• President-elect Donald Trump has called on Congress to raise or eliminate the debt ceiling.
• He said doing so before his term would put the onus on Joe Biden and let him avoid an early fight.
• Going over the debt ceiling could lead to a default and a deep recession.

The debt ceiling is the unexpected debate in Washington this week after President-elect Donald Trump threw the annual holiday-season government-funding talks into disarray.

Trump said he wanted to raise or eliminate the limit on how much the federal government can borrow. Doing so now would mean the much-debated move would happen on President Joe Biden's watch and be resolved before Trump takes office, when he'll want to implement his agenda without a fight over borrowing limits.

"Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling," Trump wrote Friday in a Truth Social post. "Without this, we should never make a deal. Remember, the pressure is on whoever is President.'"

This all comes amid a chaotic scramble to reach a funding deal for the US government and avoid a shutdown when Friday ends. The debt ceiling was one of the sticking points Trump used to scrap a bipartisan deal to keep the government funded through March. Now he's revisiting a much-used political tool.

"Trump is right to identify that he doesn't want his fingerprints on increasing the debt ceiling, and he doesn't want to have to deal with it in six months while he's trying to pass what he considers a must-pass tax-extension bill," Elizabeth Pancotti, the director of special initiatives at the left-leaning Roosevelt Institute think tank, told Business Insider.

A debt-ceiling breach has become a political tool — one that Trump is trying to wield for the last time

The debt ceiling limits the amount of money the federal government is allowed to borrow to pay for its programs and operations. If it's not regularly raised or suspended, the US government risks defaulting on its debt and failing to pay its bills.

This could compromise everyday Americans' access to crucial government programs such as Social Security, Medicaid, and housing vouchers. Len Burman, a fellow at the think tank Urban Institute, told BI that a default could also cause interest rates to rise drastically if investors no longer viewed the US government as a creditworthy borrower. That would mean Americans may face higher rates on mortgages and credit cards, which could lead to a broader financial crisis and deep recession.

Because of these widespread consequences, the debt ceiling has evolved into a political bargaining chip, and the US has repeatedly come close to breaching it over partisan disagreements, most recently in 2023. That's why some Democrats have long advocated abolishing the ceiling, arguing that Republicans weaponize it to push spending cuts. Sen. Elizabeth Warren capitalized on Trump's recent comments, writing Thursday morning on X that she agreed with him on terminating the debt limit.

During recent debt-ceiling standoffs, various plans to sidestep the limit were floated. Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin told BI that the president could invoke a clause in the 14th Amendment that would declare a default and the debt ceiling that caused that default unconstitutional.

Other ideas to eliminate the debt ceiling have included minting a $1 trillion platinum coin, which some economists have said would allow the Treasury secretary to deposit the coin to pay off debts.

In an interview with Fox News Digital on Thursday, Trump said that Republicans who didn't support repealing the debt limit could face primary challenges; many Republicans have historically opposed getting rid of it, arguing that it's a check on borrowing. Trump told NBC News that Democrats had signaled they wanted to get rid of the debt limit and that he would "lead the charge" to do so.

The country will technically hit the debt ceiling at the start of next year, but the Treasury Department can hold off default and keep paying the bills through various accounting tricks, likely until late spring or early summer.

• The House of Representatives failed to pass a pared-down spending bill.
• The vote came after President-elect Donald Trump tanked a bipartisan version that looked set to pass.
• The move pushes the government closer to a holiday shutdown.

The House of Representatives on Thursday failed to pass a stripped-down spending bill following a tumultuous 48 hours on the Hill, pushing the government closer to a partial shutdown right before the holidays.

Republicans in the House said they had settled on a new version of the continuing resolution ahead of the vote on Thursday after President-elect Donald Trump tanked a previous spending bill that initially won bipartisan support.

But the final vote was 174-235-1. Thirty-eight Republicans flouted Trump and voted against the continuing resolution.

On Wednesday, Trump came out hard against the original continuing resolution, urging Republican lawmakers to renegotiate the bill and threatening to primary those who failed to fall in line.

The president-elect's apparent turnabout came after billionaire Elon Musk publicly backed the idea of shutting down the government until the day Trump is inaugurated. Musk railed against the resolution, which he said included items unrelated to government funding, such as pay raises for lawmakers and pandemic preparedness.

Musk, who has been tapped to lead the Department of Government Efficiency alongside fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, celebrated the pared-down spending bill ahead of the failed Thursday vote.

"This shows how much your voice matters!" the Tesla CEO wrote on X. "And having a President like @realDonaldTrump means that your voice is finally heard."

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle seem to agree that Musk played a major role in killing the original bill. Some have expressed concern about the outsized influence Musk seems to have on Trump. The president-elect, for his part, has pushed back on suggestions that Musk is the one in control.

The continuing resolution that failed to pass on Thursday was smaller in scope than the original legislation. Among the items cut from the bipartisan resolution included funding for a child cancer research program, funding for research on premature labor, money for treatment of sickle cell disease, money for early cancer detection, a program for Down syndrome research, and an anti-deepfake porn bill.

The newer version of the resolution would have kept the government funded through mid-March and suspended the nation's debt ceiling until January 2027.

Trump encouraged Republican lawmakers to back the new version of the bill on Thursday.

House Democrats, on the other hand, expressed frustration about the series of events. CNN reported Thursday that Democrats could be heard chanting "hell no" during a caucus meeting ahead of the vote.

If lawmakers fail to reach an agreement, a partial shutdown would lead to suspended funding for many government entities and withheld paychecks for thousands of federal employees right before the holidays.

• Built in the 1920s, Mar-a-Lago has belonged to America's richest woman, the government, and Trump.
• Since Trump bought Mar-a-Lago in 1985, it has been central to financial and legal controversies.
• Here's the lowdown on the estate's history, value, and future in the MAGA orbit.

Mar-a-Lago, President-elect Donald Trump's Palm Beach resort, sits at the center of MAGA political life, serving as the home to lucrative fundraisers, political meetings, and even FBI raids.

The sprawling estate, however, long predates Trump's rise and stretches all the way back to early 20th century America. From its days as a cereal heiress' home to its current iteration as de-facto political headquarters, the property has generated intrigue and controversy, particularly among the nation's elite.

Mar-a-Lago history

In 1924, Marjorie Merriweather Post, the heiress to her father's cereal fortune and the country's richest woman at the time, bought a property in Palm Beach, Florida. Three years of construction later, she opened Mar-a-Lago, which translates to "sea to lake." The 20-acre club, nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Worth, cost about $7 million to build, equivalent to about $100 million today.

The sprawling estate was constructed in the image of Mediterranean coastal villas and brought together Spanish, Venetian, and Portuguese architectural styles. Post imported stone from Italy, silk panels from Venice. She used Mar-a-Lago to host lavish parties for America's elite, as well as philanthropic events. In January, 1969, the federal government designated the estate a national historic sight, and Congress added it to the register of historic places in 1972.

Post died in 1973 and donated the 114-room property to the federal government in the hopes that it would become a president's "winter White House." After 10 years, the government decided it could no longer justify the maintenance costs, so looked into selling the estate.

Enter: Donald Trump.

Donald Trump's acquisition of Mar-a-Lago

Trump bought Mar-a-Lago and many of its furnishings in 1985 for a relatively low sum — around $10 million, or around $29 million today. Originally, Trump used the estate as a private residence, with an opulent interior reminiscent of European palaces. When the Trump Organization ran into financial troubles in the 1990s, though, the property became too expensive to keep up — it cost more than $3 million each year and didn't turn a profit.

Initially, Trump wanted to split up the grounds around the main home and build eight houses named "The Mansions at Mar-a-Lago." He bumped up against Palm Beach officials and historic preservationists, though, and a landmark commission eventually rejected his proposal. His plans thwarted, Trump opened Mar-a-Lago as a club in 1995.

Under an agreement with the town of Palm Beach, membership at Mar-a-Lago is capped at 500 members. Back then, Trump said the initiation fee cost $25,000. By 2017, that number had jumped up to $200,000, and $300,000 in October, 2024. On top of the initiation fee, members pay annual dues of around $20,000 and there is a reported $2,000 minimum annual dining requirement.

The current value of Mar-a-Lago was a point of significant contention in a civil fraud trial against Trump about his alleged efforts to mislead banks and insurers about property values. Trump had previously said that the estate was worth more than $1 billion and obsessed over the valuation while speaking on the witness stand during his trial, which resulted in a guilty verdict. According to the suit, the Trump Organization valued the property at a high of $739 million between 2011 and 2021.

Though Palm Beach County tax appraisers valued Mar-a-Lago between $18 million and $37 million, that assessment relates to its net income as a club rather than its value as a home. Prosecutors in the civil fraud case said it should be valued at $75 million.

Mar-a-Lago Club today

The resort recently hiked up the initiation fee once again, raising it to $1 million. Membership grants access to the dining facilities, spa, pool, beach club, guest rooms, fitness center, tennis courts, and croquet lawns.

There are no restaurant menus available on the Mar-a-Lago website, which advertises themed dinners, fashion show lunches, and a seafood night. The resort is also available for events like weddings, though no prices are listed on the website for those services or rooms, either. In order to host an event at Mar-a-Lago, one needs to be sponsored by a current club member. Trump and Melania had their wedding reception at the estate.

Applications to join the club soared after Trump won the presidency in 2016. Membership lists are generally kept private, though those reviewed by media outlets have included Wall Streeters, real estate moguls, and campaign donors. Among them are former New England Patriots manager Bill Belichick, oil refiner Bill Koch, and real estate mogul Robert LeFrak.

Various celebrities have visited the resort over the years, including Celine Dion and Serena Williams. In 1992, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein reportedly hosted a party there.

Despite its financial exclusivity, Mar-a-Lago was inclusive compared to surrounding resorts when it first opened. Trump allowed Jews and African-Americans who had been barred from other facilities to join, and he is thought to be Palm Beach's first private club owner to admit an openly gay couple.

Mar-a-Lago's role in politics

In the decades since it opened, Mar-a-Lago's guest list has become more dominated by Republican lawmakers, lobbyists, tech executives, and MAGA influencers. It's now a hub of Trump's political activity and has unwittingly fulfilled Post's vision of a presidential escape.

Winter White House

In a post on X from two days before his first inauguration, Trump dubbed Mar-a-Lago his "Winter White House." He spent approximately 25% of his first month in office at the resort and had switched his formal residence to Florida by 2019.

Trump has hosted the leaders of at least seven foreign countries at Mar-a-Lago, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. When he was president, Secret Service agents frequently stayed with him at the properties. The cost of an overnight stay is not entirely clear, but in 2017 taxpayers paid as much as $650 per night for each room agents occupied, according to federal records. In 2018, the rate dipped to $396.15 per night.

In addition to hosting meetings at Mar-a-Lago, Trump authorized a missile strike on Syria from the property in 2017.

Mar-a-Lago as Trump's post-presidency home

After leaving the White House in 2017, Trump moved back to Mar-a-Lago despite resistance from neighbors. Some Palm Beach residents objected to his plans, arguing that the 1993 agreement that established the club barred him from doing so. Under the agreement, club members cannot stay at Mar-a-Lago for more than seven consecutive days or 21 days annually, but it does not explicitly say whether Trump can legally live there. Eventually, the town's attorney determined that Trump can legally live at Mar-a-Lago if he's considered an employee of the club, and the town council decided he's a "bone fide employee."

Mar-a-Lago was a favored locale for Trump and his supporters throughout the 2024 campaign. He held various fundraisers at the resort, including meals where tickets could cost tens of thousands of dollars. Trump watched election results roll in from the property, surrounded by family and Elon Musk.

Trump barely left Mar-a-Lago after winning a second term, turning the estate into his transition team's home base. Corporate CEOs and tech leaders all flocked to the property, which provided the most immediate access to the president-elect.

Controversies involving Mar-a-Lago

Since Trump took office in 2917, Mar-a-Lago has been the source of various political and legal controversies, and will likely sit at the center of more ethical questions during his second term.

Classified documents case

When presidents leave the White House, they are required to give their records to the National Archives and Records Administration; failing to do so and moving sensitive material to an unauthorized location is a crime. As Trump moved from Washington, DC to Mar-a-Lago, prosecutors said that he and his staff took classified documents with him. The boxes were allegedly scattered throughout the property, including in a shower, on the stage of a ballroom, and in accessible storage rooms. A former White House press secretary testified that she saw Trump show people classified documents on the dining patio at Mar-a-Lago.

The National Archives worked throughout 2021 and 2022 to regain the material. The Federal Bureau of Investigation eventually raided Mar-a-Lago in August of 2022, seizing thousands of documents, including around 100 that were classified. Jack Smith was appointed special counsel in the Justice Department's probe and charged Trump with illegally retaining national defense information, obstructing justice, and concealing documents. Trump pleaded not guilty to 40 criminal counts.

Trump's lawyers sought to delay the case until after the 2024 election and then have it thrown out entirely. Eventually, the judge dismissed the case on the legally dubious ground that Smith's appointment was improper. After Trump won a second term, Smith abandoned the case based on Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president. Prosecutors could theoretically pick the case back up once Trump leaves office.

Security issues

Mar-a-Lago has posed security challenges for years, with one former FBI agent calling it a "counterintelligence nightmare." Members can bring in anyone as a guest and there have been incidents of trespassing. The Secret Service has increased its presence at the estate since Trump won the election and the US Coast Guard now monitors waterways nearby.

Two assassination attempts against Trump during the campaign, including one at his Palm Beach golf course, put renewed scrutiny on security concerns. The Secret Service faces challenges when protecting a president outside, particularly on a golf course with large open areas lined by potential hiding places like trees.

Ethics and financial scrutiny

During Trump's first term, lobbyists, politicians, and others spent money at Mar-a-Lago and the Trump hotel in Washington, DC. Foreign officials and corporate executives stayed at both properties, raising fears for some that people could subtly gain influence with Trump by financially supporting his properties. An investigation from the Government Accountability Office in 2020 found that three Mar-a-Lago club members influenced policy decisions at the Department of Government Affairs.

Since Trump sold the DC hotel in 2022, Mar-a-Lago may become the sole go-to hub, as it did for his transition team.

Trump resigned from the Trump Organization, his real estate business, when he took office the first time. At the time, the company promised not to make any new foreign deals while Trump was in office, but it's unclear whether it will reinstate that ban or adopt the same ethics rules. In the past four years, Trump has also started Trump Media & Technology Group, parent company to Truth Social, and ventured into cryptocurrency. Some legal and ethics experts worry that interested parties could also invest in either of those companies to exert influence.

"President Trump is grateful for the residents of Palm Beach, where he makes his home at Mar-a-Lago. He removed himself from his multi-billion dollar real estate empire to run for office and forewent his government salary, becoming the first President to actually lose net worth while serving in the White House," Steven Cheung, Trump's communications director, told BI in a statement.

Representatives for the Trump Organization did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment. Mar-a-Lago does not have a press office.

• Elon Musk, a cohead of the cost-cutting commission DOGE, said on X that the bill "should not pass."
• The 1,547-page proposal would fund the government through mid-March.
• House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a release he spoke with Musk on Tuesday about his displeasure.

Hours after lawmakers released an eleventh-hour bill to fund the government through the middle of March, Elon Musk weighed in on the proposal.

"Ever seen a bigger piece of pork?" he asked in a post on X above a photo of the 1,547-page bill.

Musk is set to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency, which aims to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget by July 4, 2026, alongside the biotech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy.

In his own post late on Tuesday, Ramaswamy urged every representative and senator to read the bill. Musk minced no words when he reposted his cohead's statement.

"This bill should not pass," Musk wrote.

If passed, the stop-gap spending bill will fund the government through March 14 and avert a government shutdown, leaving Congress to deal with major spending choices after President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The bill includes $100 billion in disaster relief, $10 billion in economic aid for farmers, and the first pay raise for members of Congress since 2009.

Ramaswamy issued a scathing rejection of the bill in a six-paragraph X post on Wednesday, writing: "It's full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways & pork barrel politics."

Among other provisions, Ramaswamy criticized the stimulus for farmers, disaster relief, and pay raise for members of Congress and compared the additional "feel good" spending to "showering cocaine on an addict." He also said that the bill could have been fewer than 20 pages.

How members of Congress vote will, he said at the end of his post, show how serious they are about working with DOGE. "This is an early test," he wrote.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a press release that he had spoken with Musk and Ramaswamy in a text chain on Tuesday night. The two "understand the situation," the speaker said in the release.

"They said, it's not directed to you, Mr. Speaker, but we don't like the spending," Johnson said. "I said, guess what, fellas, I don't either."

Musk and Ramaswamy have already begun publicizing prospective targets for cuts, including scaling back the federal workforce and slashing departments. The two have met with GOP lawmakers to discuss their goals, though details of the meeting remain scarce.

Representatives for Johnson and Ramaswamy declined to comment further for this article, and Musk did not respond to a request for comment.

• Reid Hoffman said there's a "greater than 50% chance" he'll receive retaliation for backing Kamala Harris.
• The LinkedIn cofounder made the remarks on an episode of "The Diary of a CEO" podcast.
• Hoffman was one of the vice president's most prominent Silicon Valley business supporters.

Reid Hoffman, the billionaire LinkedIn co-founder and outspoken Democrat, said he thinks it's likely that he will face retaliation from President-elect Donald Trump for supporting Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign.

"I think that there's a greater than 50% chance that there will be repercussions from a misdirection and corruption of the institutions of state to respond to my having tried to help Harris get elected," Hoffman said on an episode of "The Diary of a CEO" podcast that aired on Monday.

Hoffman said that he hopes any retaliation from Trump would be fairly tame, naming possibilities like IRS audits or phone calls from the incoming president trying to hurt his business prospects.

"It could get much worse, but I don't really want to speculate on it because I don't want to give anybody any ideas," he said.

Any repercussions would, he added, be "undemocratic and un-American."

Regardless, Hoffman said that he has no plans to leave the United States.

Nearly 90 top business executives — including Hoffman — signed a letter endorsing Harris' candidacy ahead of the general election, touting her plan to expand tax deductions for small businesses. The letter said that Harris' White House bid was "the best way to support the continued strength, security, and reliability of our democracy and economy."

Hoffman was also part of a cohort of business leaders who put together an initiative to get right-leaning swing voters onboard with Harris' candidacy by stressing her pro-business stances.

On the podcast, Hoffman said he'd spoken to fellow billionaires during the campaign who applauded his political actions but declined to partake themselves for fear of getting "penalized" if Trump won.

"Part of the reason why I think less people were public about it this cycle was because President Trump was threatening personal and political retaliation, and so you had to have a certain degree of courage to stand up — and courage in the public area," he said.

Since winning a second term, Trump has put several Silicon Valley business leaders in prominent roles, from Department of Government Efficiency co-head Elon Musk to newly minted AI and crypto czar David Sacks.

Despite his dislike for Trump and many of his policies, Hoffman said that some of the president-elect's deregulation efforts could broadly benefit entrepreneurs.

"I think they're going to reduce regulation across the board for all entrepreneurs, so I think that's helpful for entrepreneurship," he said.

Representatives for Hoffman and Trump did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

• Trump took over the family real estate business in 1971 and used it to build his business brand.
• As the family's businesses expanded, they faced lawsuits and financial volatility.
• Here's everything to know about the Trump businesses and increasingly complicated ethical questions.

When President-elect Donald Trump was growing up, he worked in the offices and on the construction sites of his father's real estate business, Elizabeth Trump & Son. By 1973, he had taken over the company and given it a now well-known name: The Trump Organization.

In the decades since, Trump has pursued global real estate development, reality television shows, a media conglomerate, cryptocurrency, and branded products like Bibles. His signature company has faced financial and legal turmoil throughout the years, but has become synonymous with his trademark brand of business success.

When Trump took office in 2017, he handed formal control of the Trump Organization to his two elder sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. Some questioned whether conflicts of interest persisted for the then-president, who had simultaneous political and professional power. Now that Trump has won a second term in the White House, the Trump Organization will again have to navigate a murky business landscape.

Here's everything to know about the Trump Organization and the family's business ventures, including financial volatility, lawsuits, and an increasingly complicated web of ethical questions.

Company history

Fred Trump was born in New York City in 1905. He started building and selling homes in Queens when he was 19, eventually developing properties in Brooklyn and Staten Island as well.

The president-elect was involved with the business since childhood and began officially working for his father shortly after graduating college. He took over the company in 1971 and renamed it in 1973.

Key business areas

Real estate

After taking over, Trump helped expand the business, buying properties in Manhattan and outside of New York. He developed the Grand Hyatt Hotel in 1976, despite not having enough money to buy the property (this is among the early plot points in 'The Apprentice,' a 2024 movie about Trump's business rise).

By the 1980s, Trump had established himself as a real estate mogul, boasting properties like Trump Tower and beginning to pursue casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Trump Organization faced financial challenges in these years, with multiple Trump-owned properties filing for bankruptcy in the early 1990s. The president-elect used bankruptcy protections to restructure the company's debts and maintained his image as a successful businessman.

Today, the Trump Organization's website lists eight hotels, five of which are in the U.S. It also lists residential properties across the country and globe, with a focus on New York. In addition to the real estate holdings, the organization lists 18 golf courses it owns or is developing.

Entertainment ventures

In 1996, Trump bought the Miss Universe Organization, which included Miss USA and Miss Teen USA. He sold the company in 2015, after NBC dropped the show due to remarks he made about Mexican immigrants during his 2016 presidential campaign. The beauty pageant has been awash in controversy in recent years, and some contestants have said that Trump would look at them as they changed backstage.

Trump starred as himself in a reality show, 'The Apprentice,' which he hosted from 2004 to 2015. Aspiring business leaders battled each other in challenges and Trump served as the judge, telling a contestant each week, "You're fired!" The show and its spinoff, 'The Celebrity Apprentice,' helped expand Trump's national reach. NBC cut Trump's ties with the program in 2015.

After leaving the White House in 2017, Trump formed Trump Media & Technology Group and its flagship product, Truth Social. He founded the company after being kicked off of many mainstream social media sites for his actions on January 6 and now owns a majority stake. Trump Media's financial health shifts with the president-elect's political prospects. Many consider it a "meme stock," since its share price doesn't correlate to its profitability.

Trump Media's stock soared after Trump won the 2024 election. The president-elect's stake in the company is his most valuable asset, valued at around $3.5 billion in December, 2024.

Trump-branded products

Since his earliest business days, Trump has profited from branded products, starting with his buildings themselves. During his reality television days, he attached his name to everything from board games to steaks.

Trump has continued to sell branded products as a political figure, and financial disclosures released in August reveal that he made more than $12 million off of NFTs and books alone. He also sells sneakers, cologne, and a Trump Bible.

Leadership and ownership

The Trump Organization is a collection of around 500 privately held companies. Trump ran the day-to-day operations of the company prior to becoming president, but handed control over to his two oldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, when he moved into the White House in 2017.

The company's leadership is composed largely of family loyalists. Eric and Donald Trump Jr. are currently the executive vice presidents.

Since the 1970s, most presidents have put their assets into blind trusts, a financial arrangement whereby an independent trustee controls the holdings. During the 2016 campaign, Trump put his assets into a trust controlled his older sons and Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization's chief financial officer at the time. The arrangement was not as extensive as a blind trust structure.

Trump resigned but didn't sell his stake in the company, which promised not to make any new foreign deals while Trump was president. The Trump Organization also hired an outside ethics advisor at the time and said it would donate any profits from foreign governments to the Treasury Department.

Various parties sued Trump over alleged violations of the Constitution's emoluments clause, which prevents presidents from receiving payments or gifts from foreign governments. International governments with interest in US policy decisions spent money at various Trump properties during his term. Three cases about the clause were dismissed without resolution after Trump left office.

Controversies and legal challenges

The company's legal troubles predate Trump's time in the White House, stretching back to the era of Fred Trump's leadership.

In 1973, the Justice Department sued Fred and Donald Trump for alleged racial discrimination. The parties settled and the Trumps didn't admit any wrongdoing. The company's business practices continued to receive scrutiny throughout the rest of the 20th century, especially as it faced financial difficulties.

Trump borrowed money to fund new projects like hotels and casinos, and in 1990 his dad bought more than $3 million worth of casino chips to help a venue make an interest payment. Later, the state of New Jersey found that the transaction was an illegal loan and levied a fine of $65,000.

Over the past three decades, Trump and his companies have been engaged in many lawsuits, ranging from bankruptcy proceedings, to fights with gambling patrons, to personal defamation suits. Recently, the company has been entangled in both a civil and criminal fraud trial in New York.

In the civil case, the state's attorney general accused the Trump Organization of misleading banks and insurers about property values. A Manhattan judge found Trump guilty in February 2024 and ordered the company to pay almost $364 million before interest, with Trump personally responsible for nearly $355 million of the penalty. By March, judges had lowered Trump's bond to $175 and the president-elect has appealed the case. As part of this case, Weisselberg, the company's former CFO, was sentenced to jail time after admitting to perjury.

On the same day the AG first filed the civil fraud case, Trump formed "Trump Organization II" in an apparent attempt to protect his holdings. Anticipating that Trump might try to move his holdings to a company that isn't being sued, the judge made him tell a court-appointed monitor about "any corporate restructuring, disposition or dissipation of any significant assets."

New York's criminal suit against Trump ended in 34 convictions, making him the first former president convicted of a felony. A 12-person Manhattan jury found Trump guilty on 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star. The judge in the case has indefinitely postponed Trump's sentencing and the president-elect is now arguing that the case should be thrown out entirely because he has presidential immunity. In July, the Supreme Court ruled that presidents are broadly immune from prosecution, and Trump's legal team is arguing the same should be true for presidents-elect.

Next steps for the Trump Organization and other businesses

Now that Trump is headed back to the White House, the Trump Organization once again finds itself in a thicket of legal and ethical questions. The company may or may not reinstate its ban on foreign deals once Trump is sworn in for a second term and has business in countries central to America's foreign policy agenda, like Saudi Arabia.

In addition to the Trump Organization, Trump Media is another ethical gray area, as people with a vested interest in policy decisions could buy advertisements on Truth Social or shares of stock. Doing so would raise Trump's net worth, given that he owns a majority stake in the company.

In September, Trump announced a family crypto venture, World Liberty Financial. The platform is marketed as a way for traders to borrow and lend cryptocurrencies. Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Barron Trump are all involved in the venture. A document from the company lists all four of them as part of the team, but says no Trump family members are employees or officers. Ethics experts have said that World Liberty Financial could also pose conflicts of interest since Trump will oversee crypto regulations as president.

The Trump Organization, Trump Media, and World Liberty Financial did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

• Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy aim to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget by June 4, 2026.
• They've said they will fire federal employees, "delete" agencies, and publicize all of their work.
• The DOGE leaders have name-dropped many causes they might target, like DEI efforts and public media.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have big plans for the Department of Government Efficiency.

The two have promised to significantly reduce the federal budget, with a goal of cutting $2 trillion in spending. In 2024, federal spending reached $6.75 trillion, with nine-tenths going to federal programs. President-elect Donald Trump has long sworn not to touch Social Security or Medicare benefits, which comprise a significant chunk of the budget.

Here's a running list of things Musk and Ramaswamy have said they will do as they gear up to take on this new role.

Representatives for Musk and Trump did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment. A representative for Ramaswamy declined to comment.

Slash regulations

Musk and Ramaswamy plan to suggest regulations to cut to Trump, whom they said could then use executive actions to pause the regulations and begin the removal process.

The co-heads outlined their ideas in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal and explained that they plan to lean on two recent SCOTUS rulings, West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. The cases, they said, "suggest that a plethora of current federal regulations exceed the authority Congress has granted under the law."

Some legal experts previously told BI that the DOGE leaders are misinterpreting the lawsuits, which they said do not add to the executive branch's ability to curb regulations. Under the rulings, agencies still need to comply with a lengthy administrative process to change or overturn rules, the experts said.

'Delete' entire agencies, or at least vastly change them

A key part of DOGE's cost-cutting agenda has to do with scaling back government agencies — Ramaswamy promised that the group will "delete" entire departments. Political scientists and fellows at Washington think tanks previously told BI that deleting departments outright almost always requires congressional approval, making DOGE's goal seem unrealistic to some. There are more than 440 government agencies; Musk has said he wants to trim that down to no more than 99.

Here are some of the agencies DOGE plans to target:

Planned Parenthood and public media may be impacted

Musk and Ramaswamy criticized the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and "progressive groups like Planned Parenthood" in their op-ed. They said that DOGE will try to curb federal spending "by taking aim" at the funds appropriated for those services, among others.

The CPB is the largest funding source for public radio, television, and online services, primarily for local public media — in fiscal year 2024, it had a budget of $535 million. Congress created the CPB and authorizes the budget. Between 2019 and 2021, American affiliates of Planned Parenthood received approximately $148 million in federal grants, according to the Government Accounting Office.

Target expired federal spending commitments

Musk and Ramaswamy said in their op-ed that they plan to go after expired federal expenditures. According to the Congressional Budget Office, $516 billion worth of federal appropriations in 2024 have expired, with the largest programs in terms of spending relating to veterans' healthcare, drug development, and NASA. Neither Musk nor Ramaswamy have specified which expired authorizations they'll target.

Reduce the federal workforce

Musk and Ramaswamy said they want to significantly reduce the size of the federal workforce, though haven't specified precisely how many employees should be cut. There were more than 2 million federal employees as of 2023, according to the nonpartisan group the Partnership for Public Service.

Civil service workers benefit from job protections that make it difficult to fire them, but the DOGE co-leaders said in their Journal article that Trump could implement "reductions in force" that aren't directed at individual employees.

In the op-ed, Musk and Ramaswamy said that after eliminating federal regulations, "mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy" will follow. They plan to determine the minimum number of employees needed at each department and said they might enact policies that lead some staffers to voluntarily resign, like return-to-office mandates, early retirement offers, and severance packages.

Federal employee salaries don't comprise a big chunk of the budget — not including military personnel, their annual salaries and benefits total approximately $305 billion, or 4% of spending, per the Washington Post. If Musk and Ramaswamy got rid of 25% of the federal workforce, government spending would fall by around 1%.

Relocate some federal agencies and reform building use

Musk and Ramaswamy raised the possibility of relocating federal agencies outside Washington in their op-ed, a point that Ramaswamy has spoken more about online and in interviews. When talking to Fox News in November, he said he "absolutely" wants to move agencies elsewhere and called the fact that some employees don't go into the office a "dirty little secret."

In a post on X from late November, Ramaswamy said addressing the cost of maintaining federal buildings "sounds like a job for DOGE." According to a 2023 report from the Government Accountability Office, 17 of the agencies reviewed use about 25% or less of their buildings' space. The federal government spends around $2 billion each year to maintain federal office buildings and $5 billion to lease space to agencies, the report found.

Conduct audits of agencies

In their opinion piece, Musk and Ramaswamy said that audits conducted during temporary payment suspensions could bring big savings. They called out the Pentagon and wrote that the agency failed its seventh consecutive audit. Support for the proposal came from an unlikely place: progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders. In a post on X, Sanders said that "Elon Musk is right," pointing out that the Pentagon has "lost track of billions."

Publicize all the changes the commission makes

Musk said he will publish all of DOGE's actions online for "maximum transparency" in a post on X.

"Anytime the public thinks we are cutting something important or not cutting something wasteful, just let us know!" he wrote. In the same post, he said DOGE will create a "leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending." Ramaswamy promised in a post that DOGE will start "crowdsourcing" for sources of waste and fraud.

Disband DOGE no later than July 4, 2026

When Trump announced the creation of DOGE, he said the committee would disband by July 4, 2026. The committee's leaders, though, have said they think their work will be done earlier.

Musk said on X that DOGE will complete its goals "much faster," and Ramaswamy told Fox News that "people will be surprised by, I think, how quickly we're able to move with some of those changes." To complete its work, DOGE plans to employ "a lean team of small-government minded crusaders" that works closely with the Office of Management and Budget, according to the leaders' opinion piece.

They've hinted at abolishing Daylight Savings Time and other initiatives

Though posts on X don't equate to an official DOGE plan, Musk and Ramaswamy have both posted about other things they might tackle in their roles, some of which would require Congressional approval.

Musk has posted about abolishing Daylight Savings Time, continued spending in Afghanistan, and "fake jobs" in the government.

Ramaswamy said in his own posts that DOGE could be used to address subsidies from the CHIPS Act, DEI efforts at universities, and how the federal government buys technology services.

• Trump said in his Person of the Year interview that lowering grocery prices is "very hard."
• He said that high food prices were part of why he won the election.
• Some economists think Trump's economic plans, like tariffs and deportations, will be inflationary.

President-elect Donald Trump didn't commit to being able to lower grocery prices in his Person of the Year interview with Time Magazine, after flagging the issue as an important part of his win.

Time asked Trump if failing to lower grocery prices, as he said he would do on the campaign trail, would make his presidency a failure.

"I don't think so. Look, they got them up. I'd like to bring them down. It's hard to bring things down once they're up," he said. "You know, it's very hard. But I think that they will."

Trump added that he thinks "energy" and "a better supply chain" will help bring down costs.

The economy consistently ranked as voters' top issue in the presidential election, with inflation in particular at the top of mind. Frustrated with the price of everything from eggs, to meat, to cereal, many voters said they supported Trump because they thought he would lower everyday costs.

On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to lower food prices, saying at a rally on September 23, "Vote Trump and your incomes will soar. Your net worth will skyrocket. Your energy costs and grocery prices will come tumbling down." When talking about groceries in an interview last week, he said that he would "bring those prices way down."

In the interview, Trump said that Democrats lost because of their failure to talk about the economics of voters' daily lives, like the experience of buying groceries. Some economists predict that the president-elect's plans, like mass deportations and broad tariffs, will be inflationary. Walmart, the country's biggest grocery retailer, is among the companies that said it will likely raise prices if Trump enacts his trade agenda.

When asked whether his proposed mass deportations, including for migrant agricultural workers, would spike food prices, Trump said no.

"No, because we're going to let people in, but we have to let them in legally," he said, before moving on to talk about not allowing prisoners into the country.

Inflation ticked up slightly in November, with the consumer price index rising to 2.7% from a year ago, as expected. The food-at-home index rose slightly as well, reaching 1.6% in November compared to 1.1% in October.

Representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

• Attorneys for Mike Jeffries asked a judge to rule on whether he is mentally fit for trial.
• Federal prosecutors would likely challenge the move, adding months to pretrial proceedings.
• The former Abercrombie CEO is accused of running an international sex-trafficking business.

The former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch is seeking to delay his federal sex-trafficking case on mental competency grounds.

Attorneys for the brand's former top executive, Mike Jeffries, asked a Manhattan judge on Monday to schedule a hearing to determine whether Jeffries is competent to stand trial, a spokesperson for the US attorney's office of the Eastern District of New York told Business Insider in a statement. Federal prosecutors are expected to challenge the move, which could add months to pretrial proceedings.

The defense would have until December 24 to file papers telling US District Judge Nusrat Choudhury how much of their competency motion can be sealed. The rest of the competency battle will play out throughout the first months of 2025.

The spokesperson said the defense has until February 6 to file a doctor's report supporting the competency motion, and the prosecution has until April 8 to file their own doctor's report. The competency hearing itself has yet to be scheduled, the spokesperson said. Jeffries is due back in court on March 13, 2025.

"We filed a motion to Determine Mr. Jeffries' Competency to Stand Trial, which will be dealt with in Court as, and when, appropriate — according to the Judge," Brian Bieber, an attorney for Jeffries, told BI in a statement. A competency hearing is meant to determine whether a defendant is able to understand the charges against them and the role of the judge, prosecutor, and defense attorney.

On October 22, Jeffries, his partner, and a third man were arrested in Florida on federal sex-trafficking charges. Prosecutors allege they ran an international sex-trafficking and prostitution business. The men used Jeffries' position at the company to coerce dozens of men, many of whom wanted to become Abercrombie models, to partake in "sex events" in America and abroad, prosecutors say. Jeffries and Matthew Smith, his partner, have been accused of paying for men to travel to their New York homes and international hotels, where they performed sex acts.

Jeffries, 80, served as Abercrombie's CEO from 1992 to 2014. The indictment alleges that the sex-trafficking spanned from about 2008 to 2015, though Breon Peace, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said his office believes "dozens and dozens of men" were victims between 1992 and 2015.

During his time at Abercrombie, Jeffries steered the brand toward a more sexualized image, complete with shirtless models greeting shoppers. He was first hired by Les Wexner, a Jeffrey Epstein associate. At the peak of his career, Jeffries earned an annual eight-figure salary. His retirement package was reportedly around $25 million and he earned yearly payments of $1 million that ended last year.

• Trump formed Trump Media in the wake of January 6, when he was kicked off most social media sites.
• Truth Social is the company's flagship product and Trump's favored social media site.
• Trump owns most of Trump Media, with DJT stock volatile and closely tied to his political fortunes.

Since leaving the White House after his first term, President-elect Donald Trump has used his home-grown social media site, Truth Social, as a personal megaphone. For Trump, Truth Social is more than a messaging tool — the platform, which is the flagship product of the Trump Media & Technology Group, is now a significant part of his personal wealth.

Formed in the wake of the January 6 riots and Trump's banishment from traditional social media, Trump Media has seen its financial fortunes shift alongside the president-elect's political prospects. A self-identified "safe harbor for free expression amid increasingly harsh censorship by Big Tech corporations," Truth Social largely caters to Trump supporters. Yet the site serves a widespread political purpose, as it's often where Trump makes key announcements like Cabinet nominations.

Having persisted through lawsuits, volatile stock valuations, and a rocky presidential campaign, Trump Media is likely here to stay, posting questions of how the president-elect will engage with the company once he retakes residence in the White House.

Trump Media's founding and leadership

After January 6, 2021, many social media sites banned Trump or suspended his account, including Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook and what was then Twitter. Amid the fallout, Andrew Litinsky and Wes Moss, two former contestants on "The Apprentice," approached Trump about forming Trump Media and promised to give him a majority stake.

Truth Social hit the Apple App Store in early 2022, advertising itself as an alternative to traditional social media sites. In March 2024, Trump Media debuted on the Nasdaq as a publicly traded company after merging with a shell company. It trades under DJT: Donald J. Trump.

The president-elect owned about 58.7% of the outstanding shares of Trump Media as of June 2024, according to the company's website. When the media group went public, Litinsky and Moss owned 5.5% of the company through their investment partnership, United Atlantic Ventures LLC. Yet the duo had a falling out with Trump, battling him in court over disagreements about their stake in Trump Media. In turn, Trump Media argued that Litinsky and Moss weren't entitled to their shares because they had bungled the company's rollout. By late September, United Atlantic Ventures liquidated almost all of its shares.

Despite his significant financial investment in Trump Media, Trump has no official role in the company. Its CEO is Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman from California, and Donald Trump Jr. sits on the board. Linda McMahon and Kash Patel, whom Trump has tapped to lead the Department of Education and Federal Bureau of Investigation respectively, are also board members. A lawyer for McMahon previously said that she would resign from outside boards if she serves in the administration.

Two days after winning the presidential election on November 6, Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he has "NO INTENTION OF SELLING" his nearly 115 million shares of Trump Media, valued at around $3.5 billion at the time. Though TMTG has lost money, his stake has significantly boosted his net worth, which was $2.4 billion at the start of 2024 and $6.3 billion by December, per Forbes. The stock is his most valuable asset.

How Truth Social works

Similar in form to X, Truth Social is a free social media platform based in the United States. Users can post "Truths" and "Retruths," follow others, and build a profile. There is limited content moderation and advertising on the site.

As of early December 2024, Trump had 8.29 million followers on Truth Social. According to Similarweb, a site that tracks data, approximately one-third of the platform's traffic relates to Trump's posts. Truth Social's user base is tiny, compared to Elon Musk's X. In October 2024, Truth Social had 650,000 monthly active users in America compared to X's 70.4 million, per Similarweb.

Despite its small size, Truth Social demands the country's attention, as it's often where Trump drops key information, like proposed tariffs against allies and Cabinet nominations. Though Trump's accounts on Facebook and X have been reinstated, Truth Social remains his preferred platform.

Trump Media's stock and earning history

Trump Media's value is volatile and closely tied to Trump's political fortunes. Since it's a publicly traded company, anyone can buy shares. Most TMTG shareholders are individual investors with fairly small stakes, the company says.

"TMTG's success depends in part on the popularity of our brand and the reputation and popularity of President Donald J. Trump," Trump Media said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing from September 30, 2024.

The company racked up early market wins on its first day of trading on the Nasdaq — the market capitalization was nearly $8 billion and shares ended the day at $57.99. Since then, the share price has been on a downward trajectory. Stocks plummeted after Trump debated Vice President Kamala Harris in September and continued to decline, reaching $12.13 per share on September 23.

On November 6, 2024, Trump Media reported a $19.2 million net loss during the year's third quarter. Later that day, Trump won the presidential election and shares of the company rose dramatically. By the time the market opened on November 7, shares were 31% higher than they had been at the previous close. Stock exchanges briefly paused trading that day due to the volatility and the stock continued to bounce around in the following weeks. As of early December, the company's market capitalization was $7.7 billion.

After a storm of post-election activity, trading activity has calmed down and the company continues to struggle to generate revenue. Trump Media's third-quarter earnings report shows that it had lost $363 million since the beginning of the year and generated $2.6 million in earnings. Given the gaps between the stock's share price and profitability, some consider Trump Media a "meme stock," which are publicly traded equities that are popular because of internet hype rather than business prospects.

• Trump announced that William Joseph McGinley will serve as counsel to DOGE.
• McGinley is DOGE's first reported hire, and Musk and Ramaswamy have encouraged everyday Americans to apply.
• Musk and Ramaswamy, DOGE co-heads, said they want to staff the commission with "small-government crusaders."

President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday a new hire for the Department of Government Efficiency: William Joseph McGinley as the commission's counsel.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have begun sharing details about how DOGE will work, promising to staff their commission with "a lean team of small-government crusaders." DOGE's account on X, formerly known as Twitter, told those interested to send along their CV in a direct message. Various Silicon Valley leaders, including investor Marc Andreessen and Uber cofounder Travis Kalanick, have reportedly been involved with planning for the commission.

The DOGE co-heads have said they want to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget. In 2024, federal spending totaled $6.75 trillion, nine-tenths of which went to federal programs.

Representatives for Musk and Ramswamy did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

• Trump nominated Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, a crypto-friendly move.
• Atkins is well known in conservative financial circles and an outspoken advocate for crypto.
• If confirmed, he'll replace Gary Gensler.

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Paul Atkins for chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Atkins was an SEC commissioner under President George W. Bush and is a well-known figure in Washington's conservative financial world. He's also an outspoken supporter of the crypto industry and cochairs the Chamber of Digital Commerce's Token Alliance, an industry-led initiative to represent the sector.

If confirmed, Atkins will replace Gary Gensler, who has drawn the ire of much of the crypto community and plans to step down as chair on January 20.

"Paul is a proven leader for common sense regulations," Trump said in a Truth Social post announcing the pick. He added that Atkins "recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before."

Atkin's nomination puts Trump a step closer to fulfilling his promise to create a more crypto-friendly regulatory regime. On the campaign trail, Trump promised to fire Gensler, who crypto players have criticized for stifling innovation and creating uncertainty with his approach to regulating the industry.

Bitcoin and ethereum both rose on the news and were up 3.3% and 7.7%, respectively, around 3:40 p.m. ET. Bitcoin is once again testing the key $100,000 threshold that it nearly cleared last week before reversing course.

During his tenure, Gensler led the SEC on a crackdown on crypto issuers for dealing in what the agency said were unregistered securities. Industry insiders soured on his stance, blaming Gensler for pushing crypto business out of the US.

Following last month's news that Gensler would resign when Trump takes office, crypto token XRP rallied sharply to become the third largest coin by market capitalization. The token had languished in recent years as the SEC targeted issuer Ripple Labs for violating securities law. The market expects the agency to drop that lawsuit and many other crypto suits under Trump.

• Peter Thiel, tech billionaire and conservative kingmaker, has amassed influence all over Washington.
• He's close to powerful elected and un-elected political players, like JD Vance and Vivek Ramaswamy.
• Palantir, a company Thiel co-founded, counts the US government as its biggest client.

In August 2021, a mystery buyer purchased a 10,000-square-foot home in Washington, DC. They made the $13 million purchase through Salona Village Holdings LLC, shielding their identity.

That mystery buyer was billionaire Peter Thiel, whose sprawling influence in Washington has grown in recent years. Between mentoring Vice President-elect JD Vance since his time at Yale Law School to running companies with millions in government contracts, Thiel has entrenched himself in the DC world in ways both seen and subtle.

Worth $14.8 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, the 57-year-old PayPal confounder was one of the first Silicon Valley leaders to espouse conservative views.

Here's a guide to his influence in Washington, which stretches far beyond the walls of his mansion.

A representative for Thiel did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

• Since law school, JD Vance's wife has been tight-lipped about her political beliefs.
• Usha Vance was a registered Democrat until 2014 and worked at what some consider a progressive law firm.
• Vance has said she has "not given a ton of thought" to the issues she'd focus on as second lady.

Usha Vance's classmates at Yale Law School didn't know much about her politics. Weeks before she becomes second lady, the nation doesn't know much, either.

"She was more tight-lipped, at least in my experience, with her political views," said Marvin Lim, a Democrat in the Georgia House of Representatives who also graduated in 2013. He wasn't close with either of the Vances, but said that they "certainly communicated a great deal."

"I don't remember ever having a political conversation with Usha," Elliot Forhan, a Democrat representative in Ohio who took a small class with Usha but wasn't close friends with her, said. "She just didn't really show her cards with respect to the political stuff."

Vance, 38, will make history as the nation's first Indian American and first Hindu second lady. She'll also be the second-youngest person to fill the role, after Jane Hadley Barkley, wife of former Vice President Alben Barkley in 1949.

Usha Chilukuri met JD Vance while at Yale Law School. The two were in the same small group of approximately 15 students who take all of their classes together, the New York Times reported. They got married in 2014, one year after graduating, and Lim said that their affection for each other was obvious. Less obvious, however, is Usha Vance's political orientation and relationship to the newfound national spotlight.

Vance grew up in a suburb of San Diego, raised by a mechanical engineer and a biologist. One of her family friends, Vikram Rao, told The Times that she was a natural and kind leader, selecting what games they played and setting the rules by age five.

After getting her undergraduate degree from Yale, she studied copyright law at Cambridge. In February of 2006, a campus tabloid magazine at Yale described her "as "of the leftish political persuasion," but noted that she opted for romantic partners who are "tall, handsome, and conservative." One of her friends at Cambridge, Gabriel Winant, said that her social circle was left of center and even dotted with the occasional leftist, the Times reported.

While her political views weren't recognizable to casual peers at Yale Law School, her leadership was evident. Both Forhan and Lim said that she wasn't particularly loud in class, but didn't fade into the background, either. Her drive didn't seem to extend to politics.

"She didn't express political ambitions, but she did have ambition," Lim told Business Insider, noting that she went on to have prestigious judicial clerkships after graduation. "We knew those were things she wanted to do, but not political ambitions."

A representative for Usha Vance declined to comment for this story.

From a 'woke' law firm to conservative clerkships, Vance's political orientations remained murky after law school.

After graduating from law school, Vance clerked for a pre-SCOTUS Brett Kavanaugh from 2014-2015 and Chief Justice John Roberts from 2017-2018. In addition, she worked at the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson, but resigned on Monday when her husband became the GOP nominee for vice president. The law firm has since removed her biography, and with it all of her past cases, though the website used to describe her as "a skilled litigator specializing in higher education, local government, and technology sectors."

The magazine The American Lawyer described Munger, Tolles & Olson as "cool, woke" in 2019, with a "radically progressive" policy on gender and racial diversity in hiring, Vanity Fair reported. Despite his wife's workplace environment, JD Vance championed the "Dismantle DEI Act" in June, 2024, calling the DEI agenda "destructive." In 2022, two colleagues at the firm described Usha Vance as liberal or moderate to The Times.

To make her political affiliations even murkier, Vance was a registered Democrat until 2014, The Times reported. Yet she shifted to the right alongside her husband — in 2021, Federal Election Commission records reveal that she donated to Blake Masters, a conservative Senate candidate in Arizona backed by tech billionaire Peter Thiel. And Thiel has known JD Vance since at least 2011, when the tech magnate spoke at Yale. In 2024, Thiel was instrumental in cementing Vance's spot on the Trump ticket.

Vance hasn't always seemed eager to be center stage.

When JD Vance was himself running for Senate, Usha Vance appeared in his very first campaign ad, sitting in front of a bookshelf and talking about their three children. In an interview with Newsmax during the campaign, she said that her husband has not changed in the many years of their relationship.

After her initial appearance, Vance largely faded out of her husband's campaign, but became more active as voting day neared. The same was true of this year's presidential election: Vance introduced her husband at the Republican National Convention, but didn't speak at other public campaign events, ABC reported. She helped behind the scenes, assisting with debate prep and offering feedback on rallies, according to NBC News.

In an interview on Fox & Friends in June, Usha Vance seemed ambivalent about taking on a public political role. During the conversation, she didn't wholly embrace the possibility of becoming the second lady.

"I don't know that anyone is ever ready for that kind of scrutiny," she said. "I'm not raring to change anything about our lives are right now, but I believe in JD and I really love him, so we'll just sort of see what happens."

She declined to specify what issues she would tackle in the White House, saying that "we might be getting a little ahead of ourselves."

Vance has consistently defended her husband in the face of controversy, like when she called his infamous childless cat ladies comment a "quip."

As the election inched closer, Vance remained vague about her personal political plans.

"This is such an intense and busy experience that I have not given a ton of thought to my own roles and responsibility," she told NBC News in late October when asked what she'd focus on as second lady. "It's just something that I've never really — it's not something I'm terribly familiar with."

Vance went on to say that she'd "collect some information" and circle back to the question after November 5, depending on the election results. With the results in, she has yet share any specific plans.

While Usha Vance's political orientations and interest in life as a national figure remain foggy, her devotion to her husband has seemed strong since her days at Yale Law School.

"In terms of political beliefs, she held that close to her chest, but in terms of being supportive of JD, that does not surprise me," Lim said.

• During his first term, Trump threatened tariffs while renegotiating trade with Mexico and Canada.
• Now, his promise to slap a 25% tariff on all imports from the countries strikes a similar chord.
• Scott Bessent, Trump's pick for treasury secretary, has called tariffs a "negotiating tool."

President-elect Donald Trump helped pen business advice in his 1987 book "The Art of the Deal" that's been reflected in his posture on tariffs, from his first term to today: "Leverage: don't make deals without it."

Trump announced on Monday that he planned to use an executive order on his first day in office to impose a 25% tariff on all goods from Mexico and Canada. He said in a post on Truth Social that the tariffs "will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!"

While Trump promised to implement harsh tariffs throughout the campaign, actions from his first term suggest that the sweeping threat — which has reverberated throughout global markets and vulnerable sectors like the auto industry — might be a version of his long-favored "leverage."

In June 2019, Trump threatened tariffs against Mexico if the country didn't alter its immigration system, which it eventually did.

"That was in a sense analogous to what he's doing now outside of economics when he's talking about fentanyl and he's demanding more control of people coming to the border," Robert Lawrence, a professor of international trade and investment and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told Business Insider. "Were the tariffs the reason the Mexicans became more compliant? I don't know, but he certainly did use that as a threat."

Lawrence said that the threat of tariffs is effective rhetorically right now, particularly for those in the European Union who doubted Trump's willingness to follow through on his word.

Trump also used tariffs as "leverage" when renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, Mark Blyth, a political economist at Brown University, told BI.

Blyth said that Trump is notably unpredictable, and until he steps into the White House again on January 20, people can only speculate about what promises he'll follow through on.

"We're all shadowboxing. We're jumping at the show: 'Look, he's going to do this! He says he's going to do this!'" Blyth said. "He's still got to get in, he's still got to form his Cabinet. He's got to put in these people and then he can do stuff."

A Brookings Institute report said tariffs set important context for the NAFTA renegotiations, and Mexico and Canada likely wouldn't have come to the negotiating table without them. However, the report concluded that using tariffs as leverage does not necessarily result in significantly more favorable trade relations, though they do succeed in getting "other countries' attention."

While financial analysts are taking Trump's threats seriously, some banking leaders seem to think that Trump's most recent tariff threat is a continuation of his past negotiation tactics.

"This is President Trump's negotiating style: step one, punch in the face, step two, let's negotiate," Kieran Calder, the head of equity research for Asia at Union Bancaire Privée, said, per Bloomberg.

In a report published Tuesday morning, UBS said that "the timing and narrow focus of the latest threat suggest scope for negotiation." By focusing on non-trade issues — immigration and drugs — Trump is suggesting that the tariffs are transactional, focused more on gaining the upper hand than implementing long-term tariffs, the authors argue.

Luis Costa, the global head of emerging markets strategy at Citi Bank, made a similar point on Squawk Box Europe Tuesday. "To us, it is absolutely obvious that the Trump administration will use tariffs as one important lever to negotiate with Sheinbaum's government," he said, referring to Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum. "It is probably something that is more about negotiation rather than about imposing tariffs."

And Trump's own nominee for treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, published an opinion piece earlier this month arguing that the president-elect uses "tariffs as a negotiating tool with our trading partners."

A spokesperson from the Trump transition team told BI in a statement that "in his first term, President Trump instituted tariffs against China that created jobs, spurred investment, and resulted in no inflation."

• Trump nominated Scott Bessent, a billionaire investor, for Treasury secretary.
• Bessent spent years working for George Soros before founding a hedge fund.
• He's signaled support for many of Trump's proposals, including deregulation and tariffs.

President-elect Donald Trump nominated Scott Bessent, a Wall Street veteran and campaign ally, for Treasury secretary, one of the biggest Cabinet prizes.

Trump made the announcement Friday evening in a Truth Social post after multiple news organizations reported the plans. Trump's spokesperson did not immediately return Business Insider's request for comment.

"Scott is widely respected as one of the World's foremost International Investors and Geopolitical and Economic Strategists," Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding, "we will ensure that no Americans will be left behind in the next and Greatest Economic Boom, and Scott will lead that effort for me, and the Great People of the United States of America."

Bessent, 62, founded and runs the macro hedge fund Key Square Group and emerged as a key economic advisor to Trump on the campaign trail.

Bessent was a top choice for Trump early in the cabinet selection process. He widened his search, however, adding Kevin Warsh and billionaire investor Marc Rowan to the mix after growing frustrated by the "knife fight" jockeying between Bessent and Howard Lutnick over the position, The New York Times reported.

Elon Musk chimed in during that time, throwing his support behind Lutnick for Treasury secretary.

"My view fwiw is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change," Musk wrote.

But Trump nominated Lutnick for commerce secretary on Tuesday. Axios reported Monday that Warsh was eyeing Fed chair in the future.

Bessent's journey to the top tier of the GOP financial world hasn't been entirely linear, though — it includes years working for the liberal philanthropist George Soros and hosting a fundraiser for Al Gore, a former Democratic vice president.

The billionaire investor spent his childhood in South Carolina. His father went bankrupt investing in real estate, which Bessent later said led him to get his first summer job when he was 9 years old, The Wall Street Journal reported. Bessent attended Yale and broke onto the investing scene after working for Soros' first partner, James Rogers. He joined Soros Fund Management in 1991.

By 2011, Bessent was Soros' chief investment officer, and he was instrumental in the fund's hugely successful bets against the British pound and Japanese yen. In 2015, Bessent broke off to start Key Square. He hasn't talked to Soros in years, The Wall Street Journal said.

In 2011, Bessent married his husband, John Freeman, a former New York City prosecutor. They primarily live in Charleston, South Carolina, with their two children. They spend their spare time preserving historic mansions and used to own an 1880s-era house in Southampton, New York.

Despite his nomination that would put him at the center of Trumpworld, Bessent has a somewhat checkered political history. He disagreed with much of the work Soros did through his nonprofit and has primarily donated to Republican candidates, though he's helped Democrats on occasion. In 2000, Bessent held a fundraiser at his home for Gore's presidential bid.

By 2016, Bessent was inching toward Trump, telling people they weren't taking Trump seriously enough as a candidate. After Trump won, Bessent donated $1 million to his inaugural committee. Though Bessent has known Trump's family for decades, the 2024 election brought him closer to the former and future president — Trump has called Bessent "one of the most brilliant men on Wall Street" and "a nice-looking guy." Rather than slam Bessent for his previous connections to Soros, a favorite right-wing punching bag, Trump appears impressed by how successful he was at Soros' firm.

Bessent donated $3 million to Trump-aligned PACs and Republican committees this election cycle. His support extended beyond his pocketbook, as he frequently conferred with campaign officials on economic plans. Known for his interest in niche economic data, Bessent helped draft speeches and write policy proposals for Trump's economic ideas. By the end of the race, Bessent was fully woven into Trump's orbit; he attended the last two rallies and watched from Mar-a-Lago as election results rolled in.

As treasury secretary, Bessent would face a mixed economic landscape. While unemployment is low and the economy is growing at a healthy clip, Americans remain frustrated by high prices and what they see as runaway inflation. Dubbed a "Trump whisperer" by Forbes, Bessent has signaled support for some of Trump's key proposals.

Among Bessent's top priorities is shrinking the country's significant debt, primarily through increasing growth and, in turn, boosting tax revenues. He has also supported Trump's tariffs proposal, telling CNBC that they should be "layered in gradually" to spread out any inflationary impact. At one point, Bessent floated the idea of a shadow Federal Reserve chair — under his theory, Trump would nominate a replacement to lead the central bank before Jerome Powell's term ends in 2026. After facing blowback, Bessent walked back the idea.

Bessent has advised Trump on a "3-3-3 policy," which the Journal described as "cutting the budget deficit to 3% of gross domestic product by 2028, spurring GDP growth of 3% through deregulation, and producing an additional 3 million barrels of oil or its equivalent a day."

On November 10, the Journal published an opinion piece by Bessent that praised Trump's economic vision. The markets, he wrote, were evidently giddy about the former president's return to the White House. Beyond lavishing praise on Trump, he said that the US should slash bank regulations, overhaul the Inflation Reduction Act, and reinvigorate American energy investment.

"Mr. Trump has turned around the economy before, and he is ready to do so again," Bessent said.

• Mick Mulvaney said he doubts Musk can cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, per NYT.
• Mulvaney also told clients he doesn't think Musk will be around long enough to his cuts through.
• Musk and Ramaswamy outlined their cost-cutting plans in a recent opinion piece.

Mick Mulvaney, President-elect Donald Trump's second chief of staff, doubts that Elon Musk will achieve his lofty goal of slashing $2 trillion from the federal budget, sources told the New York Times.

On a recent call with clients of Actum, the lobbying firm where Mulvaney now works, the former Cabinet member told the 70-odd people listening to the call that Musk will soon discover that "going to Mars is easier" than radically reforming the federal budget, according to the Times. Musk founded SpaceX with a goal of colonizing the Red Planet and wore an "Occupy Mars" shirt at a Trump rally in October.

Trump recently appointed Musk the co-lead of the Department of Government Efficiency, along with biotech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy. The two have vowed to slim the federal workforce, "delete" agencies, and fundamentally reshape how the government spends money.

As the former director of the Office of Management and Budget, which prepares the president's budget requests for Congress, Mulvaney has intimate knowledge of how federal spending works. He said on the call that he doesn't anticipate DOGE will successfully implement structural changes to how the federal government conducts business, and doubts that Musk will stay in his upcoming role long enough to see his goals through.

Mulvaney also reportedly predicted that tech executives, including venture capitalist David Sacks and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, will have a big influence on Trump's second-term agenda.

Musk and Ramaswamy outlined their plans for DOGE in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal. They intend to rely on recent Supreme Court rulings, sweeping executive orders, and early retirement incentives, among other measures.

Though doubts prevail, Musk has been known to succeed against all odds in the private sector — both Tesla and SpaceX have rebounded from near financial collapse, making him the richest man in the world. But he's already faced some setbacks in his new government advisory role, such as his failed push to make Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick the nominee for Treasury secretary.

Representatives for Trump and Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

• Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy outlined their vision for sweeping federal budget cuts in an opinion piece.
• DOGE will rely on executive orders and court rulings, instead of Congress, they said.
• They said they'd be "taking aim at" funding for public media and Planned Parenthood.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have outlined their vision for the Department of Government Efficiency in a lengthy op-ed, spelling out how the duo plan to slash government spending.

On Wednesday, Musk and Ramaswamy outlined their vision for DOGE, which Musk previously said would cut $2 trillion from the federal budget.

Their opinion piece, published in the Wall Street Journal, is lengthy and dense, filled with Supreme Court rulings and decades-old statutes. Here are the main takeaways.

DOGE will be staffed by 'small-government crusaders' and work with the Office of Management and Budget.

Since its inception, DOGE has existed as an agency outside of government rather than a department — this way, Musk and Ramaswamy aren't government employees and don't have to divest from their businesses.

The DOGE co-heads re-hash this point in their column, writing that they will "serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees." They are working with Trump's transition team to organize "a lean team of small-government crusaders, including some of the sharpest technical and legal minds in America." DOGE employees will work closely with the Office of Management and Budget, which prepares the president's budget requests for Congress.

Musk and Ramaswamy will be DOGE's main advisors and oversee three categories of reform: "regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions and cost savings."

DOGE will turn to recent Supreme Court rulings as a guide.

Musk and Ramaswamy wrote that their goal for deep reform will be rooted in two Supreme Court rulings.

The pair cited West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, a 2022 Supreme Court ruling in which the court restricted the agency's ability to regulate carbon emissions, and Loper Bright v. Raimondo, a 2024 ruling where the court overturned Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council (1984). The Chevron decision dictated that federal courts should defer to federal agencies in their interpretation of statutes; in overturning it, the Supreme Court stripped agencies of significant power.

Musk and Ramaswamy said in the opinion piece that the rulings from the court point to regulations that "exceed the authority Congress has granted under the law."

The pair said that rolling back a range of "illicit" regulations would create economic prosperity in the country. And they wrote that the move would be a major step in remedying what they deem to be "executive overreach."

DOGE will rely heavily on executive action to pursue its cost-cutting agenda.

Musk and Ramaswamy make clear that they won't aim to pass new laws in their roles, meaning they won't have to rely on Congress.

According to their opinion piece, DOGE will work with legal experts working at government agencies to use their interpretation of the rulings to identify which regulations to cut. After determining which regulations are wasteful, DOGE will make their recommendations to Trump, who could then take executive action to "pause" certain rules and begin the process to review and reverse them.

DOGE also plans to go after the federal government's procurement process, which agencies use to get goods and services. Musk and Ramaswamy write that many federal contracts haven't been properly investigated and that broad audits of agencies "during a temporary suspension of payments would yield significant savings."

Musk and Ramaswamy explain how they'll reduce the size of the federal workforce.

Musk and Ramaswamy make it clear that by eliminating federal regulations, there should also be "mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy."

The pair stated that DOGE will work with agencies to identify the minimum number of staffers needed for departments to function and still maintain their effectiveness.

"Employees whose positions are eliminated deserve to be treated with respect, and DOGE's goal is to help support their transition into the private sector," they wrote. "The president can use existing laws to give them incentives for early retirement and to make voluntary severance payments to facilitate a graceful exit."

And Musk and Ramaswamy poured cold water on pandemic-era work-from-home policies as they aim to reform the government's finances.

"Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome," the pair wrote.

Musk and Ramaswamy plan to target public media and Planned Parenthood.

To fulfill its promise of saving taxpayer money through executive action, DOGE plans to "take aim at the $500 billion plus in annual federal expenditures that are unauthorized by Congress or being used in ways that Congress never intended." Though Musk and Ramaswamy don't detail all of the programs they hope to target, the two mention the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Planned Parenthood, along with other "progressive groups."

Congress created the CPB in 1967. It is the single biggest funding source for public radio, television, and online services, largely for local public media stations. Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio each receive some of their funding from the CPB.

Musk and Ramaswamy address critiques about spending goals and executive overreach.

Since DOGE was announced, critics have questioned whether Musk's previously stated goal of cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget is feasible, particularly given their limited power without Congress. In 2024, federal spending reached $6.75 trillion, with a combined 45% of it going to health insurance programs, like Medicare, and Social Security.

Musk has a history of overcoming steep odds in the private sector. Both Tesla and SpaceX have survived near-financial ruin to become wildly successful, partly because Musk has bet on industries others deem too risky to touch.

The co-heads face the critiques head on, writing that any claims of executive overreach are unfounded. Instead, they say they will "be correcting the executive overreach of thousands of regulations promulgated by administrative fiat" by applying their Supreme Court interpretations. According to their stated logic, a future president would need to pass a law to reinstate any regulations that Trump scraps.

Critics have also pointed to the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 as a potential roadblock for the agency; the statute requires the president to spend funds that Congress has appropriated. Musk and Ramaswamy note that Trump has implied that the statute is unconstitutional and predict that the Supreme Court would agree. Regardless of the statute's future, DOGE plans to move forward with its mission.

Musk and Ramaswamy argue that questions about entitlement programs like Medicare "deflects attention from the sheer magnitude of waste, fraud and abuse," but don't specifically address that critique otherwise.

DOGE will end by July 4, 2026.

Musk and Ramaswamy wrote that they expect to "prevail" in their fight to enact sweeping governmental reforms.

And they emphasized that it's their objective for DOGE to be phased out by July 4, 2026.

"There is no better birthday gift to our nation on its 250th anniversary than to deliver a federal government that would make our Founders proud," the DOGE co-heads wrote.

Representatives for Musk and Trump did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment; a representative for Ramaswamy declined the request.

• In the two weeks since the election, Elon Musk and Donald Trump have been pretty much inseparable.
• Musk spent at least $119 million to boost Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.
• The Tesla CEO is set to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency in Trump's second term.

It's been two weeks since President-elect Donald Trump won another four years in the White House. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been by his side for much of that time.

Over the past fourteen days, Musk has hopped on the phone with at least two two foreign leaders, been tapped to lead his own government-efficiency commission, offered advice to Trump's transition team, and hunkered down at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago club.

Musk also joined Trump at a meeting with House Republicans on November 13, sitting in the front row as the president-elect spoke.

"Elon won't go home," Trump said jokingly, two lawmakers in the room told NBC News. "I can't get rid of him."

Here's a look at Trump and Musk's whirlwind post-election partnership in photos, from boxing matches to golf games, with an eye on governing in between.