Summary: the day so far
This has been another busy day in US politics; here are some of the highlights of the afternoon:
Donald Trump has announced nominees for several top administration roles, including army secretary, Nasa administrator and advisers dealing with trade and hostages held overseas. Among those selected was Peter Navarro, who served four months in prison earlier this year after being convicted of contempt of Congress.
Supreme court heard oral arguments in a lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors. No decision is expected for several months, but how the conservative-dominated court rules could have impacts nationwide.
Kenneth Chesebro, a little-known lawyer who played a key role in developing the fake electors scheme, is asking a Georgia judge to withdraw his guilty plea in the wide-ranging election interference case filed by Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney.
Several people close to Donald Trump, including some he has chosen to serve in his cabinet, are encouraging the president-elect to pardon Edward Snowden, the Washington Post reports. A former National Security Agency contractor, Snowden fled to Hong Kong in 2013 and handed over tens of thousands of top-secret documents to media outlets, including the Guardian. He has since been in exile in Russia. Trump almost pardoned Snowden before leaving office in 2021, but ultimately decided not to.
In an op-ed published in the Wall street journal on Wednesday, Pete Hegseth, the former Fox News and Trump’s nominee to run the department of defense vowed not to “back down” amid reports that his nomination is at risk of going to Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida. And in an interview with Megyn Kelly on the same day, he vowed not to drink while being secretary of defense.
Conservative supreme court justice Neil Gorsuch is recusing himself from a case that is set to be argued in front of the high court next week, NBC news has reported. His recusal came after calls from officials to step down over his longtime relationship with billionaire Philip Anschutz. The case centers on the environmental review process for a railroad in Utah that would ship crude oil out of the Uinta Basin to existing railroads.
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Trump nominates Billy Long to lead the Internal Revenue Service
Donald Trump nominated former congressman Billy Long to be commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service tax body on Wednesday.
In a post on Truth social Trump said: “I have known Billy since 2011 – He is an extremely hard worker, and respected by all, especially by those who know him in Congress. Taxpayers and the wonderful employees of the IRS will love having Billy at the helm. He is the consummate ‘people person,’ well respected on both sides of the aisle.”
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