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Top Senate Democrat said nominees show Trump will ‘weaponize the Justice Department to seek vengeance’
The outgoing Democratic chair of the Senate judiciary committee Dick Durbin warned that Donald Trump’s appointees to top Justice Department posts are a sign that he will direct prosecutors and law enforcement to retaliate against his political opponents.
Durbin singled out the president-elect’s nomination of Todd Blanche, who defended Trump in his hush money trial in New York, as deputy attorney general, and John Sauer, who argued before the supreme court in his immunity case, as solicitor general:
Coupled with the announcement that he intends to nominate former Congressman Matt Gaetz to be Attorney General, these selections show Donald Trump intends to weaponize the Justice Department to seek vengeance. Donald Trump viewed the Justice Department as his personal law firm during his first term, and these selections—his personal attorneys—are poised to do his bidding.
The American people deserve a Justice Department that fights for equal justice under the law. This isn’t it.
Democrats are losing control of the Senate at the beginning of next year, and it will be up to the incoming Republican majority to confirm his appointees.
Key events
Environmental groups are sounding the alarm over Donald Trump’s nomination of North Dakota’s governor Doug Burgum as interior secretary.
Burgum, a former businessman, has been governor since 2016 of North Dakota, which is the third largest oil and natural gas producer in the country. Burgum, if confirmed by the Senate, would manage US federal lands including national parks and wildlife refuges, as well as oversee relations with 574 federally recognized Native American tribes.
The Sierra Club, the country’s largest non-profit environmental organization, said: “It was climate skeptic Doug Burgum who helped arrange the Mar-a-Lago meeting with wealthy oil and gas executives where Donald Trump offered to overturn dozens of environmental rules and regulations in exchange for $1bn in campaign contributions.”
Similarly, the Center for Western Priorities, a conservation policy organization focused on land and energy issues across the western states, said: “Doug Burgum comes from an oil state, but North Dakota is not a public lands state. His cozy relationship with oil billionaires may endear him to Donald Trump, but he has no experience that qualifies him to oversee the management of 20% of America’s lands.”
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The day so far
Donald Trump has not nominated anyone new for his cabinet yet today, but many names are flying around for top posts. Larry Kudlow could reportedly return to his old job heading the National Economic Council, or even the Treasury, while Mike Rogers, who just lost election to the Senate from Michigan, may be tapped to lead the FBI. Meanwhile, we have learned more about Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary nominee. He was reportedly involved in a sexual assault investigation in 2017 – a surprise to Trump’s transition team – but no charges were ever filed. The president-elect has taken to announcing his nominations in the later half of the day, so perhaps we will hear from him this afternoon.
Here’s what else has happened today so far:
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Dick Durbin, the outgoing Senate judiciary committee chair, warned that Trump’s justice department picks will use its powers to. “seek vengeance”.
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Mike Pence came out against Robert F Kennedy Jr to lead the health department, citing the nominee’s support for abortion.
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Scott Bessent, a hedge fund founder, and Howard Lutnick, the co-chair of Trump’s transition team, are also reportedly in the running to head up the Treasury.
Top Senate Democrat said nominees show Trump will ‘weaponize the Justice Department to seek vengeance’
The outgoing Democratic chair of the Senate judiciary committee Dick Durbin warned that Donald Trump’s appointees to top Justice Department posts are a sign that he will direct prosecutors and law enforcement to retaliate against his political opponents.
Durbin singled out the president-elect’s nomination of Todd Blanche, who defended Trump in his hush money trial in New York, as deputy attorney general, and John Sauer, who argued before the supreme court in his immunity case, as solicitor general:
Coupled with the announcement that he intends to nominate former Congressman Matt Gaetz to be Attorney General, these selections show Donald Trump intends to weaponize the Justice Department to seek vengeance. Donald Trump viewed the Justice Department as his personal law firm during his first term, and these selections—his personal attorneys—are poised to do his bidding.
The American people deserve a Justice Department that fights for equal justice under the law. This isn’t it.
Democrats are losing control of the Senate at the beginning of next year, and it will be up to the incoming Republican majority to confirm his appointees.
It is ultimately up to the Senate, and in particular its incoming Republican majority, to decide the fate of Donald Trump’s nominees for cabinet posts.
But for a taste of the sentiment among congressional Republicans towards Trump’s picks, here is the comment Steve Scalise, the Republican majority leader in the House of Representatives, gave to Punchbowl News when asked about Robert F Kennedy Jr’s anti-vaccine views:
Look, ultimately, he’s going to be carrying out President Trump’s agenda. You know, everybody comes in, with their own ideas, whether it’s going to be RFK, whether it’s Marco Rubio and foreign policy, but ultimately, when you take on a position like that, you’re there to carry out President Trump’s agenda for all the Cabinet Secretaries, and I have no doubt that they’re all going to be focused on that mission and carrying out the mandate the voters gave us.
Trump considering Larry Kudlow for top economic jobs, including Treasury secretary – report
Donald Trump may be bringing Larry Kudlow, a top economic advisor during his first term, back to his administration, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Kudlow is under consideration to perhaps lead the Treasury department or the National Economic Council, which he led during Trump’s first term. In that job, he was often on television downplaying the severity of the economic collapse caused by Covid-19 and predicting a rapid recovery. Kudlow has since become a host on Fox Business Network.
Here’s more, from the Journal:
Donald Trump is considering tapping Fox Business Network host Larry Kudlow for a senior economic policy role in his administration, according to people familiar with the matter, amid the president-elect’s mounting frustration with jockeying for top jobs.
Kudlow met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the president-elect’s private Florida club, late this week, the people said. Trump’s advisers see Kudlow as a contender to lead the National Economic Council and possibly the Treasury Department.
Kudlow and a spokeswoman for Trump’s transition team didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Kudlow, 77, served as NEC director for nearly three years, remaining in the role until the end of Trump’s time in office. He has kept in regular touch with Trump.
Kudlow has made regular appearances on Fox Business since leaving the White House. On his weekday show, Kudlow regularly touts Trump’s economic policy proposals. His allies have made appeals directly to Trump to bring him back into the administration, the people said.
Kudlow’s stock has risen in Trump’s orbit amid what one adviser to the president called a “cold war” between two other leading candidates for senior economic roles in the second term: billionaire Cantor Fitzgerald Chief Executive Howard Lutnick and investor Scott Bessent.
Trump considering former congressman Mike Rogers to lead FBI – report
Mike Rogers, a Republican former congressman who just narrowly lost election to the Senate representing Michigan, is in the running to be FBI director under Donald Trump, Fox News reports.
Citing sources familiar, the broadcaster reports Rogers met with Trump’s transition team yesterday at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Rogers is a former FBI special agent, who was under consideration to lead the bureau during Trump’s first term, a job that ultimately went to Christopher Wray.
Here’s more, from Fox:
Will the second time be the charm for one-time Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent and former Rep. Mike Rogers?
Rogers, the 2024 Republican Senate nominee in Michigan who lost his election last week by a razor-thin margin, met Thursday with President-elect Trump’s transition team regarding potentially serving as FBI director in the former and future president’s second administration, sources familiar tell Fox News.
The meeting took place at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
Rogers worked as a special agent with the FBI in its Chicago office and who served as chair of the House Intelligence Committee during the final four years of his decade-long tenure in Congress, was interviewed in 2017 during Trump’s first administration to serve as FBI director after James Comey was dismissed.
But Trump at the time decided to appoint Christopher Wray to the traditional ten-year term steering the federal law enforcement agency.
Donald Trump’s return to the White House represents a setback for women who say he sexually assaulted them, the Guardian’s Victoria Bekiempis reports:
When Donald Trump was elected to a second term last week, women who say he sexually assaulted them, and other victims of sexual abuse, voiced disappointment that a man repeatedly accused of sexual misconduct could once again become president, with one of them describing this win as a “gut punch”.
More than two dozen women have made such claims against Trump, including E Jean Carroll, who was awarded nearly $90m total in two civil trials after jurors found that Trump sexually abused and defamed her. She said on X: “I tried to tell you.”
Several survivors of sexual assault interviewed by the Guardian, as well as advocates for persons who have suffered abuse, said they were not surprised by Trump’s win. They felt it was another example of how sexual abuse is not taken seriously, or pointed to the fact that powerful people who perpetrate abuse seem to be able to avoid repercussions.
Stacey Williams, who said she met Trump through Jeffrey Epstein about three decades ago, and told the Guardian that the now president-elect groped her at Trump Tower in 1993 in what seemed to be a “twisted game” with the late sex predator, is among the many processing election results.
“I think what we were all hoping was that [the] truth would come through and the stories would affect people’s vote once they had [them] in front of them.”
But, she said: “Disinformation won this election at the end of the day, and if we don’t figure out an answer for that, I don’t have a lot of hope for this country.”
Trump defense secretary nominee involved in 2017 sexual assault investigation, no charges filed – report
Fox News host Pete Hegseth, who Donald Trump nominated to be defense secretary, was involved in a sexual assault investigation in California seven years ago, but no charges were filed against him, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The incident happened in 2017 at a hotel and golf course in the city of Monterey, but there were few details of how Hegseth was involved, or what happened. Here’s more, from the Chronicle:
In a brief statement late Thursday, the city manager’s office in Monterey confirmed the sexual assault investigation, but provided few details.
The city said the incident was reported to have happened between almost midnight on Oct. 7, 2017, and 7 a.m. the next morning at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa on Del Monte Golf Course, less than a mile from Monterey Bay and across Highway 1 from the Naval Postgraduate School.
“The Monterey Police Department investigated an alleged sexual assault at 1 Old Golf Course Road,” the city said. It said the victim’s name was confidential and that the alleged assault was reported on Oct. 12, 2017. The city said no weapons were involved, but that there was a report of “contusions to right thigh.”
The city declined to release the police report, saying it was exempt from public disclosure, and said it would not make any further remarks on the probe.
The Monterey County District Attorney’s Office did not reply to a request for comment late Thursday, but an online database indicated no criminal charges had been filed against Hegseth in that county.
Vanity Fair reports that news of the allegation sent Trump’s transition team scrambling over the past few days:
Donald Trump’s transition team scrambled Thursday after Trump’s incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles was presented with an allegation that former Fox & Friends cohost Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee to be Defense Secretary, had engaged in sexual misconduct. According to two sources, Wiles was briefed Wednesday night about an allegation that Hegseth had acted inappropriately with a woman. One of the sources said the alleged incident took place in Monterey, California in 2017.
According to the transition source, the allegation is serious enough that Wiles and Trump’s lawyers spoke to Hegseth about it on Thursday. A source with knowledge of the meeting said that Hegseth said the allegation stemmed from a consensual encounter and characterized the episode as he-said, she-said.
On Thursday evening, Hegseth’s lawyer Timothy Parlatore said: “This allegation was already investigated by the Monterey police department and they found no evidence for it.”
Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung said: “President Trump is nominating high-caliber and extremely qualified candidates to serve in his Administration. Mr. Hegseth has vigorously denied any and all accusations, and no charges were filed. We look forward to his confirmation as United States Secretary of Defense so he can get started on Day One to Make America Safe and Great Again.”
Former vice-president Pence opposes Kennedy as health secretary, citing abortion views
Mike Pence, who served as vice-president during Donald Trump’s first term, announced his opposition to appointing Robert F Kennedy Jr as secretary of health and human services, citing his views on abortion.
“The Trump-Pence administration was unapologetically pro-life for our four years in office. There are hundreds of decisions made at HHS every day that either lead our nation toward a respect for life or away from it, and HHS under our administration always stood for life,” Pence said in a statement released by his conservative nonprofit, Advancing American Freedom.
“I believe the nomination of RFK Jr. to serve as Secretary of HHS is an abrupt departure from the pro-life record of our administration and should be deeply concerning to millions of Pro-Life Americans who have supported the Republican Party and our nominees for decades.”
During his presidential campaign, which he ended in August and announced his support for Trump, Kennedy said he is in favor of abortion being legal up to a certain point.
Pence fell out with Trump after refusing to go along with his attempts to stop Joe Biden from taking office after the 2020 election. Nonetheless, his words may hold some sway with conservative senators opposed to abortion. Here’s the rest of his statement:
For the majority of his career, RFK Jr. has defended abortion on demand during all nine months of pregnancy, supports overturning the Dobbs decision and has called for legislation to codify Roe v Wade. If confirmed, RFK, Jr. would be the most pro-abortion Republican appointed secretary of HHS in modern history.
The pro-life movement has always looked to the Republican party to stand for life, to affirm an unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed.
On behalf of tens of millions of pro-life Americans, I respectfully urge Senate Republicans to reject this nomination and give the American people a leader who will respect the sanctity of life as secretary of Health and Human Services.
John Thune, the South Dakota lawmaker who earlier this week was elected leader of the Senate Republicans, will be at the center of the confirmation hearings for Donald Trump’s cabinet picks.
He has said little about the nominees themselves, but emphasized that he is squarely on the president-elect’s side. The Senate will “do the normal thing in vetting and confirmations hearings, etc. And it’s a process. And we’ll adhere to it, but try and expedite it,” Thune told Semafor in a piece looking at the dynamics around Thune and the confirmation process.
The upshot of the story: there’s no reason to think that Senate Republicans are gearing up to block Trump’s nominees, or at least not many of them. Here’s more:
“John is talented at bringing people together and trying to find a path forward,” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told Semafor. “But to have the Matt Gaetz nomination on the very day that he became chosen as leader was certainly unfortunate timing. And it illustrates the challenges he’s going to face in defending the Senate as an institution.”
The Trump 2.0 era on Capitol Hill is already here, with the president-elect pushing his party’s lawmakers to fall in line regardless of their individual concerns. And the coming Senate confirmation fights over his advisers will be the first act in that drama.
Collins is one of several more centrist Republicans whose votes Trump cannot necessarily count on for more contentious nominees; she made no secret this week of her shock over the Gaetz pick and said she wasn’t sure Kennedy would even get a Senate-confirmed role.
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Thune’s personal confirmation battle next year will require him to bridge the gaps between more establishment-aligned Republicans like Collins, who are already skeptical about one or more of Trump’s choices, and more MAGA-friendly GOP senators.
The South Dakotan won the leadership battle in part by emphasizing his rebuilt relationship with the incoming president. And there’s a substantial bloc of Senate Republicans who are eager to see Thune do whatever it takes to confirm Trump’s advisers.
“I was struck [Wednesday] by how far he went and saying that ‘there’s no daylight between me and President Trump, we’ll advance his agenda,’” said one Republican senator, noting Thune’s openness to using recess appointments on Trump’s picks.
“If he tries to walk that back,” this senator added, “I think there will be hellfire and brimstone.”
The Washington Post reports that among the candidates for Treasury secretary are the co-chair of Donald Trump’s transition team, Howard Lutnick, as well as hedge fund founder Scott Bessent.
Other names being tossed around are Larry Kudlow, a prominent White House economist during his first administration, or Robert Lighthizer, who served as a trade advisor. Whoever Trump picks will likely be tasked with implementing the tariffs he has threatened to impose on US trade partners, in order to bend them to his will on issues such as immigration and reshoring jobs.
Here’s more, from the Post:
When Scott Bessent left President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago compound in Palm Beach, Florida, last Friday, his allies were optimistic that the hedge fund executive was virtually certain to be named the next treasury secretary.
On Thursday, however, Bessent again flew to Florida with his bid for the Cabinet post still hanging in the balance. Bessent is expected to be interviewed by Trump on Friday — as a rival contender for the post, the Trump transition co-chair and Wall Street banker Howard Lutnick, makes his own bid to become the most senior economic official in the U.S. government, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private meetings.
The internal jockeying could have major repercussions not just for Trump’s administration, but the trajectory of the U.S. economy over the next four years. The treasury secretary is responsible for a huge range of policy decisions, from taxes to tariffs to bank regulation, and will be tasked with executing some of the promises central to Trump’s 2024 campaign.
Trump, however, has not yet announced his choice for the pick even as he fills out much of his Cabinet. The impasse has prompted speculation among transition officials that Trump could still pick a third candidate for treasury secretary, such as former White House economist Larry Kudlow or top trade adviser Robert E. Lighthizer, although Bessent or Lutnick are still viewed as the favorites, according to two other people, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect private deliberations. (Kudlow has said Bessent is his own top pick for the position.)
Might Donald Trump’s allies in the Senate wind up rejecting some of his most controversial picks to lead federal departments, such as Robert F Kennedy Jr for health secretary?
Perhaps, but we will probably only find that out for sure in the weeks to come, and particularly once confirmation hearings for the nominees begin early next year.
Despite Kennedy’s peddling of conspiracy theories and misinformation about vaccines, Republican senators appeared open to considering him for the job leading the country’s health policy and research. Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy who, it should be noted, is himself a doctor, said Kennedy “has championed issues like healthy foods and the need for greater transparency in our public health infrastructure. I look forward to learning more about his other policy positions and how they will support a conservative, pro-American agenda.”
News that Donald Trump had nominated conspiracy theorist and vaccine critic Robert F Kennedy Jr as his health secretary sent shares of major pharmaceutical companies lower in European trading today, the Guardian’s Mark Sweney and Graeme Wearden report. US markets have not opened yet, but we’ll see if the bloodletting continues:
Investors in pharmaceutical companies are selling off stock after Donald Trump nominated the anti-vaccine activist Robert F Kennedy Jr to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services.
RFK Jr has embraced numerous health-related conspiracy theories, and is one of the most persistent and influential vaccine deniers in the US.
Trump’s announcement sent shares in some of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies – including Moderna, AstraZeneca and GSK – falling on Friday morning.
RFK Jr has said vaccines are linked to autism in children, that HIV is not the cause of Aids and that some antidepressants are linked to a rise in school shootings.
RFK Jr – and Trump – are mulling banning fluoride in drinking water, while he has also called for bans on hundreds of food additives and chemicals and wants to cut ultra-processed foods from school lunches as part of a plan to reduce diet-related chronic diseases.
Announcing his choice, Trump said the health department would play a “big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming health crisis in this country”.