Trump taps Dr Oz to work with RFK Jr in health role and discourages Republicans from confirming Biden judge picks – live

Donald Trump has joined Elon Musk for the sixth test of SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket from Texas.

Trump’s attendance underscores his increasingly close friendship with Musk, whom he has tapped to co-lead a new Department of Government Efficiency with the former Republican presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy.

Follow the Guardian’s SpaceX launch liveblog here:

Dr Oz has built a long career promoting health misinformation.

During his unsuccessful campaign for senator of Pennsylvania, doctors and researchers called for him to be stripped of his medical credentials over his promotion of unproven treatments, including touting the use of hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug, to treat Covid-19 without scientific evidence.

Timothy Caulfield, the Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy at the University of Alberta, wrote in the Scientific American:

Despite facing mounting criticism for his embrace of harmful pseudoscience and the provision of evidence-free health advice, Oz remains connected to Columbia University’s medical school and is a licensed physician. In 2014, he was called in front of the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection over misleading statements he made on his popular television show, the Dr. Oz Show. During the hearing one senator went so far as to tell “America’s Doctor” (anointed thus by Oprah) that “the scientific community is almost monolithic against you.”

And while Oz has not been officially sanctioned by a regulatory body—the Federal Trade Commission, for example, has gone after fraudsters who have appeared on his show, but the agency hasn’t taken direct action against him—that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be disciplined.

His affiliation with Columbia and the fact he still has a license seems especially baffling at a time when the spread of health misinformation has been recognized as one of this era’s most challenging health policy issues. Given all that he has done to promote science-free medicine, how has Oz’s licence not been revoked?

In his announcement naming Dr Mehmet Oz as his nominee to lead the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services, Donald Trump has also suggested that these massive health programs that serve 12.5 million people could see steep cuts.

Oz “will also cut waste and fraud within our Country’s most expensive Government Agency, which is a third of our Nation’s Healthcare spend, and a quarter of our entire National Budget,” Trump said in his announcement.

Republicans have been pushing to further privatize Medicare, a program for elderly people and some people with disabilities, despite complaints from patients and providers that the existing privatized Medicare Advantage program costs taxpayers more, and provides worse care.

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he has nominated Dr Mehmet Oz to serve as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator.

“America is facing a healthcare Crisis, and there may be no Physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to Make America Healthy Again” Trump said in a statement.

Trump added: “He is an eminent Physician, Heart Surgeon, Inventor, and World-Class Communicator, who has been at the forefront of healthy living for decades. Dr. Oz will work closely with Robert F Kennedy Jr. to take on the illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake.”

Oz ran an unsuccessful campaign for senator in Pennsylvania in 2022.

President-elect Donald Trump is urging Republican senators to stop the confirmation of judges before he takes office in January.

“The Democrats are trying to stack the Courts with Radical Left Judges on their way out the door” Trump wrote in a social media post on Tuesday. “Republican Senators need to Show Up and Hold the Line – No more Judges confirmed before Inauguration Day!”.

This comes as Senate Democrats held a late-night vote on Monday to confirm Joe Biden’s nominees to the federal judiciary.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden is at the G20 leaders summit in Rio de Janeiro and finally appeared in the leaders’ photo after missing the first one.

US officials previously stated that “logistical issues” were to blame for why the president missed out on the first group shot on Monday. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni also missed the first group photo.

But today, they had a reshoot, and this time Biden was given a spot near the middle of the front row of the assembled world leaders.

Here are some of the photos:

Donald Trump has confirmed that he is on his way to Texas for a SpaceX rocket launch, scheduled for later today.

“I’m heading to the Great State of Texas to watch the launch of the largest object ever to be elevated, not only to Space, but simply by lifting off the ground” Trump said in a social media post.

He added: “Good luck to Elon Musk and the Great Patriots involved in this incredible project!”

Vice president-elect JD Vance said that he and Donald Trump were interviewing candidates for the FBI director position on Monday evening.

In a post on social media, Vance said that he was meeting with Trump to interview multiple positions for their government on Monday evening, including the role of FBI director.

The post came in response to criticism regarding his absence from a Senate vote on Monday night to confirm nominees for the federal judiciary.

“When this 11th Circuit vote happened, I was meeting with President Trump to interview multiple positions for our government, including for FBI Director” Vance said. “I tend to think it’s more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49-46 rather than 49-45. But that’s just me.”

Donald Trump has officially chosen Howard Lutnick, the president-elect’s transition co-chair, to serve as commerce secretary for his second administration.

Lutnick, who has been a longtime friend of Trump, is the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald.

In a post on Truth Social, the former president wrote that he was “thrilled” to announce Lutnick as his commerce secretary. He stated that Lutnick will “lead our Tariff and Trade agenda” and will also have direct responsibility for the office of the US trade representative.

In his role as co-chair of the Trump-Vance transition team, Trump said that Lutnick “created the most sophisticated process and system to assist us in creating the greatest Administration America has ever seen”.

The statement also describes Lutnick as having been a “dynamic force on Wall Street for more than 30 years”.

Vice president-elect JD Vance is said to be arranging meetings this week on Capitol Hill between some of Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees and Republican senators who will be involved with the confirmation process.

According to CNN, Vance is expected attend some of the meetings too, including those with former representative Matt Gaetz, who Trump has selected as his nominee for attorney general, and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, whom Trump has selected as the head of the Department of Defense.

Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy also told CNN that he plans to meet with Gaetz and Vance on Wednesday.

A spokesperson for the Trump-Vance Transition said in a statement to the network that Gaetz and Hegseth, as well as Representatives Doug Collins and Elise Stefanik, will “begin their meetings this week with additional Hill visits to continue after the Thanksgiving recess”.

Collins has been chosen by Trump to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs while Stefanik has been selected to be the US ambassador to the United Nations.