Donald Trump Jr. is expected to travel to Greenland Tuesday after his father, President-elect Trump, signaled an interest in U.S. "ownership and control" of the country, Fox News Digital has learned.
A source familiar with Trump Jr.'s plans told Fox News Digital that the president-elect’s son, who is traveling in a personal capacity, is set to arrive in Nuuk, Greenland, midday Tuesday for meetings with locals, to visit cultural sites and more.
"As someone who has traveled to some fascinating places across the globe as an outdoorsman, I’m excited to stop into Greenland for a little bit of fun this week," Donald Trump Jr. told Fox News Digital.
A source familiar told Fox News Digital that Trump Jr. is "popping in for a quick day-long trip to shoot some fun video content for podcasting."
In 1867, the State Department explored buying both Greenland and Iceland, recognizing their strategic importance, Fox News reported. After World War II, Denmark turned down a $100 million offer from President Harry Truman for the island.
Acquiring the land would mark the largest expansion of American territory in history, topping the Louisiana Purchase.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said during an interview on "Fox News Sunday" that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is "wrong" on the issue of vaccinations.
President-elect Donald Trump tapped Kennedy to serve as Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary.
Cassidy, a gastroenterologist who is currently serving Louisianans in the Senate, is the incoming chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
The senator, who noted that he is looking forward to meeting with Kennedy in the coming week, said that he agrees with Kennedy on some issues but disagrees with him on others.
While Cassidy described ultra-processed food as a problem, he said Kennedy is "wrong" about vaccinations.
Fox News Digital inquired about whether Cassidy plans to vote against confirming Kennedy to HHS due to the disagreement on vaccines.
"Cassidy does not discuss his votes prior to meetings with the nominees and the Senate process playing itself out," a Cassidy spokesman said in a statement. "Cassidy explained these are topics he wants to discuss with RFK Jr in his meeting with him this week and he looks forward to having a good dialogue with him."
"Bottom line: I'm not going to take anyone's vaccines away from them. I just want to be sure every American knows the safety profile, the risk profile, and the efficacy of each vaccine. That's it," he declared in a tweet last year.
President Biden is expected to designate two new national monuments in California this week, which will bar roughly 850,000 acres of tribal lands from future development.
After signing the new orders, Biden will have shut down development on more public lands than any other president in history besides former President Jimmy Carter, according to the Washington Post.
The move would establish a 644,000-acre Chuckwalla National Monument located in the southern part of the state near Joshua Tree National Park, sources familiar with the matter said. While no public plans about the new monument have been announced, sources have leaked details to the media and the president's public schedule shows he will be traveling Tuesday to Southern California's east Coachella Valley, site of the designated tribal land.
In addition to Biden's plans to designate a large swath of the Colorado Desert located in Southern California as a national monument, the president also plans to designate roughly 200,000-acres of land in Northern California, near the Oregon border, as a national monument. The move would establish the Sáttítla National Monument and would also bar any future energy development in that area.
While environmentalists, tribal groups and Democrat lawmakers have urged Biden to designate these two new national monuments, Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., has argued that designating the roughly 200,000-acres of land in Northern California is unnecessary because it is already protected from development, according to local California news outlet, the Redding Record Searchlight. Additionally, he added, getting permits approved on forest service lands is already difficult and prohibiting them further could make it more difficult to fight wildfires in the area due to a scarcity of roads.
The new monuments will be designated by Biden via his authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906, which allows presidents to bypass Congress when seeking to protect lands and water for the benefit of the nation. Since the start of his presidency, Biden has already used his executive authority under the act to establish eight new national monuments, while expanding four others, the Washington Post reported.
President-elect Trump has vowed to unleash U.S. domestic energy dominance during his upcoming term. Meanwhile, in the final weeks and months ahead of Biden's departure from the White House, his administration has made efforts to bolster its green energy priorities against any potential blowback from Trump.
Last month, the Biden administration unveiled a report detailing the negative public impact on increasing liquefied natural gas exports, a move that experts said could provide fodder for environmentalists seeking to challenge Trump's efforts to increase U.S. energy production.
Steve Milloy, a fellow at the Energy and Environmental Legal Institute, said Biden's latest national monuments designation could serve the same purpose. "While Trump can undo whatever Biden does, Biden is trying to create litigation traps for Trump that will discourage investors from projects on public lands," he said.
On Monday, Biden also used his executive authority to ban new oil and gas drilling off nearly all U.S. coasts. "The decision to unilaterally block areas from future offshore oil and gas development is a strategic error, driven not by science or voter mandate, but by political motives," the National Ocean Industries Association said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
FIRST ON FOX — Dozens of former Justice Department (DOJ) officials sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday urging confirmation of President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, later this month— praising both her commitment to the rule of law and her track record as Florida’s former attorney general that they said makes her uniquely qualified for the role.
The letter, previewed exclusively to Fox News Digital, was signed by more than 110 senior Justice Department officials who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations, including former U.S. attorneys general John Ashcroft, Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr and Edwin Meese.
Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, deputy attorneys general Rod Rosenstein and Jeffrey Rosen, and Randy Grossman, who served as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California under the Biden administration, are among the other notable signatories.
The DOJ alumni expressed their "strong and enthusiastic support" for Bondi, Florida’s former attorney general, who also spent 18 years as a prosecutor in the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s office.
"It is all too rare for senior Justice Department officials—much less Attorneys General—to have such a wealth of experience in the day-to-day work of keeping our communities safe," they wrote.
"As a career prosecutor, Attorney General Bondi will be ready from the first day on the job to fight on behalf of the American people to reduce crime, tackle the opioid crisis, back the women and men in blue, and restore credibility to the Department of Justice," they wrote in the letter sent to Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
The letter praised Bondi's work as Florida's attorney general, where she led an aggressive crackdown on opioid drugs and the many "pill mills" operating in the state when she took office. They also praised what they described as Bondi's "national reputation" for her work to end human trafficking, and prosecuting violent crime in the state.
Officials also emphasized Bondi's other achievements in Florida, where she secured consumer protection victories and economic relief on behalf of residents in the Sunshine State. After the 2008 financial crisis, her work leading the National Mortgage Settlement resulted in $56 billion in compensation to victims, the letter said — and in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Bondi's lawsuit against BP and other companies responsible resulted in a $2 billion settlement in economic relief.
The letter also stressed Bondi's commitment to the rule of law, and what the former officials touted as her track record of working across the aisle during the more than two decades she spent as a prosecutor.
"Some of us have worked directly with Attorney General Bondi during her time in office and can personally attest to her integrity and devotion to the rule of law," they wrote. "Many more of us know and admire her well-earned reputation from her long and accomplished career in government service in Florida, her litigation and advocacy on the national stage, and her demonstrated courage as a lawyer."
"As former DOJ officials, we know firsthand the challenges she will face as Attorney General, and we also know she is up to the job."
Those close to Bondi have praised her long record as a prosecutor, and her staunch loyalty to the president-elect, alongside whom she has worked since 2020—first, helping to represent him in his first impeachment trial, and, more recently, in her post as co-chair of the Center for Law and Justice at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) a think tank set up by former Trump staffers.
She also served in Trump's first presidential term as a member of his Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission.
Bondi's former colleagues have told Fox News Digital they expect her to bring the same playbook she used in Florida to Washington—this time with an eye to cracking down on drug trafficking, illicit fentanyl use, and the cartels responsible for smuggling the drugs across the border.
"We firmly believe the Justice Department and the Nation will benefit from Attorney General Bondi’s leadership," the DOJ officials said in conclusion, adding: "We urge you in the strongest manner possible to confirm her as the next Attorney General of the United States."
Vice President Kamala Harris is set to do what only two other vice presidents in recent history have done - preside over her defeat in a White House election.
Harris on Monday afternoon will preside over a joint session of Congress where lawmakers will certify President-elect Trump's victory over the current vice president in November's election.
The vice president says her mission is to ensure a peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next.
Harris, in a recorded video message released ahead of congressional certification of the 2024 Electoral College vote, said it's a "sacred obligation" which she will uphold, "guided by love of country, loyalty to our Constitution and my unwavering faith in the American people."
And pointing to four years ago, when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an unsuccessful effort to upend congressional certification of Trump's 2020 election loss to President Biden, Harris said "as we have seen, our democracy can be fragile."
"It is up to each of us to stand up for our most cherished principles," the vice president emphasized.
The Capitol was attacked hours after Trump, at a large rally on the National Mall near the White House, repeated his unproven claims that the 2020 election was riddled with massive voter fraud and stolen from him. And Trump urged then-Vice President Mike Pence not to certify the election results.
Harris, in her role of presiding over the Senate, becomes the first vice president to oversee the congressional confirmation of their electoral loss since then-Vice President Al Gore did it in January 2001, following his razor-thin defeat to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in the 2000 election, which was decided by a Supreme Court ruling.
Four decades earlier, then-Vice President Richard Nixon presided over the certification of his narrow election loss in a 1960 showdown with then-Sen. John F. Kennedy.
Biden, in comments Sunday night, joined Harris in emphasizing that he was "determined to do everything in my power to respect the peaceful transfer of power."
And the president, pointing to the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the Capitol, told new Democrats in Congress that "now it's your duty to tell the truth. You remember what happened, and I won't let January 6th be rewritten or even erased."
President Biden announced an 11th-hour executive action on Monday that bans new drilling and further oil and natural gas development on more than 625 million acres of U.S. coastal and offshore waters.
Biden, whose term expires in two weeks, said he is using authority to protect offshore areas along the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of Alaska's Northern Bering Sea from future oil and natural gas leasing. He invoked the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, meaning President-elect Trump could be limited in his ability to revoke the action. Congress might need to intervene to grant Trump authority to place federal waters back into development.
"My decision reflects what coastal communities, businesses, and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs," Biden said in a statement. "It is not worth the risks. As the climate crisis continues to threaten communities across the country and we are transitioning to a clean energy economy, now is the time to protect these coasts for our children and grandchildren."
The move garnered quick condemnation from Trump's incoming White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
"This is a disgraceful decision designed to exact political revenge on the American people who gave President Trump a mandate to increase drilling and lower gas prices. Rest assured, Joe Biden will fail, and we will drill, baby, drill," Leavitt wrote on X.
Biden patted himself on the back for what he categorized as a legacy move in the fight against climate change.
"From Day One, I have delivered on the most ambitious climate and conservation agenda in our country’s history. And over the last four years, I have conserved more than 670 million acres of America’s lands and waters, more than any other president in history," Biden said. "Our country’s remarkable conservation and restoration progress has been locally led by Tribes, farmers and ranchers, fishermen, small businesses, and outdoor recreation enthusiasts across the country. Together, our ‘America the Beautiful’ initiative put the United States on track to meet my ambitious goal to conserve at least 30 percent of our Nation’s lands and waters by 2030."
"We do not need to choose between protecting the environment and growing our economy, or between keeping our ocean healthy, our coastlines resilient, and the food they produce secure and keeping energy prices low," the statement added. "Those are false choices. Protecting America’s coasts and ocean is the right thing to do, and will help communities and the economy to flourish for generations to come."
Ron Neal, the chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association of America Offshore Committee, also slammed Biden's last-ditch offshore drilling ban as "significant and catastrophic."
"While it may not directly affect the currently active production areas in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and adjoining coastal areas, it represents a major attack on the oil and natural gas industry. This should be seen as the ‘elephant’s nose under the tent.’ The ban severely limits potential for exploration and development in new areas therefore chocking the long-term survivability of the industry," Neal, also the President of Houston Energy LP and CEO of HEQ Deepwater, said in a statement. "This move is a first step towards more extensive restrictions all across our industry in all U.S. basins including the onshore. If the activists come for anything, they are coming for everything. The policy is catastrophic for the development of new areas for oil and natural gas but, the environmentalists will eventually look to also shut down offshore wind farms for most of the same reasons. President Biden and his allies continue to push anti-energy policies that will hurt Americans."
Trump, during his 2024 campaign, promised to deliver American "energy dominance" on the world stage as he looked toward bolstering U.S. oil and gas drilling, as well as distance from Biden’s prioritization of climate change initiatives.
The Justice Department is considering charging up to 200 more people for their alleged involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, a report says.
The new figures released Monday on the 4-year anniversary of the incident include 60 people suspected of assaulting or impeding police officers, according to Politico.
President-elect Trump is set to be sworn in as the country’s next president in just two weeks. In December, Trump told NBC that he wanted to pardon the Jan. 6 rioters on the first day of his administration and said people on the Jan. 6 committee in Congress belonged in jail.
"I’m going to look at everything. We’ll look at individual cases," Trump said at the time. "But I’m going to be acting very quickly."
Around 1,600 people so far have faced federal charges relating to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 600 who allegedly assaulted or resisted police, Politico reported.
Nearly 200 of the defendants were charged with carrying a dangerous weapon on Capitol grounds and 153 were accused of destruction of government property – but the new figures released Monday are the first time the Justice Department has estimated how many cases are yet to be prosecuted, Politico added.
The news outlet also reported that around 1,100 Jan. 6 defendants have been convicted and reached sentencing, but 300 of the already charged cases have not entered the trial stage yet.
President Biden on Sunday was asked by reporters if he still thought Trump was a threat to democracy.
"We've got to get back to establishing basic democratic norms," Biden told reporters in the White House East Room. "I think what he did was a genuine threat to democracy. I'm hopeful that we are beyond that."
Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
It is unclear what Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s day one priorities will be if he is confirmed to be the next Health and Human Services Secretary, but diet and nutrition experts suggest Kennedy could effectuate changes on a number of different fronts when it comes to healthy eating. These potential reforms might include overhauling school lunch programs, establishing new standards for seed oils and ultra-processed foods, setting limits on toxins, and more.
Kennedy, who wants to "Make America Healthy Again," has been a staunch advocate for reforms to the food industry and President-elect Donald Trump has said he will have permission to "go wild on health" if he is confirmed.
One major opening for Kennedy would be overseeing a revision of the federal government's "Dietary Guidelines for Americans," one of the most powerful tools in terms of shaping public perception about what is healthy. The guidelines must be revised every five years and the deadline for the next update arrives in 2025. Kennedy, if confirmed, would ultimately be in charge of hiring the experts who draft the guidelines.
"I know that they really want to focus on kids," Nina Teicholz, nutrition expert and founder of The Nutrition Coalition, told Fox News Digital.
Teicholz, who has been in discussions with Kennedy's team about the new national dietary guidelines, suggested that he could potentially use them to implement changes to school lunches, such as adding a limit on sugar, for which Teicholz said there currently is none, and bringing back whole milk to school cafeterias, which was prohibited under the Obama administration.
The addition of whole milk to school cafeterias could limit how frequently children consume high-sugar, flavored-milk beverages, Teicholz said. She also pointed out that current recommendations that are keeping whole milk out of schools "is based on the saturated fat content in milk, but there's really no good evidence to show that saturated fats have any negative effect on children."
"I think that Kennedy has aimed to stand for evidence-based changes to policy," Teicholz said. "So, that means not making policy based on weak science."
Teicholz added that in addition to school lunches, there is other "low-hanging fruit" associated with the guidelines that Kennedy could go after.
Kennedy could use the guidelines to narrow the definition of ultra-processed foods, she pointed out, which is a sector of the food industry that Kennedy has previously been critical of. Teicholz also said that research on "ultra-processed foods" is scant, and, therefore, you could see Kennedy commissioning more studies on such foods as well.
Dave Asprey, an author and nutrition advocate who has written several New York Times best-selling books about healthier eating, said he thinks it is likely Kennedy will also add toxin limits within the new dietary guidelines, aimed at pesticides and herbicides that have come under scrutiny. He also said he wouldn't be surprised if Kennedy and his team were to implement new standards around animal feed.
Asprey added that Kennedy's experience as a trial lawyer could aid him tremendously in initiating legal proceedings if he wanted to pursue companies that "are continuing to push outdated, unhealthy guidelines."
"Where can he actually impact real change? The dietary guidelines – because they control how we feed our kids, what we do in hospitals and a lot of our public policy," Asprey said.
Kennedy has recently been courting support for his nomination on Capitol Hill, and, according to GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., Kennedy told him that he would exercise restraint and use a light touch when seeking to regulate the food and agriculture industries.
But, according to Mara Fleishman, CEO of the Chef Ann Foundation, a healthy-eating nonprofit, the Trump administration's desire for a more limited-government approach to governing could clash with Kennedy's efforts to reform the food industry.
"I think time will tell what – if anything – RFK Jr. can, or will, do," Fleishman said.
Fox News Digital reached out to representatives for Kennedy but did not receive a response.
"This is very exciting," Trump told the crowd of Meloni.
"I'm here with a fantastic woman, the prime minister of Italy," he continued. "She's really taken Europe by storm, and everyone else, and we’re just having dinner tonight."
Other notable people in attendance for the screening of the documentary include his pick for his incoming administration's Secretary of State, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, and his selection for national security adviser, Florida Republican Rep. Mike Waltz, as well as his choice for Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent.
Meloni's visit to Trump's resort comes after other world leaders met with the president-elect in Florida.
Argentina's President Javier Milei was the first world leader to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago after his Election Day victory in November, followed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán who each traveled to the Sunshine State to meet with Trump.
President Biden is set to travel later this week to Rome to meet with Meloni and then Pope Francis. The White House said Biden's meeting with Meloni will "highlight the strength of the U.S.-Italy relationship" and will include the president thanking the prime minister "for her strong leadership of the G7 over the past year."
President-elect Trump announced his latest staff picks on Saturday night, naming four additional people to serve in the White House in administrative and advisory capacities.
Trump, who takes office in less than three weeks, began by naming Stanley E. Woodward, Jr., to serve as an assistant to the president and a senior counselor.
Woodward co-founded a law firm called Brand Woodward Law, LP, where he "represented numerous high-profile clients in complex, high-stakes litigation, including multiple federal jury trials," according to Trump.
"Previously, he worked at a multinational law firm where his experience included the representation of multiple international corporations in defense of alleged violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as well as serving as coordinating counsel to companies involved in nationwide federal litigation," the statement read.
Next, Trump said that Robert Gabriel, Jr., will work as an assistant to the president for policy.
"Mr. Gabriel has served President Donald J. Trump in various roles since his 2015 campaign for the world's most powerful office," the statement read. He started in Trump Tower as a Policy Advisor on Mr. Trump’s historic campaign."
"Mr. Gabriel served in the West Wing, for the entirety of the first Trump Administration, as Special Assistant to the President."
Nicholas F. Luna is slated to serve as assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for strategic implementation, the president-elect said. His role will involve scheduling and managing external White House communications.
Trump called Luna a "highly respected White House veteran and a Trump-Vance campaign warrior."
"He previously served in the White House as Presidential Trip Director, Personal Aide to the President, Assistant to the President, and Director of Oval Office Operations," Trump said. "Most recently, he served with great distinction as Director of Operations for Vice President-elect JD Vance."
Finally, Trump said that William "Beau" Harrison will serve as an assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for operations. The statement called him a "trusted aide to the President and First Family."
"During President Trump’s first term, Mr. Harrison served as the liaison between the operational elements of the Executive Office of the President and was charged with the coordination and execution of all presidential travel, including dozens of complex international visits," Trump's statement added. "He has participated in and led multiple U.S. delegations across the globe in countries, such as North Korea, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and played a critical role in planning each of the historic summits with DPRK Leader Kim Jong-Un."
President-elect Donald Trump announced via Truth Social Friday night his picks for Deputy Special Presidential Envoy, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Estonia, and spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State.
Trump's former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus will serve as Deputy Special Presidential Envoy for Middle East Peace, Roman Pipko will serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Estonia, and Tammy Bruce, a former Fox News contributor, will serve as spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State.
In a post Friday afternoon, Trump announced Ortagus will work under Steven Witkoff, a New York real estate tycoon selected for Middle East envoy in November.
"Morgan fought me for three years, but hopefully has learned her lesson," Trump wrote in the post. "These things usually don’t work out, but she has strong Republican support, and I’m not doing this for me, I’m doing it for them. Let’s see what happens."
Ortagus, an active U.S. Navy Reserve intelligence officer, served as spokesperson at the Department of State from 2019 to 2021, where she was a member of Trump's Abraham Accords team.
Previously, she worked at the Department of the Treasury as a financial intelligence analyst and served as Deputy U.S. Treasury Attaché to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from 2010 to 2011.
She is also the founder of Polaris National Security and the host of "The Morgan Ortagus Show" on Sirius XM.
Pipko, who was born and raised in Estonia, represented U.S. interests in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Russian American Enterprise Fund.
"Roman has represented American companies, negotiating projects in Mongolia, Africa, Russia, Western Europe, and his native Estonia, in cooperation with U.S. Government Agencies, and has worked with Foreign Governments on the enforcement of U.S. sanctions," Trump wrote. "As a legal immigrant, he has lived the promise of America, and I trust that he will advance American interests in his new role."
Pipko is a graduate of Columbia University and Yale Law School.
Bruce will be joining Marco Rubio, nominee for United States Secretary of State, as State Department spokesperson.
Bruce, a political analyst who served as a Fox News contributor until the announcement was made, received her bachelor's degree in political science at the University of Southern California.
"Tammy Bruce has been an extremely valued contributor at FOX News Media for nearly 20 years and we wish her all the best in her new role," said a Fox News Media spokesperson.
Trump posted on Truth Social that Bruce's background will make her an asset to his incoming administration.
"After being a liberal activist in the 1990s, [she] saw the lies and fraud of the Radical Left, and quickly became one of the strongest Conservative voices on Radio and Television," Trump wrote. "As one of the longest serving News Contributors, Tammy has brought TRUTH to the American People for over two decades. I know she will. bring that same strength of conviction and fearless spirit to her new position as State Department spokesperson.
President-elect Trump announced several appointments to his administration Thursday, including the team that will work with his nominee for the U.S. Treasury, Scott Bessent.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump announced that Ken Kies will serve as assistant secretary for tax policy.
Kies, who has worked as a tax lawyer for 47 years, has served as the chief of staff for the Joint Committee on Taxation and the chief Republican tax counsel of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Also joining the team is Alexandra Preate, who Trump appointed as senior counsel to the secretary.
Trump said Preate is an accomplished executive in public relations.
Trump appointed Hunter McMaster to serve as the director of policy planning and Daniel Katz was appointed to serve as chief of staff.
Katz, Trump wrote, is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a graduate of Yale. Katz also served as a senior adviser at the Treasury Department.
Trump’s appointment as deputy chief of staff in the Treasury Department is Samantha Schwab, who worked in the White House Office of Legislative Affairs during the president-elect’s first term.
"All of them are incredible, hardworking Patriots, who will work tirelessly to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN," Trump said of the team.
In addition to the Treasury Department appointments, Trump announced that Benjamin Leon James will serve as the next U.S. ambassador to Spain.
"Benjamin is a highly successful entrepreneur, equestrian, and philanthropist. He came to the U.S. from Communist Cuba at 16-years-old, with only five dollars in his pocket, and proceeded to build his company, Leon Medical Centers, into an incredible business," Trump wrote.
"He has helped support many worthy causes, like La Liga Contra el Cancer, and important Medical Research at Johns Hopkins and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute."
Trump also appointed Joe Popolo to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands.
Popolo helped transform the Freeman Company into what Trump called "the world’s leading live event brand experience company."
Popolo also serves as founder and CEO of Charles & Potomac Capital, LLC; the chairman of the board of Pinnacle Live, LLC; and, as a board member of Ondas Holdings.
"Joe is an E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award winner, and also a recipient of the Dallas Business Journal’s Most Admired CEO Award," Trump wrote. "He is a proud graduate of Boston College, a member of their Board of Regents, and also, a Patron of the Arts in the Vatican Museum."
Trump also appointed Cora Alvi to serve as his deputy chief of staff.
Alvi, Trump wrote, most recently worked as the national deputy finance director for Donald J. Trump for President Inc.
Senate Republicans are urging expedited confirmation of President-elect Trump's administration appointments, particularly those for crucial national security posts, in the wake of a New Year's attack in New Orleans where a terrorist suspect drove a car into a large crowd, killing more than a dozen people.
"Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the senseless terror attack in New Orleans," said incoming Senate Republican Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on X.
"With reports of ISIS inspiration, the American people expect clear answers from the administration," Thune said. "The threat posed by ISIS will outlast this administration, and this is a clear example of why the Senate must get President Trump’s national security team in place as quickly as possible."
The FBI said the holiday attack left at least 14 people dead and dozens of others injured. Israel revealed that two of its citizens were among those injured. Victims' names are not to be released until autopsies are finished and families are notified, New Orleans Coroner Dr. Dwight McKenna said in a statement.
Republicans in the Senate were already eager to quickly push through Trump's selections, including Kash Patel for FBI director, Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense. But with the latest attack and others developing around the country, many lawmakers have indicated that a prompt confirmation process is even more crucial.
Incoming Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., wrote on X, "The U.S. Senate must confirm President Trump’s national security team as soon as possible. Lives depend on it."
"I’ll be working to ensure President Trump has every tool at his disposal, including a fully confirmed national security and intelligence team ASAP to investigate these attacks and make our country safe again," said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., in response to the attack.
Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., echoed that sentiment in her own statement, saying, "We must work nonstop to get President Trump’s national security team in place without delay."
Several other Republicans made similar calls for Trump's choices for national security posts to be prioritized and confirmed without hesitation.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., expressed frustration that the FBI was apparently behind on intelligence regarding the suspect in the New Orleans attack.
"The fact that a reporter has better intel than the FBI tells us all we need to know. The FBI has failed its core mission," the senator wrote on X in response to a report that New York Post reporters had arrived at the suspect's home before the agency.
"America needs a fearless fighter like [Patel] at the FBI," Blackburn continued.
Two sources on an FBI call with House and Senate members on Thursday informed Fox News that the FBI claimed they had zero intelligence on suspect Shamsud-Din Jabbar before the attack.
The FBI told lawmakers that Jabbar was "inspired" by ISIS but added that they have no evidence yet that the terrorist group directed him.
President-elect Donald Trump plans to hold what is being called a "victory rally" the day before he is sworn in to a second term in the White House, according to a sign-up page on his inaugural website.
Trump will headline the event, which is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. EST on Jan. 19, the day before his inauguration, at the Capitol One Arena in downtown Washington, D.C.
The arena, home to professional hockey's Washington Capitals and professional basketball's Washington Wizards, has a capacity of roughly 20,000 people.
The rally would be the first organized by Trump and his team since his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in November's presidential election.
However, Trump did speak in front of thousands of conservative activists at a rally hosted by Turning Point USA on Dec. 22 in Arizona.
According to the sign-up page on the inauguration website, those seeking to attend the rally can only register for up to two tickets on a first come, first served basis.
Word of the inauguration eve rally was first reported by CBS News.
The Constitution dictates that the 119th Congress begins at noon et on Friday.
And the first order of business in the House is to elect the Constitutional officer for the legislative branch of government: Speaker of the House.
Only the House votes for Speaker. And the House can’t do anything – I’ll repeat that, anything – until it chooses a Speaker.
It can’t swear-in Members until the House taps a Speaker and he or she is sworn-in. The Speaker then swears-in the rest of the body, en masse. Then the House must adopt a rules package to govern daily operations. Only then can the House go about debating bills, voting and constructing committees for hearings.
If the House fails to elect a Speaker on the first ballot, it must proceed to a second ballot.
And on and on.
Consider for a moment that the House had never even taken a second vote for Speaker in a century before the donnybrook two years ago. It took four ballots to re-elect late House Speaker Frederick Gillett, R-Mass., in 1923.
What is past is prologue for the House. Consider how the House consumed 15 rounds spread out over five days before electing former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in January, 2023. The Speakership remained vacant – and thus, the House frozen – for 22 days after Republicans dumped McCarthy nine months later. House Republicans then tapped House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., for Speaker. Scalise withdrew his name before there was even a floor vote. House GOPers then tapped Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to become Speaker. But Jordan lost three consecutive votes for Speaker on the House floor, bleeding support on each ballot. House Republicans then anointed House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., for Speaker. Emmer withdrew hours later.
House Republicans finally nominated House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for the job. The Louisiana Republican won on the floor. But some conservatives have been disappointed in Johnson ever since. They’ve flagged how he handled multiple, interim spending bills from last November on. They didn’t like that he allowed a bill on the floor to aid Ukraine. They opposed him doing yet another interim spending bill in September. They really didn’t like how he worked with Democrats on major, must-do pieces of legislation. And then there was the misstep of the staggering, 1,500-page interim spending package which Mr. Trump and Elon Musk pulverized from afar in December. Johnson then did President-elect Trump’s bidding with another spending package – which included a debt ceiling increase. But 38 House Republicans bolted on that bill.
So Johnson’s tenure has been bumpy. And that’s why he’s on the hook come Friday afternoon during the vote for Speaker. Everyone on Capitol Hill is on tenterhooks when it comes to wrapping this up expeditiously.
Acting House Clerk Kevin McCumber will preside until the House elects a Speaker. The first order of business is a "call of the House." That’s where the House establishes how many of its Members-elect are there, simply voting "present." The House should clock in at 434 members: 219 Republicans and 215 Democrats. There should be one vacancy. Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., resigned in the fall – and said he did not "intend" to serve in the new Congress, despite having won reelection.
Watch to see if there are absences in that call of the House. Fox is told that Democrats who have struggled with health issues of late – including Reps. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., Dwight Evans, D-Penn., and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will likely be there. But the Speaker’s election is about the math. How many lawmakers report to the House chamber will dictate margins in the Speaker’s vote.
Then it’s on to nominating speeches. Incoming House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain, R-Mich., will nominate Johnson for Speaker. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., will nominate House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. Anyone else can then place someone’s name in nomination.
Then, the House calls the roll of Members-elect alphabetically. Each Member rises and verbally responds, calling out their choice by name. Reps. Alma Adams, D-N.C., Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., and the aforementioned Aguilar are the first names out of the block.
But lawmakers can vote for anyone they want. That includes persons who aren’t House Members. That’s why there have been votes cast over the years for the late Gen. Colin Powell, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., former Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker.
This is what Johnson – or anyone else must do – to win the Speakership:
The winning candidate must secure an outright majority of all Members voting for a candidate by name.
So let’s say there are 434 members and all vote for someone by name. The magic number is 218. If Johnson gets the votes of all 219 Republicans, he wins. If Johnson gets 218 votes, he also wins. But 217? No dice. Under those circumstances Johnson would have prospectively outpolled Jeffries, 217-215 – with two votes going to other candidates. But the "most votes" doesn’t win. 217 is not an outright majority of House Members voting for someone by name. The House must take ANOTHER ballot to elect a Speaker.
Fox is told there are anywhere from 12 to 17 Republicans who could vote for someone besides Johnson. And some Republicans are being cagey about their votes.
Here’s something to watch: Members who vote "present."
Rather than voting for someone besides Johnson, some Republicans may protest by simply voting "present." A "present" vote does not count against Johnson.
So let’s do some hypothetical math here:
Let’s say 434 Members cast ballots. Jeffries secures support from all 215 Democrats. Three Republicans vote "present." In other words, not voting for any candidate by name. Johnson scores 216 votes. He has the most votes. But more importantly, only 431 Members voted for someone by name. 216 is an outright majority of 431. 434 doesn’t matter under these circumstances. So Johnson becomes Speaker.
But there is serious danger in too many Republicans voting "present."
Consider this scenario:
All 215 Democrats vote for Jeffries. But five Republicans vote "present." Johnson records 214 votes. 429 Members cast ballots for someone by name. The magic number here is 215. Guess who’s Speaker? Jeffries. He marshalled an outright majority of all Members voting for a candidate by name.
As they say in the movies, "You play a very dangerous game, Mr. Bond."
With such a thin margin in the House, Republicans are absolutely tinkering with fire if they get too cute by half. Yes. Some conservatives might not want to re-elect Johnson as Speaker. But they certainly don’t want Jeffries.
So it’s hard to say what happens on Friday afternoon. If the House dithers too long, this could delay the certification of the Electoral College vote on Monday. The House and Senate must meet in a Joint Session of Congress on January 6 to certify the election results. No House Speaker? No Joint Session.
But something else will likely unfold if this drags on. Johnson loyalists and mainstream Republicans have had it with right-wing ideologues, the Freedom Caucus and other freelancers. Expect a full-on brawl between those two factions if Republicans struggle to elect a Speaker.
And as we wrote earlier, what is past is prologue.
A protracted battle over the Speakership serves as prologue to the looming, internecine fights among Republicans when it comes to governing. That’s to say nothing of implementing a solitary plank of President-elect Trump’s agenda.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a warning on Tuesday that the U.S. must maintain "judicial independence" just weeks away from President-elect Trump's inauguration.
Roberts explained his concerns in his annual report on the federal judiciary.
"It is not in the nature of judicial work to make everyone happy. Most cases have a winner and a loser. Every Administration suffers defeats in the court system — sometimes in cases with major ramifications for executive or legislative power or other consequential topics," Robert wrote in the 15-page report. "Nevertheless, for the past several decades, the decisions of the courts, popular or not, have been followed, and the Nation has avoided the standoffs that plagued the 1950s and 1960s."
"Within the past few years, however, elected officials from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings," Roberts said, without naming Trump, President Biden or any specific lawmaker. "These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected. Judicial independence is worth preserving. As my late colleague Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote, an independent judiciary is ‘essential to the rule of law in any land,’ yet it ‘is vulnerable to assault; it can be shattered if the society law exists to serve does not take care to assure its preservation.’"
"I urge all Americans to appreciate this inheritance from our founding generation and cherish its endurance," Roberts said.
Roberts also quoted Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, who remarked that the three branches of government "must work in successful cooperation" to "make possible the effective functioning of the department of government which is designed to safeguard with judicial impartiality and independence the interests of liberty."
"Our political system and economic strength depend on the rule of law," Roberts wrote.
A landmark Supreme Court immunity decision penned by Roberts, along with another high court decision halting efforts to disqualify Trump from the ballot, were championed as major victories on the Republican nominee's road to winning the election. The immunity decision was criticized by Democrats like Biden, who later called for term limits and an enforceable ethics code following criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices.
A handful of Democrats and one Republican lawmaker urged President Biden to ignore a decision by a Trump-appointed judge to revoke FDA approval for the abortion drug mifepristone last year. Biden declined to take executive action to bypass the ruling, and the Supreme Court later granted the White House a stay permitting the sale of the medication to continue.
The high court's conservative majority also ruled last year that Biden's massive student loan debt forgiveness efforts constitute an illegal use of executive power.
Roberts and Trump clashed in 2018 when the chief justice rebuked the president for denouncing a judge who rejected his migrant asylum policy as an "Obama judge."
In 2020, Roberts criticized comments made by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York while the Supreme Court was considering a high-profile abortion case.
Roberts introduced his letter Tuesday by recounting a story about King George III stripping colonial judges of lifetime appointments, an order that was "not well received." Trump is now readying for a second term as president with an ambitious conservative agenda, elements of which are likely to be legally challenged and end up before the court whose conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Trump during his first term.
In the annual report, the chief justice wrote generally that even if court decisions are unpopular or mark a defeat for a presidential administration, other branches of government must be willing to enforce them to ensure the rule of law. Roberts pointed to the Brown v. Board of Education decision that desegrated schools in 1954 as one that needed federal enforcement in the face of resistance from southern governors.
He also said "attempts to intimidate judges for their rulings in cases are inappropriate and should be vigorously opposed."
While public officials and others have the right to criticize rulings, they should also be aware that their statements can "prompt dangerous reactions by others," Roberts wrote.
Threats targeting federal judges have more than tripled over the last decade, according to U.S. Marshals Service statistics. State court judges in Wisconsin and Maryland were killed at their homes in 2022 and 2023, Roberts wrote.
"Violence, intimidation, and defiance directed at judges because of their work undermine our Republic, and are wholly unacceptable," he wrote.
Roberts also pointed to disinformation about court rulings as a threat to judges’ independence, saying that social media can magnify distortions and even be exploited by "hostile foreign state actors" to exacerbate divisions.
Elon Musk's companies receive billions in federal contracts, but he's far from the only billionaire in President-elect Donald Trump's orbit with potential conflicts of interest.
Brandon Bell/Pool via AP
Donald Trump has more billionaires in his orbit than any other modern president.
It's not just Elon Musk who faces potential conflicts of interest with newfound power.
Even some of Trump's lower-level picks are uber-wealthy.
President-elect Donald Trump is stocking his administration and broader orbit with billionaires and titans of industry.
Their résumés and portfolios also come with a bevy of potential conflicts of interest that could overshadow their actual jobs.
Elon Musk may receive the lion's share of the attention, but he's far from the only billionaire in Trump's orbit who has benefited from government contracts.
"This Trump administration is just chocked full of billionaires, millionaires, and lobbyists," Craig Holman, a lobbyist for government watchdog Public Citizen, recently told Business Insider.
Trump tapped private equity billionaire Stephen Feinberg to become his second-highest-ranking official at the Pentagon. Feinberg's firm, Cerberus Capital Management, has significant interests in military defense contractors, which, as deputy director of defense, could pose a conflict given that the Pentagon's No. 2 is typically responsible for the Defense Department's massive budget.
Private equity CEO Steve Feinberg values his privacy, which may be tested if he's confirmed as a top Pentagon official.
AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari
Earlier this year, Cerberus acquired a controlling interest in M1 Support Services, an aircraft maintenance contractor. In fiscal year 2024 alone, M1 has been awarded over $630.7 million in federal contracts, according to USASpending.gov contract data. Cerberus also has a large stake in Navistar Defense, a specialized military vehicle manufacturer. In 2021, Navistar paid a $50 million fine to resolve a complaint that accused the company of inflating the prices of mine-resistant vehicles it sold to the US Marine Corps from 2007 to 2012, before Feinberg's firm bought a 70% stake in 2018.
Musk has an even wider portfolio of responsibilities. Unlike Feinberg, the Tesla CEO is set to remain outside the Trump administration — meaning the world's richest man would not be subject to the potential divestment full-time administration officials may be asked to do.
"He definitely has a vision for humanity and he views himself as a world historic figure, and he knows his wealth is necessary to fulfilling his vision," Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project, a public interest group, told Business Insider earlier this month. "So I am frightened by what government by people like that looks like."
All of Trump's appointees who enter the government will have to comply with the criminal conflict of interest law. Congress did not apply that law to the president or vice president, in part due to constitutional concerns.
Congressional Democrats have raised concern about Musk's ties to China. He called for the expulsion of Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, after she and other liberal lawmakers questioned whether Musk helped kill a sweeping government funding bill due to its inclusion of restrictions on certain US investments in China.
Trump told Time Magazine that he's seen Musk put the country ahead of his financial interests.
"I think he's one of the very few people that would have the credibility to do it, but he puts the country before, and I've seen it, before he puts his company," Trump said.
In response to questions about potential conflicts of interest, Brian Hughes, a Trump-Vance Transition spokesperson, said in a statement to Business Insider "All nominees and appointees will comply with the ethical obligations of their respective agencies and offices."
Divestment can be difficult to navigate. In 2017, Florida Panthers owner Vincent Viola, a billionaire, withdrew from consideration to become Trump's first Army secretary. According to The New York Times, Viola had too much difficulty untangling his financial interests.
Others have been able to broker deals allowing them to cash out early. Former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson had to work out a special $180 million retirement package with the oil giant because some of his holdings included restricted shares that hadn't been fully vested. Goldman Sachs accelerated its payout to Gary Cohn, who left the firm to become Trump's chief economic advisor, leaving him with a roughly $285 million exit package. In order to entice talent out of the private sector, the government also allows officials to defer some tax liabilities when they are directed to sell shares or other assets. Tillerson and Cohn both used this perk. So too has current Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
President Donald Trump smiles at Secretary of State Rex Tillerson after he was sworn in in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017.
Associated Perss/Carolyn Kaster
Government watchdogs have long expressed unease about top officials entering the government with private-sector ties.
Biden advisors' ties to BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, were the subject of significant attention during the 2020 transition. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo was once interim chief of staff to Larry Fink. Brian Deese, who was Biden's top economic aide, led BlackRock's sustainable investing before joining the Biden administration. Adeyemo agreed to recuse himself from any potential BlackRock-related business until he sold off his interests. As a political appointee, Deese's ethics agreement is not public information, though ethics-focused groups previously asked the White House to disclose it. (The White House did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment about Deese's agreement. He left the administration last year.)
It remains to be seen whether the president-elect will impose additional ethics requirements as he did shortly after taking office in 2017. Trump's first cabinet was the wealthiest in modern history. His incoming team is likely to be even richer.
The influx of billionaires extends from the cabinet down through US ambassadors. So far, Trump's tapped at least two additional billionaires to represent the US abroad, Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta and investment banker Warren Stephens, to be US ambassadors. And that list doesn't even include the likes of Musk, who has Trump's attention without the hassle of selling off his vast interests.
"He is going to have the ear of President Trump anyway, even though he's serving in an advisory capacity," Holman said of Musk.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said Monday that she and President-elect Trump "had a great meeting to discuss our shared priorities" for his upcoming term, despite their previously contentious relationship that hit a fever pitch in 2020 during the George Floyd riots.
"President Trump and I both want Washington, DC to be the best, most beautiful city in the world and we want the capital city to reflect the strength of our nation," Bowser said.
The Democratic mayor said she and Trump "discussed areas for the collaboration between local and federal government, especially around our federal workforce, underutilized federal buildings, parks and green spaces, and infrastructure."
"I am optimistic that we will continue to find common ground with the President during his second term, and we look forward to supporting a successful inauguration on January 20," she added.
The statement's tone is a far cry from Bowser's messaging related to Trump four years ago, when the mayor declared that a portion of the street leading up to the White House that protesters spray-painted to read "Defund the Police" would be officially recognized by the District of Columbia as "Black Lives Matter Plaza." Bowser and Trump publicly sparred over the use of the federal law enforcement to quell the riots and protests that engulfed the nation's capital, as well as other American cities.
As for Bowser's reference to the "federal workforce," congressional staffers and even a member of Congress, have fallen victim to carjackings and other violent crimes over the past year.
Just weeks ago, a congressional staffer from Texas was targeted by a group of armed men who held up about a dozen other people during the morning commute in Washington, the Washington Post reported.
Trump made it a promise on the campaign trail this year that he would revitalize D.C. and other American cities that he says have deteriorated in recent years under progressive policies that have fueled violent crime and emboldened offenders.
"We will rebuild our cities, including our capital in Washington DC, which has become a very dangerous and badly managed place. We're going to make them safe, clean and beautiful again. We will teach our children to love our country, to honor our history, and to always respect our great American flag," Trump said at his sold-out rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
D.C. saw the largest surge in violent crime between 2022 and 2023 compared to any other large city in the country, WUSA reported in June, citing Department of Justice data highlighted by the Major Cities Chiefs Association earlier this year.
D.C. police and public safety officials on Monday, however, touted how violent crime in the capital in 2024 is on a record downward trajectory.
Since 2023, homicides in Washington have declined by 32%, violent crime has dropped by 35% and overall crime is down 15%, DC Police Chief Pamela Smith and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Lindsey Appiah announced.
The 35% dip in year-over-year crime constitutes a new 30-year low for D.C., U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Mathew Graves noted earlier this month.
Smith on Monday championed better use of technology, crediting how "the mayor approved the increase of CCTV cameras across the city."
The chief also said a sweeping D.C. crime bill enacted earlier this year served as a "morale booster" for officers, who expressed how they feel like they "could police again" with returned or new tools to use on the streets.
The bill also made it easier for judges to order pre-trial detention.
Appiah, meanwhile, admitted that holding suspects accused of violent crimes ahead of trial – as opposed to releasing them back onto the street to re-offend – has contributed to the about-face.
"Those who commit violent crime, particularly with guns, sometimes need to be held pre-trial," Appiah said, according to WRC-TV.
President-elect Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk want the second Trump administration to press its power to install their allies in power.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Donald Trump wants the next GOP senate leader to give him greater power to staff vacancies.
Trump wants to use the president's recess appointment power in a major way.
Not every conservative is convinced this is a wise move, though Elon Musk is on board.
President-elect Donald Trump isn't backing down from his threat to ram through cabinet nominees over the potential objections of his fellow Republicans.
In a recent interview with Time Magazine, Trump did not rule out using recess appointments to get his picks into powerful posts, particularly if former Fox News host Pete Hegseth or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. see their confirmation chances further imperiled.
"I really don't care how they get them approved, as long as they get them approved," Trump said when asked if he would use recess appointments.
Trump and Elon Musk want Republicansto help him use the special procedure called recess appointments, which would allow him to install Cabinet appointees and even a Supreme Court justice without a single vote.In theory, Trump's push for broad recess appointment power could allow him to disregard the process entirely — meaning that more than 1,200 positions requiring Senate confirmation could be filled without even a confirmation hearing.
Some Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, signaled their opposition to Trump's suggestion. But as the president-elect approaches his inauguration, he's repeatedly refused to take the possibility of a major showdown off the table.
"It's just been made so explicit and used as a strategy in and of itself that even though former presidents made recess appointments, they didn't say this part, and there wasn't widespread fear about what it means and why they are using it now," Casey Burgat, the director of the Legislative Affairs Program at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management told Business Insider.
Like Trump, Musk is a big believer in flexing the recess appointment power.
The world's richest man wrote on X just after the election that without them, it would be "impossible to enact the change demanded by the American people, which is utterly unacceptable."
The fight over Trump's picks is different now.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida pulled out of contention to be the next Attorney General after it became clear that his fellow Republicans would likely oppose his nomination. Since Gaetz's withdrawal, Trump's allies have made it clear they will tolerate little other dissent.
Trump supporters swarmed Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa after she expressed concerns about Hegseth. Ernst, a veteran and a sexual assault survivor, expressed concerns about Hegseth as he faced allegations of sexual assault. Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing and also pushed back on reports that he drank excessively.
Besides Hegseth, Kennedy has also faced some concerns. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who led the Senate GOP for decades, said that Trump's nominees should "steer clear" of efforts to undermine proven cures. While McConnell's statement did not name Kennedy specifically, it came after a report that one of his advisors had previously tried to get approval polio vaccine withdrawn. McConnell, who had polio as a child, said in the statement that "the real miracle" of modern medicine was not the treatments that allowed him to survive but the development of a vaccine that has spared others from his fate.
Many of Trump's other picks, including former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who replaced Gaetz, look to be on the path to easy confirmation.
If that holds, Trump may not be forced to find other ways to get his nominees into their respective positions.
Why Trump wants this power.
Trump could get his choices confirmed with just 50 votes, thanks to Vice President-elect JD Vance's tie-breaking power. Since Republicans will hold 53 seats, Democrats can't stop a nomination on their own. However, they can force Republicans to grind it out.
In his push for recess appointment power, Trump has argued it was about ensuring he could staff up in a timely manner.
According to the Center for Presidential Transition, it took Trump twice as long on average to get his nominees approved during his first three years in office (115 days) than it did in Ronald Reagan's presidency (56.4) days. Through late November 2023, it took President Joe Biden roughly 109.6 days on average. The center also found that while the Senate filibuster is part of the reason for delays, even complete control of Congress hasn't sped things up.
Not everyone is convinced that time is Trump's sole motivation, particularly when many of his early selections illustrate how much he will elevate controversial choices like Gaetz and Kennedy.
"From the president's perspective, I suppose he would see this as a shortcut to take his favorite list of appointees and put them in for temporary appointments," Sarah Binder, a senior fellow at Brookings, told Business Insider.
Trump can't flex this power by himself.
The Senate would need to vote to adjourn. As incoming-Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said, it's difficult to foresee a scenario where GOP senators vote down a nominee only to vote in favor of a recess.
The Constitution also requires the House to approve the Senate breaking for over three days. A 2014 Supreme Court decision held that the Senate would need to recess for at least 10 days.
There's even a way for Trump to avoid the House's need to sign off on a lengthy break. Under Article II of the Constitution, Trump has the power to force an adjournment if the House and Senate are divided on what to do.
Time is the only true limit on recess appointments.
Officials installed via recess appointment can only serve until Congress' next session. If Trump uses this power immediately upon taking office, officials or judges could only stay through the next Senate session, in January 2027.
Otherwise, there is virtually nothing Senate Democrats could do to stop the process. Adjournment votes can't be meaningfully filibustered.
Some Republicans senators have made clear they wouldn't like recess appointments for high-level nominees. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina told reporters that President Obama pushed the enevelope on recess appointments, but even he didn't go that far.
"Not for a cabinet-level position," Tillis said to reporters in late November. "That should absolutely be off the table and, quite honestly, any serious candidate for a cabinet-level position I would really have to wonder if they would really want it or be willing to accept it under recess appointments."
Recess appointments were created for a bygone era.
Before World War II, presidents needed recess appointment power because the US Senate was out of session more often than lawmakers were in the nation's capital. Presidents sometimes used their power to game the system, rushing nominees through who might have failed to get confirmed. In 2005, President George W. Bush bypassed the senate to appoint John Bolton as Ambassador to the United Nations over criticism from Senate Democrats.
In recent years, senators, including Republicans, have tried to thwart presidents from using their recess appointment power by holding "pro-forma" sessions where even just one senator can briefly convene and conclude business within minutes.
Not everyone is convinced this power grab is wise.
Trump has some defenders, including former White House counsel Don McGhan. McGhan wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that Trump needs the power because the Senate is too slow.
"Returning to the long-standing tradition of recess appointments would ensure that every elected president is able to staff the government with senior officials who share his policy vision," McGahn wrote.
Trump may only be in power for four years, but the reality of Washington is that if he follows Musk's encouragement, he will set a standard Republicans will one day regret.
"The Senate works on precedent, and so whatever happened last is going to be the default for how it should happen going forward," Burgat said, "and so if we know anything about politics and power grabs they are really hard to claw back and the next guy is gonna use it."
President-elect Donald Trump's support may help House Speaker Mike Johnson put down a conservative rebellion against his leadership.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Donald Trump offered his full support for House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Johnson is hoping to be reelected as House speaker on Friday.
Trump's endorsement may quell a growing frustration about Johnson's leadership.
President-elect Donald Trump has set up another quasi-loyalty test for House Republicans before he formally reenters the White House.
On Monday, Trump endorsed Speaker Mike Johnson to remain as speaker when the House votes on its next leader on Friday.
"Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!"
If any Republicans still want to challenge Johnson, they would have to defy Trump. While Trump's failure to get the GOP to back his debt ceiling plan shows such defiance is possible, electing a speaker is an entirely different matter.
Republicans hold an extremely narrow majority, meaning Johnson may be able to afford only a single defection.
Without a speaker, congressional lawmakers could not formally certify Trump's 2024 election win, raising personal stakes for the president-elect to soothe current tensions.
At least one potential challenger, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, quickly lined up behind Johnson after Trump's show of support.
"Agreed, @realDonaldTrump!" Jordan wrote on X. "Time to do what we said we would do."
"I feel the same way! You have my full support," the world's richest man wrote on X in a reply to Johnson's post thanking Trump for his backing.
A handful of House conservatives have previously expressed displeasure with Johnson, particularly his role in crafting legislation that extended government funding through March 14. Musk and Trump teamed up to kill Johnson's initial bipartisan deal, which was loaded with unrelated provisions to garner support from House Democrats.
Not everyone appears to be convinced by Trump's backing. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a libertarian, who initially supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the GOP presidential primary, reiterated his frustration with Johnson's leadership.
"I respect and support President Trump, but his endorsement of Mike Johnson is going to work out about as well as his endorsement of Speaker Paul Ryan," Massie wrote on X. "We've seen Johnson partner with the democrats to send money to Ukraine, authorize spying on Americans, and blow the budget."
Mike Johnson has disappointed some conservatives.
Allison Robbert / AFP via Getty Images
Why some conservatives aren't happy with Mike Johnson
Johnson also failed to deliver on Trump's last-minute demand to add a debt-ceiling extension to the must-pass funding bill. Trump has advocated for Congress to permanently ax the debt ceiling, a view shared by liberal lawmakers like Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Trump's debt ceiling failure illustrated that despite his popularity among the GOP base, the president-elect doesn't always get what he wants. Last year, Trump unsuccessfully tried to topple Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Unlike the Senate, the House speaker vote is public. The House is also filled with Trump loyalists, even more so than when he took office in 2017. While Trump failed to get Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, a close ally, elected speaker last year, the then-former president effectively killed another Republican hopeful's chances during the chaos after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy's ouster.
Trump is also more powerful than last year. He returns to Washington with the promise of a GOP trifecta.
As the incoming president, he has a greater perch to reward loyalists and attack dissenters than he did during the 2023 speaker's race.
