We’re shutting this blog down now. Thanks for reading.
The day so far
Here’s where things stand:
JD Vance backed Kash Patel’s nomination for FBI director, saying Patel is in a “very good spot” for Senate approval.
Donald Trump and JD Vance have gone to bat for defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, who has faced allegations of sexual assault, excessive drinking and financial mismanagement that could imperil his Senate confirmation.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez officially announced her bid to serve as ranking member on the committee on oversight and accountability, the key investigative arm of the legislature.
TikTok suffered a setback when an appeals court rejected its attempt to block a law that will force its Chinese parent company to cut ties with the popular social media app by mid-January or face a ban. TikTok is expected to appeal to the supreme court, and Trump has made an about-face on the issue, saying he supports keeping TikTok available.
Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, says his lawmakers will find ways to work with the “Department of Government Efficiency”, so long as what it proposes is a good idea.
Joe Biden is reportedly considering pre-emptive pardons for potential targets of retaliation once Trump takes office. At least one Democratic senator thinks such a move would be a bad idea.
Donald Trump is considering canceling efforts to electrify the United State Postal Service’s fleet once he takes office, Reuters reports.
Updated
Pete Hegseth’s lawyer has warned of a potential civil extortion lawsuit against the woman accusing Hegseth of sexual assault if his confirmation as secretary of defense is jeopardized.
Attorney Tim Parlatore told CNN on Thursday that while the accuser’s actions may not constitute criminal extortion, a civil extortion case could be pursued.
“It was something we were considering at the time,” Parlatore said, referring to the accuser’s intent to file a lawsuit in 2020 before a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) was signed. “Quite frankly, with the violation of the agreement, if he is not confirmed as secretary of defense, we may still bring a civil extortion claim against her.”
Hegseth is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2017 when he was a keynote speaker at a Republican conference in Monterey, California.
Updated
Joe Biden authorized additional disaster assistance for North Carolina, increasing federal funding for debris removal and emergency protective measures following Hurricane Helene in late September.
Initially, Biden’s disaster declaration provided federal funding for public assistance, hazard mitigation and other needs assistance at 75% of eligible costs.
Now, the federal funding for public assistance has been raised to 90% of eligible costs, except for assistance that was previously approved at 100% for a limited time.
Updated
Gil Kerlikowske, the Customs and Border Protection commissioner under the Obama administration, said he took issue with some past actions by Rodney Scott, Donald Trump’s pick for CBP commissioner.
The Associated Press reports that Kerlikowske disapproved of Scott’s refusal to fall in line with a Biden administration directive to stop using terms like “illegal alien” in favor of descriptions like “migrant”, and his decision as San Diego sector chief to fire tear gas into Mexico to disperse protesters.
“You don’t launch projectiles into a foreign country,” Kerlikowske said.
Updated
Vance backs Kash Patel for FBI director
JD Vance backed Kash Patel’s pick as FBI director, saying Patel is in a “very good spot” for Senate approval.
Still, the vice president-elect was unsure whether he would join Patel on Capitol Hill next week, according to CNN, where Patel is expected to meet with senators.
“I don’t know what I’ll be doing next week. We’re fully behind Kash’s nomination, and I’m not even sure if – I’m not sure where I’m gonna be tomorrow, much less next week, but we’re fully supportive of Kash’s nomination. I actually think he’s in a very good spot for his nomination,” Vance said.
Updated
Melania Trump calls husband’s win 'incredible' during first post-election interview with Fox & Friends
“We are very, very busy … I’m establishing my transition team. And also, working on my office, putting my office together, and also, you know, organizing the residence and packing,” Melania Trump, who is set to return to the White House as first lady in January, said during the interview.
She also announced her new Christmas ornament collection during an appearance on Fox News on Friday. One of the ornaments is priced at $90, while the other ornaments are $75 each.
“After I left the White House, I established my Web3 and Web2 platforms where I design and offer collectibles like ornaments each season,” she said. “This is the third season, and there are many other collectibles available now.”
The 2024 collection, titled Merry Christmas, America!, has four designs: a golden star with “USA” in the center, a golden Lady Liberty, a red-white-and blue snowflake, and a golden clover. Each ornament has Melania Trump’s signature.
The Christmas-related endeavors are quite a shift from her tone in 2020, when a recording of Melania Trump revealed a conversation with a former friend in which she asked: “Who gives a fuck about Christmas?”
“I’m working ... my ass off on the Christmas stuff, that you know, who gives a fuck about the Christmas stuff and decorations? But I need to do it, right?”
Updated
JD Vance defended Pete Hegseth after he toured western North Carolina, which was ravaged by Hurricane Helene in September.
Vance said that Donald Trump’s defense secretary pick deserved a Senate confirmation hearing rather than a “sham hearing before the American media” over allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking of alcohol.
“Pete Hegseth is going to get his hearing before the Senate armed services committee, not a sham hearing before the American media. We believe that Pete Hegseth is the right guy to lead the Department of Defense,” Vance said. “We’re not abandoning this nomination.”
Updated
North Carolina Democrats have filed a lawsuit in federal court to block a Republican candidate’s effort to throw out 60,000 votes in a state supreme court race that a Democrat leads by just a few hundred votes.
Allison Riggs, a Democrat on the state supreme court, appears to have defeated Republican Jefferson Griffin by a little more than 700 votes in the race. A recount has already confirmed Riggs’ victory once, and a second recount tallying a sampling of precincts in each county is ongoing.
Democrats are closely watching the race because they need to win it to have a chance at retaking control of the court in a few years. Republicans currently have a 5-2 majority on the court.
After the election, Griffin’s campaign challenged the validity of 60,000 voters. The challenged voters include those whose voter registration lacked either a driver’s license or Social Security number, those who are the adult children of North Carolinians living abroad, and overseas voters who submitted ballots without voter ID. Many of the challenges rely on legal theories that have already been rejected by the courts.
Several eligible voters have already spoken out in frustration against the challenges, saying they are eligible voters and have been casting a ballot without issue for years. Riggs’ parents are among those whose votes are being challenged.
“Instead of respecting the results of the election, Jefferson Griffin and Republicans are attempting to throw out over 60,000 votes. Those 60,000 voters are Republicans, Democrats, veterans, seniors, teachers, our neighbors. No North Carolinian deserves to have their vote thrown out in a callous power grab – but this is no surprise from the party of insurrectionists,” Anderson Clayton, the chair of the North Carolina Democratic party, said in a statement.
Among other issues, the lawsuit says that Griffin’s mass challenges are essentially an effort to conduct a mass purge of voters after election day. Doing so would violate a federal law that prohibits purging voters within 90 days of a federal election.
“North Carolina Republicans’ attempts to throw out 60,000 lawful votes to overturn Justice Allison Riggs’ victory is a brazen and callous attack on the rule of law and North Carolinians’ right to vote, but it isn’t surprising. From trying to take power away from the newly elected Democratic governor to threatening to overturn the will of the voters, Republicans will stop at nothing in their quest for power,” said Sam Cornale, executive director of the Democratic National Committee.
Updated
Mother of detained US journalist Austin Tice says he is alive after more than 12 years in captivity
Austin Tice, an American freelance journalist who was kidnapped in Syria early into the country’s civil war, is alive, his mother said following a meeting with Biden administration officials at the White House.
“The best thing that we want to share with you is that we have from a significant source that has already been vetted all over our government, Austin Tice is alive. Austin Tice is treated well, and there is no doubt about that, and so I think that is the most important thing,” Debra Tice said at the National Press Club.
The press conference was held as rebels have swept across Syria in recent days, seizing major cities from president Bashar al-Assad’s forces. It is unclear who was behind Tice’s kidnapping in August 2012, but the Biden administration believes Syria’s government is holding him. Here’s more on what we know about Tice’s captivity, and the efforts to free him.
Updated
Donald Trump will head to Paris this weekend to attend the reopening of Notre Dame.
Joe Biden will not be there, but first lady Jill Biden will be in attendance at the ceremony to mark the church’s return after it nearly burned down in a fire five years ago.
“The president has had a scheduling conflict, which is why he was not able to attend,” Jean-Pierre said, when asked about why Joe Biden would not attend.
Here’s more on Trump’s trip in the midst of political chaos in France:
Updated
Defending Biden's record, White House says, 'Trump will inherit an economy primed for growth'
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that Donald Trump will inherit a good economy, thanks to Joe Biden’s policies over the past four years.
She also announced that Biden would promote his economic accomplishments in a speech on Tuesday, after government data released today showed that hiring remained strong in November.
“Just today, we learned more than 220,000 jobs were created last month, making this the only presidency in 50 years to have job growth every single month,” Jean-Pierre said.
“Over the last four years, the president has rejected trickle-down economics and written a new economic playbook that builds the economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down. This is a strong foundation for years to come … Trump will inherit an economy primed for growth.”
Former Biden administration official Jesse Lee pointed out on X that if Donald Trump stops the US Postal Service from electrifying their fleet, it will likely cost jobs.
Fox Carolina reports that a manufacturer of the new electric vehicles for the postal service planned to hire 1,000 people to make them. That hiring would presumably be in jeopardy if Trump cancels the plan.
“Trump planning to kill 1,000 jobs in South Carolina right off the bat,” Lee wrote.
Updated
Trump transition team looking for ways to cancel electrification of postal service fleet
Donald Trump is considering canceling efforts to electrify the United State Postal Service’s fleet once he takes office, Reuters reports.
The president-elect campaigned on killing electric vehicle incentives enacted during Joe Biden’s term to combat the climate crisis, and Reuters says his transition team is looking for ways to cancel contracts with vehicle manufacturers for electric vehicles that will be used by the postal service to move mail.
Here’s more on the potential plan, from Reuters:
The move, which could be unveiled in the early days of Trump’s administration that begins on Jan 20, is in line with Trump’s campaign promises to roll back President Joe Biden’s efforts to decarbonize US transportation to fight climate change – an agenda Trump has said is unnecessary and potentially damaging to the economy.
Reuters has previously reported that Trump is planning to kill a $7,500 consumer tax credit for electric-vehicle purchases, and plans to roll back Biden’s stricter fuel-efficiency standards.
The sources told Reuters that Trump’s transition team is now reviewing how it can unwind the postal service’s multibillion-dollar contracts, including with Oshkosh Corp (OSK.N) and Ford (F.N), for tens of thousands of battery-driven delivery trucks and charging stations.
Oshkosh shares fell by roughly 5% to 105.65 per share after the Reuters report.
Oshkosh and Ford did not respond to requests for comment.
In 2023, Congress gave USPS $3 billion as part of a $430 billion climate bill to buy EVs and charging infrastructure. It plans to buy some 66,000 electric vehicles to build one of the largest electric vehicle fleets in the nation by 2028.
As part of that, Oshkosh is expected to deliver about 45,000 electric vehicles, with the remaining coming from mainstream automakers like Ford, according to the USPS. The initial batch of 14,000 chargers are being supplied by Siemens, ChargePoint and Blink, according to the USPS.
Updated
JD Vance on Friday surveyed damage from Hurricane Helene and talked to first responders in western North Carolina in one of his first public appearances since the November election.
The hurricane struck in September and caused at least $53bn in damage in North Carolina, according to government estimates.
Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, visited the Fairview volunteer fire department. There, he learned that the building had flooded with 4-6ins of water and that roughly a dozen people contracted walking pneumonia as they responded to the hurricane’s destruction.
“At the height of it, I imagine y’all were working nonstop,” Vance said.
Updated
After the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the US economy added more jobs than forecast in November, President Joe Biden said that “America’s comeback continues.” The unemployment rate, on the other hand, ticked higher last month.
“This has been a hard-fought recovery, but we are making progress for working families,” Biden said in a statement.
“While there is more to do to lower costs, we’ve taken action to lower prescription drug prices, health insurance premiums, utility bills, and gas prices that will pay dividends for years to come.”
Updated
AOC runs to be leading Democrat on key House committee during second Trump term
New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez officially announced her bid to serve as ranking member on the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, the key investigative arm of the legislature.
“The responsibility of leading Democrats on the House Oversight Committee during Donald Trump’s second term in the White House is a profound and consequential one,” the progressive lawmaker said in a letter released Friday.
Ocasio-Cortez seeks one of the most influential positions in the House as Democrats work to counter the incoming Trump administration and monitor the president-elect and his allies.
These allies have pledged to retaliate against opponents and disregard political norms in Washington.
“We must do all that we can, now, to mark a different future for the American people,” reads Ocasio-Cortez’s letter, “one that inspires us to reject the siren calls of division, corruption, and authoritarianism through a shining example of a government that works for the people, by the people - one that sees their struggles and fights for them, not just the powerful and the wealthy.”
If Democrats regain control of the House in the 2026 midterms, the new Oversight chairperson would have significant authority to issue subpoenas and investigate the Trump administration.
Updated
Democratic representative for South Carolina, James Clyburn, said President Joe Biden should issue preemptive pardons for some of the people who have attacked President-elect Donald Trump, although it is not how the pardon power was intended.
“We have to use the pardon system, or the clemency system, to get everything in order to address the current situation that we live in,” Clyburn told CNN.
These comments come as the Biden administration considers the possibility of him granting mass pardons to a broad range of public officials to protect them against the possibility of retribution and revenge from Donald Trump when he assumes power.
Updated
TikTok plans to appeal 'sale or ban' ruling at the supreme court
After a federal appeals court upheld a law banning TikTok across the US unless the it was sold off by its China-based parent company, the viral video app posted the following statement on X:
“The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue. Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people. The TikTok ban, unless stopped, will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world on January 19th, 2025.”
Updated
The day so far
Donald Trump and JD Vance have gone to bat for defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, who has faced allegations of sexual assault, excessive drinking and financial mismanagement that could imperil his Senate confirmation. Trump said Hegseth “is doing very well”, while Vance said he and the president-elect have “got his back”. We’ll see if those statements move any wary senators. Meanwhile, TikTok suffered a setback when an appeals court rejected its attempt to block a law that will force its Chinese parent company to cut ties with the popular social media app by mid-January or face a ban. However, the story is far from finished: TikTok is expected to appeal to the supreme court, and Trump has made an about-face on the issue, saying he supports keeping TikTok available.
Here’s what else is going on today:
Trump aides believe that Hegseth is on track for confirmation, despite several Republicans saying the stories about his personal conduct make them hesitant to support him.
Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat, says his lawmakers will find ways to work with the “Department of Government Efficiency”, so long as what it proposes is a good idea.
Joe Biden is reportedly considering preemptive pardons for potential targets of retaliation, once Trump takes office. At least one Democratic senator thinks such a move would be a bad idea.
Top House Democrats says 'we'll see if there's common ground' with 'Department of Government Efficiency'
At his press conference today, Democratic House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said his party is willing to work with the new “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), as long as what it proposes is reasonable.
“It’s unclear to me what exactly the objective is related to this so-called DOGE initiative. From our perspective, we want a federal government that is effective and efficient in equilibrium. And, to the extent the other side of the aisle shares that objective, which is what is right for the American people, then we’ll see if there’s common ground as possible,” Jeffries told reporters.
The GOP will remain the majority party in the House of Representatives beginning next year, but only by a mere two seats. Jeffries implied that their slim control of the chamber will make working with the Democrats essential:
It’s clear that the incoming House Republican majority will not be able to do much without us.
A small number of Democrats have signaled a willingness to work with the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) on whatever it ends up doing.
DOGE’s function remains a bit of a mystery, owing to the fact that Donald Trump is not president yet and the department does not seem to be a real department, but rather more of an advisory body.
Nonetheless, Democratic congressman Ro Khanna has piped up recently to say he agrees with the broader contention made by Trump and the department’s co-chairs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy that there are some areas of the federal government where spending could indeed be cut back.
Today, Khanna responded on X to an anonymous senior Republican aide who cast doubt on DOGE’s viability.
“Two people who know nothing about how the government works pretending they can cut a trillion dollars, both with decent pulpits to preach from, and the ear of an unpredictable president? Disaster. The only good thing is that at some point they’ll overpromise and get bounced by Trump. But until then … disaster,” the aide told Punchbowl News.
Khanna responded:
Does this senior, anonymous Republican aide trashing @DOGE & @VivekGRamaswamy & @elonmusk happen to be someone who is pushing for a larger bloated defense budget and concerned the 5 primes may lose contracts? Asking not for a lobbyist, but the American people.
A moment of bipartisan comity followed, with Ramaswamy, a billionaire biotech entrepreneur who ran for the Republican presidential nomination, saying to Khanna:
The *quality* of defense spending matters far more than the quantity. Good for @RoKhanna asking some tough questions.
Yesterday, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy were on Capitol Hill to tout the “Department of Government Efficiency”, a novel, Trump-backed initiative to shrink the size of the US government. The Guardian’s George Chidi has a look at how it might work:
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, two technology billionaires with an anti-government axe to grind, aim to cut $500bn from the federal budget. They took to Capitol Hill on Thursday to explain their intentions to Republican lawmakers. But how, exactly, is the “Department of Government Efficiency” supposed to work?
For starters, it is not actually a department of anything in the government.
“Only Congress can create a department,” said David C Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown and an expert in administrative procedure. The organization proposed by Musk and Ramaswamy would instead be a government advisory committee, which would only have the power to make recommendations to Congress about government waste and inefficiency. Vladeck said: “Ironically, the government already has that position, which is part of the Office of Management and Budget.”
Off the bat, the “Doge” effort appears to be duplicative effort. Musk met with Mike Johnson, John Thune and other Republican leaders, and highlighted recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office – an independent agency led by the comptroller general – that could reduce the federal budget by as much as $200bn annually, if implemented.
Here’s more from the Guardian’s Dara Kerr on the appeals court ruling that brings TikTok closer to a ban in the United States – unless its Chinese parent company cuts ties with the popular social media app:
TikTok is one step closer to facing a ban in the US. A federal appeals court ruled on Friday to uphold a law that forces the hugely popular social media company to sell its assets to a US company or be barred from the country entirely. The decision is the latest twist in a years-long battle between TikTok, which is owned by Chinese-based ByteDance, and the US government.
“TikTok’s millions of users will need to find alternative media of communication,” said the judge, Douglas Ginsburg. “That burden is attributable to [China’s] hybrid commercial threat to US national security, not to the US government, which engaged with TikTok through a multi-year process in an effort to find an alternative solution.”
TikTok has said that divestiture is “not possible technologically, commercially, or legally”. The case is likely to move up to the US supreme court.
TikTok first brought this lawsuit against the justice department in May. The court’s three-judge panel said that the provisions of the law “survive constitutional scrutiny”.
Ginsburg wrote that the measure “was the culmination of extensive, bipartisan action by the Congress and by successive presidents. It was carefully crafted to deal only with control by a foreign adversary, and it was part of a broader effort to counter a well-substantiated national security threat posed by the PRC (People’s Republic of China)”.
Appeals court upholds law that could lead to TikTok ban
A federal appeals court has turned down a challenge from TikTok to a law that forces its Chinese parent company to find a buyer for the popular social media app in the US or face a ban, the Associated Press reports.
TikTok is set to be banned in the US in mid-January, unless it cuts ties with its parent company ByteDance before then. The firm and app are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court, but could also get a reprieve later next month, when Donald Trump takes office. Though his first administration viewed the app as a potential national security threat due to its ties with China, Trump recently said that he opposes the law intended to cut ties between the Chinese firm and TikTok.
Here’s more, from the AP:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the law, which requires TikTok to break ties with its China-based parent company ByteDance or be banned by mid-January, is constitutional, rebuffing TikTok’s challenge that the statute ran afoul of the First Amendment and unfairly targeted the platform.
“The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States,” said the court’s opinion. “Here the Government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States.”
TikTok and ByteDance — another plaintiff in the lawsuit — are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his first term and whose Justice Department would have to enforce the law, said during the presidential campaign that he is now against a TikTok ban and would work to “save” the social media platform.
The law, signed by President Joe Biden in April, was the culmination of a years-long saga in Washington over the short-form video-sharing app, which the government sees as a national security threat due to its connections to China.
The U.S. has said it’s concerned about TikTok collecting vast swaths of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits, that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion. Officials have also warned the proprietary algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect.
In an interview with CNN, Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal said he did not like the idea of Joe Biden issuing preemptive pardons to people who Donald Trump may target.
“I would oppose, in fact, strongly oppose, this kind of blanket, broad immunity,” said Blumenthal, who represents Connecticut.
“The way to stand up to a bully like Donald Trump is not to run and hide, it’s to confront him, and that’s what we ought to do if they misuse the Department of Justice. I was a prosecutor, US attorney and then state attorney general, and I believe the way to confront Donald Trump is to put together a defense team and a defense fund. I’d be happy to join it. And what we should do is support those people who are potentially in jeopardy. But there’s no way to offer this kind of immunity to everyone who may be a target of Donald Trump, because they will go after whoever doesn’t have that kind of pardon, and there are plenty of targets that they can assail.”
Biden considering preemptive pardons for potential targets of Trump retaliation
Joe Biden is considering preemptively pardoning people who Donald Trump and his allies have suggested retaliating against once the president-elect takes office, the Associated Press reports.
Here’s more:
The deliberations so far are largely at the level of White House lawyers. But Biden himself has discussed the topic with some senior aides, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday to discuss the sensitive subject. No decisions have been made, the people said, and it is possible Biden opts to do nothing at all.
Pardons are historically afforded to those accused of specific crimes – and usually those who have already been convicted of an offense — but Biden’s team is considering issuing them for those who have not even been investigated, let alone charged. They fear that Trump and his allies, who have boasted of enemies lists and exacting “retribution,” could launch investigations that would be reputationally and financially costly for their targets even if they don’t result in prosecutions.
While the president’s pardon power is absolute, Biden’s use in this fashion would mark a significant expansion of how they are deployed, and some Biden aides fear it could lay the groundwork for an even more drastic usage by Trump. They also worry that issuing pardons would feed into claims by Trump and his allies that the individuals committed acts that necessitated immunity.
Recipients could include infectious-disease specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci, who was instrumental in combating the coronavirus pandemic and who has become a pariah to conservatives angry about mask mandates and vaccines. Others include witnesses in Trump’s criminal or civil trials and Biden administration officials who have drawn the ire of the incoming president and his allies.
In addition to Fauci, Axios reports that former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Mark Milley and Republican former congresswoman Liz Cheney are among those being considered for pardons.
Donald Trump’s incoming cabinet appears set to be a collection of very, very wealthy people, the Guardian’s Robert Tait reports:
Enough billionaires and multimillionaires have been assembled by Donald Trump to fill key roles in his nascent administration to form a soccer team.
In a recruitment process that appears to mock his campaign’s appeal to working-class voters, the president-elect has brazenly tapped a gallery of mega-rich backers for key positions that, in some instances, will give them power to cut spending on public services that are used by the most poor and vulnerable.
At least 11 picks for strategic positions after Trump returns to the White House in January have either achieved billionaire status themselves, have billionaire spouses or are within touching distance of that threshold.
The net result will be the wealthiest administration in US history – worth a total of $340bn at the start of this week, before Trump further boosted its monetary value by trying to appoint at least three more billionaires.
Its collective wealth easily outstrips that of Trump’s first cabinet, formed after his 2016 election victory – which at the time was the richest US cabinet ever formed, containing such super-rich members as Rex Tillerson, the former chief executive of ExxonMobil, who was appointed secretary of state, and Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, who had become wealthy through restructuring bankrupt companies.
It also throws into stark relief the relative impoverishment of the current cabinet of Joe Biden – collectively worth a relatively paltry $118m despite having been repeatedly derided by Trump as representative of a corrupt governing elite that was cheating ordinary working Americans.
Despite a steady drumbeat of media reports revealing instance of troubling behavior by Pete Hegseth, the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports that aides to Donald Trump believe he still has a path to confirmation:
Donald Trump’s aides working on Pete Hegseth’s nomination for defense secretary have told the Trump transition team they haven’t yet counted three Republican senators as being categorically opposed to his confirmation, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The president-elect’s pick to lead the Pentagon returned to Capitol Hill to meet with senators in an effort to shore up faltering support over allegations that he committed sexual assault, drank to excess, sexually pursued female subordinates and was ousted from two non-profits.
But Hegseth’s nomination team, which has met with senators themselves, have suggested to Trump’s orbit that he may ultimately prevail given that they have not hit the critical threshold of three “no” votes despite the slew of torrid headlines that have clouded the selection.
And while Trump himself has not expended any real political capital by calling holdouts on Hegseth’s behalf, the Trump aides working on his nomination have, both with senators and inside Trumpworld to ensure he has the president-elect’s backing.
Hegseth’s team, which includes aides who are close to the vice president-elect JD Vance and Trump’s eldest son Don Jr, represent a particularly powerful group that has the ability to reach Republican senators and the Trump inner circle.
The trickiest hurdle for Hegseth, the people said, appears for now at least to be convincing Republican senator Joni Ernst to back his nomination or ensuring her resistance does not embolden her close colleagues in the Senate to vote against him.
Trump, Vance step up support for Hegseth as nomination faces uncertain prospects
Donald Trump and JD Vance have this morning made public expressions of support for Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary nominee whose prospects for confirmation have been rocked by allegations of excessive drinking and a sexual assault claim.
The messages may be an attempt to convince wary Senate Republicans to get over their concerns and vote for Hegseth’s confirmation. Here’s what Trump wrote, on Truth Social:
Pete Hegseth is doing very well. His support is strong and deep, much more so than the Fake News would have you believe. He was a great student - Princeton/Harvard educated - with a Military state of mind. He will be a fantastic, high energy, Secretary of Defense Defense, one who leads with charisma and skill. Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!
Vance took up the call, writing on X:
Led by President Trump, we’re fighting for Pete Hegseth. And we’re doing so because Pete Hegseth wil fight for our troops.
For too long, the Pentagon has been led by people who lose wars. Pete Hegseth is a man who fought in those wars.
We’ve got his back.
In response, Hegseth wrote:
Thank you Mr. President. Like you, we will never back down.
Trump defends Hegseth as he announces more administration roles
Good morning, US politics blog readers. Donald Trump announced a slew of new nominations for top administration officials last night, including ambassador to China, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a new role of “White House AI and crypto czar”. He also made clear he was sticking by his embattled nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. Writing on Truth Social this morning, Trump said Hegseth “is doing very well”, even though it remains unclear if key senators will support his nomination to lead the Pentagon. The former Fox News host has spent the past few days on Capitol Hill, trying to win over Republican lawmakers in spite of reports of his excessive drinking, financial mismanagement of two charities, and a sexual assault allegation.
Back to the nominations Trump announced last night, former Georgia senator David Perdue will serve as ambassador to China, while tech entrepreneur and Elon Musk associate David Sacks has been appointed to the new crypto czar role – the latest sign that the Trump administration will be much friendlier to the digital asset industry than Joe Biden’s ever was.
Here’s what else is happening today:
The US job market remains robust, according to just-released government data that showed the economy added 227,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%.
Joe Biden will deliver remarks from the White House at the 6pm ET performance of “The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day”, which honors World War II veterans.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre parries with reporters at 2pm.
