President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said he pulled his support for his previous pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, Chad Chronister, “because I did not like what he said to my pastors and other supporters.”

This comes after Chronister said the day before that he had withdrawn from consideration to lead the DEA.

Trump said in a new post on Truth Social on Wednesday, “he didn’t pull out, I pulled him out, because I did not like what he said to my pastors and other supporters.”

Trump appears to be referencing to a time early in the Covid-19 pandemic when Chronister arrested a Tampa-area pastor for defying a local lockdown ordinance and was critical of people continuing to congregate during Covid. Because of this, the announcement of Chronister as Trump’s pick received backlash from the MAGA corner of the Republican Party, which opposed safety measures put in place in response to the pandemic.

The rest of the Truth Social post was Trump complaining about the Wall Street Journal’s coverage of him. Trump pointed to a story the Journal had published about Chronister withdrawing from consideration.

“The Wall Street Journal is becoming more and more obnoxious and unreadable. Today’s main headline is: “Trump’s DEA Pick Pulls Out In Latest Setback.” With all that’s happening in the World, this is their Number One story of the day. Besides, he didn’t pull out, I pulled him out, because I did not like what he said to my pastors and other supporters. But, more importantly, what’s my “latest” setback??? I just won the Presidency of the United States! They haven’t written a good story about me in YEARS. Somebody over there ought to look at what they’re doing. The only one worse than them is stupid, China-centric Forbes Magazine!” Trump posted.

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, told CNN “no” he’s not dropping out despite facing a tough path to confirmation.

He added that Trump still has confidence in him and he’s recently spoken to the president-elect.

Hegseth ignored several questions from reporters as he headed into the Capitol for a meeting with incoming Republican leader John Thune, but did repeat that he is not dropping out of contention to be confirmed to lead the Pentagon as concerns grow about misconduct allegations against him.

“No,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju when he asked if Hegseth would drop out.

Asked by a reporter if he would go on television to address the allegations, he said “already did.”

Asked if Trump is standing behind him, he said “yes.”

This post has been updated with more of Hegseth’s comments.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune said defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth will have to answer “hard questions“ that have been raised about him allegedly drinking excessively and improperly treating women.

Thune is set to meet with Hegseth in his Capitol office in the next hour.

Also, Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said he can’t predict if Hegseth will survive the confirmation process but said the allegations around him prove why it’s important that the Trump transition team entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Justice to do full FBI background checks on Trump‘s nominees.

“I’m not going to make any predictions. Obviously, you know, it demonstrates the importance of vetting these individuals so people know ahead of time what’s out there and rather than be surprised, he said. “So I’m glad that the incoming administration has entered an MOU with FBI to do more comprehensive checks. But I’ve known Pete Hegseth for a long time and I like Pete and I wish him well, but I can’t predict the outcome.”

More on meetings with senators: GOP Sen. Joni Ernst spoke very briefly about her upcoming meeting with Hegseth. She says she looks forward to visiting with him and that their talk will be “thorough”

“I’m looking forward to visiting with him. I think it will be a good meeting,” she said when asked what she needs to hear from him.

Asked if his nomination is viable, she said: “We’re looking forward to visiting with him”

She added later “we are going to have a very through discussion.”

Some Hill Republicans have said they are privately watching for potential alternatives, including Ernst, according to a person familiar with the conversations.

This post has been updated with additional remarks from lawmakers.

The federal judge who oversaw Hunter Biden’s tax case blasted President Joe Biden for trying to “rewrite history” in his justification for pardoning his son.

District Judge Mark Scarsi wrote in a five-page order Tuesday that some of the “representations contained” in Biden’s statement announcing the pardon “stand in tension with the case record.” Scarsi specifically took issue with Biden’s rationale that his son’s tax problems were all caused by his struggle with alcohol and drug addiction.

In the pardon announcement on Sunday night, Biden claimed his son was one of many Americans “who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions.” But, as the judge pointed out, as part of Hunter Biden’s guilty plea, he admitted to not paying his nearly $1.4 million tax debts even after regaining his sobriety, and even though he had the funds to pay.

The judge also rebuked Biden for claiming that his son was “singled out” for prosecution because of political reasons. Earlier this year, Scarsi rejected this exact same argument from Hunter Biden, who wanted the indictment tossed on those grounds. (The judge in Hunter Biden’s gun case in Delaware also rejected the selective-prosecution theory.)

The president’s announcement claimed “no reasonable person” could conclude that this wasn’t a politically motivated prosecution. But Scarsi noted that plenty of Justice Department officials, including the attorney general, oversaw the case and let it go forward — and therefore, “in the president’s estimation, this legion of federal civil servants…are unreasonable people.”

President-elect Donald Trump announced that he has nominated Daniel P. Driscoll of North Carolina to serve as secretary of the Army in his administration.

In two posts on Truth Social, Trump made the case for Driscoll’s qualifications, highlighting his extensive background in military service, education, and political advisory roles.

Trump on Wednesday also said Jared Isaacman, the billionaire founder of payments platform company Shift4, was his pick to be the administrator of NASA.

“Jared will drive NASA’s mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for groundbreaking achievements in Space science, technology, and exploration. Over the past 25 years, as the Founder and CEO of Shift4, Jared has demonstrated exceptional leadership, building a trailblazing global financial technology company,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Trump said Wednesday he had picked Adam Boehler to be his presidential envoy for hostage affairs.

“Adam worked for me as a Lead Negotiator on the Abraham Accords team. He has negotiated with some of the toughest people in the World, including the Taliban, but Adam knows that NO ONE is tougher than the United States of America, at least when President Trump is its Leader. Adam will work tirelessly to bring our Great American Citizens HOME,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Trump on Wednesday said he has asked Michael Whatley to again serve as chairman of the Republican National Committee for another campaign cycle.

“He is a smart, tough lawyer who put together a completely unprecedented ELECTION INTEGRITY OPERATION that protected the Vote all across America, and a GET OUT THE VOTE CAMPAIGN that delivered the Votes we needed in every Battleground State. Michael and Lara transformed the RNC into a lean, focused, and powerful machine that will empower the America First Agenda for many years to come,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer of South Dakota said Wednesday that he would like President-elect Donald Trump’s defense department pick, Pete Hegseth, to commit to abstaining from drinking alcohol “at least through his term as secretary.”

Cramer’s son Isaac suffered from liver and kidney failure as a result of alcohol addiction. He died in 2018.

Trump’s transition team was blindsided by the 2017 sexual assault allegation against Hegseth — and then again after the related police report surfaced. As an avalanche of media reports on Hegseth’s alleged past transgressions have emerged, the patience of many in Trump’s orbit has grown thin.

Cramer, reiterated any personal issues “have to be in the past forever and I look to be convinced.”

Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Defense, said he spoke to the president-elect earlier this morning who encouraged him to continue “fighting” as he faces an uphill battle to be confirmed to the role in the Senate.

Hegseth told CBS News as he arrived at the US Capitol for meetings with senators on Wednesday that Trump told him he’s continuing to support his nomination. Hegseth also said he has no plans to withdraw his nomination as some Republican senators have signaled concern over his fitness for the top Pentagon role amid allegations of sexual assault and mistreatment of women.

When asked about reports that Trump is considering replacing his nomination of Hegseth with someone else, potentially Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Hegseth shared details about his conversation with Trump.

“I spoke to the president-elect this morning,” Hegseth said as he arrived at the Capitol. “He said, ‘Keep going, keep fighting, behind you all the way.’”

When asked if he planned to withdraw his nomination, Hegseth pointed to his planned meetings about his nomination with Republican senators today.

“We’re meeting all day with senators,” he said.

The mother of Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the Department of Defense, said she regrets sending a 2018 email to her son accusing him of mistreating women.

She is now urging women senators to support Hegseth in his embattled confirmation fight.

Penelope Hegseth said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday that her son is “redeemed, forgiven, changed” in the seven years since she wrote an email recently published by the New York Times in which she said there are “many” women whom he has “abused in some way” and said her son is the right person to lead the Pentagon under the incoming Trump administration.

She explained her decision to write the email by saying she wrote it “as a parent” and with “deep emotions” amid her son’s divorce, and said she wrote an apology email to her son later that same day.

“I’m sure many of you across the country understand how difficult divorce is on a family. There’s emotions. We say things, and– I wrote that in haste. I wrote that with deep emotions. I wrote that as a parent,” Penelope Hegseth said. “Pete and I are both very passionate people. I wrote that out of love, and about two hours later, I retracted it with an apology email.”

“I don’t believe any of that is true, any of it. And I’m here, I wouldn’t be sitting on this– in this chair today, if I did believe that about my son,” she added.

Penelope Hegseth denied that her son mistreats women and resisted delving into the specific accusations she made in her 2018 email, saying that he “doesn’t misuse women.”

“He’s been through some difficult things. I’m not going to list them by name, but I would just say that some of those, some of those attachments or descriptions, are just not true, especially anymore,” she said.

At multiple times in the interview, Penelope Hegseth encouraged female senators to ignore the accusations about her son’s treatment of women as he faces a tough confirmation battle. Hegseth is expected to meet with several Republican senators on Capitol Hill today, including Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst.

“I just hope people will– will get to know who Pete is today, especially our dear female senators, that you would listen to him, listen with your heart to the truth of Pete,” she added.

The Biden administration is determined “to spend every cent” in available funding for Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday at his last NATO foreign ministerial as top US diplomat.

Speaking ahead of a likely significant change in Ukraine policy under the incoming Trump administration, Blinken said he is trying “to give the incoming administration the strongest hand to play” on Ukraine and across the board.

Blinken emphasized that Ukraine must be allowed to make its own decisions about its future.

He said that NATO had continued “coordinating to ensure that Ukraine has the money, the munitions and the mobilized forces to fight as necessary through next year, or to be able to negotiate, but from a position of strength.”

“What we’re working to do in the time that we have left is to give Ukraine, to give our own country, to give all the allies and partners that support Ukraine the strongest possible hand to use next year and beyond,” he said.

“If Ukraine determines that it needs to continue the fight, we want to make sure it has what it needs to continue that fight – the money, the munitions, the mobilized forces” he said. “If it chooses to engage in a negotiation – and that assumes, of course, that Putin and Russia have any intent of doing that – then again, we want to make sure it’s from a position of strength.”

Donald Trump is in danger of losing another one of his provocative Cabinet picks in a further blow to his bid to shake up Washington in his second term.

The president-elect is facing a decision about how much his heart is set on former Fox News anchor and veteran Pete Hegseth to run the Pentagon.

Hegseth’s candidacy ran into stiff headwinds on Tuesday, amid increasing disquiet among some GOP senators about allegations concerning his treatment of women, drinking and capacity to run the US military behemoth.

A handful of Republican senators publicly said that Hegseth needed to answer questions about his alleged conduct — and possible alternatives for secretary of defense were being floated by sources close to Trump.

Hegseth’s hopes appear to be ebbing ahead of a Fox News interview scheduled for Wednesday. A senior Trump administration source told CNN’s Jake Tapper late Tuesday night that “tomorrow is going to be absolutely critical.” The source suggested that Hegseth hadn’t been forthcoming with the Trump team about his past behavior involving women and alcohol.

Trump’s criteria for picking Cabinet secretaries seems to depend on how willing they’ll be to do exactly what he wants — in this case, to root out what he regards as “woke” generals — and how good they look on TV. But Trump’s subordinates enter a danger zone when they begin to come across as beleaguered and besieged and reflect poorly on him. That’s what happened to short-lived attorney general pick Matt Gaetz last month, and Hegseth risks entering similar territory.

Read Collinson’s full analysis.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is interested in serving in Donald Trump’s administration as defense secretary if formally offered the job, two sources close to DeSantis told CNN.

DeSantis is one of a handful of individuals that have been floated to Trump as potential replacements for embattled nominee Pete Hegseth.

Trump’s consideration of DeSantis for Defense Secretary — and the Florida governor’s subsequent interest — marks a stunning pivot in a relationship that soured in recent years. Trump viewed DeSantis as a disloyal former ally for jumping into the GOP race for president when it was well-known the former president intended to run again.

The bad blood continued throughout the primary, as Trump assembled a team of disgruntled former DeSantis operatives to oversee his third White House bid — including co-campaign manager Susie Wiles — and picked up broad support from members of Florida’s congressional delegation who often felt ignored by their own governor.

But on Tuesday, Trump and DeSantis both attended a memorial service for fallen Florida deputies in Palm Beach County — a rare joint public appearance for two men who have barely spoken since their acrimonious primary came to an end. A source close to both men told CNN that during the day, the two also discussed DeSantis potentially replacing Hegseth as Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, should the former Fox News host ultimately falter.

As recently as last month, DeSantis previously brushed aside questions about serving in a Trump administration. During an address to Notre Dame shortly after Trump’s victory, he said Trump has “a lot of great people to choose from … For me, I’m not seeking anything. I’ve got a great job in the state of Florida.”

“How can I best make a difference,” DeSantis said. “Given where we are, me quarterbacking the Sunshine State is probably how I make the biggest difference.”

However, the political calculus for the Republican has shifted in recent weeks as Trump has asserted his dominance over the state DeSantis leads. Trump has filled his government in recent weeks with Florida nominees, leaving DeSantis to deal with the political fallout amid pressure from Trump allies to do the president-elect’s bidding. That includes a public push to name Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump as a replacement for Sen. Marco Rubio, who has been tapped as Secretary of State.

DeSantis also still harbors ambitions of running for president again — a prospect that, for the moment, appears clouded by Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the heir-apparent to lead the next generation of the MAGA movement in 2028. Facing two more years as a lame duck governor of Florida before he is second and final term expired, and with no clear path to staying relevant in Trump’s GOP, DeSantis has grown increasingly comfortable with the idea of serving in the Trump administration.

Still, it’s not clear DeSantis is the front-runner to replace Hesgeth. Many of the president-elect’s key advisers remain on poor terms with the Florida governor and have plenty of firepower to influence Trump against elevating DeSantis to such a critical job. To this day, DeSantis supporters frequently clash online with Trump’s vast world of MAGA influencers on X. And unlike other Republicans, DeSantis did little publicly to assist Trump during his hard-fought bid for the White House and the two even took opposing positions on a Florida ballot referendum to legalize marijuana.

This post has been updated with additional details.

The nomination of Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense is in trouble, a senior Trump transition source told CNN Tuesday evening.

“He has not been forthright with the Transition team staff and the President-elect and Vice President-elect,” the senior Trump transition source said of the reporting about allegations about Hegseth’s behavior involving women and alcohol. “He has hurt a lot of people as a result. He didn’t disclose anything.”

As a result of the reports and allegations, Donald Trump’s allies involved in the transition process have been compiling a list of alternative candidates for Secretary of Defense in recent days in the event Hegseth’s road to confirmation appears destined to implode, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.

Per sources, the names under consideration include:

Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee

CNN has reached out to representatives for Ernst, DeSantis and Hagerty.

People involved in Trump transition planning for the Pentagon started floating other options after the first allegations about Hegseth surfaced, driven in large part by concerns that he could face a similar “math problem” as former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who withdrew his name as Trump’s pick for attorney general after facing headwinds in the Senate.

Hegseth and his mom on Fox News: In a sign of how seriously the transition team is taking their concerns, Hegseth is expected to sit for an interview with Fox News today, two people familiar confirmed to CNN. It’s unclear if the interview is scheduled to air today as well.

Separately, Hegseth’s mother is also expected to be interviewed on Fox and Friends today, according to two people.

More context: No Republicans have said they will not support Hegseth, but even some of the GOP senators closest to Trump, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, are now wondering whether Hegseth can survive the tightrope walk to confirmation, sending an ominous signal for the incoming White House. Hegseth will need to limit defections to three GOP senators, assuming all Democrats vote against him, and there are already more than three senators who are uncertain if they’ll back him.

Here are other developments:

Hillsborough Florida County Sheriff Chad Chronister withdrew his name from consideration to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The Trump-Vance Transition team has formally entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Department of Justice, according to a statement from Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff. This agreement outlines the terms of cooperation between the transition team and the DOJ, marking a significant step in the preparation of the incoming administration.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will speak to Republican House and Senate members on Thursday afternoon, according to a notice distributed by Speaker Mike Johnson’s office on Tuesday. The meeting — which will center on Trump’s new agency, Department of Government Efficiency — will take place at 3 p.m. ET in the congressional auditorium.

The Trump-Vance Transition team formally entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Department of Justice, according to a statement from Susie Wiles, President-elect Donald Trump’s chief of staff.

This agreement outlines the terms of cooperation between the transition team and the DOJ, marking a significant step in the preparation of the incoming administration.

The memorandum also paves the way for the Trump team to seek FBI background checks on Trump’s appointees.

CNN previously reported that the transition team was using private companies to conduct vetting of potential candidates and not going through traditional FBI screenings for at least some of its nominees. It is still unclear how many of Trump’s Cabinet picks will be submitted for FBI background checks going forward.

The move comes after complaints from GOP senators that the delay in signing the memorandum could delay the confirmation process of Trump’s nominees.

“This agreement with the Department of Justice will ensure President Trump and his team are ready on Day 1 to begin enacting the America First Agenda that an overwhelming majority of our nation supported on Election Day,” Wiles said.

In addition, the MOU grants the transition team enhanced access to critical information from federal agencies, allowing for more effective preparation as they take on the challenges and responsibilities of governing.