Trump meets with NATO secretary general; hedge fund manager Scott Bessent tapped to lead treasury: Live

Holly Bancroft and May Bulman report on the extraordinary story of how Ryan Wesley Routh apparently messaged Afghan special forces hiding in Iran just three days before being arrested with an AK-47 at Trump’s Florida golf club.

The UK is still dragging its feet over offering safe haven to these desperate men — paid and trained by the British — now being enticed to fight in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Donald Trump is expected to select Brooke Rollins, a former Trump administration policy adviser, to lead the Agriculture Department, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter.

Per the Journal:

Rollins is the president of the America First Policy Institute, a group led by former Trump administration officials that spent months planning for a potential second term. An ally of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, Rollins was once considered a contender to be White House chief of staff. But Susie Wiles, who helped run Trump’s campaign, was chosen for that role.

During Trump’s first term, Rollins led the Domestic Policy Council. A Texas native, she previously ran the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative-leaning think tank.

If confirmed, Rollins would likely play a role in discussions about Trump’s plans for sweeping tariffs on U.S. imports, which could affect American farmers.

There was earlier speculation that the department could be led by former Georgia senator and businesswoman Kelly Loeffler.

Rollins has a degree in agriculture development and grew up on a farm.

If confirmed, Rollins would lead a 100,000-person agency with offices in every county in the country, whose remit includes farm and nutrition programs, forestry, home and farm lending, food safety, rural development, agricultural research, trade and more. It had a budget of $437.2 billion in 2024.

With reporting from Reuters

Pete Hegseth’s odds of being confirmed as secretary of defense almost halved after former attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz stepped down.

Gaetz’s departure after just eight days came amid reports that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl, an allegation he forcefully denies.

Hegseth is facing sexual misconduct allegations of his own, with a woman telling police that he raped her at a California hotel in 2017, an encounter Hegseth has said was consensual.

Gustaf Kilander reports from Washington, D.C.

He views tariffs as a sanctions tool

Trump on the campaign trail proposed a 60% tariff on goods from China — and a tariff of up to 20% on everything else the United States imports. Mainstream economists are generally skeptical of tariffs, considering them a mostly inefficient way for governments to raise money and promote prosperity.

Bessent told Bloomberg in August that he views tariffs as a “one time price adjustment” and “not inflationary,” and tariffs imposed during a second Trump administration would be directed primarily at China. “I think that tariffs in a way can be regarded as an economic sanction without a sanction. If you don’t like Chinese economic policy, flooding the market with over production, you could put a sanction on them, or a tariff. Its also an answer to currency manipulation.”

And he wrote in a Fox News op-ed this week that tariffs are “a useful tool for achieving the president’s foreign policy objectives. Whether it is getting allies to spend more on their own defense, opening foreign markets to U.S. exports, securing cooperation on ending illegal immigration and interdicting fentanyl trafficking, or deterring military aggression, tariffs can play a central role.”

He told CNBC that “I would recommend that tariffs be layered in gradually.”

He would be the first openly gay treasury secretary

If confirmed to the role, he would also be the first openly LGBTQ Senate-confirmed cabinet member in a Republican administration.

In 2020, Trump named Richard Grenell, who is openly gay, acting director of national intelligence. However, the role was not subject to Senate confirmation.

In 2015, Bessent told the Yale Alumni Magazine: “If you had told me in 1984, when we graduated, and people were dying of AIDS, that 30 years later I’d be legally married and we would have two children via surrogacy, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

Pete Buttigieg is the first openly LGBT Senate-confirmed Cabinet member, nominated by President Joe Biden to lead the transportation department.

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen money manager Scott Bessent, an advocate for deficit reduction and deregulation, to serve as his next treasury secretary.

Bessent is a past supporter of Democrats who has become an enthusiastic supporter of Trump. He’s an advocate of cutting spending while extending the tax cuts approved by Congress in Trump’s first term.

Here are four things to know about the South Carolina billionaire who, if confirmed by the Senate, will manage the nation’s finances:

He worked for George Soros and donated to Democratic causes

Before becoming a Trump donor and adviser, Bessent donated to various Democratic causes in the early 2000s, notably Al Gore’s presidential run. He also worked for George Soros, a major supporter of Democrats.

Bessent had an influential role in Soros’ London investment operations, including his famous 1992 bet against the pound, which generated huge profits on “Black Wednesday,” when the pound was de-linked from European currencies.

He worked for George Soros and donated to Democratic causes

Before becoming a Trump donor and adviser, Bessent donated to various Democratic causes in the early 2000s, notably Al Gore’s presidential run. He also worked for George Soros, a major supporter of Democrats.

Bessent had an influential role in Soros’ London investment operations, including his famous 1992 bet against the pound, which generated huge profits on “Black Wednesday,” when the pound was de-linked from European currencies.

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Eric Garcia writes:

President-elect Donald Trump notched his first major failure on Thursday when Matt Gaetz, his embattled nominee for attorney general, withdrew his nomination.

The Gaetz nomination was always going to end poorly for Trump. No amount of arm-twisting could get the former congressman, who was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, over the line with the Senate.

The fumble shows that Trump grossly misread his mandate. In an election so clearly about reducing prices and frustration with the Democrats, he decided to go full ultra-MAGA. House Republicans felt the need to run interference for Trump and Gaetz; Senate Republicans played coy even as they knew the nomination was doomed.

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Now that Matt Gaetz is no longer a congressman and will not be the next attorney general of the United States, what does the future hold for the MAGA firebrand?

Well, in the grand tradition of other famed Republicans who have fallen from grace, such as convicted felon George Santos or one-time America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the former Florida congressman has joined Cameo.

When reached for comment, Gaetz confirmed that he had indeed created a profile on the site. “I have joined cameo. I hope to bring people joy,” he said in a text to The Independent.

Justin Barangoa has the details.

The youngest child of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr didn’t want Donald Trump to become the next president — but Dr Bernice King believes Trump’s inauguration taking place on the same day as the federal holiday honoring her father is a small win.

“I’m glad that if it was going to happen, it happened on the King holiday, because Dr King is still speaking to us,” she told The Independent. She sees the January 20 event as a wake-up call for the country and an opportunity to stand up to the incoming administration’s charged agenda items.

Michelle Del Rey reports.

President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to be his director of national intelligence, former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, was briefly put on a watchlist by the Transportation Security Administration, according to CNN.

The list leads to certain individuals being chosen for additional screening before flights. She was added to the list after her patterns of travel and foreign connections triggered a government algorithm this year, three sources told the network.

Gustaf Kilander reports.