Trump ‘to return to Madison Square Garden tonight’ as he picks oil CEO Chris Wright for energy secretary: Live

The second in command to the nation’s military could end up being a Fox News pundit who wants to launch a “frontal assault” against top brass, kick women out of combat, and implement Donald Trump’s sweeping agenda for the world’s third-largest standing fighting force.

The president-elect has nominated Pete Hegseth as his secretary of defense, overseeing a budget of roughly $850 billion and roughly 3 million service members and personnel serving in the nation’s oldest-running agency while the US is embroiled in global conflicts in a period of escalating tensions.

The office was created in the aftermath of the Second World War to centralize governance of the newly renamed Department of War and the various branches of the military.

Veterans groups and service members are warning against Trump’s ‘dangerous’ appointment to the Pentagon, as the president-elect rewards loyalists dedicated to his agenda, Alex Woodward reports.

There may be fewer Trumps in the White House this time around but ethical questions and party influence will continue to swirl around the famous family, writes Josh Marcus.

This time around, things will look a bit different at 1600 Pennsylvania. Barron’s at college in New York.

Jared and Ivanka are in Miami after the latter formally announced her withdrawal from politics in 2022. Melania’s reportedly going to bounce between Palm Beach and Manhattan, rather than live full-time at the White House.

Don Jr. got a new job as a venture capitalist instead of joining the White House, and Eric is taking a back seat to his wife, Lara.

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Here’s how Trump’s cabinet, along with other senior White House positions, is looking so far. Most of them are subject to Senate approval.

White House Chief of Staff - Susie Wiles

White House Communications Director - Steven Cheung

White House Press Secretary - Karoline Leavitt

White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy - Stephen Miller

Secretary of State - Marco Rubio

Attorney General - Matt Gaetz

Defense Secretary - Pete Hegseth

Health and Human Services Secretary - Robert F Kennedy Jr

Homeland Security Secretary: Kristi Noem

Directional of National Intelligence: Tulsi Gabbard

EPA Administrator: Lee Zeldin

Veterans Affairs Secretary: Doug Collins

Interior Secretary: Doug Burgum

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations: Elise Stefanik

CIA Director: John Ratcliffe

National Security Adviser: Mike Waltz

Border Czar: Tom Homan

Donald Trump has nominated vaccine skeptic and conspiracy-spreader Robert F Kennedy Jr to lead America’s largest public health body, the Department of Health and Human Services.

It is unclear whether Kennedy could get confirmed, even with a Republican Senate majority. Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president, made the rare move of denouncing Kennedy as insufficiently opposed to abortion.

Needless to say, almost all, if not all, Democrats will oppose Kennedy’s confirmation. Plenty of Republicans might have some objections as well.

Eric Garcia breaks down just how much power Kennedy would have should he lead the agency.

In addition to the 15 officials Trump will choose to join his cabinet, there are hundreds of positions, including ambassadors and lower-level roles, that typically require Senate approval.

Nominees face a grilling during the Senate confirmation process as it typically requires them to submit financial disclosures and testify before a committee.

Members from both political parties get a chance to interrogate nominees about their plans for the post and their backgrounds.

The Senate committee votes on the nominee following the hearing and if it passes, it then goes to the full Senate for a vote.

However, last weekend Trump signaled he could bypass the process via recess appointments.

“Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner,” Trump wrote in a social media post on X on Sunday before John Thune was confirmed as the next majority leader Wednesday, replacing the outgoing Mitch McConnell.

Recess appointments would allow Trump to make administration appointments without a vote in the Senate while the upper chamber is in recess. The process is not unconstitutional, and it has been done before by other administrations.

Bill Clinton made 139 recess appointments while in the White House, and Barack Obama made 32. George W. Bush made 171, ABC noted, according to the Congressional Research Service.

There is yet more controversy surrounding Trump’s defense secretary pick.

Concerns have been raised over a tattoo belonging to Pete Hegseth, the Fox News host nominated by Trump to lead the Department of Defense – with opinion divided over whether it is a “Christian motto” or a white nationalist dog whistle.

Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran, has the words “Deus Vult” tattooed on his bicep, which has been associated with white supremacist groups. “Deus Vult” is a Latin phrase meaning “God Wills It,” and was a rallying cry for Christian crusaders in the Middle Ages.

The Associated Press reported that the tattoo previously resulted in Hegseth being flagged as a possible “Insider Threat” by a fellow service member. However, the AP report has led to outrage on both sides, including from Vice President-elect JD Vance.

Mike Bedigan reports.

The President-elect has released a new advert on X today to those who voted for him.

A woman testified in front of the House Ethics Committee that she saw Matt Gaetz have sex with a minor, according to her lawyer.

Attorney Joel Leppard represents two women who gave closed-door testimony in the summer to the committee probing President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial pick for attorney general, ABC first reported.

“My client testified to the House Ethics Committee that she witnessed Matt Gaetz having sex with a minor,” Leppard told the outlet.

Gaetz denies any wrongdoing.

Read the full story below.

Trump border czar Tom Homan has pledged to institute a regime of “shock and awe” on the first day of the new administration.

The former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took part in Donald Trump Jr’s program on the video streaming platform Rumble this week.

The pair discussed Homan’s plans to put together mass deportations of millions of illegal immigrants.

Gustaf Kilander reports.

Tom Watling reports:

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin seriously underestimate what the other is capable of and that carries far-ranging risks for Ukraine over Russia’s invasion, Britain’s former spy chief and ex-diplomats have told The Independent.

Trump’s US election victory last week has upended Europe’s plan to back Kyiv for “as long as it takes”. His focus is on ending the war quickly, even if that potentially means pushing Kyiv to cede territory currently occupied by Russia.

Sir Alex Younger, former chief of MI6 from 2014 to 2020, believes both the incoming president and his Russian counterpart overestimate their ability to influence the other.

“I think Trump overestimates his ability to force Putin into a land swap where Putin clearly wants a lot more, when he feels that he is winning and when he has to show [the Russian people] a lot more if he is to justify the appalling sacrifice he’s imposed,” he says. “Trump is underestimating the challenge and overestimating his influence.”

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