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Summary
Here is a summary of the latest developments:
Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, Donald Trump said on Tuesday. Despite the name, the department will not be a government agency. Trump said the pair will work from outside the government to offer the White House “advice and guidance” and will partner with the Office of Management and Budget to “drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to government never seen before.”
Trump has tapped Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be secretary of defense. Hegseth, 44, is a co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekend” and has been a contributor with the network since 2014, where he developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show.
Trump has confirmed that he has chosen South Dakota governor, Kristi Noem, to serve as the next secretary of the homeland security department. The choice was widely reported yesterday, but not yet announced by Trump.
The Biden administration said Tuesday it won’t limit weapons transfers to Israel because the US says its key ally has made good but limited progress in increasing the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza. That is despite eight international aid groups saying Israel has failed to meet US demands for greater humanitarian access to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, where hunger experts say the north may already be experiencing famine.
Donald Trump named the former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee as the next US ambassador to Israel. Huckabee has a track record of hardline, occasionally provocative, pro-Israel rhetoric and previously said Israel has a rightful claim to the West Bank, which he refers to by its Hebrew and biblical name of Judea and Samaria.
Trump chose a real-estate mogul as Middle East envoy. Donald Trump has picked Steven Witkoff, a New York City-based real estate executive and longtime friend, to serve as Middle East envoy in his upcoming administration.
Trump will reportedly oppose a US law that could lead to popular social media app TikTok being banned, despite bipartisan support for the measure.
Wisconsin Republican Eric Hovde refused to concede defeat on Tuesday to Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin in their US Senate race, saying he was “deeply concerned” about the election results but that seeking a recount was a “serious” decision and he was still reviewing his options, the Associated Press reports.
The judge who presided over Donald Trump’s hush money case has paused legal proceedings at the request of prosecutors and the president-elect’s attorneys, both of whom pointed to his victory in last week’s presidential election.
Samuel Alito, a long-serving conservative justice on the supreme court, has no plans to step down, the Wall Street Journal reported. If he changes his mind, Trump and the Republican-controlled Senate could confirm a replacement and likely prolong the court’s conservative supermajority.
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