Donald Trump is in Texas with Elon Musk to watch this afternoon’s SpaceX launch as his proposed administration continues to take shape.
On Tuesday, the president-elect named Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary. Lutnick was under consideration for treasury secretary, with reports that there is a “free for all” and a “mad dash to find someone pro-tariff” to take up the role.
Trump also tapped Dr Mehmet Oz as Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator — working closely with Robert F Kennedy Jr.
On Capitol Hill, the controversial choice of Matt Gaetz as potential attorney general continues to cause a stir, with reports that a hacker has accessed a file of damaging testimony about the former congressman from an ethics investigation.
In other developments, Trump confirmed his intention to deploy the military to carry out his mass deportation plan in a Truth Social post, and on Fox News, his incoming border czar Tom Homan threatened prosecution for anyone who hides migrants.
Finally, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has told Judge Juan Merchan he will not oppose postponing Trump’s sentencing in his hush-money case but rejects attempts by the defense to throw out the conviction.
ANALYSIS: Matt Gaetz’s surprisingly nuanced record in Congress makes him a genuinely interesting Attorney General pick
Andrew Feinberg speaks to those, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pramila Jayapal, who have collaborated with controversial MAGA figure Matt Gaetz in the past on specific policy issues.
Oliver O’Connell19 November 2024 21:50
Watch LIVE: Donald Trump joins Elon Musk to watch the SpaceX Starship test flight
Oliver O’Connell19 November 2024 21:28
Could the stock market be last guardrails to corral Trump’s wildest whims?
But there is one force that could keep some of his plans at bay — the stock market.
Oliver O’Connell19 November 2024 21:00
Trump taps Dr OZ to run Medicare and Medicaid
President-elect Donald Trump released the following statement:
I am very pleased to nominate 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. 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.
Our broken Healthcare System harms everyday Americans, and crushes our Country’s budget. Dr. Oz will be a leader in incentivizing Disease Prevention, so we get the best results in the World for every dollar we spend on Healthcare in our Great Country. He 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.
Oliver O’Connell19 November 2024 20:54
Watch: When Trump ax falls, Rand Paul says some departments would be gone and you would not know it
Oliver O’Connell19 November 2024 20:37
FEMA administrator supports investigation of alleged Trump bias in relief efforts
The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told lawmakers Tuesday she has encouraged the agency’s inspector general to review whether an employee was acting alone when directing workers helping hurricane victims not to go to homes with yards signs supporting President-elect Donald Trump
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said a critical function of the agency is to go door-to-door and meet with survivors to make them aware of federal resources available. The employee, she said, wrote to about 11 staffers under her supervision that they should “avoid homes advertising Trump.”
Criswell said her senior leadership team provided her with evidence and recommended that the employee be terminated. She concurred.
How could Trump circumvent Congress and slash spending?
President-elect Donald Trump is determined to cut federal spending significantly using whatever method he can and that may include impoundment – a little-known power once given to the president to reject Congressional-appropriated funds.
Ariana Baio has the details.
Oliver O’Connell19 November 2024 20:00
And if you were wondering what that JD Vance tweet was all about, it was just the vice president-elect calling Grace Chong, the CFO of Steve Bannon’s War Room, a “mouth breathing imbecile” over her criticism of Republican senators who missed judicial votes allowing Biden nominations to pass.
Oliver O’Connell19 November 2024 19:48
Trump demands Republican senators block all Biden judicial confirmations… but not everyone’s in town for votes
Donald Trump is demanding that Republican senators block all of President Joe Biden’s judicial confirmations ahead of his own inauguration on January 20, 2025.
In the November 2020 to January 2021 period after Trump lost that presidential election, 14 of his judges were confirmed by the Senate.
Not all Republican senators are in town today as Andrew Desiderio of Punchbowl News notes.
This apparently boiled over during a closed-door Senate GOP lunch today…
Oliver O’Connell19 November 2024 19:43
