Trump scores major legal victory as election interference and classified docs cases are abandoned: Live updates

The veteran Ohio Democrat lost his Senate seat earlier this month to Trump-backed businessman Bernie Moreno and has been reflecting on the defeat in conversation with CNN.

He says the left’s failure to win over the working-class is what cost him and others across the country and is likely to continue to hurt his party if it doesn’t rectify the problem fast.

“I think that we don’t appear to be fighting for them,” Brown said.

“Workers have drifted away from the Democratic Party.”

Calling for a greater emphasis on the economy and blue-collar families suffering from the rising cost of living, Brown said: “I lost, but we ran ahead of the national ticket.

“When the leader of your ticket runs 12 points behind, almost, you can’t overcome that, even though it was a close race in the end.”

He also complained that Trumpian smears against his record had also played a part in his loss.

“A lot of things made the difference. I’d say it’s the money and Trump. That kind of money, month after month after month, with nasty negative ads.

“I guess that’s how you win a race. You lie, you spend a lot of money, and then you, as my opponent, hope that your candidate, Trump in this case, would win by a lot.”

Asked if he planned to challenge for the seat being vacated by Vice President-elect JD Vance, the 72-year-old said: “I’m not dismissing anything at this point.”

The network’s latest survey on how the American public are reacting to Donald Trump’s post-election moves finds that a majority (59 percent) are happy with how the transition process has been handled so far, with another 41 percent spooked by some of the names the president-elect has put forward.

The reaction overall is cooler than you might expect, with only 21 percent “angry” about Trump’s win and 23 percent “dissatisfied” and the remainder either “satisfied” or “happy”.

That said, he has work to do if he really is to be a president of unity: with just 4 percent of Democrats saying they are “excited” about his administration and 35 percent “concerned” and another 50 percent outright “scared”.

The firebrand Georgia congresswoman has been gloating about the cuts she could help to enable as part of Elon Musk’s government efficiency drive.

Speaking to Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures, MTG pledged that her new subcommittee covering the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will enable a “deep dive” into every government department and program, with one recommendation being to have leaders of so-called “sanctuary cities”, whose policies protect immigrants, explain why they deserve federal funding.

This is what Musk himself has to say about DOGE:

Oliver O’Connell has more on Greene.

Rhian Lubin has more on GOP Senator James Lankford’s comments about Gabbard, particularly his interest in her past meetings with Bashar al-Assad at a time when the US government had turned its back on him.

Bill Hagerty of Tennessee has warned his GOP colleagues they must “step up” to appoint Trump’s cabinet picks or face recess appointments.

Hagerty was on ABC’s This Week that the idea of recess appointments “is and should be on the table”, adding that previous presidents in modern history including Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton had utilized the constitutional clause allowing appointments when the Senate is not in session.

The process would likely set up court battles and fray Trump’s relationship with GOP leaders — all while allowing him to confirm controversial choices despite concerns.

On the same subject and on the same show, Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar warned Trump’s nominees they had better “get their background checks together”.

Here’s more from John Bowden on Haggerty’s appeal.

Here’s why the president-elect’s eldest son is currently winning the Succession-style jockying for influence at Mar-a-Lago, what he’s doing with his power and what happens once his old man reaches the Oval Office.

Also on the Sunday shows, the aforementioned Markwayne Mullin insisted yesterday Trump’s choice for defense secretary was “falsely accused” of sexual assault, defending his claim days earlier that Pete Hegseth had just been “flirting” with his accuser before going even further in his attempts to defend his man.

Kelly Rissman reports.

Here’s more from Tammy Duckworth on another of Trump’s picks, former Fox News weekend host Pete Hegseth, whom she says is “unqualified” to be America’s defense secretary after arguing that female soldiers should not be deployed to combat zones.

John Bowden reports.