Trump transition live: Pete Hegseth says no alcohol if confirmed after meeting with Republican lawmakers

President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he intends to nominate cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Trump said Atkins, the CEO of Patomak Partners and a former SEC commissioner, was a “proven leader for common sense regulations.” In the years since leaving the SEC, Atkins has made the case against too much market regulation.

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President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said he is bringing a convicted criminal who helped plan his futile attempt to overturn the 2020 election to the White House as a senior member of his administration working on trade issues.

In a statement first posted to Truth Social, Trump said he was bringing on Peter Navarro, the former head of the National Trade Council during his first term, as a “Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing.”

Andrew Feinberg reports.

Since winning the election, President-elect Donald Trump has been talking about immigration, border security and government efficiency.

But in California farm country, his comments about water are also getting top attention.

The Golden State grows three-quarters of the country’s fruits and nuts and more than a third of its vegetables, largely thanks to a complex network of dams and canals that funnel water to the state’s fertile Central Valley.

In recent years, farmers have faced more limits on how much water they can access from this network because of environmental concerns, as well as on how much groundwater they can pump after years of overuse and drought.

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President-elect Donald Trump admitted that he un-nominated Chad Chronister from Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) administrator after learning the sheriff publicly scolded and arrested a Florida pastor for hosting large church services during the pandemic.

Chronister, the sheriff of Hillsborough County, Florida, announced on Tuesday he was backing out of the nomination process citing the “gravity” of the “responsibility” of heading the agency in charge of coordinating and pursuing drug investigations domestically and internationally.

But Trump disputed that in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, saying Chronsiter “didn’t pull out.”

Ariana Baio has the story.

Republican pollster and strategist Lee Carter said on Wednesday that she found it “offensive and wrong” that so much attention has been paid to the allegations of Pete Hegseth’s excessive drinking and sexual impropriety, describing the startling accusations as merely “extracurricular activities.”

Shortly after Hegseth’s mother appeared on Fox & Friends to vociferously defend her embattled son as his appointment to lead the Pentagon hangs perilously in the balance, Carter told CNN that she had known the former Fox News star for years and enjoyed working with him in the past.

Jason Barnagoa reports.

Bill Maher has suggested he could quit his HBO talk show Real Time with Bill Maher after the re-election of Donald Trump.

The comedian, 68, has hosted the political chat show since 2003.

Speaking to guest Jane Fonda on his podcast Club Random, Maher said he already felt exhausted by the prospect of having to cover the Trump administration for another four years.

“I mean I may quit,” said Maher.

Kevin E G Perry reports from Los Angeles.

Democrat Adam Gray captured California’s 13th Congressional District on Tuesday, unseating Republican Rep. John Duarte in the final U.S. House contest to be decided this year.

Gray’s win in the farm belt seat that cuts through five counties means Republicans won 220 House seats this election cycle, with Democrats holding 215 seats.

Gray won by a margin of less than 200 votes, with election officials reporting Tuesday all ballots had been counted.

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Rep Greg Landsman of Ohio has become the second Democrat to join the House Department of Government Efficient (DOGE) caucus. Rep Jerd Moskowitz of Florida was the first.

Senator Eric Schmidt, who met with Pete Hegseth yesterday, says Trump’s defense secretary nominee is promising senators he has stopped drinking and won’t drink if confirmed.

President-elect Donald Trump has tapped billionaire astronaut Jared Isaacman to lead the nation’s top space agency.

The former president cited Isaacman’s accomplishments in business, philanthropy, and space, saying his passion and dedication made him “ideally suited to lead NASA into a bold new era.”

Julia Musto reports.