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In-N-Out to Close First Location in Its 75-Year History Due to a Wave of Car Break-Ins and Robberies
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In-N-Out Burger says it will close its first location in its 75-year history due to a wave of car break-ins, property damage, theft and robberies affecting customers and employees alike at its only restaurant in Oakland, California.

The fast-food burger joint in a busy corridor near Oakland International Airport will close on March 24 because even though the company has taken “repeated steps to create safer conditions our Customers and Associates are regularly victimized,” Denny Warnick, In-N-Out’s chief operating officer, said in a statement Wednesday.

“We feel the frequency and severity of the crimes being encountered by our customers and associates leave us no alternative,” Warnick said.

Oakland has seen a spike in property crime and robberies throughout the city located across the bay from San Francisco, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The In-N-Out slated for closure is in a busy business corridor that attracts travelers headed to the airport and baseball fans who attend A’s games at the Coliseum. Since 2019, police have logged 1,335 incidents in the vicinity of the restaurant on Oakport Street — more than any other location in Oakland, the newspaper reported.

That number includes nine robberies, two commercial burglaries, four domestic violence incidents and 1,174 car break-ins, according to Oakland police data shared with the Chronicle. The Oakland Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for the data and comment from The Associated Press.

Sean Crawford, who works in a building around the corner from the restaurant, told the newspaper that last year, he saw two people get out of a car and go from vehicle to vehicle in the In-N-Out drive-thru lane, robbing people at gunpoint.

In-N-Out Burger is based in Irvine, California.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao told KTVU-TV that more police officers have been assigned to the area but that more needs to be done.

“As mayor, I have prioritized this critical gateway to Oakland,” Thao told the Oakland-based television station, adding that Oakland police have three cameras placed to monitor the area.

Thao’s office also provided statistics to show that property crime on Hegenberger Road, a major street near the burger joint that connects the airport to the Coliseum, trended downward at the end of 2023, with car break-ins down 43% from 308 incidents to 176 incidents, and thefts down by 49%.

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Matt Gaetz Faces GOP Senate Opposition After Trump Selection for Attorney General

President-elect Trump’s latest selection for his next administration is facing immediate backlash from some within the Senate GOP, as they say his attorney general pick, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., will not get confirmed.

“He will never get confirmed,” a Republican senator, granted anonymity to speak freely, told Fox News Digital.

One Senate Republican source simply said, “Ain’t gonna happen,” about the prospect of Gaetz’s confirmation.

Gaetz’s office referred Fox News Digital to his response on X, “It will be an honor to serve as President Trump’s Attorney General!” and did not comment on the GOP criticism about his potential confirmation.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters, “I think we have to consider any nominee by the president seriously, but we also have a constitutional responsibility.”

He was prompted about whether the House Ethics investigation currently being conducted into Gaetz would factor in to his confirmation, to which the senator replied: “That might come up.”

The allegations being probed by the committee include sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and accepting improper gifts.

Responding to the announcement of Gaetz’s selection for attorney general, Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., who chairs the Ethics Committee, said that “once a member is no longer a member of Congress, then ethics has no jurisdiction. So if Matt Gaetz were to be appointed as the Attorney General, the ethics investigation [which] is currently ongoing would cease at that point.”

However, Senate Republicans were not explicitly supportive. “He’s under investigation by the House Committee on Ethics,” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, acknowledged. “Obviously, the president has the right to nominate whomever he wishes, but this is why the background checks that are done by the FBI and the advice and consent process in the Senate, and public hearings are also important.”

“He will go through the nomination process just like everyone else,” said Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla.

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., told reporters, “I got nothing for you on that,” when asked about Trump’s choice.

“I think what we can tell you right now is that we always allow the President to have the benefit of the doubt, but we still have to do our role in terms of due diligence,” said Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., when asked if he would vote to confirm Gaetz.

In addition to the ethics investigation, Gaetz was at one point being investigated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in a yearslong probe into sex trafficking allegations. But last year, Gaetz’s office said the DOJ ended their investigation and determined he would not be charged with any crimes.

While Republicans could very well be poised not to confirm Gaetz, who has proven controversial among his own party, Trump could look to appoint him through a recess appointment. The president-elect made an appeal to Senate Republican leader candidates earlier this week, telling them they must agree to allow him to make such appointments.

Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., who won the leader election on Wednesday morning, signaled being open to this in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital. However, he didn’t commit to it.

“We must act quickly and decisively to get the president’s cabinet and other nominees in place as soon as possible to start delivering on the mandate we’ve been sent to execute, and all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments,” he said.

If Trump were successful in appointing a cabinet member through a recess appointment, they would be able to serve in the role for nearly two years, according to the Congressional Research Service. The appointment would expire once the next session of Congress, following the recess, adjourns.

“Recess appointments expire at the end of the next session of the Senate,” according to a recent CRS report. “As a result, a recess appointment may last for less than a year or nearly two years, depending on when the appointment is made.”

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Matt Gaetz Resigns from Congress After Trump Picks Him for Attorney General

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) will resign from Congress “effective immediately” after being nominated to serve as attorney general by President-elect Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced on Wednesday.

The resignation — which was announced hours after Gaetz received the attorney general nod — was described by Johnson as a way to speed up the process of filling the House Republican’s seat to lessen the impacts of being one member down in the narrow GOP majority next year.

But the larger impact of the resignation is that the House Ethics Committee investigation into Gaetz, which was in its final stages, will be effectively dead. The panel will have no jurisdiction to investigate Gaetz since he is no longer a member of Congress, and its findings may never see the light of day — a major boon for Gaetz as he prepares to face an already-skeptical Senate.

“Once a member is no longer a member of Congress, then Ethics has no jurisdiction,” House Ethics Committee Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) told reporters on Wednesday, after Gaetz received the attorney general nod. “So if Matt Gaetz were to be appointed as the attorney general, the Ethics investigation that is currently ongoing would cease at that point.”

The Ethics Committee was scheduled to meet on Friday to vote on whether or not to release the report about Gaetz, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to The Hill. Punchbowl News first reported on the planned meeting. The panel was still slated to meet Friday as of Wednesday evening, the source said.

While the Ethics Committee’s investigation into Gaetz has ceased because of his departure from Congress, the panel could still vote to release the report post-resignation. While such a move is rare, there is some precedent: In 1987, the committee released its report into former Rep. William Boner (D-Tenn.) after he resigned from the House.

The House Ethics Committee was investigating whether Gaetz engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, among other allegations. The congressional probe into Gaetz was opened in 2021, shortly after news reports emerged that the Department of Justice (DOJ) was reportedly investigating whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl.

Gaetz has vigorously denied allegations of wrongdoing, and the DOJ declined to charge him with a crime. In September, Gaetz said he would “no longer voluntarily participate” in the “nosy” Ethics probe and would not comply with its subpoena, accusing the panel of asking him for a list of adult women with whom he’d had sex over the last seven years.

Johnson said he was not sure if the Ethics Committee will release a report on Gaetz given its lack of jurisdiction now that he is no longer in Congress.

Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), a vocal critic of Gaetz, had told reporters earlier on Wednesday that members were looking forward to Gaetz’s Ethics Committee findings being aired in Senate confirmation hearings.

“It’s going to be very interesting to see what comes out. And a lot of us are excited to see what comes out, because it’s possible they could be used in a very good manner,” Miller said, suggesting that Gaetz could be expelled from the House.

Resigning could be risky for Gaetz. He still faces Senate confirmation, which many in Congress are doubtful could come to fruition after a number of senators immediately expressed bafflement about the pick.

Johnson on Wednesday evening said the Florida Republican decided to leave the House early to speed up the process to replace him, with hopes that his successor can be decided by the time the new Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3. House Republicans are on track to have a razor-thin majority next year, which is set to slim even more as Trump continues nominating House Republicans for his administration.

Johnson said Gaetz’s decision to resign early “caught us by surprise a little bit.” He said he called Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Wednesday to discuss plans to fill the vacant seat. Florida state law allows DeSantis to set the timeline for replacing House members through special elections.

“I think, out of deference to us, he issued his resignation letter effective immediately, of Congress,” Johnson said. “That caught us by surprise a little bit, but I asked him what the reasoning was and he said, well, you can’t have too many absences, so under Florida state law there’s about an eight-week period to select and fill a vacant seat.”

Johnson said he is hopeful the seat could be filled by Jan. 3, when the new Congress is sworn in.

“I’ve already placed a call to Gov. DeSantis in Florida and said let’s start the clock. He’s in Italy at the moment and so we’re gonna talk first thing in the morning about this. And if we start the clock now, if you do the math we may be able to fill that seat as early as Jan. 3 when we take the new oath of office for the new Congress,” Johnson said. “So Matt would’ve done us a great service by making that decision as he did on the fly, and so we’re grateful for that.”

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Jack Smith Asks Court to Pause Trump Classified Docs Case Appeal

Special counsel Jack Smith asked a federal appellate court on Wednesday to halt his appeal in President-elect Donald Trump’s classified documents case, citing the results of the 2024 election.

“As a result of the election held on November 5, 2024, one of the defendants in this case, Donald J. Trump, is expected to be certified as President-elect on January 6, 2025, and inaugurated on January 20, 2025,” Smith wrote to the Atlanta-based 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

“The Government respectfully requests that the Court hold this appeal in abeyance — and stay the deadline for the Government’s reply brief, which is currently due on November 15, 2024 — until December 2, 2024, to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy,” the federal prosecutor added.

The classified documents case was dismissed in July by Florida federal Judge Aileen Cannon, and Smith had sought to appeal her ruling.

The special counsel noted that if granted the abeyance, his team would inform the appeals court of its future plans by Dec. 2. Smith said that he consulted with Trump’s legal team and they “do not object to this request.”

The filing comes after US District Judge Tanya Chutkan froze Smith’s 2020 election interference case against Trump last week, following the prosecutors’ request for a pause in court filing deadlines.

Multiple reports indicate that the Justice Department intends to wind down all pending litigation against the 45th president in light of his Election Day victory last week.

The New York Times reported that Smith is scrambling to finalize what is left of his work so he can retire before Trump takes office in January and assuredly fires him.

The president-elect has promised to axe Smith within “two seconds” of being sworn back into the White House on Jan. 20.

Smith, 55, has already informed members of his team they can start planning their departures over the next few weeks, the outlet said.

Cannon threw out Smith’s case alleging that Trump improperly hoarded sensitive White House documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after his presidency after she concluded that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional.

Smith’s appeal contends that Cannon’s decision was “at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government.”

The Justice Department has a longstanding policy of not going after sitting presidents.

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House Foreign Affairs Chief Arrested at Airport

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul was detained by police at Dulles International Airport earlier this month in an incident that he described as “the result of a poor decision” to mix Ambien and alcohol.

A McCaul spokesperson confirmed the recent incident, describing the congressman as “a nervous flyer” who took the popular sleep aid Ambien and consumed alcohol before boarding a flight home to Texas.

McCaul ultimately missed that flight, he told Semafor, adding that he was disoriented from the combination of the medication and alcohol, subsequently locking himself out of his cell phone.

He was later found by police, who assumed McCaul was intoxicated and detained him, according to his spokesperson.

“Two weekends ago, I made a mistake — one for which I take full responsibility,” McCaul said in a statement to Semafor.

“I missed a flight to Texas and found myself disoriented in the airport. This was the result of a poor decision I made to mix an Ambien — which I took in order to sleep on the upcoming flight — with some alcohol. Law enforcement officers briefly detained me while I waited for a family member to pick me up.”

McCaul added that he has nothing but respect and gratitude for the officers who intercepted me that evening.

“This incident does not reflect who I am and who I strive to be. As a human, I am not perfect. But I am determined to learn from this mistake and, God-willing, make myself a better person.”

He is term-limited at the helm of the powerful Foreign Affairs Committee and would require a waiver from Republican leaders to continue in that role next year, when President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

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News

FBI Raids Home of Polymarket CEO — Seize Phone, Electronics

FBI agents raided the Manhattan apartment of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan early Wednesday morning — just a week after the election-betting platform successfully predicted Donald Trump’s stunning victory, The Post has reported.

The 26-year-old entrepreneur was roused from bed in his Soho pad at 6 a.m. by US law enforcement who demanded he turn over his phone and other electronic devices, a source close to the matter told The Post.

It’s “grand political theater at its worst,” the source told The Post. “They could have asked his lawyer for any of these things. Instead, they staged a so-called raid so they can leak it to the media and use it for obvious political reasons.”

Coplan was not provided with a reason for the raid, but the source suspects it was political retribution since Polymarket accurately predicted an easy Trump triumph over Vice President Kamala Harris – as opposed to traditional polls.

The source also speculated that the government is likely piggybacking off liberal media reports that accuse Polymarket of market manipulation and rigging its polls in favor of Trump.

“This is obvious political retribution by the outgoing administration against Polymarket for providing a market that correctly called the 2024 presidential election,” the source said.

Coplan was not arrested and has not been charged, a Polymarket spokesperson told The Post on Wednesday evening.

“Polymarket is a fully transparent prediction market that helps everyday people better understand the events that matter most to them, including elections,” the rep said.

“We charge no fees, take no trading positions, and allow observers from around the world to analyze all market data as a public good.”

Coplan posted on X after his run-in with the feds: “New phone, who dis?”

Polymarket does not allow trading in the US, though bettors can bypass the ban by accessing the site through VPN.

The FBI’s investigation comes a week after Coplan said Polymarket is planning to return to the US.

The platform – which showed Trump with a 58.6% chance of winning the morning before Election Day and Vice President Kamala Harris’ odds at 41.4% – has also been linked to Trump and his allies.

Billionaire Trump supporter Peter Thiel raised about $70 million in funding for Polymarket, according to a Forbes report earlier this year.

Coplan has also been photographed looking chummy with Donald Trump Jr.

In 2022, the online gambling platform was forced to pause its trading in the US and pay a $1.4 million penalty to settle charges with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that it had failed to register with the agency.

Since then, the platform has only been available for bettors in other countries. After the election, a mystery French trader raked in a whopping $85 million in profits on Trump bets — more than $50 million more than previously reported, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

One week before the election, a Fortune report said analysts at two crypto research firms found widespread evidence of wash-trading on Polymarket – an illegal form of market manipulation in which a trader buys and sells the same entity to create a false impression of market activity.

“Polymarket’s Terms of Use expressly prohibit market manipulation,” a Polymarket spokesperson told Fortune in a statement.

The betting platform is facing scrutiny from France’s gambling regulator, Autorité Nationale des Jeux, to make sure Polymarket complies with the country’s laws.

“We are aware of this site and are currently examining its operation and compliance with French gambling legislation,” a spokesperson for the regulator told Bloomberg.

New gambling markets are required to receive advanced approval from the regulator.

The so-called French whale who cashed in on Trump’s win goes by the alias Théo. He previously said his bets were simply about making money and he denied claims that he was trying to influence the election outcome.

“I have nothing more to add,” Théo told The Wall Street Journal in his last email on Monday. “To be frank, I’m a bit tired of the whole thing – I’d like to fade back into my normal daily life.”

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News

Mike Johnson Wins GOP Nomination to Remain House Speaker

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) won the GOP nomination Wednesday for a full, two-year term in the top job, after running unopposed despite hardliners threatening to put up an challenger.

Johnson will need 218 votes in January to retain his gavel, with a tiny majority to pull it off. But President-elect Trump told Republicans on Wednesday he’s 100% with Johnson.

Johnson, who won with nod via unanimous voice vote, was once viewed by many as an interim speaker after he replaced Kevin McCarthy following McCarthy’s ouster the middle of the 118th Congress.

Now he’s closer to holding the reins as part of a GOP trifecta in Washington next year.

Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) was unanimously elected to remain in his post, which entails setting the legislative agenda and scheduling the floor.

Scalise is expected to be one of the most powerful majority leaders in modern history: The Louisiana Republican will be the longest-serving member of House leadership next year.

Scalise is the only one to have served during the last Trump administration in a leadership role, providing experience to the team in navigating the dynamics between Congress and the White House.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) will also stay on in the new Congress.

Emmer — who also ran unopposed for his role —will continue to be tasked with rallying support behind key pieces of legislation with a small majority as they look to move major bills now that the GOP is poised to hold both chambers and the White House.

In the highest-ranking contested race, Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) is set to replace House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) as the chamber’s No. 4 Republican.

McClain prevailed over Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) in the race to replace Stefanik, whom Trump tapped to serve as the next ambassador to the United Nations.

Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah) will stay on on as the House GOP’s conference vice chairman, where he will assist in messaging efforts.

National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) will serve another term leading the House GOP’s campaign arm.

And Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) — the current chairman of the Republican Study Committee — managed to oust current House Republican Policy Chairman Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) in the race for Palmer’s leadership position.

Senate Republicans, meanwhile, picked a new leader for the first time in 18 years, opting earlier Wednesday for South Dakotan John Thune (S.D.) over Sens. John Cornyn (Texas) and Rick Scott (Fla.).

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Dennis Prager Seriously Injured After Accidental Fall

Dennis Prager, the conservative American talk show host and founder of Prager U, has suffered serious injuries following an accident.

Prager suffered a serious back injury after a fall, the X account of Prager U informed the public in a post Wednesday, November 13.

“On Tuesday morning, PragerU founder and our dear friend, Dennis Prager, suffered a serious back injury following a fall,”! the tweet said. “He’s resting in a local Los Angeles hospital as doctors assess treatment options. We will keep you informed of his condition. In the meantime, Dennis welcomes the healing power of your prayers.”

The news left many fans and followers distraught and they sent out best wishes and prayers to Prager.

“I would like to extend my heartfelt well wishes and prayers to Dennis Prager for a swift and complete recovery. Dennis has been a guiding light and an influential voice for so many, and it’s my hope that he finds comfort and strength during this challenging time,” one comment read. “May his treatment go smoothly, and may he return to full health very soon.”

Who is Dennis Prager?

Dennis Prager is a prominent American conservative commentator, author, and radio talk show host. He co-founded PragerU, an online platform that produces short educational videos aimed at promoting conservative values and ideas.

He has been a nationally syndicated radio host since 1999, broadcasting from Los Angeles.

Prager’s nationally syndicated radio show discusses a wide range of topics, including politics, religion, and culture. A prolific promoter of conservative thought, he has appeared on nearly 400 stations across the United States.

He is the author of nine books including The Rational Bible, Still the Best Hope and Happiness Is a Serious Problem.

Dennis launched PragerU in 2011 with producer Allen Estrin to provide concise educational content on various subjects such as political science and economics through five-minute videos.

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Don Lemon Quits X After Feud with Elon Musk

Left-leaning former CNN anchor Don Lemon said Wednesday he is quitting Elon Musk’s social media platform X — blaming the site’s new policy for all legal disputes to be heard in Texas.

Lemon — who is currently suing Musk in California after having his show on X canceled by the mogul — claimed the upcoming switch in the terms of service would hamper free speech.

“I once believed that it [X] was a place for honest debate and discussion, transparency and free speech, but I now feel it does not serve that purpose,” Lemon told his 1.5 million followers on X in a video.

X’s new terms of service, which take effect Friday, mandate that all lawsuits be filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas – not the Western District of Texas, where the company is headquartered.

Ten of the 11 active judges in the Northern District were appointed by a Republican president, compared to six of the 11 judges in the Western District, according to Georgetown University law professor Steve Vladeck.

Lemon quoted a report in The Washington Post, which said X’s new policy “ensures that such lawsuits will be heard in courthouses that are a hub for conservatives, which experts say could make it easier for X to shield itself from litigation and punish critics.”

“I think that speaks for itself,” Lemon said, before plugging his YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky accounts.

Users on X were quick to criticize Lemon for fleeing the platform.

“Don lemon leaving X because he can’t district shop for radical judges when he sues small accounts,” one user wrote.

Another suggested Lemon was leaving X because it “no longer censors. I cannot compete in the arena of ideas, therefore, I am leaving. MSM [mainstream media] creating their own extinction: that was easy.”

A third user seemed to suggest Lemon was abandoning X over his contentious relationship with owner Elon Musk.

After Musk abruptly axed plans for Lemon to host a show on X, the former CNN anchor sued Musk over the summer for refusing to pay him.

Musk had fired Lemon hours after a testy sit-down, which was meant to be the show’s premiere episode.

“Remember when Don Lemon tried to make ludicrous demands of Elon Musk in order to do a show on X? That was funny,” the user wrote.

Lemon – despite having been fired from CNN mere months before Musk’s X show offer – allegedly had a lengthy list of extravagant demands for his contract with Musk. He expected a free Cybertruck, hosting dibs on the first podcast in space, a $5 million advance on top of an $8 million salary and equity in the company, as The Post’s previously reported.

In a September filing in San Francisco federal court, Musk and X asked a federal judge to dismiss Lemon’s lawsuit.

Lemon is claiming X defrauded him because he “incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses” to prepare for the show, according to the suit. The suit also claims Musk used Lemon to boost the company’s ad sales.

Musk said he did nothing wrong by allegedly telling Lemon there was “no need” to sign a contract. It was unreasonable for Lemon to rely on a statement and not a written contract for a multimillion-dollar partnership, Musk said.

Carney Shegerian, a lawyer for Lemon, said X’s response confirmed that Musk fired Lemon after the journalist asked questions Musk did not like.

Lemon steered clear of his legal battle with Musk in his “goodbye” video.

The cable host has faced his share of scandals during his 17 years at CNN before being fired in April 2023.

In December 2022, the longtime network anchor reportedly “screamed” at his co-anchor Kaitlan Collins after an on-air segment, according to The Post’s reporting.

One source said Collins “was visibly upset and ran out of the studio.” Another said Collins wanted to “be on set with Don as little as possible” after the incident.

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John Thune Wins Senate Republican Leader Race

Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., will be the new Republican Senate leader and the majority leader of the upper chamber in the new Congress.

In January, he will succeed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who is the longest-serving party leader in Senate history.

“I am extremely honored to have earned the support of my colleagues to lead the Senate in the 119th Congress, and I am beyond proud of the work we have done to secure our majority and the White House,” Thune said in a statement. “This Republican team is united behind President Trump’s agenda, and our work starts today.”

Sources told Fox News Digital that no candidate reached a majority during the first secret ballot in the old Senate chamber on Wednesday morning. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., received the least amount of votes and was knocked out of the race. The second secret ballot was between only Thune and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

“I am excited to work with this team and get to work right away,” Thune told reporters shortly after his win.

Thune received 29 votes and Cornyn got 24 on the second ballot, according to Thune’s office.

Each of the candidates made a final pitch to their fellow Republican senators late Tuesday night during a forum held by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

Joining Thune in leadership are Sens. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., as assistant majority leader; Tom Cotton, R-Ark., as Republican conference chair; Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., as Republican Policy Committee chair; James Lankford, R-Okla., as Republican conference vice chair; and Tim Scott, R-S.C., as National Republican Senatorial Committee chair.

Scott walked out of the meeting with two new public endorsements from both Lee and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. A source familiar told Fox News Digital that Blackburn had asked multiple questions during the discussion, including “how they would give conservatives a more meaningful voice in the Senate and for specific details as to how they would immediately implement President Trump’s mass deportation operation.”

Despite this, one source with knowledge told Fox News Digital that Scott’s pitch didn’t convince everyone. “Scott’s remarks didn’t do much to impress or sway members,” they said. “He focused more on his time as a businessman instead of priorities for the Senate.”

Prior to the elections, Thune had received public endorsements from Sens. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla.; Mike Rounds, R-S.D.; Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.; and John Hoeven, R-N.D., and a source confirmed to Fox News Digital that National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines, R-Mont., was privately encouraging other senators to support Thune.

Scott had the most public support, with Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn.; Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.; and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also backing him.

Cornyn had only received one public endorsement from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.

The majority of GOP senators did not disclose ahead of time who they were casting their ballots for.

Rubio and Hagerty gave the two nominating speeches for Scott, while Daines and Rounds did so for Thune. It’s unclear who gave nominating speeches for Cornyn.

The new leader will assume the role in January.

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News

Trump Picks Matt Gaetz as Attorney General

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said he will nominate Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to serve as U.S. attorney general.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that Gaetz “has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice.”

Gaetz replied on X, “It will be an honor to serve as President Trump’s Attorney General!”

If he is confirmed by the Senate, Gaetz will succeed Attorney General Merrick Garland, who led the Justice Department as it carried out a sex-trafficking investigation into the congressman.

The DOJ ultimately declined to charge Gaetz.

Gaetz remains the subject of an ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation into whether he engaged in sexual misconduct or illicit drug use.

Gaetz, who has denied any wrongdoing, said in September that he would no longer voluntarily participate in that panel’s probe.

The 42-year-old lawmaker, who has carved out a reputation as a staunch and vocal Trump loyalist, has aggressively criticized the DOJ investigation and prosecution of Trump by special counsel Jack Smith.

In October 2023, Gaetz filed the original motion to oust then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, his fellow Republican. A band of eight Republicans led by Gaetz would ultimately join with all House Democrats in removing McCarthy as speaker, plunging the GOP conference into chaos.

Gaetz was traveling with Trump, billionaire Elon Musk and others on Wednesday during the president-elect’s first trip to Washington, D.C., since defeating Vice President Kamala Harris, NBC News reported.

Trump’s selection of Gaetz came as a major surprise even to his Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill.

Johnson, whose projected majority has already been slimmed after Trump tapped two House Republicans, Elise Stefanik of New York and Florida’s Mike Waltz, to join his incoming administration, said Tuesday, “I don’t expect that we will have more members leaving.”

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told Punchbowl News she was “shocked” by the pick.

“This is why the Senate’s advise and consent process is so important. I’m sure that there will be many, many questions raised at Mr. Gaetz’s hearing,” she told the news outlet.

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Trump Picks Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence

President-elect Donald Trump continued to fill out his national security team Wednesday, announcing that former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard will be his nominee for director of national intelligence.

Gabbard, a former vice chair of the Democratic National Committee who endorsed Trump and joined the Republican party late in the 2024 campaign, will oversee America’s 17 intelligence agencies in the powerful post.

“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,” said Trump of Gabbard, who had previously been rumored to be considered for defense secretary and CIA director.

The Post reported Tuesday that Gabbard, 43, had been privately requesting a defense secretary appointment — hours before Trump, 78, made the surprise announcement that Fox News host Pete Hegseth would be filling the position.

Unlike other nominees who received bipartisan praise like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who will likely be on a glide path to become secretary of state, Gabbard may be headed for a contentious confirmation fight.

Critics have called her willingness to meet with Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad while the US was backing rebels opposing his government and her hardline stance against US involvement in the war between Ukraine and Russia disqualifying for higher office.

Those views could put her at odds with more than half of Senate Republicans, who voted for $60 billion in aid to Ukraine last spring.

Gabbard endorsed the soon-to-be 47th president at a rally in Greensboro, NC, last month, saying the Democratic Party she departed two years earlier is “completely unrecognizable”

“It is because of my love for our country and specifically because of the leadership that President Trump has brought to transform the Republican Party and bring it back to the party of the people, and the party of peace, that I’m proud to stand here with you today, with President Trump, and announce that I’m joining the Republican Party,” she proclaimed.

A four-term Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, Gabbard made her own bid for her old party’s nomination in 2020, before dropping out after Super Tuesday and endorsing Joe Biden.

While serving in the House, she was the only lawmaker to vote “present” on Trump’s first impeachment by Democrats in late 2019.

Earlier in the 2020 Democratic primary, she had delivered a knockout blow to then-California Sen. Kamala Harris over her record as the Golden State’s former attorney general.

“She put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana,” Gabbard told the audience at the July 2019 debate in a moment that later went viral on social media.

“She blocked evidence, she blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so.”

Gabbard and Democrat-turned-independent presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. formed an unlikely team in the final stretches of the 2024 campaign, with the latter also endorsing Trump.

Both were harshly critical of Democrats for being the “party of war,” while Republicans had become the “party of peace.”

“When you look at the party of Kamala Harris, for example, she is anti-freedom. She is pro-censorship, she is pro-open borders and she is pro-war without even pretending to care about peace,” Gabbard said at the North Carolina campaign event on Oct. 22.

“President Trump has pledged to end wars, not start them. And this is why, in the eyes of the Kamala Harris-Dick Cheney Democrat Party, they will do everything possible to try to destroy him,” she added.

Harris had tried to broaden her coalition by touting endorsements from the former vice president and his daughter, ex-Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, in an effort to shore up the anti-Trump vote.

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Trump Announces Senior White House Staff

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday members of his White House senior staff for his upcoming administration.

According to the formal press release, Trump chose these “top” advisers from his presidential campaign to transition and serve as senior staff at the White House: Dan Scavino, Stephen Miller, James Blair, and Taylor Budowich.

Scavino, a trusted aide to Trump who served as a senior adviser to the campaign, will “return to the White House as an Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff,” according to Trump’s team.

Miller, who served as Senior Adviser to the President for Policy in Trump’s last term, will “return to the White House as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor,” the release continued.

Blair will “serve as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative, Political and Public Affairs.”

Blair previously served as Trump Campaign and Republican National Committee Political Director.

The release said Budowich, the CEO of the MAGA Inc. super PAC, will serve as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Personnel.

Trump praised the four as “‘best in class’ advisors” on his winning campaign.

“…and I know they will honorably serve the American people in the White House,” the president-elect continued.

“They will continue to work hard to Make America Great again in their respective new roles.”

These choices follow a few other very big announcements. Trump nominated Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to serve as his Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as his Secretary of Defense.

Trump tapped Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk, as well as entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, to “lead the Department of Government Efficiency (‘DOGE’).”

“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies — Essential to the ‘Save America’ Movement,” Trump stated.

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Trump and Biden Meet at White House

President-elect Trump and President Biden both pledged a smooth transition between administrations as they met at the White House on Wednesday morning.

“I look forward… to having a smooth transition. We’ll do everything we can to make sure you’re accommodated, what you need,” President Biden said as cameras and reporters were briefly allowed in the Oval Office for the meeting.

Speaking second, Trump emphasized that “politics is tough and in many cases it’s not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today.”

“I appreciate very much the transition that’s so smooth. It will be as smooth as it can get, and I very much appreciate that,” the former and future president added.

Trump returned to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue just over a week after his sweeping election victory as he made his first stop back at the White House in nearly four years. He arrived at the White House at the invitation of Biden, the politician he knocked out of the 2024 presidential race.

For Biden — who ended his own re-election bid in July, a month after his disastrous debate performance against Trump reignited questions over whether the 81-year-old president was physically and mentally up for another four years in the White House and sparked calls for him to drop out of the race — the meeting with his predecessor and now successor was likely awkward.

Trump spent years verbally eviscerating Biden and his performance in the White House. And even after Biden ended his re-election bid, Trump continued to slam the president and his successor atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris.

And Biden, for a couple of years, has labeled Trump a threat to the nation’s democracy.

But Biden, a traditionalist, wants to ensure a smooth transition between administrations.

Biden’s offer to Trump to visit the White House was an invitation he himself was never accorded.

Four years ago, in the wake of his election defeat at the hands of Biden, Trump refused to concede and tried unsuccessfully to overturn the results.

Breaking with longstanding tradition, Trump didn’t invite Biden to the White House. And two weeks after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters aiming to upend congressional certification of Biden’s Electoral College victory, Trump left Washington ahead of the presidential inauguration of his successor, becoming the first sitting president in a century and a half to skip out on a successor’s inauguration.

“President Biden met with President-elect Trump for approximately two hours in the Oval Office. White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and incoming Chief of Staff Susie Wiles joined the meeting,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday. “It was a substantive meeting and exchange of views. They discussed important national security and domestic policy issues facing the nation and the world.

“President Biden also raised important items on Congress’s to-do list for the lame duck session, including funding the government and providing the disaster supplemental funding the president requested,” she continued. “Finally, the president reiterated what he said to the president elect the day after the election and to the American people in the Rose Garden just last week – we will have an orderly transition and a peaceful transition of power. ”

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan added that “President Biden reinforced his view that the United States standing with Ukraine on an ongoing basis is in our national security interest, and it’s in our national security interest because a strong Europe, a stable Europe, standing up to aggressors and dictators and pushing back against their aggression is vital to ensuring that we don’t end up getting dragged directly into a war, which has happened obviously twice in the 20th century on the European continent.”

“President Biden’s decision to welcome President-elect Trump to the White House is a tribute to normalcy in the presidential transition process. What was denied to Joe Biden following his election is being restored to Biden’s credit,” veteran political scientist Wayne Lesperance told Fox News.

Lesperance, the president of New Hampshire-based New England College, called the invitation by Biden ” a remarkable gesture in that it legitimizes Trump’s return to power by the nation’s leading Democrat and, hopefully, will be met with a commitment to orderly transitions in the future.”

The meeting will be the first between Biden and Trump since they faced off in Atlanta on June 27 in their one and only debate.

The two presidents — along with Harris and Trump’s running mate and now vice president-elect, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, — stood next to each other on Sept. 11 in New York City’s Lower Manhattan at ceremonies for the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

This was Trump’s second meeting at the White House with a departing president.

Eight years ago, after defeating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Trump sat down at the White House with President Obama, who was finishing up his second term steering the nation.

“We now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed. Because, if you succeed, then the country succeeds,” Obama told Trump at the time.

While a tradition, the meeting between the incoming and outgoing presidents is not mandated.

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Trump Lawyer Alina Habba Would ‘Very Seriously’ Consider Being Press Secretary

Alina Habba, a top ally and former lawyer for President-elect Donald Trump, revealed Tuesday that she would “very seriously” consider an opportunity to serve as his White House press secretary.

Habba, 40, was asked multiple times by Fox News host Sean Hannity about a report suggesting that she is “the favorite” for the role and did not rule out the possibility of serving in the incoming administration.

“I leave it to the president and the three people that are on my board of directors — that’s Luke, Chloe and Parker, my children. Everybody will know in time,” she said.

Habba refused to say whether she’s had any discussions with the Trump-Vance transition team about becoming White House press secretary while praising the “amazing cabinet” the president-elect is putting together from his Palm Beach, Fla., transition headquarters.

“They are killing it on all fronts … It’s time to have advocacy for ‘America First,’ and whatever that looks like for President Trump and his team, I trust it. It’s a decision for all of them to make. Not me,” she said.

When pressed by the Fox News host, Habba hinted at interest in handling the daily White House press briefings or serving in the Trump administration in some other capacity.

“I am very loyal to President Trump. I would think about it very seriously,” she said.

Mediaite, citing anonymous sources, described Habba as “a front-runner” for the White House press secretary gig, claiming that the attorney is “expected to be at Mar-a-Lago this week for conversations regarding a potential role.”

Habba, the founder of Bedminster, NJ-based law firm Habba Madaio & Associates, joined Trump’s legal team in 2021 and has represented the president-elect in several high-profile legal cases.

The fiery lawyer defended Trump in socialite E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit and in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil fraud case against the president-elect.

During Trump’s third White House run, Habba frequently appeared on cable news and at his campaign rallies, defending the then-presidential candidate from the onslaught of litigation and investigations being brought against him.

Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham and Kayleigh McEnany served as White House press secretaries during Trump’s first term in the White House.

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CIA Official Charged in Classified Docs Leak About Israel Plans to Strike Iran

A man who worked for the U.S. government has been charged with leaking classified information assessing Israel’s earlier plans to attack Iran, according to court papers filed Wednesday.

The man, identified as Asif William Rahman, was arrested by the FBI this week in Cambodia and was due to make his first court appearance in Guam.

He was indicted last week in U.S. court in Virginia on two counts of willful transmission of national defense information — felony charges that an carry significant prison sentences.

It was not immediately clear whether Rahman had a lawyer or which federal agency employed him, but officials say he had top secret security clearance.

The charges stem from the documents, attributed to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency, appearing last month on a channel of the Telegram messaging app.

The documents noted that Israel was still moving military assets in place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran’s blistering ballistic missile attack on Oct. 1.

Israel carried out a retaliatory attack on multiple sites in Iran in late October.

The documents were sharable within the “Five Eyes,” which are the United States, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

The New York Times was first to report his arrest.

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Witness in Daniel Penny Trial Describes Changing His Story, Fear of Prosecution

A witness in the trial of Daniel Penny, a former U.S. Marine who is facing charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide related to the death of Jordan Neely, took the stand on Nov. 12 to describe how he helped restrain Neely at the scene, and how he had initially lied to investigators out of fear that he might be held liable for the man’s death.

Eric Gonzalez, a 39-year-old groom manager at a casino, who spent his early years in the Dominican Republic before moving to New York, said he rides the subway every day.

His testimony overlapped significantly with, yet also departed in critical ways from, that of witnesses who were present when Neely, a mentally ill homeless man, provoked the confrontation that led to his demise on a Manhattan-bound F train on May 1, 2023.

After several days of testimony in which witness after witness described feeling terrified at Neely’s conduct, and suggested Penny had helped protect bystanders from a crazed man—Gonzalez expressed serious and ongoing fears he has about the potential consequences of having been involved in the incident.

In contrast to several witnesses on earlier days of the trial, who boarded the F train in Brooklyn or one of the first Manhattan stops on its uptown route, Gonzalez said that he entered the subway system that day at the Broadway-Lafayette station, one stop above Second Avenue, where witnesses are unanimous Neely boarded the train.

Gonzalez testified that he was on his way to a job site and was busy answering emails on his phone when the F train pulled into the station.

When the doors opened, people rushed out in a hurry, yet he still entered the train, where he soon saw two individuals on the floor, one of them holding down the other.

“Daniel Penny was holding down Jordan Neely. His legs were on his waist, and his arm around his neck,” Gonzalez stated.

“Everybody was frantic and saying, ‘Call the cops! Call the cops!’ And I see these two individuals on the floor, so I’m assuming one was trying to restrain the other until the cops came,” he said.

Gonzalez said he quickly “jumped in” to assist with restraining Neely. He waved his hand in front of Penny’s face, to let Penny know that he was there to help even though people still awaited the arrival of the police.

He also told Penny that he would grab Neely’s hands, to make things a bit easier for Penny.

“I didn’t think anything of it at the moment, I was just giving him an alternative. I meant, not completely let [Neely] go, but get your arm away from his neck,” Gonzalez said.

But even while prone and in a headlock, Neely was far from done resisting, and broke one of Gonzalez’s ribs in the struggle, the witness said.

The Recovery Position

Soon, when it appeared that Neely had finally passed out, Gonzalez said he tried to shake the prone man’s body and put Neely into a recovery position that Gonzalez had learned about from a health class.

At the time, Gonzalez said, he did not know that Neely would not survive the incident.

He continued on his commute to the job site he had set out for, and that evening saw news reports that mentioned Neely’s death and conveyed that the police were looking for a “Hispanic individual” captured in cell phone footage at the scene.

Gonzalez said he grew deeply afraid about what might happen to him. He used vacation days to avoid going to work and “went into hiding,” he recalled.

Eventually, he sought legal counsel and agreed to meet with an assistant district attorney.

But Gonzalez admitted that he gave the ADA a fake account of what had happened on May 1, 2023.

In this fictitious version, Gonzalez was already on the train when the incident began, Neely struck Gonzalez with his fist, and that was when Penny stepped in to restrain Neely.

A prosecutor asked Gonzalez why he had invented this false narrative.

“So that people could see that, in some sort of way, I was trying to justify my actions, for me having my hands on him,” Gonzalez said.

“Because [then] I wouldn’t be penalized for a person dying when I was there at the scene.”

Gonzalez said he knew the lie was up when investigators showed him a time-stamped photo of him swiping his Metrocard and moving through the turnstiles at Broadway-Lafayette.

In the face of this evidence, it was no longer possible to maintain he was already on the train before it arrived at that station.

Under questioning from defense lawyer Thomas Kenniff, Gonzalez acknowledged that he had received at least partial immunity from prosecution in return for sharing information about the incident.

Still, he was scared of possible legal consequences and actions that strangers might take outside legal channels.

“There’s all these protests going on. I’m scared for myself, I’m scared for my family. You don’t know what people are going to do,” he said.

Before the testimony got underway, a protest took place right outside the court building at 100 Centre Street, as a small crowd chanted Neely’s name.

During its cross-examination, the defense played footage from the scene of the incident and asked Gonzalez about a moment where he appeared to smile at the suggestion of another person present that he could face murder charges for his role in the incident.

The defense wanted to suggest that Gonzalez’s smile indicated the sheer implausibility of the notion that someone could face murder charges for what Gonzalez had done at the scene.

But Judge Maxwell Wiley sustained an objection from the prosecution.

“He denied smiling. Next question,” the judge said.

Yet defense lawyer Kenniff bore down on the idea that prosecutors were leaning on Gonzalez to go a certain way.

Besides Gonzalez, jurors heard the testimony of Derrick Clay, a barber who lives in Queens, and said he was taking the F train from East Broadway uptown when the incident began.

Unlike earlier eyewitnesses, Clay gave a much vaguer account of how the incident unfolded, attributing this largely to a crowded train where he couldn’t see much of what happened from his seat by the door leading to the next car.

Under sustained questioning from defense lawyer Kenniff, Clay acknowledged that Neely’s tone, which initially sounded “a little irate,” grew angrier and more aggressive as the incident developed.

The trial resumes on Nov. 14 with more witness testimony.

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Trump Picks Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy to Lead ‘Department of Government Efficiency’

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have been selected by President-elect Donald Trump to head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where they will “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies,” according to an official release from the Trump-Vance transition team, which called this “potentially, the “Manhattan Project” of our time.”

According to the statement, “Their work will conclude no later than July 4, 2026” – the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Musk previously predicted he could cut at least $2 trillion from the US federal budget, while Ramaswamy suggested firing federal workers based on their social security numbers.

“Here’s how: if your [Social Security number] ends in an odd number, you’re fired,” he wrote on X.

In September, Ramaswamy told podcaster Lex Fridman:

“Get in there on day one, say that anybody in the federal bureaucracy who is not elected, elected representatives obviously were elected by the people, but the people who are not elected, if your social security number ends in an odd number, you’re out, if it ends in an even number, you’re in.

There’s a 50% cut right there. Of those who remain, if your social security number starts in an even number, you’re in and if it starts with an odd number, you’re out. Boom. That’s a 75% reduction done.

Literally, stochastically, okay, one of the virtues of that, it’s a thought experiment, not a policy prescription, but one of the virtues of that thought experiment is that you don’t have a bunch of lawsuits you’re dealing with about gender discrimination or racial discrimination or political viewpoint discrimination.”

More:

He also said:

So the way I would do it, 75% headcount reduction across the board in the federal bureaucracy, send them home packing, shut down agencies that shouldn’t exist, rescind every unconstitutional regulation that Congress never passed.

In a true self-governing democracy, it should be our elected representatives that make the laws and the rules not unelected bureaucrats. And that is the single greatest form of economic stimulus we could have in this country, but it is also the single most effective way to restore self-governance in our country as well. And it is the blueprint for, I think, how we save this country.

…most people who have run a company, especially larger companies know this, it’s 25% of the people who do 80 to 90% of the useful work, these government agencies are no different.

And how many government workers do we have?

“This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people,” Musk said on Tuesday in a statement provided by the Trump transition team.

Related:

Read the full press release below:

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Trump Taps Fox News Host, Veteran Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary

President-elect Donald Trump will nominate Fox News host Pete Hegseth to be secretary of defense, the former president announced Tuesday night.

Hegseth, 44, is an Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has an undergraduate degree from Princeton and a master’s degree from Harvard.

“I am honored to announce that I have nominated Pete Hegseth to serve in my Cabinet as The Secretary of Defense,” Trump said in a statement Tuesday night. “Pete has spent his entire life as a Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country. Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First. With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice — Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.”

Hegseth joined Fox News as a contributor in 2014 and became a co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekends.”

He is the author of the recent book “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free,” a New York Times bestseller, in which he denounces what he calls the “warped, woke, and caustic policies of our current military.”

He previously served as head of Concerned Veterans for America, a group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch.

Pete Hegseth has 7 kids

In 2012, Hegseth ran for Senate as a Republican in his home state of Minnesota but withdrew from the race following the state convention. Kurt Bills, a state representative, won the GOP nomination but lost in the general election to Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

Hegseth has “an excellent background as a junior officer but does not have the senior national security experience that secretaries need,” Mark Cancian, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The Associated Press, adding that the lack of experience might make it more difficult for Hegseth to get through Senate confirmation.

Asked about the choice Tuesday night, Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst told CBS News that Hegseth is “going to be a very strong secretary.”

But first reactions from other GOP senators varied.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama was asked what he thought and responded, “I’d have to think about it.”

Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina called the choice “interesting,” while Sen. Todd Young of Indiana said he doesn’t have “a sense of his background.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska learned about the selection from a reporter and responded, “Wow.” Asked if it was a good choice, she said, “I’m just surprised. I’m not going to comment whether it’s good, bad or indifferent. I’m just surprised because the names that I’ve heard for secretary of defense have not included him.”

As for whether he would be hard to confirm, Mukowski said, “I don’t know.”

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Trump Names John Ratcliffe as CIA Director

President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday evening that John Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman and director of national intelligence, would return to the executive branch as director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

“From exposing fake Russian collusion to be a Clinton campaign operation, to catching the FBI’s abuse of Civil Liberties at the FISA Court, John Ratcliffe has always been a warrior for Truth and Honesty with the American Public,” Trump, 78, said in a statement.

“When 51 intelligence officials were lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop, there was one, John Ratcliffe, telling the truth to the American People.”

Ratcliffe, 59, represented suburban Dallas for more than five years before Trump tapped him to oversee America’s 17 intelligence agencies in May 2020.

Trump initially sought to appoint Ratcliffe as his DNI in 2019, but the then-congressman withdrew his nomination after his bid was met with skepticism from Senate Republicans who viewed him as too partisan and lacking requisite experience.

Ratcliffe faced a sharply divided vote in the upper chamber the following year, when Trump once again nominated the former federal prosecutor for the DNI post.

He won over skeptics, including GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, by pledging to be apolitical.

“Whether you are talking about the president, whether you are talking about Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell — anyone’s views on what they want the intelligence to be will never impact the intelligence that I deliver. Never,” Ratcliffe testified during his confirmation hearing.

As director of national intelligence, Ratcliffe shot down unfounded allegations that The Post’s bombshell report on Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop was Russian propaganda.

“Hunter Biden’s laptop is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign,” Ratcliffe told Fox Business Network days after The Post first reported on the Biden family’s extensive overseas business dealings.

“Let me be clear: The intelligence community doesn’t believe that because there is no intelligence that supports that,” he added.

Ratcliffe has also been hawkish on China, accusing the Chinese Communist Party of engaging in “a massive cover up” of the origins of COVID-19 while pushing to hold “China accountable” for the global pandemic.

Ratcliffe has also been front-and-center warning that the CCP is waging a covert operation to influence members of Congress into supporting pro-Beijing policies, the scale of which dwarfs similar efforts by Russia and Iran.

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DeSantis to Choose Rubio’s Replacement in US Senate — Will He Appoint Himself?

If President-elect Donald Trump selects Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, Gov. Ron DeSantis would gain the power to appoint Rubio’s temporary Senate replacement.

Rubio, who was re-elected to his six-year term in 2022, would vacate a seat that doesn’t end until 2028.

The appointed replacement would serve until a 2026 special election to complete the final two years of Rubio’s term — meaning the appointee would have to win again in 2028 to secure a full term.

CBS News Miami’s Jim DeFede, citing conversations with multiple Republican sources, reports that several scenarios are being discussed for how DeSantis may proceed:

Appointing chief of staff James Uthmeier

Uthmeier, who serves as DeSantis’s chief of staff and was campaign manager for his presidential campaign, could act as a caretaker in the Senate role until 2026. This move would give DeSantis the option to run for the Senate seat himself in the 2026 special election, aligning with the end of his gubernatorial term.

Appointing Lt. Governor Jeanette Nunez

Nunez, a Cuban-American from Miami, has been a loyal ally to DeSantis. Her appointment could provide continuity for Cuban-American representation, replacing Rubio, who shares the same background.

DeSantis takes the Senate seat

DeSantis could work with Nunez to resign as governor, allowing her to ascend to the governorship and appoint him directly to the Senate seat, bypassing the need to wait until 2026.

Other potential contenders for DeSantis’s appointment include Attorney General Ashley Moody and former Florida House Speaker Jose Oliva, who is also a Cuban-American from Miami.

There’s also speculation that DeSantis could appoint his wife, Casey DeSantis to the seat. Casey DeSantis has long been involved in state government and she enjoys wide popularity across the state.

With several Republican leaders in the mix, DeSantis’s decision could reshape Florida’s political landscape, especially if he eyes the Senate seat himself as part of a longer-term strategy.

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