ABC agrees to settle Trump ‘rape’ defamation case for $15m as president-elect attends Army-Navy game: Live

More than half of Americans are not confident in Donald Trump’s abilities to appoint well-qualified people to his cabinet or manage government spending effectively, despite recently electing him to lead the United States, according to a new poll.

Just 44 percent of U.S. adults reported feeling “very” or even “moderately” confident that Trump will appoint well-qualified individuals for cabinet or high-level government positions.

The new results from the Associated Press and NORC arrive as the president-elect has selected a group of controversial individuals to serve in his cabinet and other high-level positions including former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, former congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and more.

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President-elect Donald Trump is reported to be frustrated by delays to the new Air Force One, which means he likely won’t be able to fly on a new jet during his second term.

Boeing has reportedly told the Air Force that the new planes won’t be ready until after Trump leaves the White House, the Wall Street Journal reports.

It was previously reported that the two new planes were due to be delivered in 2026 and 2027. But the jets won’t be ready until 2029 or possibly even later, according to the Journal, which quoted sources familiar with the plans.

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Gov. Phil Murphy has asked the Biden administration to put more resources into an investigation of mysterious drone sightings that have been reported in New Jersey and nearby states.

Murphy, a Democrat, made the request in a letter Thursday, noting that state and local law enforcement remain “hamstrung” by existing laws and policies in their efforts to successfully counteract any nefarious activity of unmanned aircraft. He posted a copy of the letter on the social media platform X.

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The Nevada attorney general has charged six Republicans with submitting falsified documents to Congress declaring President-elect Donald Trump the winner of the key swing state in 2020.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford argues the defendants signed off on false Electoral College votes for Trump in 2020 even though he lost Nevada by more than 30,000 votes. There was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Nevada during the 2020 election, Republican Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske said at the time.

Ford filed the charges of “uttering a forged instrument” for a second time in Carson City this week after a judge dismissed an initial indictment in Clark County earlier this year, ruling the prosecutor filed it in the wrong venue, the Associated Press reports.

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With just five weeks to go until President-elect Donald Trump and his allies take full control of America’s executive branch, many of his former antagonists are suddenly attempting to curry favor. How best to do so? By funding the massive inaugural celebration that will mark his return to office, of course.

On Thursday, CNN reported that Amazon, the world’s largest retailer, would be gifting $1 million in cash to the Trump inaugural committee, in addition to an equal in-kind contribution it would make by broadcasting the January 20 festivities on the company’s eponymous streaming video platform.

The donations are just the latest in what has become a concerted effort by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to lessen tensions.

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During their 2024 election campaigning and in the weeks afterward, Republicans focused heavily on anti-transgender messaging. President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign ran an ad criticizing Kamala Harris for allowing undocumented immigrants access to transgender healthcare in prison, with the tagline “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you.”

Shortly after the election, Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina introduced legislation to ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms on Capitol Hill. It’s hard to not see that legislation as targeted, considering Sarah McBride had only just become the first openly transgender woman elected to Congress.

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The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and others on Friday rejected an attempt by former Trump campaign lawyer Kenneth Chesebro to invalidate his guilty plea.

Chesebro, Trump and 17 others were charged in August 2023 in a sprawling indictment that accused them of participating in a sweeping scheme to try to illegally overturn Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Chesebro pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy count a few months later after reaching a deal with prosecutors just before he was to go to trial.

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Less than 20 percent of American adults approve of President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, former Army National Guard soldier and Fox & Friends weekend host Pete Hegseth, according to a new poll.

The results of the AP-NORC poll come as Republican senators appear to be warming up to his nomination in the face of allegations of sexual misconduct, excessive drinking, and financial mismanagement.

Only 17 percent in the poll conducted between 5 and 9 December said they strongly or somewhat approve of Hegseth, while 36 percent said they strongly or somewhat disapprove.

Thirty-seven percent said they didn’t know enough to share a view and 11 percent said they neither approved nor disapproved.

The results were the lowest of the four Trump nominees the poll asked about.