies — or, illness or other absences — will impact the day-to-day division of power when the House convenes on Jan. 3.
President-elect Donald Trump initially tapped three House Republicans for positions in his upcoming administration: Florida Reps. Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz, and New York Rep. Elise Stefanik. Gaetz has already resigned from Congress and withdrew last month from consideration to serve as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general. And though he won reelection to his seat last month, he said he won’t serve another term.
Republicans could have a 217-215 majority while their seats are vacant — the narrowest GOP majority in history — and special elections to fill those seats can take months to complete.
In this case, any single Republican can hold Johnson hostage: Losing just one Republican on a vote would result in a 216-216 tie.
The speaker acknowledged the thin majority, which could pose a challenge in passing Trump’s agenda.
“Well, just like we do every day here, we’ve developed an expertise in that. We know how to work with a small majority. That’s our custom now,” Johnson said. “So, yes — do the math. We can, we have nothing to spare. But all of our members know that we talked about that today, as we do constantly, that this is a team effort that we’ve got to all row in the same direction.”
But several elderly Democrats have missed votes recently, which could give Republicans a little more breathing room next year.
In California’s 13th District, Duarte conceded to Gray on Tuesday, according to the Turlock Journal.
“I’m a citizen legislator, and I didn’t plan on being in Congress forever,” Duarte told the newspaper. “But whenever I think I can make a difference, I’ll consider public service in different forms, including running for Congress again.”
Gray released a victory statement on X Tuesday evening, extending his gratitude and saying the “final results confirm this district is ready for independent and accountable leadership that always puts the Valley’s people ahead of partisan politics.”
-ABC News’ Marilyn Heck and Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday took credit for killing the House Republican-proposed government funding bill, telling ABC News there will be a government shutdown unless Congress eliminates or extends the limit on government borrowing.
“We’re not going to fall into the debt ceiling quicksand,” Trump said in an exclusive phone interview. “There won’t be anything approved unless the debt ceiling is done with.”
Trump said he is concerned that if government borrowing reaches the limit set by the debt ceiling, it could lead to an economic depression. Under current law, the federal government would hit its borrowing limit sometime in the spring of 2025, during the first months of the second Trump presidency. Trump said he wants it taken care of now, while Joe Biden is president.
“By doing what I’m doing, I put it into the Biden administration,” Trump said. “In this administration, not in my administration.”
“The interesting thing is, [the debt ceiling] possibly means nothing, or it means [the] depression of 1929,” Trump added. “Nobody really knows. It means nothing, but psychologically it may mean a lot, right? In other words, it doesn’t have a real meaning other than you’ve violated something. And that may be just, one day, half a story, or it may lead to the depression of 1929 and nobody wants to take the chance, except the Democrats.”
Congress must pass a funding bill by Friday night to avoid a shutdown of major federal services.
Trump said he is more concerned about the debt ceiling, which was not part of the spending bill rejected by the House on Wednesday after Trump and ally Elon Musk weighed in, than he is in the level of government spending.
“I don’t mind the spending for the farmers and for disaster relief from North Carolina, etc., but that’s all,” he said, referring to $100 billion in disaster relief aid and $10 billion in assistance to farmers.
When asked about concerns about a potential shutdown, the president-elect reiterated there will be a shutdown if the debt ceiling isn’t addressed, and claimed it would be Biden’s fault.
“Shutdowns only inure to the person who’s president,” Trump said. “That’s what I tried to teach [former House Speaker] Kevin McCarthy, but I obviously didn’t do a very good job [with] a shutdown because he kept giving them extensions into my territory, a shutdown only hurts or inures to the person who happens to be president.”
As for House Speaker Mike Johnson’s fate, Trump said, “If he’s strong, he’ll survive it. If he’s strong, he will survive it.”
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump has been calling Senate Republicans to push for now-former Rep. Matt Gaetz to be confirmed as attorney general as lawmakers continue to raise concerns over the nomination.
Gaetz was being investigated by the House Ethics Committee for alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. But his resignation from Congress after being announced as Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department placed the panel’s report in limbo.
Some Senate Republicans are standing by their calls to see the report, though many now say they will be banking on their colleagues in the Senate Judiciary Committee — known for often controversial public hearings — to do a fulsome vetting of Gaetz.
Gaetz’s nomination will come before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will vote on whether to send it to the whole of the Senate. Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on Monday night he’ll leave it to the panel to determine what information they need to vet Gaetz, and whether or not that includes the ethics committee report.
“I’m not sure I know the answer to how that’s going to be handled,” Thune said when asked about the report. “I think that’s going to be a House issue, and then ultimately up to the Senate Judiciary Committee who is going to have the responsibility to go through the confirmation hearing and the process.”
Judiciary committee members say they believe they’ll get information on Gaetz during the committee process with or without the Ethics report. But it could be fiery.
“Whether we get the ethics report or not, the facts are going to come out one way or the other, and I would think it would be in everybody’s best interest, including the president’s not to be surprised by some information that might come out during the confirmation hearing in the background check, so we’re going to do our job and under the Constitution,” said Republican Sen. John Cornyn.
Cornyn seemed to suggest that one way that information could come out is by calling those associated with the allegations to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“It’s not critical that they release the report because we know roughly who the witnesses are, and soon they’ll be called before the judiciary committee,” Cornyn said.
If Gaetz makes it before the committee it is not yet clear what witnesses would ultimately be called to testify. Republicans could call one of these women, or their attorney, before the committee if they want to hear from them. But Democrats would also have the opportunity to call witnesses, and they are not ruling out calling the women who have made allegations against Gaetz to testify.
“That’ll be a committee decision,” Sen. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, said on Monday when asked about whether he’d support calling one of the women.
Calling such a witness has the potential to lead to a public hearing not unlike the high-profile Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination hearing, during which his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, testified.
Sen. Thom Tillis, who also serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, alluded to that process on Monday.
Tillis said he was inclined to “honor Speaker Johnson’s position” on the House Ethics Committee report. Johnson has said he doesn’t want the report released. But there are other ways for the committee to obtain information, Tillis said.
“You should take a look at the Kavanaugh hearing,” he said.
The belief that information contained in the report would eventually be known to the committee, either by leak, press report or FBI background check, was widespread among Republicans.
“As we all know, this place leaks like a wet paper bag, and I would not faint with surprise to find out that the ethics report at some point leaks,” Sen. John Kennedy, who serves on the Judiciary Committee, said.
But when some Republicans were pressed on whether they’ll insist on an FBI background check on Gaetz being completed, there was a bit of a lack of clarity. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who will likely return to chair the committee next session, said it would be up to the president to request a background check.
Gaetz has been working the phones, reaching out to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee urging them to consider his nomination through regular order.
“I got a phone call from Congressman Gaetz, and I congratulated him and he said,” Will I get a fair shake in the Senate?” Kennedy said. “And I said ‘Absolutely Matt, just come on over, answer all the questionnaires, tell us the truth, tell us what your plans are for the agency and I’m looking forward to it.'”
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said Gaetz told him he wants a hearing before the committee.
“He wants to move forward with his nomination and wants to be able to answer these things in public and have it go through the regular process, have confirmation here, which I think is good. We should do that,” Hawley said.
Hawley, however, cautioned against a Kavanaugh-style confirmation hearing, something he said was “not normal”.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who opposed Kavanaugh’s confirmation, said she, too, would be looking to the Judiciary Committee’s process. She thinks the House ethics report should be a part of it.
“I think the committee will have an opportunity to again engage in very significant vetting. It would certainly make sense to have something if the report was complete or close to completion,” she said.
Regardless of the committee process there remains skepticism among Republicans about Gaetz’s ability to be confirmed.
“He does have an uphill climb,” Sen. Joni Ernst, R-IA, said. “But I look forward to visiting with him about it.”
