White House news

• Gaetz says he will not return to Congress

  22-11-2024 18:35 via thehill.com
  
  Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said Friday he will not return to Congress after resigning his House seat last week, despite withdrawing Thursday from consideration to be President-elect Trump’s attorney general — but added that he is “not going anywhere.”“I'm still going to be in the fight, but it's going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” Gaetz told conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, later adding that is a &ld
  
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• Republicans ask for investigation into federal funding for Planned Parenthood

  22-11-2024 22:37 via thehill.com
  
  A group of more than 100 Republican lawmakers is asking for an investigation into the amount of federal funding that has been awarded to health centers that also provide abortion, including Planned Parenthood. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), as well as House Pro-Life Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), led a letter to the Government Accountability Office on Friday, asking for a report on the funding sent to the groups over the past three years. The lawmakers noted the GAO has p
  
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• ‘Three-way tie:’ Trump Treasury pick hanging in limbo

  22-11-2024 21:57 via thehill.com
  
  President-elect Trump has spent recent days in meetings with potential picks to be his Treasury secretary but so far a final decision is hanging in the balance.Marc Rowan, Apollo Global Management co-founder, Kevin Warsh, a former member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and Scott Bessent, Key Square Group founder, all traveled to Palm Beach this week to meet with the president-elect, two sources familiar with the transition told The Hill.The meetings included Trump and members of his t
  
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• Melania Trump names longtime aide as East Wing chief of staff

  22-11-2024 21:43 via thehill.com
  
  Incoming first lady Melania Trump has named her longtime aide Hayley Harrison as her East Wing chief of staff.“Mrs. Harrison has maintained an integral role and exceptional leadership on the First Lady’s team over the past seven years. She has a strong understanding of White House operations, and as Chief of Staff, Mrs. Harrison will oversee and manage the East Wing’s team while strategically liaising with other parts of government,” Melania Trump’s office said Frid
  
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• Gallagher not interested in serving as SEC chair in second Trump administration

  22-11-2024 21:16 via thehill.com
  
  Dan Gallagher, chief legal officer at the financial services firm Robinhood, said Friday that he is not interested in chairing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in President-elect Trump’s second administration. “It is always an honor to have your name in the mix for an incredibly important job like SEC Chairman,” Gallagher said in a statement. “However, I have made it clear that I do not wish to be considered for this position.”  “I am com
  
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• Fetterman on Oz confirmation vote: 'I never committed to a yes'

  22-11-2024 20:34 via thehill.com
  
  Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman (D) said he wasn’t completely sold on his vote to support Dr. Mehmet Oz after President-elect picked his former political rival to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).“Freakouts are rarely illuminating. I never committed to a yes, just an open dialogue lol,” he wrote Friday on social platform X in a response to a Slate article criticizing him for backing Republican-led initiatives in recent years. “Math is math:
  
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• Jordan signals ongoing probes into Garland, Mayorkas on border

  22-11-2024 20:32 via thehill.com
  
  House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) fired off letters to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Friday, signaling hisintention to continue investigations into the Biden administration's handling of the border.“This letter serves as a formal request to preserve all existing and future records and materials related to the Biden-Harris Administration’s enforcement of federal immigration law,” Jordan wrote in letters to e
  
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• Trump expected to name Kelly Loeffler for Agriculture secretary

  22-11-2024 20:15 via thehill.com
  
  President-elect Trump is expected to name former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) to serve as secretary of Agriculture, a source close to the transition told The Hill.Loeffler is currently the co-chair of Trump’s second inaugural committee, ahead of the January 2025 swearing in, along with real estate mogul Steve Witkoff.Loeffler briefly represented Georgia in the Senate after being appointed in 2019 following the resignation of former Sen. Johnny Isakson. She lost an election bid to the seat i
  
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• What to know about Pam Bondi, Trump's attorney general pick

  22-11-2024 20:06 via thehill.com
  
  President-elect Trump again turned to a loyalist in tapping former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead the Department of Justice.Trump named his choice just hours after former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Thursday withdrew from consideration, his nomination plagued by allegations that he had sexual relations with a minor, which he denies. The announcement about Bondi garnered immediate enthusiasm from numerous key Senate Republicans, a sign she could face an easier path to confirmatio
  
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• 53 percent approve of Trump plans: Pew survey

  22-11-2024 18:42 via thehill.com
  
  Over half of the country approves of President-elect Trump’s plans and policies for his upcoming second term in the White House, according to a new Pew Research Center survey released on Friday. The poll found that 53 percent of Americans at least “somewhat” or “strongly” approve of the president-elect’s plans for the future. Some 46 percent disproved. The respondents have expressed confidence in how Trump will handle the economy, foreign policy, imm
  
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• Warren: Trump risks national security by not cooperating with Biden administration on transition

  22-11-2024 18:22 via thehill.com
  
  Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is warning that President-elect Trump is putting national security at risk by refusing to sign memoranda of understanding with the Biden White House and federal departments and agencies to allow the transition power to proceed smoothly and give Trump and his team access to classified information.“President-elect Donald Trump is undermining his own ability to effectively manage national security emergencies, urgent public health and safety threats, and corrup
  
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• Mace sells merchandise off transgender bathroom bill

  22-11-2024 17:34 via thehill.com
  
  Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is using publicity from her legislation to prevent transgender women from using women's restroom facilities in federal buildings to sell merchandise to her followers on the social platform X. Mace in a post on X is advertising T-shirts for $35.The post shows a photo of Mace next to T-shirts with the words “come and take it” below a picture of a women's bathroom sign. On the back it reads “Mace for Congress.”“Every purchase will help FU
  
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• Crockett lays into Republicans claiming oppression over DEI

  22-11-2024 17:33 via thehill.com
  
  Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) blasted Republicans who said diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts were oppressing white Americans. During a markup of Rep. Michael Cloud’s (R-Texas) “Dismantle DEI" bill, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) repeatedly referred to DEI policies as “oppression.”But Crockett swiped back, arguing that white men in America have never faced oppression. “It seems you don't understand the definition of oppression,” she
  
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• Can Matt Gaetz return to Congress?

  22-11-2024 17:27 via thehill.com
  
  Now that former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has withdrawn from consideration to be President-elect Trump’s attorney general, questions are swirling about whether he will return to the House — or if he even can.House rules and precedents and the manner in which Gaetz resigned mean he will not be coming back before the end of the year. But whether he can return next year — depending on if he wants to — is unclear.Here are the House rules, precedents and dynamics at play.G
  
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• Biden administration adding dozens of Chinese firms to forced-labor blacklist

  22-11-2024 17:18 via thehill.com
  
  The Biden administration added more than two dozen Chinese companies to its forced labor blacklist Friday in its latest effort to combat the exploitation of China's ethnic Uyghur population.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identified 29 businesses allegedly using forced Uyghur labor in the country’s Xinjiang province to produce goods for industries ranging from agriculture and pharmaceutics to bioscience. President Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLP),
  
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• House members call for classified briefing on Turkey's ties to Hamas

  22-11-2024 17:13 via thehill.com
  
  More than three dozen Democratic and Republican lawmakers are calling on the Biden administration to offer a classified briefing on Turkey’s support for Hamas, raising concerns that the U.S.-designated terrorist group may relocate its headquarters to the NATO-allied country. Lawmakers sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines on Thursday requesting a classified briefing take place to discuss reports that Hamas officials expe
  
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• Trump won't put Mike Rogers at FBI: Scavino

  22-11-2024 17:12 via thehill.com
  
  Dan Scavino, a senior advisor to Donald Trump, said Friday that the president-elect is not planning to install former Rep. Mike Rogers as the head of the FBI.“Just spoke to resident Trump regarding Mike Rogers going to the FBI. It’s not happening — In his own words, “I have never even given it a thought.' Not happening,” Scavino wrote on X.It’s the latest tweet offering insight into Trump’s plans for the FBI, where Director Christopher Wray would otherw
  
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• Slotkin: Washington treating transition as 'a parlor game'

  22-11-2024 16:40 via thehill.com
  
  Sen.-elect Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) said President-elect Trump’s nominations are being treated as a “parlor game” by lawmakers in Washington.“I was a CIA officer. I know very intimately how important these jobs are for keeping us safe from attack. I think that Washington is really treating this as a parlor game right now, but the truth is, if you have someone who doesn't act on really sensitive, important intelligence, Americans can die here and abroad. …,”
  
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• Ocasio-Cortez on Musk, Ramaswamy 'working' with Greene: 'Actually hilarious' 

  22-11-2024 16:27 via thehill.com
  
  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) reacted to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Ga.) appointment to chair a new House Oversight subcommittee that will work in tandem with President-elect Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).Trump earlier this month tapped tech entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the advisory group, which will focus on cutting federal spending and reducing the size of the government.
  “Absolutely dying at those tw
  
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• Scaramucci: Hegseth pick as 'bad' as Gaetz one

  22-11-2024 16:07 via thehill.com
  
  Anthony Scaramucci argued in a new interview that President-elect Trump's choice of ex-Fox News host Pete Hegseth as Defense secretary is as "bad" as his first pick for attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).“I think this is as bad as Gaetz," Scaramucci, who served briefly as White House communications director during Trump's first term,said late Thursday on CNN’s “AC360.” 
  "I think this is less than 50 percent that he gets through,” Scaramucci adde
  
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• McCabe: No part of FBI mission would be safe with Kash Patel in leadership spot

  22-11-2024 15:58 via thehill.com
  
  Former FBI Director Andrew McCabe said the bureau would be endangered if Kash Patel, a former aide to President-elect Trump, is nominated and confirmed to lead the agency."No part of the FBI's mission is safe with Kash Patel in any position of leadership in the FBI, and certainly not in the Deputy Director's job," McCabe told CNN's Kaitlan Collins on Thursday evening, adding that "The scope of authority is enormous.""If you enter into that position with nothing more than a desire to disrupt and
  
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• Kinzinger: Hegseth hearings will be 'pretty brutal' 

  22-11-2024 15:21 via thehill.com
  
  Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said that the hearings to appoint former Fox News host Pete Hegseth as secretary of Defense would be “pretty brutal,” considering the nominee's sexual assault allegations.  “The military's had an issue with sexual assault that they've been trying to address for a number of years, and now you're putting the guy that's potentially guilty of that in charge of the Pentagon,” he said on a Thursday night CNN
  
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• Greene to chair ‘DOGE’ House subcommittee in conjunction with Musk, Ramaswamy

  22-11-2024 15:11 via thehill.com
  
  Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) will chair a new subcommittee within the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, called Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee, working in conjunction with the White House commission with the same acronym that is set to be run by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.A source familiar with the plans said that Greene has already met with the incoming White House Department on Government Efficiency (DOGE) team, including Ramaswamy.“The DOGE
  
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• Raskin: DOJ staff worried it will become 'Trump law firm'

  22-11-2024 15:10 via thehill.com
  
  Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) suggested in a recent interview that the Department of Justice (DOJ) staff is worried it will become a “law firm” for President-elect Trump during his second stint in the White House. His claim came shortly after Trump tapped former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead the DOJ following former Rep. Matt Gaetz's (R-Fla.) withdrawal from consideration. “So, she’s really presiding over the bureaucracy," Raskin, the ranking member of
  
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• Ana Navarro: Bondi not an 'ogre' or 'jerk'

  22-11-2024 14:23 via thehill.com
  
  "The View" co-host Ana Navarro in a recent interview praised President-elect Trump’s tapping of former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to head the Justice Department (DOJ), after former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) stepped aside.“I know Pam Bondi very well. Pam Bondi, like many other Republicans, is a mainstream Republican who turned MAGA,” Navarro, a CNN contributor and GOP strategist, said Thursday in an interview on "AC360."“I will tell you, she is not an ogre. She is n
  
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• Axelrod: Bondi will be responsive to Trump first, not duties of Constitution

  22-11-2024 13:55 via thehill.com
  
  Veteran Democratic strategist David Axelrod criticized President-elect Trump’s new pick for attorney general, arguing she will be loyal to Trump first, not the duties of the Constitution. “So, he gets in her what he wants, which is he wants someone who will be responsive to him first, not the duties of the attorney general or the Constitution,” Axelrod said Thursday evening in an interview on CNN.
  “He wants to have political control over the Justice Department, and s
  
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• Clinton Defense chief: Netanyahu ‘in very bad company’ with ICC indictment

  22-11-2024 13:38 via thehill.com
  
  Former Defense Secretary William Cohen said the International Criminal Court’s indictment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister puts them “in very bad company."The ICC on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant and a Hamas official on allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity for Israel’s actions in Gaza. The Israeli leader has rebuked the charges.Netanyahu now joins Russian President Vladimir Putin on the
  
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• Carville: Trump Cabinet picks 'shouldn't surprise anyone'

  22-11-2024 13:26 via thehill.com
  
  Veteran political strategist James Carville and former RNC chief Ronna McDaniel agree that former President Trump's controversial administration picks "shouldn't surprise anyone.""He said he was gonna do this," Carville, who served as a senior adviser for former President Clinton, said Thursday on NewsNation's "CUOMO.""Look, he won the election saying he would be as disruptive as he possibly could," he added. "This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone."McDaniel emphasized that voters are focused o
  
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• Trump immigration crackdown: Denaturalization just a drop in the bucket

  22-11-2024 12:00 via thehill.com
  
  President-elect Trump’s incoming administration is expected to take aim at legal immigration, in addition to cracking down on the illegal variety, slowing the pace of application approvals and redirecting resources to look for fraud in old applications, including naturalizations.The first Trump administration pushed for more denaturalizations, an initiative that incoming White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller has said will be “supercharged” the second time a
  
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• The Memo: Trump gives himself a black eye with Gaetz misfire

  22-11-2024 12:00 via thehill.com
  
  President-elect Trump has suffered a self-inflicted black eye with the withdrawal of former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) from consideration as attorney general.Trump had startled even some of his supporters by choosing Gaetz for the crucial position atop the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the first place. Now he is seeking to move on as fast as possible by nominating another pro-MAGA figure from Florida — the state’s former attorney general, Pam Bondi — to take Gaetz’s p
  
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