In selecting the congressman, Trump passed over some of the more established attorneys whose names had been mentioned as being contenders for the job.

“Matt will end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department,” Trump said in a statement.

Trump’s pick of Gaetz comes as the House Ethics Committee is still investigating allegations that he was part of a scheme that led to the sex trafficking of a 17-year-old girl. The committee said its review now includes whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct. Gaetz has categorically denied all the allegations before the committee.

The Justice Department in 2023 ended a sex trafficking case against Gaetz with no charges against him.

Outgoing national security adviser Jake Sullivan doesn’t have the same worldview as Rep. Mike Waltz, the Florida congressman that Trump has tapped to take on the same role in the incoming administration. But Sullivan said he certainly respects him.

“He’s somebody that I have engaged with in the past,” Sullivan told reporters about Waltz. “I respect his service to this country in uniform. He’s put his life on the line. I respect his service in Congress. He and I obviously don’t see eye to eye on every issue, but I am very much looking forward to engaging him over these next 60 days.”

Trump has chosen Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic member of Congress and presidential candidate, to serve as director of national intelligence, continuing to stock his Cabinet with loyal personalities complimentary to his own, rather than long-term professionals in their requisite fields.

“As a former Candidate for the Democrat Presidential Nomination, she has broad support in both Parties - She is now a proud Republican!” Trump said in a statement. “I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community, championing our Constitutional Rights, and securing Peace through Strength. Tulsi will make us all proud!”

Gabbard would come to the role as somewhat of an outsider compared to her predecessor, Avril Haines who was confirmed by the Senate in 2021 following several years in top national security and intelligence positions.

Gabbard hasn’t worked directly in the intelligence community, though has served on House committees including two years on the Homeland Security Committee. Like others, she has been among Trump’s most popular political surrogates.

In naming Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as his nominee for secretary of state, Trump has set up a onetime critic who evolved into one of the president-elect’s fiercest defenders to become the nation’s top diplomat.

The conservative lawmaker is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump’s running mate this summer.

On Capitol Hill, Rubio is the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He has pushed for taking a harder line against China and has targeted social media app TikTok because its parent company is Chinese. He and other lawmakers contend that Beijing could demand access to the data of users whenever it wants.

“He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Trump said of Rubio in a statement.

Trump made the announcement while flying back to Florida from Washington after meeting with President Joe Biden.

President-elect Donald Trump spoke on the phone today with Sen. John Thune, who is fresh off being elected as the next Senate majority leader.

“Senate Republicans are excited and ready to get to work implementing President Trump’s agenda on behalf of the American people,” Thune said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Thune has had his differences with Trump, but reconnected with the president-elect earlier this spring as he launched a bid to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell atop the Senate Republican Conference. And in the days before the internal GOP leadership election, Thune stressed his commitment to working with Trump.

Trump told The New York Post that he and Biden discussed two issues they disagree on: Ukraine and Israel’s war against Hamas.

“I wanted — I asked for his views and he gave them to me,” Trump told the newspaper after the meeting. “Also, we talked very much about the Middle East, likewise. I wanted to know his views on where we are and what, what he thinks. And he gave them to me, he was very gracious.”

Biden strongly backs Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion and has repeatedly said he supports Israel’s right to defend itself.

Trump has promised to end the war in Ukraine quickly and has said the Biden administration isn’t doing enough to support Israel against Hamas and its other enemies.

President Joe Biden has made clear he wants to work with President-elect Donald Trump on efforts to bring the remaining hostages held in Gaza home.

“We are very much willing to do so, and we’ve sent a signal to the incoming team that we’re prepared to work with them on this issue,” White House national security Jake Sullivan told reporters shortly after Biden and Trump met in the Oval Office.

Biden is scheduled to meet at the White House with families of American hostages still held in Gaza on Wednesday afternoon. Sullivan held his own meeting with hostage families on Tuesday.

The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, isn’t saying whether the issue of Trump snubbing Biden four years ago came up when they met.

She answered questions about it by saying, “We want to move forward.”

She did say that Trump was “gracious” and “came with a detailed set of questions.” She declined to give details about his questions but repeated that the nearly two-hour meeting was “substantive.”

Jean-Pierre says the length of the meeting “tells you that they had an in-depth conversation on an array of issues.”

After failing to win reelection four years ago in 2020, Trump declined to host Biden for a meeting like today’s.

Elaine Duke, a former deputy secretary of Homeland Security early in Trump’s first administration, hopes the agency’s immigration responsibilities don’t dominate its mission.

Speaking to the National Immigration Forum, an organization that promotes the value of immigration in America, she said, “We have to make sure that immigration doesn’t take over the money and the resources and the rhetoric to the point that these other missions suffer and therefore our country suffers.”

Homeland Security is the key federal agency responsible for border security and immigration but the sprawling department also includes the Secret Service, FEMA and lots more.

Trump is nominating South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to head DHS.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says Biden and Trump had a “substantive meeting” for about two hours in the Oval Office.

She says they talked about domestic and foreign policy issues, and that Biden also raised important issues on Congress’ to-do list, such as funding the government and providing disaster relief money.

Biden also stressed to Trump that the transition will be orderly and there will be a peaceful transfer of power.

Democratic governors and state attorneys general are dusting off the playbooks from their offices’ pushback against President-elect Donald Trump’s policies, but they know it could be a harder battle in his second time in office.

Trump’s campaign promises included mass deportations of people in the country illegally, and his history includes rolling back environmental regulations and setting the stage for state abortion bans by nominating three new Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade.

All of that is putting liberals on edge — and believing that an organized resistance is necessary. Democratic state officials are positioning themselves to carry it out.

▶ Read more about Democrat-led states’ reaction to Trump’s reelection

Maine’s elections chief, a former civil liberties attorney who sparred with President-elect Donald Trump over ballot access, is acting like a play-by-play sports announcer as she describes the state’s process of determining a congressional winner through ranked choice voting.

Shenna Bellows is spending the week streaming the effort live on YouTube and answering questions in real time.

“We hope that when people see it for themselves, they will believe that our elections do have integrity, that they’re free and fair. And then maybe they’ll have a little more trust in the election officials who are working so hard to make these elections happen,” Secretary of State Shenna Bellows told The Associated Press.

Democratic Rep. Jared Golden led Republican challenger Austin Theriault by about 2,000 first-place votes after nearly 400,000 ballots were cast in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, but neither got more than 49%, so the ranked choice process will reallocate other votes to determine a majority, her office announced.

▶ Read more about the Maine House race

President Joe Biden will hold talks Saturday with China’s Xi Jinping on the sidelines of an international summit in Peru, a face-to-face meeting that comes as Beijing braces for Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

A senior Biden administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity ahead of the formal announcement, confirmed plans for the meeting to take place while the two leaders are in Lima for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. That will come just over two months before Trump’s inauguration.

During his campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump promised to slap blanket 60% tariffs on all Chinese exports to the U.S., a move that would jolt the already tumultuous relationship between Beijing and Washington.

▶ Read more about the U.S.-China relationship

Republican Scott Baugh has conceded in his race against Democrat Dave Min in a Southern California U.S. House district, ending his bid to seize the seat being vacated by Democratic Rep. Katie Porter.

The Associated Press has not yet declared a winner because thousands of ballots have not yet been counted.

In a post on the social media platform X on Tuesday night, Baugh said “despite running a strong campaign … that effort is going to come up a little short.”

The 47th District in Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles, was a top target for national Republicans looking to protect and possibly expand the party’s narrow majority in the chamber.

▶ Read more about the House race in California

Republicans have elected South Dakota Sen. John Thune as the next Senate majority leader, completing a momentous shift in their leadership that elevates a top deputy of Sen. Mitch McConnell into a key position as President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.

Thune, who’s 63 and in his fourth Senate term, has promised to work closely with Trump despite differences the two have had over the years. Thune will be a crucial part of the incoming president’s efforts to push through his policy agenda.

He beat out two other competitors, Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida, by gaining majority support from GOP senators in a secret ballot vote.

Republicans are replacing Kentucky’s McConnell, the longest serving Senate party leader, as they prepare to take majority control with the 53 seats they won in last week’s elections.

▶ Read more about Senate Republicans

At the White House, they sat in matching yellow chairs in front of a roaring fireplace.

Biden told Trump his team will “do everything we can to make sure you’re accommodated” and has everything he needs.

“Congratulations and I look forward to having a smooth transition,” Biden said.

Trump responded by saying, “Politics is tough and it’s, uh, in many cases, not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today and I appreciate very much a transition that’s so smooth it’ll be as smooth as it can get. And I very much appreciate that, Joe.”

White House chief of staff Jeff Zients and incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles are attending the meeting.

“He got three standing ovations,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said of Musk.

“Out of everybody, Elon Musk is who (Trump) gave the biggest support for,” Norman said.

Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., described Musk as “such a presence” during the meeting and drew a large crowd of lawmakers around him, though he didn’t get to speak to him personally.

“He’s a bright light in any room he’s in,” Higgins said.

First lady Jill Biden joined President Joe Biden to greet the president-elect when he arrived at the White House.

The White House says the first lady also gave Trump a handwritten letter of congratulations for his wife, Melania, the incoming first lady.

Melania Trump did not go to the White House with her husband for the traditional meeting with the outgoing first lady.

In her letter, Jill Biden expressed her team’s readiness to assist Melania Trump with the transition, the White House said.

Speaker Mike Johnson is beginning the hard fight for his gavel, a weeks-long campaign that starts Wednesday during internal House Republican leadership elections and will establish the new power centers in Congress for a Washington dominated by President-elect Donald Trump.

While Johnson has no serious challenger, he faces dissent within his ranks, particularly from hard-right conservatives and the Freedom Caucus withholding their votes as leverage to extract promises ahead.

The speaker won a welcome endorsement early Wednesday from Trump, who told House Republicans in a morning meeting near the Capitol he was with Johnson all the way, according to a person familiar with the private remarks and unauthorized to publicly discuss them.

The visit was Trump’s first back to Washington after winning the 2024 election and Johnson heaped praise on the president-elect, calling him the “comeback king.”

▶ Read more about House Republicans

As Trump was appearing on Capitol Hill, Biden and first lady Jill Biden hosted educators at the White House to talk about the administration’s work to promote community colleges.

Jill Biden has taught English and writing at community colleges for many years.

At one point she noted that the semester is ending soon and her students are working on their final assignments. Then she said, “Joe and I are also preparing for what’s coming next.”

Biden then made the sign of the cross over himself and smiled. The audience laughed.

Musk, who’s been a fixture of late with Trump, arrived at the GOP conference in Washington just as Trump was coming in to address leaders.

On Tuesday night, Trump said Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy would run a panel focused on government efficiency that would be outside government but advise the White House. It’s not entirely clear how the operation will work.

“We won it every way, all seven swing states by a lot,” he said, speaking to GOP leaders in Washington.

Trump commented on the results in Democratic strongholds like New Jersey and California, declaring that winning in the latter state would be “very doable. It would be really doable if they change the election process.”

Rubio, when asked about it Wednesday, told reporters “those are media reports” and said any news would come from Trump’s transition team.

The Republican Florida senator is a former critic of Trump who’s become one of his fiercest defenders and appeared with him on the campaign trail in the final weeks.

As House Republicans are meeting, two members of Congress trying to come to agreement on border and immigration policy are being honored for their efforts.

Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi of New York and Republican Congressman Morgan Luttrell of Texas began their effort in July.

They were honored Wednesday in Washington by the National Immigration Forum, an organization that promotes the value of immigration in America.