Former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-Fla.) withdrawal from consideration to be President-elect Trump’s attorney general moves the spotlight to other nominees who could face a tough path to confirmation.
Gaetz’s brief AG nod acted like a shield, drawing attention away from Tulsi Gabbard, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth.
With Gaetz out of the picture, those nominations will likely dominate discourse on Capitol Hill and in the media for the foreseeable future.
Gabbard and Kennedy are treated with disdain by many in the Washington establishment for their heterodox views, while Hegseth is dealing with fallout from a police report detailing a woman’s allegations of sexual assault against him from 2017.
Hegseth reached a private settlement with the woman, saying he wanted to avoid a defamatory lawsuit. No charges were ever filed, and he insists the encounter was consensual.
However, The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump’s transition team was blindsided but the accusations, with a number of details garnering widespread public attention on the same day Gaetz’s nomination flamed out.
EXIT GAETZ, ENTER BONDI
Gaetz, who resigned from the current Congress, announced Friday he will not return for the next Congress convening in January despite winning reelection.
Trump tapped former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) to replace him. Bondi is expected to have a cleaner path to confirmation, although she’s certain to face scrutiny for backing Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch, Jared Gans and Zach Schonfeld have everything you need to know about Bondi’s nomination here.
The latest: Trump is expected to nominate former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) to lead the Department of Agriculture.
EARLY GOP SUPPORT FOR KENNEDY
The Hill’s Al Weaver and Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech report that GOP senators are signaling early they’re open to Kennedy leading the Department of Health and Human Services, despite his support for abortion rights.
“Donald Trump was elected to shake up things [from] Washington business as usual, and I think that’s the type of nominees he’s picking,” said Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “President Trump is pro-life, so I don’t think there’ll be any question with those who ultimately affect policy.”
MEANWHILE…
Republican senators are warning Trump not use a loophole that could allow for him to jam his nominees through during an extended Congressional recess.
There is some speculation that Trump might be planning to fill key Cabinet positions by circumventing the confirmation process for his more controversial nominees, although he did not go that route with Gaetz.
Via The Hill’s Alexander Bolton: “Republican senators and aides say Trump allies who claim the incoming president would have power under Article 2, Section 3 of the Constitution to force an extended recess don’t understand how Congress really works.”
CABINET ROUNDUP
• Trump’s education pick Linda McMahon was accused of negligence in a child sexual abuse lawsuit filed last month that stems from her time leading World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) will chair a new Department of Government Efficiency panel in the House, working with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy‘s White House commission of the same name.
•Trump senior adviser Dan Scavino says former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) will not be FBI director, even as the former lawmaker says he could reform the agency.
💡Perspectives:
•The Atlantic: Trump’s most dangerous Cabinet pick.
• The Hill: It’s Musk’s America now and the left can’t stand it.
• The Guardian: RFK could be a transformational health secretary.
Read more:
•Trump gives himself a black eye with Gaetz misfire.
• Slotkin: Washington treating transition as ‘a parlor game.’
•Here’s who’s on the list to carry out Trump’s agenda.
Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Jonathan Easley, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here.
CATCH UP QUICK
The Supreme Court will hear a case that could deliver another blow to federal agencies’ powers.
The Department of Justice will halt random drug searches at airports and other transportation facilities as it reviews its processes.
Advocates fear a national book ban under a unified GOP government.
The Texas attorney general is suing the city of Dallas for putting marijuana on the ballot.
President-elect Trump’s sentencing for his 34 felony convictions will not move forward as planned next week.
Judge Juan Merchan delayed sentencing, giving Trump’s lawyers time to file a motion to dismiss the prosecution due to his election victory.
Trump’s attorneys will make a formal motion asking for dismissal by Dec. 2. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg (D) will have until Dec. 9 to respond.
Judge Merchan will decide how to proceed from there.
One option that’s being pushed by Bragg, via The Hill’s Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee: “Merchan could freeze the proceedings while Trump is in office, meaning the conviction would remain on the books but sentencing wouldn’t occur until 2029, at the earliest.”
A new survey from Pew Research puts Trump’s approval rating at 53 percent following his election victory.
💡Perspectives:
•The American Prospect: Harris disappointed Gen Z.
• The Hill: Who will turn Democrats around?
• The Liberal Patriot: How Dem senators survived the Trump tide.
• The Los Angeles Times: Should Democrats be pointing fingers?
Read more:
•Trump immigration crackdown: Denaturalization just a drop in the bucket.
• Republican introduces bill to eliminate Department of Education.
•Congress poised for another farm bill punt after Senate nonstarter.
•N.Y. Democrat: ‘Kathy Hochul is the new Joe Biden.’
ELECTIONS
Harris, Walz to address top donors
Vice President Harris and 2024 running mate Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) will address their top donors next week amid growing scrutiny of their campaign finances and deep disappointment among Democrats over the outcome of the election.
Harris has cut a low profile since her election loss. She’s currently in Hawaii.
The latest in the Democratic debate over what went wrong:
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) wrote in a memo that Democrats must embrace populism after the “cataclysmic event” of the 2024 election.
“There are many factors to winning back the majority of lower income voters, but I am confident that one key element is being more purposeful and transparent in talking about power — why corporations and billionaires have too much, and why we, as Democrats, are the only party that is serious about putting that power back in the hands of workers.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is expected to visit some counties in his state voted for Trump.
First up: Newsom announced a jobs initiative in Fresno County, which flipped to support Trump in 2024.
ELSEWHERE…
Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) conceded defeat to Republican David McCormick, avoiding a statewide recount and cementing the GOP’s 53-47 majority in the upper chamber.
ON TAP
NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday”: Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Rep.-elect Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.).
CNN’s “State of the Union”: Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.).
Fox’s “Fox News Sunday”: Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.); Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.).
NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.).
25 days until electors vote in their states.
28 days until the government funding deadline.
42 days until the new Congress begins and the House leadership elections.
45 days until Congress counts the electoral votes.
Some Republicans oppose use of military for deportations
President-elect Trump’s vow to use the military to carry out mass deportations of immigrants in the country without legal permission is running into some opposition among Republican senators.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said earlier this week that it would be a “huge mistake” and create a “terrible image.”
Now Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) tells Politico Playbook that the military should not lead the operation, although there are ways they “could be helpful.”
“What they don’t have is policing powers; they don’t have arrest authorities …. I would rather see us give [Trump] the police resources, ICE and Customs and Border Protection … than [to] use our military,” Cramer said.
MEANWHILE:
What’s next for Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) now that he’s passed the torch to newly-elected Senate GOP leader John Thune (S.D.)?
In the next Congress, McConnell will hold a couple of important roles pertaining to Defense and campaign finance, including the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense and the Rules and Administration Committee.
One more note from the upper chamber: Last night, the Senate reached a deal on President Biden’s stalled judicial nominees.
The Hill’s Alexander Bolton says the agreement looks like this: “While Republicans agreed to speed up consideration of the district court judicial nominees, Democrats in return agreed not to hold votes on four of Biden’s appellate court nominees.”
💡Perspectives:
•The Guardian: Is the war in Ukraine escalating or about to end?
• Issues & Insights: Is Biden trying to start WWIII?
• The Hill: Biden shows backbone in face of Putin’s threats.
Read more:
•GOP blocks promotion of top general who oversaw Afghanistan withdrawal.
• Jordan signals ongoing probes into Garland, Mayorkas on border.
Putin’s saber rattling puts world on edge
•The New York Times reports on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s latest threats in response to President Biden authorizing Ukraine to expand its offensive with U.S.-made weapons. Putin reportedly said Russia has the right to strike military facilities in countries “that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities.”
Russia this week fired a hypersonic missile on Ukraine as a warning to the “reckless” West. The Ukraine parliament cancelled its session after the rocket launch.
The U.S. Treasury on Friday imposed new sanctions on Russian banks and financial officials.
•President Biden is seething over the International Criminal Court’s issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling it “outrageous.” Netanyahu this week offered $5 million and safe passage out of Gaza for any Hamas member that returns an Israeli hostage.
•The Biden administration added dozens of Chinese firms to a blacklist over their alleged forced labor practices, the Wall Street Journal reports.
•Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plans to cut the sales taxes and send checks to millions of Canadians as the federal election looms.
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