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Vice President-elect JD Vance is seeking to build support among fellow senators for President-elect Donald Trump’s pick of former Republican congressman Matt Gaetz (Florida) as attorney general. Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, is shepherding Gaetz to meetings with colleagues Wednesday as the House Ethics Committee weighed releasing a report on allegations of sex trafficking and illicit drug use by Gaetz. Trump, meanwhile, is continuing to roll out picks for his new administration, including Matthew G. Whitaker, a former acting attorney general, for U.S. ambassador to NATO.

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Column: No Trump administration pick is viewed positively by most Americans

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President-elect Donald Trump’s flurry of announcements about his picks for government (and extra-governmental) positions seems obviously unburdened by consideration of how popular those choices might be. It is not common for a president-elect to identify a number of people with so little experience to fill high-level government positions, certainly. Nor is it common for a president-elect to be so uncertain about the confirmation of those intended nominees — by a Senate his own party controls, mind you — as to approach his inauguration with a plan in place to sidestep the Senate confirmation process.

This is an excerpt from a full story.

18 min ago

Musk, Ramaswamy vow ‘mass head-count reductions’ in U.S. government

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Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy vowed “mass headcount reductions” to the federal government in an opinion piece Wednesday that sketched out their vision for President-elect Donald Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” in the greatest detail so far.

This is an excerpt from a full story.

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1 hour ago

Trump eyes return of Russell Vought to key White House budget post

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President-elect Donald Trump is leaning toward appointing Russell Vought to lead the White House budget office, a move that would return the hard-charging conservative to a critical position in the federal government, according to three people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect private conversations.

This is an excerpt from a full story.

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3:27 p.m. EST

House panel was told Gaetz paid two women $10,000, in part for sex

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House Ethics Committee investigators probing sexual misconduct allegations against former congressman Matt Gaetz obtained records showing that he paid more than $10,000 to two women who testified before the committee, according to a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive material.

This is an excerpt from a full story.

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2:37 p.m. EST

Speaker Johnson restricts use of Capitol bathrooms by transgender people

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House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) said Wednesday that transgender individuals would not be allowed into restroom facilities in the Capitol and House office buildings that do not correspond with their sex assigned at birth, announcing the rule change about two weeks after Democrat Sarah McBride of Delaware became the first openly transgender individual elected to Congress.

This is an excerpt from a full story.

2:28 p.m. EST

Trump, after distancing himself from Project 2025, picks people who worked on it

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In one of his earliest interviews as a leader of Donald Trump’s transition team, Howard Lutnick was emphatic.

“Absolutely zero. No connection. Zero,” Lutnick said on CNBC, referring to ties between the transition team and Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for a second Trump term that had become a political liability for the Republican nominee.

“I won’t take a list from them,” Lutnick added. “I won’t take a topic from them. I won’t touch them. They made themselves nuclear.”

This is an excerpt from a full story.

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12:50 p.m. EST

Senate Democrats request Matt Gaetz case files from the FBI

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Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are asking the FBI to provide all documents related to its closed sex trafficking investigation into Donald Trump’s attorney general pick, former congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), to ensure the material is considered at his confirmation hearing next year.

This is an excerpt from a full story.

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12:25 p.m. EST

Linda McMahon made a fortune with WWE. Wrestling scandals now shadow her rise.

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In the wrestling ring, where the men are bare-chested and the women don’t wear much more, World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon always looked like she was on her way to a Chamber of Commerce meeting: hair perfectly coiffed, wearing statement jewelry and conservative pantsuits.

This is an excerpt from a full story.

11:56 a.m. EST

Trump’s education pick once incorrectly claimed to have education degree

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Linda McMahon, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice as education secretary, incorrectly claimed in 2009 that she had a bachelor’s degree in education on a questionnaire for a Connecticut Board of Education post, according to news reports at the time.

McMahon received a bachelor’s degree in French and a teaching certificate from East Carolina University, according to her alma mater’s announcement that she would deliver the 2018 commencement speech.

This is an excerpt from a full story.

11:36 a.m. EST

GOP senators say RFK Jr. must ‘explain’ vaccine criticism, other views

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Republican senators are poised to decide whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr. becomes the nation’s next health secretary. But in interviews this week, a half-dozen GOP lawmakers said they had questions or outright concerns about his nomination, with several citing his vaccine skepticism, as they weighed whether to vote for him.

This is an excerpt from a full story.

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9:35 a.m. EST

Who is Linda McMahon? Trump donor, WWE co-founder is education secretary pick.

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Linda McMahon, the former head of the Small Business Administration and co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment, has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to run the Education Department, an agency he has threatened to do away with.

“We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead the effort,” Trump said in the announcement.

McMahon, who has donated tens of millions of dollars to Trump’s campaigns, co-chairs his transition team. Here’s what to know about her.

This is an excerpt from a full story.

9:12 a.m. EST

U.S. judge appointed by Trump criticizes ‘blanket pardons’ for Jan. 6

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A federal judge appointed by then-President Donald Trump criticized his broad promise to pardon Jan. 6 riot defendants at the start of his second term, saying that anything approaching wholesale pardons would be “beyond frustrating and disappointing.”

This is an excerpt from a full story.

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8:36 a.m. EST

How Trump’s tariffs could spark a trade war and ‘Europe’s worst economic nightmare’

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The prospect of a trade war ignited by the Trump administration is looming over European capitals. The European Union — which counts the United States as its largest export market and one of its closest strategic allies — could be among those hardest hit if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his tariff plans.

This is an excerpt from a full story.

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7:48 a.m. EST

Analysis: JD Vance’s first tough task

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Vice President-elect JD Vance has been tasked with his first big role as Donald Trump’s second-in-command: helping to confirm Trump’s controversial Cabinet picks.

Vance will be on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, ushering embattled attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz around Senate offices as the House Ethics Committee decides if it will release a report on allegations against Gaetz involving sex trafficking and illicit drug use.

This is an excerpt from a full story.

7:17 a.m. EST

At the end of his term, Biden seizes the day — and avoids reporters

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MANAUS, Brazil — President Joe Biden was in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, unprotected from mosquitoes, fire ants and loud, squawking macaws. But there was another pest he did manage to avoid: the pack of reporters traveling with him.

For a short speech in front of about two dozen people, the journalists were initially instructed to watch Biden on a flat-screen television placed amid sand and lush trees as the president spoke about 50 feet away, though they were eventually moved closer.

This is an excerpt from a full story.

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7:04 a.m. EST

What to know about Dr. Oz, the TV physician Trump tapped to run Medicare

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President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that his pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is Mehmet Oz, better known as Dr. Oz, the former daytime television fixture and failed Republican Senate candidate.

Here’s what to know about the controversial figure.

This is an excerpt from a full story.

6:45 a.m. EST

RFK Jr. wants fluoride out of drinking water. Oregon shows what’s coming.

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LEBANON, Ore. — Longtime denizens of this town of 20,000 recalled widespread tooth decay among children before the city council voted to add fluoride to the drinking water two decades ago. But a group of residents remained unconvinced.

They urged neighbors to do their own research, insisting it would reveal that the mineral embraced for generations to improve oral health was actually a dangerous substance that could harm their organs. They shared photos of corroded pipes and scarred arms.

This is an excerpt from a full story.

6:30 a.m. EST

Trump taps transition co-chair Linda McMahon to be education secretary

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President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday he will nominate his transition co-chair, Linda McMahon, as education secretary, tapping a loyalist, major GOP donor and retired World Wrestling Entertainment executive again to serve in his Cabinet.

This is an excerpt from a full story.

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