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Trump planning to fire DoJ lawyers who investigated him, names pick for key post of treasury secretary: Live

President-elect pledges to fire attorneys who worked alongside Special Counsel Jack Smith as he names hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to head treasury

Joe Sommerlad,Gustaf Kilander,Ariana Baio
Friday 22 November 2024 21:24 EST
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Matt Gaetz reveals he will not be returning to Congress

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Donald Trump is set to fire the attorneys who worked alongside Special Counsel Jack Smith on two federal investigations into the president-elect and use the Department of Justice to probe the 2020 election, according to The Washington Post.

The attorneys who may become caught up in the firings include career professionals who are usually protected from such revenge efforts.

Trump is set to put together teams of investigators to look for evidence that there was fraud in battleground states in the 2020 election, according to The Post. There’s no evidence that fraud affected the outcome of the 2020 election.

Meanwhile, Trump announced that his pick for the job of treasury secretary is hedge fund manager Scott Bessent.

Trump called Bessent “one of the World’s foremost International Investors and Geopolitical and Economic Strategists.”

In a flurry of announcements on Friday night, Trump revealed his picks to lead the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the FDA, the CDC, the Office of the Surgeon General, and the Department of Labor.

Trump’s campaign team celebrated his hush money trial sentencing being indefinitely postponed by Justice Juan Merchan on Friday, calling it “a decisive win” in a “Witch Hunt” case.

Trump expected to offer Kelly Loeffler agriculture secretary

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to offer his friend and ally, Kelly Loeffler, the position of secretary of agriculture, according to reports.

Loeffler served as a Senator from Georgia for one year between January 6, 2020 and January 20, 2021.

Ariana Baio22 November 2024 20:00

Trump’s transition team was ‘blindsided’ by new details of Pete Hegseth’s sexual-assault allegation

In yet another example of the Trump transition team being blindsided by claims about Pete Hegseth, members of the team were reportedly startled to see a California police report go public on Wednesday, detailing the 2017 night on which Hegseth was accused of sexually assaulting a woman.

The heavily redacted report from the Monterey Police Department details two different accounts from a night of drinking at a hotel bar in 2017 that ultimately ended in a sexual encounter between Hegseth and an unnamed woman.

The report arrives nearly a week after Trump tapped Hegseth to head the armed forces and reports emerged revealing Hegseth paid a settlement to the woman who accused him of assault.

Members of the Trump transition team were reportedly unaware of the settlement, which led to concerns about whether Hegseth was still fit to be the defense secretary nominee. They were dealt another surprising blow on Wednesday evening when the Monterey Police Department released the redacted report and revealed Hegseth was given a copy in March 2021.

Ariana Baio22 November 2024 19:30

Trumpworld insiders rule out potential FBI boss pick amid bureau shake-up

Donald Trump insiders have ruled out the possibility of former special agent Mike Rogers being named as FBI director.

Earlier reports suggested that Rogers was tipped to take the top job with controversial MAGA loyalist Kash Patel as his deputy.

But Dan Scavino, who was last week named as the president-elect’s deputy chief of staff, revealed that Trump has ruled out Rogers, contrary to earlier reports.

“Just spoke to President Trump regarding Mike Rogers going to the FBI. It’s not happening,” he said in a post on X. “In his own words, ‘I have never even given it a thought.’ Not happening.”

Ariana Baio22 November 2024 18:30

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones brushes off Gaetz sexual misconduct allegations as just him ‘being a stud’

The embattled InfoWars host has been busy downplaying the misconduct allegations against Trump’s original pick for US attorney general.

“They interviewed a bunch of the women on Gaetz, you know, that are all like 35, 40 years old now, because this goes back 12, 13, 40, 50 years,” the Texan said on his ailing conspiracy show yesterday.

“The women, they said, ‘Oh, that guy’s so nice,’” he continued.

“‘Oh yeah, I did date him. Yeah, you know, I did have sex with him in a hotel room. We took ecstasy. It was me and two other girls.’

“People are like, damn, Matt Gaetz is quite the stud. So yeah, Matt Gaetz is human. Okay, so now we know.”

Katie Hawkinson has more.

InfoWars’ Alex Jones praises Matt Gaetz after latest sexual assault allegations

Matt Gaetz ended his bid for attorney general this week

Joe Sommerlad22 November 2024 18:10

Megyn Kelly claims she’s an ‘independent’ and slams Morning Joe for partisanship – weeks after hugging Trump on stage

Weeks after helping President-elect Donald Trump deliver his campaign’s closing message while embracing him on a rally stage, right-wing podcaster Megyn Kelly insisted that she is “not on anybody’s team” and is merely an “independent” journalist.

Uh huh.

Justin Baragona reports.

Megyn Kelly claims she’s an ‘independent’ — weeks after hugging Trump on stage

Megyn Kelly insisted this week that she’s ‘not on anybody’s team’ and is ‘not putting anybody’s jersey,’ after appearing with Trump on a rally stage and wearing a MAGA hat and garbage bag for Halloween.

Joe Sommerlad22 November 2024 17:50

Pop star, potential senator... and now clothes brand owner: Lara Trump’s latest career move

The co-chair of the Republican National Committee took to Instagram this week to launch her new activewear line –The LT Brand by Lara Trump Collection.

Here’s Gustaf Kilander on the latest commercial venture from the frustrated country singer turned MAGA enforcer.

Potential senator and now clothes brand owner: Lara Trump’s latest career move

RNC co-chair says ‘every piece’ of new activewear brand ‘is handcrafted in the USA because I believe in bringing jobs back home’

Joe Sommerlad22 November 2024 17:30

Analysis: Gaetz burned down the House – then was shocked to find he couldn’t do the same to the Senate

Here’s Eric Garcia on the inconvenient truth Gaetz-gate has to teach Trump about the Senate.

Matt Gaetz burned down the House of Representatives. But he couldn’t break the Senate

Through the Gaetz attorney general drama, Trump learned an unwelcome truth about the Senate, writes Eric Garcia

Joe Sommerlad22 November 2024 17:10

Gaetz says he won’t be rejoining Congress next year

Here’s the latest on the thwarted former Florida congressman, who tells Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk in a new interview that he will not be trying to get himself re-elected in 2025 and again denies the “smears” against him, saying he would be in jail if they were true.

“If the things [in] the House Ethics report were true, I would be under indictment and probably in a prison cell, Gaetz tells The Charlie Kirk Show, according to advance clips seen by The Daily Mail.

Joe Sommerlad22 November 2024 16:50

What Trump’s cabinet picks have said about abortion

Here’s Maya Oppenheim on what the likes of RFK Jr, Doug Burgum, Linda McMahon and Kristi Noem have had to say about reproductive rights.

Here’s what Trump’s cabinet picks have said about abortion

Maya Oppenheim looks at what some of Trump’s cabinet picks have said about abortion

Joe Sommerlad22 November 2024 16:35

Narrow majority of Americans approve of Trump’s agenda, poll finds

A new Pew Research Center survey conducted in the wake of the Republican’s November 5 election victory over Kamala Harris has found that Americans narrowly approve of the president-elect’s plans and policies for the future.

Approximately half of Americans (53 percent) say they approve of his plans while 46 percent disapprove.

According to the poll, conducted from November 12-17 among 9,609 adults, nearly six Americans in 10 (59 percent) say they are very or somewhat confident that Trump will make good decisions about economic policy.

Majorities also express confidence in Trump on law enforcement and criminal justice (54 percent), immigration (53 percent) and foreign policy (53 per cent).

Understandably, people are less confident about the incoming president’s handling of abortion policy (45 percent) or his ability to bring the country closer together (41 percent).

President-elect Donald Trump
President-elect Donald Trump (Getty)

Joe Sommerlad22 November 2024 16:20

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