Matt Gaetz

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      How Trump’s nomination of Matt Gaetz unravelled in just eight days

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      Donald Trump decided to nominate Matt Gaetz as attorney general last Wednesday, during a flight home from Washington, where the president-elect had visited Joe Biden at the White House. The pick proved as surprising as it was controversial. Just eight days later, after a week of relentless hullabaloo, Gaetz withdrew from contention.It was a Washington farce for the ages. But how did it happen?Gaetz, now 42, made his name as a far-right Florida congressman, a pro-Trump publicity hound and gadfly who in October 2023 made history by bringing down a House speaker: Kevin McCarthy, the first ever ejected by his own party.The seeds of Gaetz’s own downfall were to be found in that extraordinary episode.Ostensibly, Gaetz moved against McCarthy in order to install a speaker more amenable to rightwing threats to shut down the federal government over arguments about funding, and less likely to seek Democrats’ help in avoiding such outcomes.But McCarthy never believed that. He insisted Gaetz moved against him in order to block release of a House ethics committee report into allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and other offenses.Gaetz vehemently denied – and still denies – wrongdoing but, nonetheless, when Trump nominated him for attorney general, he promptly resigned his seat in the House. According to precedent, that blocked release of the ethics report.The report duly became the hottest property in Washington, reporters chasing it, Democrats and some skeptical Republicans eager to find out what it contained. It promised sensational reading.Gaetz was initially investigated by the US justice department, in relation to the actions of Joel Greenberg, a Florida tax collector who in 2021 pleaded guilty to sex trafficking of a minor and agreed to cooperate in the investigation of Gaetz.Eventually, the justice department dropped that investigation. But the House ethics committee had been investigating Gaetz too, and in June it outlined the scope of its work: it was investigating claims the congressman “may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift”.Trump’s nomination of Gaetz was controversial for other reasons. There was Gaetz’s loud support for Trump supporters convicted in relation to the January 6 attack on Congress, and his promises to seek revenge against Trump’s political opponents. There was his almost complete lack of legal experience and expertise, having graduated from law school but practiced only briefly before entering politics.But in Washington, the ethics committee report remained the holy grail.Details began to leak, ABC News first to report that the committee had obtained records showing Gaetz paid more than $10,000 to two women who testified before the panel, with some of the payments being for sex.A lawyer for two women spoke to the media, saying one had been 17 – under the age of consent – when she was paid for sex with Gaetz.The Trump camp repeatedly pointed to the justice department’s decision to drop its investigation of allegations against Gaetz, without official reason but amid reports of concerns about witness credibility.On Wednesday, the House committee considered whether to release the report. The session ended in deadlock, five Democrats for release, five Republicans against it. In the House at large, Democrats introduced motions calling for a full vote to force the issue.Controversy switched to the Senate. As Democrats said they had asked the FBI for its files on Gaetz, the congressman himself climbed Capitol Hill, in the company of JD Vance, to meet the vice-president-elect’s erstwhile Senate colleagues and seek to convince them that Gaetz should be confirmed.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionIt did not go well. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, relative Republican moderates already used to saying no to Trump, at least some of the time, were not supportive.Gaetz found sympathy from others. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close Trump ally, said he would “urge all of my Senate colleagues, particularly Republicans, not to join the lynch mob and give the process a chance to move forward”. But plenty of other Republicans cast doubt on Gaetz’s chances of being confirmed.John Cornyn of Texas, a member of the judiciary committee, said any hearings for Gaetz would be like “Kavanaugh on steroids” – a reference to the tempestuous hearings in 2018 in which Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s second pick for the supreme court, angrily rejected accusations of sexual assault. In Kavanaugh’s case, the Capitol Hill circus proved controversial but survivable.But Gaetz would not be given a chance to pull off a similar escape. On Thursday, on social media, he said: “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as attorney general.”CNN subsequently reported that the woman who says she had sex with him when she was a minor told the ethics committee she had another sexual encounter with Gaetz, which also involved another adult woman.“After being asked for comment for this story,” the CNN report said, “Gaetz announced he was backing out as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee.”However, a source familiar with Gaetz’s nomination process told the Guardian that privately confirmed opposition from four senators – enough to sink the nomination if no Democrats defected – was what pushed Gaetz to decide to withdraw, before the call from CNN.Murkowski and Collins were opposed. So was John Curtis, the senator-elect from Utah who will succeed Mitt Romney, another Trump critic, in the new year. The fourth voice set against Gaetz was an influential one: Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the former Republican leader now beginning life back in the rank and file.In his announcement, Gaetz proclaimed his support for “the most successful president in history” and said he would “forever be honored” that Trump nominated him for attorney general.Elsewhere in Washington, it seemed safe to bet, politicians and reporters alike were reflecting on an extraordinary episode of near-unsurpassable Washington dishonor. More

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      House ethics committee fails to agree on Gaetz report; Sarah McBride responds to Capitol bathroom ban – live

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      Susan Wild, the ranking Democrat on the House ethics committee, accused the committee’s chair, Michael Guest, of “betraying the process” and mischaracterizing the meeting.She said that the committee voted on whether to release the report but were in deadlock along party lines.“In order to affirmatively move something forward, somebody has to cross party lines and vote with the other side,” Wild told reporters, noting that there were five Democrats and five Republicans on the committee.She said that the committee will reconvene on 5 December to discuss.The state of Texas has offered thousands of acres of land to Donald Trump “to construct deportation facilities”.Texas land commissioner Dawn Buckingham wrote in a letter to Trump that her “office is fully prepared to enter into an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or the US border patrol to allow a facility to be built for the processing, detention, and coordination of the largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation’s history”.In October, Buckingham’s office, the Texas general land office (GLO), purchased 355,000 acres (144,000 hectares) of land – equivalent to half the size of Rhode Island. Of this, 1,402 acres have been offered to the federal government.The land sits on a ranch in Starr county in the Rio Grande valley on the US-Mexico border.Terms of the purchase were not disclosed, but Buckingham writes in his letter that the land was purchased from a woman who previously had refused to let state officials build a border wall on her property. Now, the state plans to build 1.5 miles (2.4km) of the border wall where they were once denied.The rest of the 353,598 acres, collectively known as “Brewster Ranch”, located near Big Bend national park, were purchased in October for roughly $245m from billionaire and tobacco tycoon Brad Kelley, the state’s largest private landowner. It was one of the most significant public purchases of land in the history of Texas.More than two weeks after election day, there are more than half a million ballots left to count in California, and one of the most closely watched US House races remains too close to call with a razor-thin margin between Michelle Steel and Derek Tran.Democratic challenger Tran has a 314-vote lead over the Republican incumbent in the congressional contest in the southern California district. Republicans already control the US House, as well as the Senate, but picking up the seat would be a big win for Democrats, who lost it to Steel in 2020.Although Steel initially had a commanding lead, the race became neck and neck as election workers tallied more ballots. There are nearly 40,000 ballots left to process in Orange county and more than 30,000 in Los Angeles county, where the district is based.Michael Guest, the chair of the House ethics committee, told reporters that “there was not an agreement by the committee to release the report” on Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general.Guest did not say if the committee took an official vote, but did not say when it would meet again.The committee is evenly split between the two parties.The panel has previously said it was investigating claims that Gaetz “may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift”.The justice department launched its own inquiry into accusations that Gaetz engaged in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, but the department closed its investigation last year without filing charges. Gaetz has consistently denied the allegations.Sean Casten, a Democratic congressman from Illinois, has threatened to move to force a vote on the House floor to release the House ethics committee’s report on Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general.If the House ethics committee does not vote to release the Gaetz report on Wednesday, Casten said he will introduce a privileged resolution forcing a vote to require the committee to release its report.“The allegations against Matt Gaetz are serious. They are credible. The House ethics committee has spent years conducting a thorough investigation to get to the bottom of it,” he said in a statement.“If the Ethics Committee chooses to withhold this information, later today I will introduce a privileged resolution to require a vote by the full House of Representatives on the release of the Gaetz report.”Tech entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have laid out their plans for the new Department of Government Efficiency, or Doge, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published today.The pair said they will follow recent Supreme Court rulings that they say can be used to take power away from federal agencies to reduce rules that are unnecessary, costly and inefficient, Reuters reports.With an electoral mandate and the 6-3 conservative majority in the court, Musk and Ramaswamy said, the panel has an opportunity to enact substantial structural downsizing within the federal government.“The two of us will advise DOGE at every step to pursue three major kinds of reform: regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions and cost savings,” they wrote.The panel will give its list of regulations to president-elect Donald Trump, “who can, by executive action, immediately pause the enforcement of those regulations and initiate the process for review and rescission,” they wrote.A vote to block arms sales to Israel will be held on Wednesday in the Senate.The joint resolutions of disapproval (JRDs), introduced by the senator Bernie Sanders in September, would prevent the Pentagon from sending another $20bn to Israel as it continues its assault on Gaza – which has killed at least 43,000 people.The resolutions to be voted on the floor, and would block the sale of 120mm mortar rounds, joint direct attack munitions (JDAMS), and tank rounds, must pass both the Senate and the House with a simple majority. If they pass, they go to the president.The Sanders-led effort to stop the flow of arms to Israel comes after the country failed to meet the US-imposed deadline of 12 November to increase humanitarian aid and allow at least 350 trucks into Gaza a day. Despite Israel’s failure, the US took no action.Joe Biden marked his 82nd birthday on Wednesday as Democrats began searching for a younger generation of party leaders following Kamala Harris’s morale-sapping defeat in this month’s presidential election.Democrats are engaged in seeking replacements for the octogenarian leadership represented by the president and 84-year-old Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker who was recently re-elected to a 20th term as a member of Congress and continues to wield much influence.New leadership may also be on the horizon in the Senate, where the Democrats’ leader, Senator Chuck Schumer, is 73 and recently oversaw the loss of the party’s single-seat majority to the Republicans, who have just replaced their 82-year-old leader, Mitch McConnell.At 54, Hakeem Jeffries, Pelosi’s successor as the party’s leader in the House, is less vulnerable to challenge on age-related grounds, but youth – at least in relative terms – is on Democrats’ minds as they contemplate the road to recovery from a catastrophic reversal at the polls.The party is looking at a younger generation of state governors to emerge as presidential candidates in four years’ time, many of whom would have been in the mix had Biden passed the torch earlier and had there been an open primary or had he not immediately endorsed Harris when he finally stepped aside. They include Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, 51, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, who is 53, Gavin Newsom, 57, of California, 49-year-old Jared Polis, the governor of Colorado, and Andy Beshear, 46, the governor of Kentucky.Future leadership may also be available in the person of Pete Buttigieg, 42, the transportation secretary, who has been notably effective in arguing the Democrats’ case in conservative forums like Fox News.Sarah McBride, the first out transgender person elected to Congress, has issued a longer statement after Republican House speaker Mike Johnson announced that transgender women are not permitted to use women’s bathrooms in the Capitol building.“I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families,” McBride said in a statement posted to X.“This effort to distract from the real issues facing this country hasn’t distracted me over the last several days, as I’ve remained hard at work preparing to represent the greatest state in the union come January.”The Delaware congresswoman-elect goes on to say that she is looking forward to getting to know her future colleagues on both sides of the aisle, adding: “Each of us were sent here because voters saw something in us that they value.“I have loved getting to see those qualities in the future colleagues that I’ve met and I look forward to seeing those qualities in every member come January. I hope all of my colleagues will seek to do the same with me.”Democratic Representative Mark Pocan, who is the chair of the congressional Equality Caucus, has released a statement condemning Speaker Mike Johnson’s announcement that transgender women are not permitted to use women’s bathrooms in the Capitol building.The statement reads:
      Speaker Johnson’s holier-than-thou decree to ban transgender people from using bathrooms that align with their identity is a cruel and unnecessary rule that puts countless staff, interns, and visitors to the United States Capitol at risk.
      How will this even be enforced? Will the serjeant at arms post officers in bathrooms? Will everyone who works at the Capitol have to carry around their birth certificate or undergo a genetic test? This policy isn’t going to protect anyone-but it is going to open the door to rampant abuse, harassment, and discrimination in the Capitol.
      Republicans can’t even pass a Farm Bill or pass major appropriations bills, so they turn to using these cruel attacks to distract from their inability to govern and failure to deliver for the American people.
      President-elect Donald Trump’s team is reportedly discussing with the digital asset industry whether to create a new White House post dedicated to crypto policy and is vetting candidates, Bloomberg reported this afternoon.If created, it would be the first-ever crypto-specific White House job, per Bloomberg.The House Ethics Committee meeting has begun, according to Politico and the Washington Post.At the meeting, members are expected to discuss whether to release a report on their investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct involving Donald Trump’s attorney general pick, Matt Gaetz. More

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      House ethics committee fails to decide whether to release Matt Gaetz report

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      The House ethics committee deadlocked on releasing a report examining allegations of sexual misconduct against Matt Gaetz, the former Republican representative and Donald Trump’s choice to lead the US justice department, after the panel met behind closed doors on Wednesday.Emerging from the meeting after roughly two hours, most members of the panel declined to offer details on their discussion, but the Republican chair, Michael Guest, told reporters that there was “not an agreement by the committee to release the report”.Susan Wild, the top Democratic representative on the ethics committee, told reporters that the panel did hold a vote on the matter, but there was “no consensus”. Wild implied that the committee, which is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, broke along party lines and thus could not reach a decision. The panel plans to reconvene on 5 December, Wild added.The panel has previously said it was investigating claims that Gaetz “may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift”.Guest told reporters before the meeting on Wednesday that he had “some reservations” about releasing the report when it had not yet gone through a review process.“That is something that we will be talking about today, and that’s another reason I have some reservations about releasing any unfinished work product,” Guest said.The justice department launched its own inquiry into accusations that Gaetz engaged in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, but the department closed its investigation last year without filing charges. Gaetz has consistently denied the allegations.Two women testified to congressional investigators that Gaetz paid them for sex and that he was seen having sex with the 17-year-old, a lawyer for the women has said.As the ethics committee is evenly split between the two parties, it would take only one Republican siding with every Democrat on the panel to have the report released. But prominent Republicans, including the House speaker, Mike Johnson, have cautioned against releasing the report on Gaetz, who resigned his seat immediately after Trump announced his nomination as attorney general.“I think that would be a Pandora’s box,” Johnson told CNN on Sunday. “I don’t think we want the House ethics committee using all of its vast resources and powers to go after private citizens, and that’s what Matt Gaetz is now.”Gaetz was on Capitol Hill on Wednesday with the vice-president-elect, JD Vance, meeting with some of the senators who will decide his fate. After his conversation with Gaetz, Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump loyalist, indicated he was open to supporting the attorney general nominee and condemned the “lynch mob” raising concerns about the sexual misconduct allegations.“My record is clear. I tend to defer to presidential cabinet choices unless the evidence suggests disqualification,” Graham said in a statement. “I would urge all of my Senate colleagues, particularly Republicans, not to join the lynch mob and give the process a chance to move forward.”Other Republicans, including Senator Markwayne Mullin, have suggested the report should be at least made available to the senators who will vote on confirming Gaetz’s nomination.“I believe the Senate should have access to that,” Mullin told NBC News on Sunday. “Now, should it be released to the public or not? I guess that will be part of the negotiations. But that should be definitely part of our decision-making.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionDemocrats have appeared open to the idea of releasing the report. Nearly 100 House Democrats signed a letter requesting the ethics committee’s findings be released, noting that there was some precedent for issuing reports on former members who resigned amid scandal.Representative Sean Casten, who led fellow Democrats in signing the letter, indicated on Wednesday that he would introduce a privileged resolution to require a full House vote on releasing the report. Casten would need the support of only a handful of Republicans to get the resolution approved in the House, where Gaetz has made enemies on both sides of the aisle.Democratic members of the Senate judiciary committee, which will hold Gaetz’s confirmation hearings, have also requested the FBI’s file on the attorney general nominee.“The Senate has a constitutional duty to provide advice and consent on presidential nominees, and it is crucial that we review all the information necessary to fulfill this duty as we consider Mr Gaetz’s nomination,” the Democrats wrote on Wednesday in a letter to the FBI director, which was obtained by Politico. “The grave public allegations against Mr Gaetz speak directly to his fitness to serve as the chief law enforcement officer for the federal government.”RThe representative Susan Wild, the top Democratic representative on the ethics committee, said on Monday that she supported the report’s release, echoing comments made over the weekend by a fellow Democrat on the committee, Rthe representative Glenn Ivey.“It should certainly be released to the Senate, and I think it should be released to the public, as we have done with many other investigative reports in the past,” Wild told reporters, peraccording to NBC News. “There is precedent for releasing even after a member has resigned.”If the ethics committee report is released, it could further damage Gaetz’s prospects of Senate confirmation, but Trump has floated the idea of installing his nominees via recess appointment to circumvent the confirmation process. 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      Vance pleads with US senators to back Matt Gaetz as Trump’s attorney general

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      JD Vance has said Donald Trump “deserves a cabinet that is loyal” as he pleaded with senators on Wednesday to support the incoming president’s most controversial nominee, the former representative Matt Gaetz, who faces allegations of sexual misconduct and doubts over his qualifications to be attorney general.Vance, the vice-president-elect and Republican senator for Ohio, met up with Gaetz on Capitol Hill as the House of Representatives’ ethics committee convened to decide whether to release a report that could make or break his chances of confirmation in Senate hearings.The pair also met a procession of Republican senators in the Strom Thurmond Room in the Capitol rotunda as Vance took on the role of selling Trump’s case to fellow senators that Gaetz is a fit and proper person to be America’s top law enforcement official.Amid mounting scepticism, including among some Republican lawmakers, Vance made the case on social media beforehand, telling senators that they owed Trump their support regardless of their reservations about Gaetz.“Donald J Trump just won a major electoral victory. His coattails turned a 49-51 senate to a 53-47 senate,” he wrote.“He deserves a cabinet that is loyal to the agenda he was elected to implement.”The post amounted to a boldfaced effort to cast the Republicans’ newly acquired Senate majority as attributable to the political smarts of Trump, who endorsed several GOP candidates who subsequently went on to unseat vulnerable sitting Democrats.Despite a GOP Senate majority that would normally ensure nominees a safe passage through hearings, hostility toward Gaetz among Republican senators is wide enough to deny him confirmation unless enough of them can be persuaded to change their minds.While some Republican senators are wary of facing a backlash from Trump if they resist Gaetz, others are believed to by buoyed up by the fact that they have just been elected to six-year terms, and so cannot face a primary challenge in the near term.Trump nominated Gaetz, a far-right representative from Florida, as his attorney general after being persuaded that he would purge the Department of Justice and the FBI, against whom the president-elect has vowed retribution as payback for criminal prosecutions they pressed against him.But Gaetz is a controversial choice among senators and fellow congressmembers because of his hardline political views, abrasive character and the fact that he himself has been subjected to an FBI investigation, over sex-trafficking allegations.The inquiry was dropped, but the House of Representatives’ ethics committee conducted its own investigation into the allegations, which included suspicions of him having had sex with a 17-year-old and taking illegal drugs.The committee had been due to publish its report last week but Gaetz threw that into suspension by resigning his seat after Trump nominated him.Vance has been given the task of shepherding at least one of Trump’s other controversial picks, Pete Hegseth as defence secretary, through the Senate. Hegseth, until recently a host on Fox News, also faces a difficult Senate passage over misgivings that he has no qualifying experience to run the Pentagon and previously faced a police investigation over a sexual assault allegation.Following several other questionable picks, Trump has in the past 24 hours nominated Linda McMahon – who gained prominence running World Wrestling Entertainment – as secretary of the Department of Education, which he has vowed to abolish. McMahon, a former head of the Small Business Administration in Trump’s first presidency, has no prior experience running educational institutions or departments.The president-elect also chose Mehmet Oz, a television celebrity, to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which oversees health insurance for 155 million people.Oz, who has a reputation for pushing theories unsupported by scientific evidence and has no experience in running a government department, has been tasked by Trump to “cut waste and fraud within our Country’s most expensive Government Agency”. More

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      Trump’s cabinet picks are agents of his contempt, rage and vengeance | Sidney Blumenthal

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      “Shock” suddenly became the most commonly uttered word in habitually nonplussed Washington DC. After Donald Trump had attempted to subvert the certification of a presidential election, incited a mob, absconded with national security secrets, was convicted as a felon, and waged his Nazi-esque “poison in the blood” campaign, his brazen cabinet appointments are so mind-boggling that even hard-bitten cynics gasp.Sheer hypocrisy would have drawn a yawn. But Trump’s cabinet selections would have startled even the character of Captain Louis Renault in Casablanca, who feigned surprise at discovering gambling in the backroom of Rick’s Café before pocketing his winnings: “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!”If Russia occupied the United States, it would not impose a collaborationist regime of such hare-brained incompetents. Kleptocrats would be expected as commissars, but not patent lunatics. Hitler, for his part, murdered the Nazi radicals in the Night of the Long Knives to solidify his rule over the conservative establishment.Trump declared he would be a dictator on “day one”. But before day one, he has decided to empower some of the most fringe characters floating around his Maga movement. The outrageousness of his nominees is intended above all to force the subjugation of those remaining Republicans who insist on their independence. He has posed a battle royale with the Republican Senate to determine whether it will buckle under his mafia test to recess-appoint his madcap cabinet. He wants to break the Senate and crush it under his heel as his first act. Humiliation is the essence of his idea of power.Trump’s cabinet appointments are agents of his contempt, rage and vengeance. The motive for naming his quack nominees is located in his resentments from his sordid first term for which he pledged retribution. He sees the US government in its totality as a bastion of his “enemies within”. He intends to shatter every department and agency, root out expertise that might contradict his whims, demolish the balancing power of the Congress that could inhibit him, and trample the law that might stand in his way.Wrecking the government is not only Trump’s technique for gaining submission and compliance, but is his ultimate purpose. He will achieve vindication by tearing down anything he feels was used to restrain his destructive impulses or tried to hold him accountable for his past crimes, whether it is the military, the justice system or science itself.Before the election, Trump developed two elaborate plans, one if he lost and the other if he won. In either case, he would attack the federal government. He had learned lessons from the failure of his January 6 coup. His preparation throughout 2024 to declare the election stolen and force a constitutional crisis was the underside of his campaign.In advance, he organized an extensive network of lawyers and political operatives to deny he lost, refuse to certify the election in districts and states to the point of preventing an electoral college majority, and throw the election to the House of Representatives, where the Republicans held the margin from control of state legislatures to cast 26 states for him.In March, Trump ousted the chair of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel, because she would not divert the committee’s resources into an election-denial operation and fund his legal expenses. He inserted his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, as the new head. She fired 60 staffers, but named Christina Bobb, a former far-right One America Network TV presenter, who was a key cheerleader of the fake elector scheme in 2020, as senior counsel of its election integrity unit. In April, she was indicted along with 17 other Arizona Republicans for fraud, forgery and conspiracy. Trump was named “Unindicted Co-Conspirator No 1”. Bobb’s indictment only elevated her standing as a Trump loyalist.A week after Trump’s election, he appointed the outside counsel for Bobb’s effort, William McGinley, Trump’s cabinet secretary in his first term, as his new White House counsel. In Trump’s first term, his White House legal counsel, Don McGahn, had resisted his pressure to provide him with cause to fire Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, and his successor, Pat Cipollone, objected to Trump’s schemes to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump at last has an in-house lawyer to tell him how to do what he wants.Joe Biden welcomed Trump to the Oval Office on 13 November in a show that the transfer of power was peaceful. Biden’s message was to re-establish a constitutional standard, contrasting with Trump’s graceless refusal to meet with him after January 6. But the atmosphere of normalization was illusory. Biden acted as though by his example regular order could have a chance of restoration. His gesture was nostalgic.Minutes after Trump left Biden’s presence, he announced his nomination of Matt Gaetz to be attorney general. Ding, dong. The clock struck 13, again and again.But Trump had given fair warning.Trump rolled out his team of travesties in the spirit he had promised. “Well, revenge does take time. I will say that. And sometimes revenge can be justified,” Trump said in June on Dr Phil’s Fox News show. When Fox News host Sean Hannity followed up, trying to prod Trump into softening his threats, Trump rejected the opportunity. “When this election is over, based on what they’ve done, I would have every right to go after them,” he said.Trump’s plan upon winning, now unfolding, is to launch a full-scale assault on the federal government from the top down. He has no need to smash into the Capitol with the Proud Boys, whom he has promised to pardon as “hostages”.Certain common characteristics run through his cabinet of curiosities and horrors to mark them collectively unique among any cabinet of any president – alleged sexual misconduct and abuse, drug addiction, megalomania, authoritarianism, cultism, paranoia, white supremacy, antisemitism and grifting. Some nominees meet all these qualifications, others only two, three or four. For a few, it’s just plain and simple self-aggrandizing corruption.Each of Trump’s appointees is there to savage a target on Trump’s hitlist. When he came to Washington he was a relative blank slate, despite hauling a baggage train of scandal from New York. Back then, Trump blithely spoke of getting away with shooting someone on Fifth Avenue. Now, it’s Pennsylvania Avenue, where six people died as a result of January 6. Trump has been in the business of making enemies of anyone trying to enforce the law. The federal cases against him will be dropped to follow the ruling of the US supreme court that he has absolute immunity for “official actions”. Liberated from accountability, Trump is building his government on revenge.Quite apart from his appointees’ dearth of managerial experience and competence, they represent the antithesis of the core mission of the departments and agencies they have been named to oversee. They are not being appointed to run them efficiently, but to rule and ruin.The greatest influence in public life exercised by Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and former national guard officer before Trump named him as secretary of defense, was in 2019 when he privately lobbied Trump and publicly advocated on Fox for pardons for three military officers convicted of war crimes, which Trump granted.Hegseth has denounced women in the military; they make up 17.5% of active duty personnel and more than 20% of reserves. He has called for the firing of the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Charles Q Brown Jr, who is Black, saying that any general “involved in any of the DEI, woke shit has got to go”.Hegseth was one of 12 national guard members who were removed from Biden’s guard detail at his 2021 inauguration after he was deemed “an inside threat”. Hegseth’s body is covered with tattoos – a Jerusalem cross, a symbol of the First Crusade, inked across his chest, and the crusader slogan “Deus Vult” (“God wills it”) on his arm among other crusader markings. This iconography has become popular with far-right Christian nationalists and white supremacists. The Deus Vult cross flag was carried by insurrectionists at the Capitol on January 6. When the tattoos were spotted by his national guard master sergeant, who wrote of the “disturbing” symbols to the commanding general of Washington, Hegseth was kept far from Biden.The Associated Press first reported the story of Hegseth’s exclusion from proximity near the president. JD Vance attacked the news organization, tweeting: “disgusting anti-Christian bigotry from the AP”.In 2017, Hegseth was the subject of a police investigation for rape in Monterey, California. His second wife had divorced him in September for his affair with a Fox News producer whom he had impregnated. She would give birth to a daughter in August. In October, Hegseth attended a meeting of the California Federation of Republican Women, drank at the hotel bar in the evening, and, visibly intoxicated, was assisted to his room by a female member of the group, who attended the event with her two young children and husband. Something happened. She was bruised. Hegseth claimed they had consensual sex. The police did not press charges.According to a memo given to the Washington Post by a friend of the accuser, also present at the meeting as a participant, the alleged victim and her husband hired a lawyer “to ensure Hegseth didn’t get off without punishment”. Hegseth wound up paying her an unspecified sum of money in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement.Revelations of Hegseth’s alleged behavior have not elicited censure from Trump, but expressions of sympathetic support for the would-be #MeToo victim. “Mr Hegseth has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no charges were filed,” stated the Trump transition response. Hegseth’s lawyer attacked the woman: “She was the aggressor. She was sober, he was drunk. She took advantage of him.”Hegseth appears to Trump as the ideal man to purge the military. Trump’s transition team has drafted an executive order for a “warrior board” to remove any general or admiral “lacking in requisite leadership qualities”. Trump complained to his chief of staff Gen John Kelly that he wanted “my generals” to be more like “Hitler’s generals”.Hegseth would be his enforcer of politicizing the military so that it never questioned any illegal behavior, like violating the War Crimes Act, or refusing an order to open fire on American protesters. “Can’t you just shoot them, just shoot them in the legs or something?” Trump said to Gen Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs, in the presence of the secretary of defense, Mark Esper, about demonstrators after George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Hegseth would not be the defense secretary to advise Trump against invoking the Insurrection Act to impose martial law as Mike Flynn, his disgraced former national security adviser, suggested to him shortly before January 6.Tulsi Gabbard, the former congresswoman nominated to be the director of national intelligence, who flipped seamlessly from far left to far right, has been steady as a rote pro-Russian propagandist, hailed on Russian state media as “our girlfriend”, and has been identified with a secretive Hare Krishna-affiliated sect called the Science of Identity Foundation that mixes vegetarianism, homophobia and Islamophobia.Gabbard is there to wreak havoc on Trump’s phantom nemesis, the “deep state”. His first director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, a former Republican senator from Indiana, closely observed Trump’s relationship with Vladimir Putin, which he told Bob Woodward was “so strange”, “so subservient”. “Is this blackmail?” Coats wondered.Trump recalls that his first impeachment was the result of a whistleblower complaint from an analyst from the office of the director of national intelligence, who filed a memo about a phone call Trump had with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which he sought to coerce him into manufacturing political dirt about Biden in exchange for defensive Javelin missiles already approved by the Congress. “I would like you to do us a favor,” said Trump in what he insisted was a “perfect phone call”.Trump was furious at the exposure of his blackmail. “I want to know who’s the person who gave the whistle-blower the information because that’s close to a spy,” he said. “You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart with spies and treason, right?” Now he will send Gabbard to terminate the “spies” of the “deep state”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionRobert F Kennedy Jr, nominated as secretary of health and human services, is an opponent of the scientific method for which he reflexively substitutes a priori conspiracy theories. He has grifted millions on bogus claims that vaccines cause autism. “There is no vaccine that is safe and effective,” he said. A decades-long heroin addict and self-confessed sex addict, he has a family who has tried to lift him out of his turmoil, staging interventions for years to have him professionally treated for his psychological troubles, but have been reduced to despair. He claims that his family members have succumbed to “hypnosis”.During the campaign, a family babysitter emerged to accuse Kennedy of numerous sexual assaults. He claimed he had “no memory of this incident but I apologize sincerely”. He said in an interview: “I’m not a church boy.” Meanwhile, he was reportedly involved in an affair with Olivia Nuzzi, a writer for New York Magazine, which cost her her fiance and job. Three other women stepped forward to claim they had sexual affairs with him after meeting him through his anti-vaccine group, the Children’s Health Defense, and at the same time he was involved with Nuzzi, which he denied.But RFK Jr, is promoted by Tucker Carlson and his trailing entourage of lost boys, Don Jr and JD Vance. Carlson and Don Jr persuaded Bobby to drop his third-party candidacy and to endorse Trump. On 31 October, at a rally in Glendale, Arizona, Carlson interviewed Trump and asked him pointedly whether he would appoint Bobby. On 1 November, RFK Jr appeared on the Tucker Carlson Live Tour, where he told a rapturous crowd that in answer to his prayers for the fulfillment of his personal destiny: “God sent me Donald Trump.”Before the election, Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal editorial page confidently informed its readers that Trump’s bizarre statements and inclinations were not to be taken seriously, and that in any event would be blocked by “checks and balances”. After Trump was elected, the Journal has been stunned by the nominations of Gaetz and RFK Jr. “Good luck making sense of this nomination,” it editorialized about Bobby. “Matt Gaetz is a bad choice for attorney general,” ran another thundering piece. Murdoch is out in the cold. The TV host he fired, Tucker Carlson, is the kingmaker.In naming RFK Jr, Trump is reacting to his conflicts during the Covid-19 pandemic, when he wished to ignore it, dismissed mask-wearing and suggested injecting Clorox. He despised the scientists who told him his ideas would not work. He hated his chief medical adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci, and coronavirus response coordinator, Dr Deborah Birx – “all these idiots”, said Trump.Trump also fired Dr Rick Bright, the director of the Center for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority in charge of vaccine development, for refusing to approve the use of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19, which Bright protested was one of several “potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections”. Bright testified in May 2020 before Congress that the Trump administration had “no master plan”, that the country faced “the darkest winter in our history” and that in the absence of national leadership, “our window of opportunity is closing.”Trump has not appointed RFK Jr for his famous name, though he must receive gratification from possessing for himself this piece of the Kennedy legacy, however tarnished. Bobby Kennedy Jr is there because he says that he will fire 600 experts at the National Institutes of Health, the foremost medical research center in the world – “all these idiots”. And Tucker Carlson vouches for him.The tangled resentments of Trump’s appointees are cardinal virtues, especially when they overlap with his own grievances. Trump, the adjudicated rapist, credibly accused by dozens of women of sexual assault, whom the sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein called his “closest friend for 10 years”, identifies with Matt Gaetz fending off investigations of his alleged sex crimes. After Trump confided in Reince Priebus, his first chief of staff, that he would pick Gaetz, Priebus concluded: “So, he [Trump] feels like he has gone to hell and back 10 times. So, this is also a big middle finger to the DoJ and the FBI.”At the end of the first Trump administration, Gaetz desperately sought to secure an all-purpose pardon to cover him from the then ongoing federal inquiry into alleged sex trafficking of minors to his alleged participation as a co-conspirator in Trump’s coup. He approached, among others, the deputy White House legal counsel, Eric Herschmann, who testified before the January 6 committee. “The pardon that he was discussing, requesting was as broad as you could describe,” he stated. “From beginning – I remember he said, from the beginning of time up until today for any and all things. He had mentioned Nixon, and I said Nixon’s pardon was never nearly that broad.”In October 2023, Congressman Gaetz provoked the removal of Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House. “I’ll give you the truth why I’m not speaker,” McCarthy said. “It’s because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old.”On 13 November, Trump named Gaetz attorney general. The next day, Gaetz resigned from Congress. The day following that, the House ethics committee report on Gaetz’s alleged sex crimes was scheduled to be released. But because Gaetz is no longer a member of the House, Speaker Mike Johnson, serving as Trump’s handyman, “strongly requested” that it would violate House rules to make the report public despite precedents to the contrary. He warned it would “open a Pandora’s box”, presumably of other dark secrets about Gaetz and perhaps other nominees.Democratic and Republican senators on the judiciary committee that will hold confirmation hearings have asked for the report. It remains bottled up.Trump does not attempt to hide his intention to “dismantle government bureaucracy” and “send shockwaves through the system”, as he tweeted in his appointment of “the Great Elon Musk” and Vivek Ramaswamy (no “Great” preceding his name), assigned to rampage through the entire government as a “Department of Government Efficiency”. Musk has a long history of conflicts with government regulatory agencies and outstanding unresolved investigations, including a Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry into inside stock trading. Musk’s commission is transparently a case of self-interest.“Doge”, as it is called, after “dogecoin”, a cryptocurrency that Musk has been hawking, is not at all a department, which would require FBI background checks. Musk orbits on a cocktail of LSD, cocaine, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms, “often at private parties around the world, where attendees sign nondisclosure agreements or give up their phones to enter”, according to people who spoke to the Wall Street Journal. He speaks privately to Vladimir Putin. During the campaign, he turned Twitter/X into a cesspool of disinformation, a good deal of his own fabrication and streams of it from Russian troll farms. Inexplicably, he continues to hold a security clearance as a government contractor that has not been suspended under review during the Biden administration.Ramaswamy, a venture capitalist and libertarian ideologue who ran for the Republican nomination for president on a platform of abolishing numerous federal agencies from the IRS to the FBI, is completely inexperienced in government affairs, which he has been tasked to reform. He has made confusing, possibly conspiratorial claims about 9/11 and suggested that January 6 was “an inside job”. During his campaign, he stated that his goal was to fire 75% of the federal workforce in short order. Merely a charlatan and a demagogue, Ramaswamy does not stand out as especially peculiar among the wholly unqualified Trump nominees.Trump’s appointment of Doug Burgum, the billionaire governor of North Dakota, as secretary of the interior and “energy czar”, fits the profile of old-fashioned plunder. In April, Burgum gathered oil and gas executives at Mar-a-Lago, where Trump flagrantly asked for $1bn in campaign contributions in exchange for tax breaks and favorable policies.Harold G Hamm, chair of Continental Resources, an independent oil company, who is an investor in a proposed $5.2bn pipeline in North Dakota, helped Burgum organize the meeting. Burgum’s family holds land that profits from Hamm’s business. “Obviously it’s no secret that I helped gather the industry up, oil and gas producers and the entire industry,” Hamm said. He handed Trump a list of more than 100 policies he wanted implemented. “I couldn’t be more thrilled by president-elect Donald Trump’s victory,” Hamm remarked. Then, Trump named as secretary of energy a fracking equipment company executive, Chris Wright, who has declared: “There is no climate crisis.”The volatile elements of petroleum, public lands and leasing deals evoke a scenario from a century ago, of a cabinet appointed by a president who promised to restore the country to its greatness in a “return to normalcy”. During the Warren G Harding presidency, the secretary of the interior, Albert B Fall, accepted kickbacks from oil companies in granting oil leases and became the first cabinet member to be sentenced to prison. It was the worst cabinet scandal in history. Make Teapot Dome Again.Trump seeks to install his cabinet by circumventing the Senate. He insists that the Republican leadership forgo its constitutional duty to advise and consent and instead allow his picks to assume their positions as recess appointments. Trump is also blocking the FBI from conducting background checks. His cabinet nominations have become his instrument for intimidation. He intends to sweep aside checks and balances for one-man rule.The appointment of Senator Marco Rubio of Florida as secretary of state illustrates the kind of behavior Trump wishes to encourage among Republican senators. During the 2016 Republican primaries, Rubio derided Trump for his “small hands”, a signifier for his genitals. “You know what they say about men with small hands?” Rubio jibed.But after Trump was convicted of 34 felonies in New York for paying hush money to an adult film actorto influence the 2016 election, Rubio leaped to blame Biden falsely for Trump’s prosecution. Rubio tweeted: “Our current President is a demented man propped up by wicked & deranged people willing to destroy our country to remain in power.” He added, with flaming emojis: “It’s time to fight [fire] with [fire].”Subservience has now received its reward. Rubio, “Little Marco”, the most conventional of Trump’s cabinet choices, is an example to them all.

      Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel and All the Powers of Earth More

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      Trump’s cabinet and White House picks – so far

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      Donald Trump, the former US president set to return to the White House in January for a second term, has begun making selections for his administration, opting for those who have displayed loyalty over those with deep experience.Trump has tasked Howard Lutnick, a longtime friend and pick for commerce secretary, with recruiting officials who will deliver, rather than dilute, his agenda. During his first term, several of Trump’s key appointees tried to convince Trump out of his more extreme plans.Confirmed offer of a roleHoward LutnickRole offered: commerce secretaryRequires Senate confirmation? yesView image in fullscreenTrump nominated Howard Lutnick, co-chair of Trump’s transition team, to be his commerce secretary. Lutnick has uniformly praised the president-elect’s economic policies, including his use of tariffs, and has been praised by Elon Musk as someone who “will actually enact change”.In a statement, Trump said Lutnick would “lead our Tariff and Trade agenda”, and also have “direct responsibility” for the Office of the United States Trade Representative, which negotiates trade deals.Dr Mehmet OzRole offered: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administratorRequires Senate confirmation? noTrump announced that he has tapped 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 that Oz will work closely with Robert F Kennedy Jr, his pick for secretary of health and human services, to take on the “illness industrial complex, and all the horrible chronic diseases left in its wake”.Chris WrightRole offered: energy secretaryRequires Senate confirmation? yesView image in fullscreenTrump announced Chris Wright, an oil and gas industry executive and a staunch defender of fossil fuel use, to lead the US Department of Energy.Wright, the founder and CEO of an oilfield services firm, has no political experience and is expected to support Trump’s plan to maximize production of oil and gas. Wright has denied the climate emergency, saying: “There is no climate crisis.”The Department of Energy handles US energy diplomacy, administers the Strategic Petroleum Reserve – which Trump has said he wants to replenish – and runs grant and loan programs to advance energy technologies. It also oversees the ageing US nuclear weapons complex, nuclear energy waste disposal and 17 national labs.Doug CollinsRole offered: veterans affairs secretaryRequires Senate confirmation? yesView image in fullscreenTrump named the former Georgia congressman Doug Collins as secretary of veterans affairs. Collins, a lawyer and veteran who served in Iraq, defended Trump in his first impeachment trial.Sean DuffyRole offered: secretary of transportationRequires Senate confirmation? yesView image in fullscreenTrump named Sean Duffy, a former Republican congressman and co-host on Fox Business, to serve as the secretary of transportation.“He will prioritize Excellence, Competence, Competitiveness and Beauty when rebuilding America’s highways, tunnels, bridges and airports,” Trump said in a statement. If confirmed, Duffy would oversee aviation, automotive, rail, transit and other transportation policies at the department with about a $110bn budget.Karoline LeavittRole offered: White House press secretaryRequires Senate confirmation? noView image in fullscreenTrump named Karoline Leavitt, a 27-year-old firebrand from his inner circle, as his White House press secretary. Leavitt, who will be the youngest person ever to hold the position, has been seen as a staunch and camera-ready advocate for Trump.Will ScharfRole offered: White House staff secretaryRequires Senate confirmation? noView image in fullscreenTrump announced that he had picked one of his personal attorneys, Will Scharf, to serve as his White House staff secretary. Scharf is a former federal prosecutor who was a member of Trump’s legal team in his successful attempt to get broad immunity from prosecution from the supreme court.Bill McGinleyRole offered: White House counselRequires Senate confirmation? noView image in fullscreenBill McGinley served as cabinet secretary during Trump’s first term and acted as legal counsel for the Republican National Committee during the election campaign.Sergio GorRole offered: assistant to the president and director of personnelRequires Senate confirmation? noTrump appointed his top ally Sergio Gor as assistant to the president and director of the presidential personnel office. Gor previously led the pro-Trump Super Pac Right for America.Doug BurgumRole offered: interior secretaryRequires Senate confirmation? yesView image in fullscreenTrump has announced Doug Burgum, governor of North Dakota, as his pick for secretary of the interior. “He’s going to head the Department of Interior, and it’s going to be fantastic,” Trump said on 14 November at a gala at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort.In 2023, Burgum ran a short-lived campaign for the Republican nomination for president. He went on to become a highly visible, prolific Trump surrogate and advised Trump on energy policy.Steven CheungRole offered: communications directorRequires Senate confirmation? noView image in fullscreenTrump announced Steven Cheung, the principal spokesperson on his re-election campaign, as his communications director. Cheung was Trump’s primary vessel to mainstream media outlets, frequently defending the president-elect and remaining close to his side at campaign events and rallies.Cheung previously worked in communications for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.Tulsi GabbardRole offered: national intelligence directorRequires Senate confirmation? yesView image in fullscreenTrump announced Tulsi Gabbard as his nominee for director of national intelligence. Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman and Iraq war veteran, ran for president in 2020 and then left the party in 2022. She campaigned for and endorsed Trump in 2024. In a statement announcing her appointment in his administration, Trump praised Gabbard for fighting “for our country and the freedoms of all Americans”.Matt GaetzRole offered: attorney generalRequires Senate confirmation? yesView image in fullscreenTrump nominated Matt Gaetz, a hard-right Republican congressman from Florida, for attorney general.Gaetz, a Trump loyalist, was elected in 2016 to represent a red chunk of the Florida panhandle. Since his arrival in Washington, he’s developed a reputation as a far-right provocateur, courting controversy seemingly as a matter of course. In 2023, he led the charge to oust Kevin McCarthy as the Republican speaker.Pete HegsethRole offered: secretary of defenseRequires Senate confirmation? yesView image in fullscreenDonald Trump said on Tuesday that he is nominating the Fox News host and army veteran Pete Hegseth to be defense secretary. Hegseth is an army national guard officer and former executive director of advocacy groups including Concerned Veterans for America and Vets for Freedom.Tom HomanRole offered: ‘border czar’Requires Senate confirmation? noView image in fullscreenTrump has said Tom Homan will be the “border czar” in his administration, taking charge of the country’s “southern border, the northern border, all maritime, and aviation security”. Homan will be in charge of the promised mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. He served for a year and a half in Trump’s first administration as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice).Homan is both a Project 2025 author and Heritage Foundation fellow. At a panel in July, Homan said if Trump were re-elected he would “run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen”.Mike HuckabeeRole offered: US ambassador to IsraelRequires Senate confirmation? yesView image in fullscreenTrump announced Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, as his ambassador to Israel. A failed Trump challenger who ran against him for the Republican nomination in 2016, Huckabee is a staunch defender of Israel.In 2018, he said he dreamed of building a “holiday home” in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.Trump said in a statement on Tuesday that Huckabee “loves Israel, and the people of Israel” and will work to bring peace in the region.Huckabee is the father of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as press secretary in Trump’s first administration and is the current Arkansas governor.Robert F Kennedy JrRole offered: secretary of health and human servicesRequires Senate confirmation? yesView image in fullscreenTrump has named Robert F Kennedy Jr, the scion of the Democratic Kennedy family and failed independent presidential candidate, his secretary of health and human services. In a statement, Trump said Kennedy would protect Americans from “harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives” that have caused a health crisis.Previously, Trump has said he would let Kennedy “do what he wants” with women’s healthcare and “go wild” on food and medicines.Stephen MillerRole offered: deputy chief of staff for policyRequires Senate confirmation? noView image in fullscreenStephen Miller is an immigration hardliner who served as a senior policy adviser in the early part of Trump’s first term. He was the chief architect of the Muslim travel ban and is the founder of America First Legal, a group described by him as the right’s “long-awaited answer” to the American Civil Liberties Union. It is expected he will take on an expanded role in Trump’s second term and help carry out the former president’s mass deportation plan.Elon Musk and Vivek RamaswamyRoles offered: heads of Department of Government EfficiencyRequires Senate confirmation? noView image in fullscreenDonald Trump continued to fill his administration by naming SpaceX and Tesla CEO Musk and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to head up a new “Department of Government Efficiency”. In a statement, Trump said that these appointments “will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people”.Kristi NoemRole offered: homeland security secretaryRequires Senate confirmation? yesView image in fullscreenTrump has selected South Dakota’s governor, Kristi Noem– a staunch ally who has little experience on the national security stage– to serve as the next secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Noem was once under consideration for Trump’s vice-president, but saw her chances evaporate amid backlash to the revelation in her memoir that she shot to death an “untrainable” dog that she “hated” on her family farm. She is currently serving her second four-year term as governor.In the role, Noem would oversee everything from border protection and immigration to disaster response and the US Secret Service.John Ratcliffe Role offered: CIA directorRequires Senate confirmation? yesView image in fullscreenJohn Ratcliffe is another loyalist chosen for a key administration role. He served as director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term after being confirmed by the Senate on his second try following concerns over his experience. In a statement, Trump praised the former Texas congressman’s role in the Hunter Biden laptop saga.Marco RubioRole offered: secretary of stateRequires Senate confirmation? yesView image in fullscreenTrump named Senator Marco Rubio of Florida as his nominee for secretary of state. If confirmed, he would be the first Latino to serve as America’s top diplomat.In a statement, Trump said Rubio would be “strong Advocate for our Nation” and “fearless Warrior”.Rubio, a failed challenger to Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, was rumored to be one of the leading contenders for Trump’s vice-presidential pick before JD Vance was announced. He also help Trump prepare for his 2020 debate with Joe Biden and has served as an informal foreign policy adviser.Rubio is a top China hawk in the Senate. Most notably, he called on the treasury department in 2019 to launch a national security review of popular Chinese social media app TikTok’s acquisition of Musical.ly. As the top Republican on the Senate intelligence committee, he demanded that the Biden administration block all sales to Huawei earlier this year after the sanctioned Chinese tech company released a new laptop powered by an Intel AI processor chip.Elise StefanikRole offered: UN ambassadorRequires Senate confirmation? yesView image in fullscreenTrump has selected the New York representative Elise Stefanik to be the ambassador to the UN. A Trump loyalist who was floated as possible pick for his vice-president, Stefanik is the highest-ranking woman in the Republican conference in the House of Representatives.Mike WaltzRole offered: national security adviserRequires Senate confirmation? noView image in fullscreenA former US army green beret who now serves as a congressman for Florida, Michael Waltz has solidified his reputation as a leading advocate for a tougher stance on China within the House of Representatives. He played a leading role in sponsoring legislation aimed at reducing the US’s dependence on minerals sourced from China. Waltz is known to have a solid friendship with Trump and has also voiced support for US assistance to Ukraine, while concurrently pushing for greater oversight of American taxpayer funds allocated to support Kyiv’s defense efforts. Trump is reportedly due to choose him for national security adviser.Susie WilesRole offered: chief of staffRequires Senate confirmation? noView image in fullscreenTrump has named Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff, the first woman to hold the influential role. She was previously the campaign manager for his victorious bid for re-election. Although her political views remain somewhat ambiguous, she is seen as having led a successful and streamlined presidential race. Supporters believe she could introduce a level of organization and discipline that was frequently absent throughout Trump’s first term, marked by a series of changes in the chief of staff role.Steven WitkoffRole offered: Middle East envoyRequires Senate confirmation? noView image in fullscreenSteven Witkoff, a New York City-based real-estate executive and longtime friend of Trump, was chosen to serve as Middle East envoy.In a statement announcing his pick, Trump said Witkoff would be a “voice for peace”. Witkoff has longstanding ties to Trump and the Trump Organization, serving as a major donor and adviser. He testified as an expert witness in the New York attorney general’s case against the Trump family and its namesake business.Lee ZeldinRole offered: Environmental Protection Agency administratorRequires Senate confirmation? yesView image in fullscreenTrump announced that the former New York congressman Lee Zeldin will be selected to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Zeldin told the New York Post that as EPA head, he will work to “restore American energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs” while cutting the “red tape” that is “holding back American workers”. Trump promised to ensure “fair and swift deregulatory decisions” to allow the US to “grow in a healthy and well-structured way”. Staffers at the EPA fear their mandate to fight air pollution and the climate crisis will be undercut by the incoming Republican administration.Expected offer of a roleScott BessentPotential role: unspecifiedView image in fullscreenA key economic adviser to Trump and ally of JD Vance, Scott Bessent, the manager of the Key Square macro hedge fund, is seen as a possible cabinet contender. The Wall Street investor and a prominent Trump fundraiser has praised Trump’s use of tariffs as a negotiating tool.Ben CarsonPotential role: secretary of housing and urban developmentRequires Senate confirmation? yesView image in fullscreenA retired neurosurgeon and former US housing secretary, Ben Carson has pushed for a national abortion ban – a posture at odds with most Americans and even Donald Trump himself. During his 2016 campaign he ran into controversy when he likened abortion to slavery and said he wanted to see the end of Roe v Wade. When the supreme court reversed its decision in the Dobbs case, he called it “a crucial correction”. Carson could be nominated by Trump as housing and urban development secretary.Richard GrenellPotential role: unspecifiedView image in fullscreenRichard Grenell, an ex-Fox News contributor who is among Trump’s closest foreign policy advisers, is probably in the running for top foreign policy and national security posts. A former US ambassador to Germany and vocal backer of Trump’s “America first” credo on the international stage in his first term, he has advocated for setting up an autonomous zone in eastern Ukraine to end the war there, a position Kyiv considers unacceptable.Robert LighthizerPotential role: trade or commerce secretaryRequires Senate confirmation? yesView image in fullscreenRobert Lighthizer was Donald Trump’s most senior trade official. He is a firm believer in tariffs and was one of the leading figures in Trump’s trade war with China. Described by Trump as “the greatest United States trade representative in American history”, Lighthizer is almost certain to be back in the new cabinet. Though Bessent and the billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson probably have a better shot at becoming treasury secretary, Lighthizer has a few outside chances: he might be able to reprise his old role as US trade representative or become the new commerce secretary.Brooke RollinsPotential role: unspecifiedView image in fullscreenA former domestic policy adviser in the White House, Brooke Rollins has a close personal relationship with Trump. Considered by many to be one of Trump’s more moderate advisers, she backed the former president’s first-term criminal justice reforms that lessened prison sentences for some relatively minor offenses.Not selected for Trump administrationTom CottonPotential role: secretary of defenseRequires Senate confirmation? yesView image in fullscreenThe far-right Republican senator from Arkansas emerged as a dark-horse contender to be Trump’s running mate in the final weeks of the vice-presidential selection process. In a notorious 2020 New York Times op-ed headlined “Send in the Troops”, Tom Cotton likened Black Lives Matter protests to a rebellion and urged the government to deploy the US military against demonstrators by invoking the Insurrection Act. He is well-liked among Trump donors and also seen as a contender for secretary of defense.Cotton has said he won’t take a role.Donald Trump JrView image in fullscreenDonald Trump Jr was active behind the scenes of his father’s re-election bid, reportedly advocating for his friend JD Vance as running mate. Trump Jr said he has decided to join a venture capital firm, 1789 Capital, which bills itself as an “anti-ESG” firm.Trump’s eldest son has built a loyal following in the Maga universe via his Triggered podcast and has taken a role, along with his brother Eric Trump, in the transition process to establish a new administration.Includes reporting by Reuters More

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      Trump pick Matt Gaetz under further scrutiny amid fresh allegations

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      An attorney representing two women who he says testified before the House ethics committee has claimed that the former congressman Matt Gaetz paid both women for sex and that one of the women alleged she witnessed Gaetz having sex with a minor.The new allegations were revealed by the attorney Joel Leppard during an interview with ABC News on Monday – less than a week after Gaetz resigned from Congress following his nomination by Donald Trump to serve as attorney general in his second administration.In the interview, Leppard claimed that his clients were paid by Gaetz using Venmo and said that one of the women testified to the committee that she saw Gaetz at a house party in 2017 having sex with a 17-year-old girl.“She testified that in July of 2017 at his house party, she was walking out to the pool area, and she looked to her right, and she saw Rep Gaetz having sex with her friend, who was 17,” Leppard said.Ahead of the Senate’s consideration of Gaetz’s nomination, Leppard said that he believed “several questions demand answers”, adding: “What if multiple credible witnesses provided evidence of behavior that would constitute serious criminal violations?”In a statement sent to ABC News, Alex Pfeiffer, Trump’s transition spokesperson, called the allegations against Gaetz “baseless”, adding that they are “intended to derail the second Trump administration”.“The Biden justice department investigated Gaetz for years and cleared him of wrongdoing,” Pfeiffer added.Gaetz was investigated by the justice department on suspicion of child sex trafficking, but the department decided not to bring charges. The House ethics committee then launched its own inquiry into allegations that Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and other ethical breaches.Gaetz has repeatedly denied the allegations against him and insisted that he is innocent of any wrongdoing.The House ethics committee had reportedly put together a report on the findings of its investigation into Gaetz and, according to the New York Times, were planning on voting last week on whether to release it, but his resignation halted that process and in effect ended the ethics committee investigation.It was reported on Monday that the committee is now scheduled to meet this Wednesday to discuss the report and may potentially vote on whether to release it. In recent days, an increasing number of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have said that they want to review and see the report the committee compiled as they consider and weigh Gaetz’s nomination.The committee chair, Michael Guest, a Republican, told Politico on Monday that the panel would decide on its own whether to release the report, regardless of Speaker Mike Johnson’s desire to keep it under wraps.The attorney John Clune, who, according to ABC News, represents the former minor, called for the release of the committee’s report last week.“Mr Gaetz’s likely nomination as attorney general is a perverse development in a truly dark series of events,” Clune said. “We would support the House ethics committee immediately releasing their report. She was a high school student and there were witnesses.” More

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      Republican senator calls for release of Matt Gaetz ethics report to chamber

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      Discussion on Donald Trump’s selection of Matt Gaetz, the former Florida congressman who had been accused of sexual misconduct, for US attorney general continued on Sunday, with Republican senator Markwayne Mullin calling for an unreleased ethics report to be released to the Senate.Mullin told NBC’s Meet the Press that the Senate, which will oversee Gaetz’s confirmation hearings to become attorney general, “should have access to that” but declined to say if it should be released publicly.Gaetz resigned from his seat in Congress on Wednesday soon after the president-elect made his controversial pick, frustrating plans by a congressional ethics panel to release a review of claims against Gaetz, including sexual misconduct and illegal drug use. Gaetz denies any wrongdoing.Republican House speaker Mike Johnson repeated his position on Sunday that the survey should remain out of the public realm. Gaetz had faced a three-year justice department investigation into the same allegations that concluded without criminal charges being brought.Johnson said the principle was that the ethics committee’s jurisdiction did not extend to non-members of the House. “There have been, I understand, I think, two exceptions to the rule over the whole history of Congress and the history of the ethics committee,” Johnson told CNN, adding that while he did not have the authority to stop it “we don’t want to go down that road.”Trump’s selection of Gaetz, while successfully provoking Democrats’ outrage, is also seen as a test for Republicans to bend Trump’s force of will. Mullin has previously noted situations in which Gaetz had allegedly shown colleagues nude photographs of his sexual conquests and described him as “unprincipled”.But the senator said he had not made a decision on whether to support Gaetz in a confirmation vote. “I’m going to give him a fair shot just like any individual,” Mullin said.The pending report seems likely to emerge in some form after other senior Republicans, including senators Susan Collins, John Cornyn and Thom Tillis have all said they believe it should be shown to them.Separately, Pennsylvania Democratic senator John Fetterman repeated his advice to members of his own party to not “freak out” over everything Trump does, pointing out that for at least the next two years, Republicans can “run the table”.Fetterman, who won decisive re-election in the state this month, said he looked forward to reviewing some of Trump’s nominations but others “are just absolute trolls”, including Gaetz.For Democrats, who are still trying to figure out reasons for their devastating loss at the ballot box this month, their outrage at Trump’s nominations “gets the kind of thing that he wanted, like the freak out”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“It’s still not even Thanksgiving yet and if we’re having meltdowns at every tweet or every appointment.”Democrats, Fetterman added, should be “more concerned” about Republicans being able “to run the table for the next two years. Those are the things you really want to be concerned about, not small tweets or, you know, random kinds of appointments.”But Democratic senator-elect Adam Schiff told CNN that Gaetz was “not only unqualified, he is really disqualified” to become the country’s top lawyer.“Are we really going to have an attorney general [with] … credible allegations he was involved in child sex-trafficking, potential illicit drug use, obstruction of an investigation? Who has no experience serving in the justice department, only being investigated by it,” Schiff said. More