Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

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⚖️ Why Trump picked Bondi

Pam Bondi gives President-elect Trump most of the same things he wanted from Gaetz — namely, a die-hard loyalist — but with less baggage, fewer enemies and more relevant experience.

• After her tenure as Florida's AG, she was part of Trump's legal team during his first impeachment. She then worked for America First Policy Institute, a Trump-aligned nonprofit.

Via X

🐘 Bondi has been a Trump loyalist for years. But her time in Florida, particularly leading the legal challenges to Obamacare, also earned her a whole lot more credibility than Gaetz ever had among the GOP rank and file.

• Go deeper.

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Trump AG Pick Linked To Musk’s Fraud Lawyer

President-elect Donald Trump’s new choice to head the Justice Department is reportedly the sister of the lawyer who represented Elon Musk and Tesla against federal charges that Musk committed securities fraud. If confirmed, Trump’s Attorney General nominee Pamela Bondi would be in a position to shut down federal prosecutors’ ongoing investigation of Musk’s company.

https://www.levernews.com/trump-ag-pick-linked-to-musks-fraud-lawyer/?

Trump's Cabinet

President-elect Donald Trump has named former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as his new pick for attorney general after Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration Thursday. Gaetz was facing significant scrutiny over sexual misconduct allegations, which he denies. Republicans on the House Ethics Committee voted Wednesday not to release the results of their investigation into him. Sources tell CNN the committee was told of a second sexual encounter between Gaetz and a 17-year-old from 2017. Bondi's selection will be subject to Senate approval once she is formally nominated, but Trump's allies believe she will have a much easier confirmation process than Gaetz. She is also considered to be one of Trump's favorite lawyers.

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Trump's deportation vow alarms Texas construction industry

Clear signals President-elect Donald Trump plans to make good on his campaign pledge to deport millions of undocumented immigrants in his second term has sparked concerns among some in Texas' business and economic sectors who say mass deportations could upend some of the state's major industries that rely on undocumented labor, chief among them the booming construction industry.

https://www.wfae.org/united-states-world/2024-11-23/trumps-deportation-vow-alarms-texas-construction-industry?

ps:What they thought he was just saying this for his health? And than voted for him anyway?? Well now it's time to pay the piper!!

Trump Is Mulling a Plan to Give the FBI a Major MAGA Makeover

Now that Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general has been forced to drop out following Senate confirmation concerns, the president-elect is reportedly taking a more strategic approach to installing a MAGA loyalist among the FBI’s top leadership.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-is-mulling-a-plan-to-give-the-fbi-a-major-maga-makeover/?

ps:Another great pick?? Not, just another person who has no idea what he will be doing so will just do what the cult leader needs done!!!!!

Trump expected to offer Kelly Loeffler secretary of Agriculture

(CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump is expected to offer Kelly Loeffler the job of secretary of the Department of Agriculture, two people familiar with the matter told CNN.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/22/politics/kelly-loeffler-trump-agriculture-department/index.html?

Trump's about-face on health

Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios

President-elect Trump's picks for top health care positions exemplify the night-and-day shift from Trump 1.0 to Trump 2.0., Axios Future of Health Care author Caitlin Owens writes. For most of Trump's first term, his Health and Human Services secretary was Alex Azar, a former Big Pharma executive. Now, HHS will likely have a leader who's best known for a deep, conspiratorial mistrust of modern medicine. 🏥 Trump's first-term pick to lead the federal Medicare and Medicaid agency was Seema Verma, who pulled every available lever to make good on long-standing GOP priorities like cutting Medicaid. Now it'll be Dr. Oz, a TV personality with no background in policy. 💸 Why it matters: These agencies spend more than $1.7 trillion per year on people's health care. And as much as Kennedy has strong opinions about health care, neither he nor Oz has articulated much of an agenda for that part of the job. Azar had worked at HHS before. Verma had pushed and prodded it from the outside on behalf of red states. Neither Kennedy nor Oz has ever worked in, or anywhere near, government. 💡 The bottom line: Conservative policy priorities found a home in Trump 1.0. In Trump 2.0, the main qualification is MAGA loyalty. And that leaves no one — not even conservatives who work on health care — with much of an idea of what to expect. Go deeper.

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Trump names billionaire Scott Bessent as Treasury secretary pick

President-elect Donald Trump named billionaire Scott Bessent as his pick to serve as the next secretary of the Department of the Treasury.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/22/politics/scott-bessent-treasury-secretary-trump/index.html?

Trump’s Defense secretary nominee has close ties to Idaho Christian nationalists

Pete Hegseth is a member of a Tennessee congregation affiliated with Moscow-based Christ Church

https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/11/23/trumps-defense-secretary-nominee-has-close-ties-to-idaho-christian-nationalists/?

ps:That's all we need is more communist sympathizers in our government!!

Trump's liberal cabinet

Nothing captures the dramatic ideological transformation of the Republican Party more vividly than President-elect Trump's proposed cabinet, Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei write in a "Behind the Curtain" column:

• A pro-abortion-rights Kennedy running HHS (RFK Jr.).
• A pro-union centrist running Labor (U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon).
• A former elected Democrat as director of national intelligence (Tulsi Gabbard).
• A former George Soros adviser, who now promises Trumponomics will turn around the economy, running the Treasury (Scott Bessent).

Why it matters: Lost in the noise of Trump's most controversial picks is the simple, undebatable fact that this might be the most ideologically diverse cabinet of modern times.

• As Axios' Zachary Basu told you, Trump's Cabinet increasingly resembles a European-style coalition government, staffed with a dizzying array of ideological rivals united — for now — by a grand MAGA vision.

💡 Between the lines: It's Trump's team of (ideological) rivals.

• The team represents the Trump worldview: Traditional conservatism is dead — and its biggest, lifelong advocates neutered to the point of irrelevance.

A Trump transition source told us most of the picks are "a version of Trump in their thinking and approach":

• "They're fearless disrupters who can walk into these buildings, and know they have a mandate for reform and change."

👂 What we're hearing: Trump's earlier hostile takeover of the Republican establishment is now morphing into a fast-forward "hostile takeover" of the federal bureaucracy.

• Trump insiders tell us they're confident RFK will get confirmed — possibly with the help of at least one Democratic senator.

The big picture: In just under a decade, Trump, once a donor to Democrats, has transformed the GOP of George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney into a populist party with radically different views on trade, immigration and spending.

• In policy, tone and personnel, this is the MAGA Party — not a GOP that any of the party's past legends would recognize.
• "The GOP establishment is now Trump's team of populists," a behind-the-scenes Republican power broker told us. "The old Bush establishment are the outsiders."

📱 Zoom in: This phenomenon was apparent in last night's fusillade of transition announcements, when Trump announced nine major picks in 66 minutes, starting at 6:55 p.m. ET. They included:

• For Treasury, Scott Bessent will bring deep knowledge of bond and currency markets and a close relationship with Trump — as well as a surprising connection to hedge fund manager George Soros, megadonor to liberal causes and bogeyman to the political right. Go deeper with Axios' Neil Irwin & Courtenay Brown
• For Labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), who lost her reelection bid this month, has a pro-labor record that unions like. She backed the PRO Act, a President Biden priority that would make it easier to unionize on a federal level. Go deeper.
• For FDA, Dr. Marty Makary, a surgeon and author who gained prominence on Fox News for his contrarian COVID views. Go deeper.
• For HUD, Scott Turner, a Texan who is the highest-ranking Black person Trump has yet selected for his administration. Turner — a motivational speaker and former NFL cornerback for Washington, San Diego and Denver — ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump's first term. Go deeper.

🇮🇱 Trump's inherited crisis

Hostage families and deal-minded Israeli officials are now placing their hopes in President-elect Trump to succeed where President Biden has so far failed: convincing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza in exchange for freeing the hostages held by Hamas.

• The big picture: With less than two months before Trump's inauguration, a hostage-release and ceasefire deal looks unlikely to happen anytime soon, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.

Instead, Trump will very likely inherit the crisis and the responsibility for the seven Americans held by Hamas, four of whom are believed to be alive.

• Trump's incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Axios he will restore stricter sanctions against Iran, fight terrorism, and support Israel.
• "President Trump will serve as America's Negotiator in Chief and work to get innocent civilians held hostage home," she said.

☎️ Behind the scenes: When Israeli President Isaac Herzog called Trump to congratulate him on his election win, he told the president-elect that securing the release of the 101 hostages is "an urgent issue," according to three people briefed on the call.

• "You have to save the hostages," Herzog told Trump, who in response said almost all of the hostages have most likely died.
• The Israeli president then told Trump that Israeli intelligence services believe half of them are still alive.
• "Trump was surprised and said he wasn't aware of that," one source told Axios. Two other sources briefed on the call confirmed that Trump said he thought most of the hostages were dead.

During Herzog's meeting with Biden at the White House on Nov. 11, he asked the president to work with Trump on the issue between now and Jan. 20 when Trump takes office, a source with knowledge of the meeting told Axios.

• Two days later, when Biden hosted Trump for a two-hour meeting at the Oval Office, the president discussed the hostages and proposed they work together to push for a deal.
• "I don't care if Trump gets all the credit as long as they come back home," Biden told the families of the American hostages in a meeting a few hours after his conversation with Trump, according to two sources with direct knowledge.

Read on.

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🐊 Sunshine State to West Wing

Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

When President-elect Trump moves from Mar-a-Lago to Pennsylvania Avenue, he'll bring a gaggle of fellow Floridians with him. Why it matters: Florida has become the epicenter of Trump's political movement and the state that is shaping the modern Republican Party, Axios' April Rubin and Jeff Weiner write. 👀 Driving the news: After Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) withdrew from consideration as attorney general on Thursday, Trump's next choice was another Sunshine State ally, former Florida AG Pam Bondi. Trump's nominee for secretary of state, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, was born in Miami, the son of two immigrants from Cuba. The incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, has long been a power player in Sunshine State politics: She helped Ron DeSantis win his first race for governor and was a partner at Ballard Partners, a powerful Florida-based firm that expanded in Washington during Trump's first term. Trump's pick for national security adviser, Rep. Michael Waltz of (Wait for it!) Florida, grew up in Jacksonville. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) was the Trumpworld favorite for majority leader, though he didn't receive Trump's endorsement and his bid fell short. 🖼️ The big picture: During his four years out of office, Trump turned Mar-a-Lago into the MAGA mecca, with the movement's top figures making regular pilgrimages. DeSantis has turned Florida into a test kitchen for policies that have become national conservative priorities and led a rightward shift that has stocked the state with ascending GOP talent. Helped by an influx of conservative-leaning voters, Trump and DeSantis turned a pivotal swing state MAGA red. Registered Republicans now outnumber Democrats by a million.

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Trump names Brooke Rollins as his pick for Agriculture secretary

President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday announced one of his former policy advisers, Brooke Rollins, as his pick for secretary of the Department of Agriculture.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/23/politics/brooke-rollins-trump-agriculture/index.html?

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Trump's deportation dilemma

Photo illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios. Photos: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP, Eric Thayer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

It's one thing to call for the largest deportation in American history. It's another to pull it off logistically, given the highly complex process of spotting, detaining, holding and evicting people in the U.S. illegally. Why it matters: The judicial process — one small piece of a long, expensive deportation machinery — illustrates vividly the complexity ahead. The U.S. immigration system's backlog of 3.7 million court cases will take four years to resolve at the current pace. But that could balloon to 16 years under President-elect Trump's mass deportation plan, Axios' Russell Contreras reports. Without a huge increase in immigration judges, millions of new cases would flood the non-criminal system. Trump's administration likely would need new detention centers nationwide to hold people suspected of being in the U.S. without authorization — possibly for years. Immigration experts estimate the whole operation could cost taxpayers $150 billion to $350 billion. ⚖️ By the numbers: Immigration courts closed 900,000 cases from Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. That's the most cleared cases in a fiscal year, and 235,000 more than the previous year, TRAC reports. At that pace, immigration courts wouldn't clear all of the active cases until 2028, an Axios analysis of TRAC data found. Add 11 million undocumented immigrants — who Trump said would be part of his mass deportation plan — and the backlog would go into 2040 at the current pace, according to an Axios review. That's not counting millions of other migrants trying to enter the U.S. in the future. 📺 How it works: Tom Homan, just over 12 hours before he was named Trump's border czar, told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" that the administration will "concentrate on the public safety threats and the national security threats first, because they're the worst of the worst. So it's going to be the worst first." "That's how it has to be done," Homan added. "And we know a record number of people on the terrorist watch list have crossed this border. We know a record number of terrorists have been released in this country. "We have already arrested some planning attacks. So, look: The president is dead on when he says criminal threats, national security threats are going to be prioritized, and that's the way it's going to be." Go deeper: "How Trump's deportation threats impact D.C.-area undocumented immigrants," by Axios' Cuneyt Dil and Russell Contreras. Resistance goes quiet     Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios   Donald Trump's 2016 win sparked shock, outrage and massive protests. The response to his 2024 victory has been more muted, Axios' Sareen Habeshian reports. Why it matters: There's still plenty of resistance to Trump across the country, but little mass mobilization. That could change as Trump moves to implement his agenda. But experts and activists expect the renewed resistance to come in different forms. Some activist groups are working with a new resistance playbook and pivoting their strategies. Tamika Middleton, managing director at Women's March, told Axios the organization is trying to find new ways to mobilize people, such as holding local-level training sessions on combating misinformation and sharing strategies for immigrants to protect themselves. 🔮 What we're watching: An event scheduled for January — dubbed "The People's March" — will inevitably be compared to the massive Women's March eight years earlier, which garnered hundreds of thousands of participants and spurred nationwide sister marches. Some activists are wary that turnout will be much smaller.

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🗄️ Trump stocks his cabinet

Chart: Axios Visuals President-elect Trump said he will nominate former White House aide Brooke Rollins to be his agriculture secretary yesterday. He has now made picks for every Cabinet secretary position. Rollins is a longtime Trump associate who served as White House domestic policy chief during his first presidency, AP notes. National security advisers meet   Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) (left) and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Photos: Getty Images White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met earlier this week with Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), President-elect Trump's incoming national security adviser, Axios' Barak Ravid reports. The first meeting between Sullivan and his successor, who will inherit a set of spiraling crises around the world, took place even though the Trump transition team hasn't signed a memorandum of understanding, allowing the transition process to begin. 👀 Behind the scenes: Sullivan and Waltz discussed several national security and foreign policy issues, including the war in Gaza and the hostages held by Hamas, the sources said. Sullivan said last week: "He and I obviously don't see eye to eye on every issue. But I am very much looking forward to engaging him over these next 60 days ... so that we can have this smooth handoff."

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What to know about Scott Turner, Trump’s pick for housing secretary

Scott Turner, President-elect Donald Trump choice to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is a former NFL player who ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term.

https://apnews.com/article/housing-secretary-trump-scott-turner-nfl-727417b56d0e1f85a40eaf5f7d13d42f?

Pam Bondi, Trump’s New AG Pick, Lobbied for Private Prisons and Amazon

Pam Bondi has replaced Matt Gaetz in Trump’s attorney general slot. Her lobbying clients include the GEO Group, among many others.

https://theintercept.com/2024/11/22/trumps-new-ag-pick-lobbied-for-private-prisons-and-amazon/?

A look at Trump’s latest picks for key administration positions Since Friday afternoon, Trump nominated Scott Turner to be housing secretary; Scott Bessent as treasury secretary; Brooke Rollins as agriculture chief; Russel Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget; and U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer to lead the Department of Labor. Read more.

Key points: Bessent is a former George Soros money manager and advocate for deficit reduction. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary. Trump also said he would nominate Russel Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget, a position Vought held during Trump's first presidency.   Turner is a former NFL player and White House aide. Trump, in a statement, credited Turner, the highest-ranking Black person he’s yet selected for his administration, with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.”   U.S. Rep. Chavez-DeRemer would oversee the Labor Department’s work force, its budget and put forth priorities that impact workers’ wages, health and safety, ability to unionize, and employer’s rights to fire employees. The Oregon House member who narrowly lost her reelection bid earlier this month received strong backing from union members in her district. Rollins was Trump’s last announced pick to lead executive agencies. The Texas attorney is a longtime associate who served as Trump’s domestic policy chief and director of his office of American innovation in his first term.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Senators took down one Trump Cabinet pick. But the fight over their authority is just beginning   What to know about Brooke Rollins, Trump’s pick for agriculture secretary   Trump’s Republican Party is increasingly winning union voters. It’s a shift seen in his labor pick   Republicans lash out at Democrats’ claims that Trump intelligence pick Gabbard is ‘compromised’   A look at how some of Trump’s picks to lead health agencies could help carry out Kennedy’s overhaul   Elon Musk’s budget crusade could cause a constitutional clash in Trump’s second term   Trump's bad-boys fixation President-elect Trump has unabashedly surrounded himself with men who've said, done or been accused of things that would disqualify them under any other U.S. leader in our lifetimes, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Curtain" column. It begs the question: Why? Why go to the mat to pick and defend people Trump knows will raise questions about his judgment, heart or morality? In almost every case, there are similarly loyal and tested alternatives. Yet he often goes with the bad boys. Why it matters: People who know Trump best tell us the answer lies in his view of humanity and power. Trump, they say, values loyalty, toughness, street smarts and self-protection foremost — and believes most people do bad things to get, hold and use power. Business and sexual transgressions don't trouble him like they do other presidents. 🔎 Between the lines: Trump, more often than not, likes people who are like Trump: He's a billionaire, real-estate titan and former TV star who's been elected president twice and survived assassination attempts. He has thrived and taken down political dynasties —while paying off a porn star, undermining an election he lost and being found liable for sexual abuse. The big picture: Trump's instincts on power are on full display with his pick of Fox News' Pete Hegseth for Defense secretary and his impulsive (now withdrawn) choice of former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for attorney general. Both were highly controversial picks for jobs that countless people with more experience would kill to get. The confirmation fight for RFK Jr. for HHS will be epic. But the Trump team sees the hearing as a massive opportunity to air Kennedy's "Make America Healthy Again" agenda. Senators "will ask about vaccines and fluoride, and he'll talk about how messed up the health care system is," one Trump insider told us. Dr. Oz to head the powerful Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) was another "Not The Onion" transition moment. During the campaign, Corey Lewandowski, fired as campaign manager by Trump in 2016, briefly returned to Trump's office and plane with his "Let Trump Be Trump" mantra. In 2022, Lewandowski took a plea deal to resolve a charge of misdemeanor battery after he was accused of making unwanted sexual advances to a GOP donor at a Las Vegas event. Here are some of the reasons Trump is so willing to disregard guardrails in associates and nominees, based on our conversations with friends and aides: Loyalty litmus test: Trump puts a high premium on intense loyalty under fire. He's willing to overlook a lot if you prove your subservience on TV and in tough moments. The most common strand of DNA in Trumpworld is intense loyalty. He doesn't always return it, in part because he "understands self-preservation. So he balances," a member of his inner circle told us. The nature of man: Trump has a very 1950s view of powerful men. In this view, the successful ones are rugged, often handsome, tough and flawed. Polite men, who often dominate politics, are too soft and fake to confront the harsh realities of real life. It takes daring men to do the hard things in fighting crime or illegal immigration, or confronting China, or negotiating with stone-cold killers like Putin. Rationalization: Trump's own criminal and civil legal fights have made him more tolerant of others who are accused. In this view, it can be a price of fame. It's easy for a guy like Gaetz to convince Trump allegations are B.S., longtime advisers say. "He is ultra-sensitive to the cultural notion that accusation equals guilt," a Trump insider told us. Message to males: We're told Trump's gains in the election fueled his bad-boy instincts. "He knows and intuitively understands that men voted for him in huge numbers in part because they reject the notion that all male behavior is toxic," the insider said. "He wants to drive home the message that he is discarding the old norms and he is setting the new ones." Whatever it takes: The end justifies the meanness, in Trump's eyes. He wants to win — whether it's business deals, or TV ratings, or elections, or governance fights. He wants people willing to do the dirty work of gutting parts of government he loathes. Overlooking warts is easy if they pass this test. Numb to controversy: After constant scandals, Trump is desensitized to infernos that would petrify anyone else in business or politics. "That's been an adjustment for all of us — what's actually possible by pushing the envelope," a Trump adviser told us. The bottom line: It takes all types to do this. Trump is content with successful people with strong public reputations, like his incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, or his SecState designee, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), or his pick for national security adviser, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.). But he also believes even those people need some Roy Cohns — in the mold of Trump's mentor and first fixer-lawyer, who was famous, feared and wily — to do the dirty work.

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Trump transition

Republicans are bracing for how they'll navigate the confirmation process with some of President-elect Donald Trump's most controversial Cabinet selections. Picks like Pete Hegseth for defense secretary and Tulsi Gabbard for spy chief present a test for GOP lawmakers in the narrowly controlled Senate. With most of Trump's top picks complete, attention is turning to what impact a planned policy blitz could have inside the US and around the world. Trump's incoming national security adviser said Sunday that the president-elect's transition team is working closely with President Joe Biden's outgoing administration on the war in Ukraine and other major national security issues. Trump has vowed to end the war quickly, but there are fears in Ukraine that he'll let Russia keep vast swathes of territory seized during its illegal invasion.

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Insider: Tesla Is Breaking Tons of Rules Elon Musk May Slash Under Trump

“Tesla repeatedly asked me to lie to the government so that they could operate without paying for proper environmental controls,” a whistleblower reportedly wrote to the EPA.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/insider-tesla-is-breaking-tons-of-rules-elon-musk-may-slash-under-trump/?

ps:Talk about a conflict of interest!!!!!

My DOGE Job Application

David Sirota has a plan for Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Vivek Ramaswamy’s government efficiency department.

https://www.levernews.com/my-doge-job-application/?

ps:These two are going to work well together!!

What Florida’s surgeon general and Trump’s HHS pick have in common

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, share commonalities that spark controversy, including vaccine skepticism, conspiracy theories, and challenges to public health norms.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/11/25/what-floridas-surgeon-general-and-trumps-hhs-pick-have-in-common/?

Trump still has not signed critical transition agreements allowing access to agencies

WASHINGTON — Less than two months before being sworn into office, President-elect Donald Trump has yet to sign the presidential transition paperwork that unlocks critical clearances, information and access to White House resources for his transition team.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/11/22/dc/trump-still-has-not-signed-critical-transition-agreements-allowing-access-to-agencies/?

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Trump 2.0 has a Cabinet and executive branch of different ideas and eclectic personalities

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s personnel choices for his new Cabinet and White House reflect his signature positions on immigration and trade but also a range of viewpoints and backgrounds that raise questions about what ideological anchors might guide his Oval Office encore.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-cabinet-budget-immigration-loyalty-986154f35c82452e0e2e642a3e1752a8?

Bessent's big idea

Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Vincent Alban/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Scott Bessent, President-elect Trump's choice for Treasury secretary, is pushing what he calls a "3/3/3" economic agenda — cutting the budget deficit to 3% of GDP, achieving 3% annual growth, and increasing domestic oil production by 3 million barrels per day. Why it matters: If achieved, those goals would result in a more sustainable fiscal picture and faster-than-expected growth, Axios Macro co-author Neil Irwin writes. But they're in tension with other aspects of the Trump agenda, including tariffs, mass deportations and extending tax cuts from his first term. "His 3/3/3 framework is ambitious, but would be a tremendous success if achieved," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Go deeper.   🚔 Scoop: Kash Patel likely to get FBI or DOJ job Trump is expected to appoint ultra-loyalist Kash Patel to a high-profile position at either the FBI or the Justice Department, top transition sources tell Axios. Patel would be a deeply controversial pick for any leadership role, especially FBI director. Given the hurdles Patel might face winning Senate confirmation, Trump is considering naming him deputy director or appointing him to an investigative role within DOJ, the sources said. ⏱️ State of play: A final decision hasn't been made. Trump still could change his mind, including by elevating Patel all the way to FBI director — a move that would send Gaetz-like shockwaves throughout Washington. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is being considered for FBI director after Trump chose Pam Bondi to lead the Justice Department. But a consensus pick hasn't emerged. Go deeper.

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Scoop: Trump eyes AI czar

Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios

President-elect Trump is considering naming an AI czar in the White House to coordinate federal policy and governmental use of the emerging technology, Trump transition sources tell me. Why it matters: Elon Musk won't be the AI czar, but is expected to be intimately involved in shaping the future of the debate and use cases, the sources said. Behind the scenes: We're told the role is likely but not certain. Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy — who are leading Trump's new outside-government group, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — will have significant input into who gets the role. Musk — who owns a leading AI company, xAI — has feuded publicly with rival CEOs, including OpenAI's Sam Altman and Google's Sundar Pichai. Rivals worry Musk could leverage his Trump relationship to favor his companies. 🖼️ The big picture: Trump, partly in response to the enlarged coalition that fueled his victory, plans to be super-attentive to emerging technologies. Trump's transition has vetted cryptocurrency executives for a potential role as the first-ever White House crypto czar, Bloomberg News reported last week. The AI and crypto roles could be combined under a single emerging-tech czar. Zoom in: The AI czar will be charged with focusing both public and private resources to keep America in the AI forefront. The federal government has a tremendous need for AI technology. The new czar would likely work with agency chief AI officers, which were established in President Biden's AI executive order, and could survive Trump. The person also would work with DOGE to use AI to root out waste, fraud and abuse, including entitlement fraud. The office would spur the massive private investment needed to expand the energy supply to keep the U.S. on the cutting edge. The backstory: The idea has been kicking around Trumpworld for several months, as the transition considered structural changes at the White House to prioritize staffing for Trump's priorities. The model is similar to the National Energy Council that Trump said will be chaired by his designee for Interior secretary, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. Trump's Energy nominee, fracking executive Chris Wright, will be a member of the council. Trump's announcement said the council "will consist of all Departments and Agencies involved in the permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation, transportation, of ALL forms of American Energy. This Council will oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the Economy, and by focusing on INNOVATION over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation." 💬 Our thought bubble, from Axios technology policy reporter Maria Curi: An AI czar wouldn't require Senate consent, allowing the person to get to work on the administration's goals faster. The Biden administration, facing a slim majority in the Senate, never filled the role of U.S. chief technology officer, created by President Obama. Instead, other senior officials at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) took the lead. Vice President Harris played a key ambassador-like role on AI.

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💊 RFK Jr.'s power

Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could use the vast bureaucracy of HHS to put a distinct stamp on vaccine policy, drug approvals and food regulation if confirmed, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim and Tina Reed write. Why it matters: Experts say RFK Jr.'s public calls for more transparency may translate into appointing like-minded individuals to advisory panels that could influence coverage of drugs, services and devices. Reality check: This could result in shifting public health funding to chronic disease or environmental health and away from infectious disease. But with so many legal requirements and bureaucratic layers baked into the process, nothing is certain. Keep reading ... Get Axios Vitals.

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How Trump Plans to Seize the Power of the Purse From Congress

The second-term president likely will seek to cut off spending that lawmakers have already appropriated, setting off a constitutional struggle within the branches. If successful, he could wield the power to punish perceived foes.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-impoundment-appropriations-congress-budget?

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Trump transition team suggests sidelining top adviser over pay-to-play allegations

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top lawyer on Donald Trump’s transition team investigated a longtime adviser to the president-elect over allegations he used his proximity to Trump to score payments from those seeking roles or influence in the new administration.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-epshteyn-bessent-campaign-transition-6b92f862a117ff0582b631bdc42534c2?

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Trump trials backfired

Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios

All the time and effort poured into prosecuting President-elect Trump only ended up putting him — and every future president — further above the law, Axios Supreme Court reporter Sam Baker writes. Efforts to prosecute Trump for his first-term conduct are officially on ice. He's entering his second term with the knowledge that it'll be extraordinarily difficult for anyone to prosecute him for anything he does this time around. ⚖️ State of play: Special counsel Jack Smith moved yesterday to drop two cases against Trump — for subverting the results of the 2020 election and mishandling classified documents. Today's New York Times, Washington Post lead stories ⚡️ By far the most significant outcome of all of the state and federal charges against Trump was the Supreme Court's ruling that former presidents are immune from prosecution for "official acts." The courts won't fill in the details of what constitutes an "official act" until the next time a former president is indicted. That could be a while. But the Supreme Court's initial definition was broad enough to give Trump, and presidents who come after him, a whole lot of confidence that hardly anything they do while in office will land them in prison later. Go deeper. ps:The reason he ran for President!!

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After delay, Trump signs agreement with Biden White House to begin formal transition handoff

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday reached a required agreement with President Joe Biden’s White House to allow his transition staff to coordinate with the existing federal workforce before taking office on Jan. 20.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-transition-background-check-gsa-3ff94c48a8a996a2cd5399c3eda38161?

 

Trump fills out his economic team with two veterans of his first administration Donald Trump on Tuesday announced he has chosen international trade attorney Jamieson Greer to be his U.S. trade representative and Kevin Hassett as director of the White House National Economic Council. Read more.

Why this matters: The president-elect also announced a number of other key personnel choices, including Vince Haley, who led Trump’s speechwriting department in his first term, as director of the Domestic Policy Council. While Trump has in several cases nominated outsiders to key posts, these picks reflect a recognition that his reputation will likely hinge on restoring public confidence in the economy.   Trump has said that Greer was instrumental in his first term in imposing tariffs on China and others and replacing the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, “therefore making it much better for American Workers.” If confirmed, Greer would be responsible for negotiating directly with foreign governments on trade deals and disputes, as well as memberships in international bodies such as the World Trade Organization.   As director of the White House National Economic Council, Hassett will be a major advocate within the Trump administration for tax cuts. Trump said Hassett “will play an important role in helping American families recover from the inflation that was unleashed by the Biden Administration.” In Trump’s second term, Hassett would join a White House seeking to preserve and expand its 2017 tax cuts at a time when deficit pressures are weighing on federal borrowing costs.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Trump picks Jay Bhattacharya, who backed COVID herd immunity, to lead National Institutes of Health   Trump’s latest tariff plan aims at multiple countries. What does it mean for the US?   After delay, Trump signs agreement with Biden White House to begin formal transition handoff   Mexico suggests it would impose its own tariffs to retaliate against any Trump tariffs   Harris’ campaign leaders say there was a ‘price to be paid’ for shortened campaign against Trump   Ex-FBI informant accused of lying about the Bidens is indicted on federal tax charges

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🏛️ Silicon Valley's D.C. win

Last night's transition announcement on Jim O'Neill.

A final flurry of top-level Trump appointments last night included Jim O'Neill, a former top aide to Peter Thiel, to be RFK Jr.'s top deputy at Health and Human Services. Why it matters: The appointment was a win for Silicon Valley and part of a big night for Thiel, the tech kingmaker and GOP megadonor, the N.Y. Times' Teddy Schleifer points out. O'Neill, who met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago last week, "was pushed by some members of the Silicon Valley elite for the department's top position, but lost out to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.," Schleifer notes. O'Neill's appointment "was discussed in multiple group chats on Signal populated with Silicon Valley executives," The Times reported earlier. ⚕️Jay Bhattacharya, named last night to be director of the National Institutes of Health, has been a friend of Thiel's since their undergraduate years at Stanford, per The Times. Why it matters: The pick puts a vocal skeptic of COVID lockdowns in charge of the federal medical research agency — giving a prominent voice to Republicans who thought the strict measures at the height of the pandemic were misguided, Axios' David Nather reports. 💰 Trump last night filled out his economic team with international trade attorney Jamieson Greer as U.S. trade representative (USTR), and Kevin Hassett as director of the White House National Economic Council. Greer previously was chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer, Trump's former USTR, who is deeply skeptical of free trade. Greer is a partner at the King & Spalding law firm in Washington. Hassett, 62, served in the first Trump term as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. More on NIH ... More on econ team.

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⚡ Trump's health-care hot seat

Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The Biden administration's 11th-hour move to expand Medicare coverage for anti-obesity drugs is likely to be popular among seniors, putting the Trump administration in the hot seat. Why it matters: The buzzy class of drugs known as GLP-1 agonists have been hailed as game changers amid an obesity crisis tied to chronic diseases, Axios' Tina Reed writes. Zoom in: The drugs are pricey. Insurers, advocacy groups and policymakers warn that opening up coverage for them could be a recipe for runaway costs in an already financially taxed system. The Trump administration would ultimately decide whether to carry out the expansion. HHS nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has slammed use of the drugs. The CMS administrator nominee, Mehmet Oz, has sung their praises. Between the lines: Expanding coverage to include the drugs is likely to be popular among seniors, who make up a core part of Trump's base.

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Trump transition says Cabinet picks, appointees were targeted by bomb threats, swatting attacks

NEW YORK (AP) — A number of President-elect Donald Trump ‘s most prominent Cabinet picks and appointees have been targeted by bomb threats and “swatting attacks,” Trump’s transition team said Wednesday. The FBI said it was investigating.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-transition-bomb-threats-swatting-0a7f2166087f7c455cbba5b717dae439?

Trump taps retired General Keith Kellogg for Ukraine envoy role

WASHINGTON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Donald Trump has tapped Keith Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general who presented him with a plan to end the war in Ukraine, to serve as a special envoy for the conflict, the president-elect wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-eyes-retired-general-keith-kellogg-ukraine-envoy-sources-say-2024-11-27/?

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Trump vows tariffs over immigration. Here’s what the numbers say about border crossings, drugs and crime Donald Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric has resonated with voters concerned about immigration and crime. Yet there’s more to the story than Trump’s short statement suggested. A look at what the numbers and studies say about border crossings, fentanyl smuggling and whether there’s a connection between immigration and crime. Read more.

Key points: Border Patrol made 56,530 arrests in October, which is about a four-year low. But it hasn’t always been like that. A little less than a year ago, in December 2023, the Border Patrol made about a quarter of a million arrests along the southern border — an all-time high.    Trump and many Republicans have often portrayed the U.S.'s southern border as wide open to drug smuggling. They have linked immigrants to drug smuggling and accused Mexico of doing little to stop it. Much of America’s fentanyl is smuggled from Mexico, but the fentanyl scourge began well before Joe Biden took office, and statistics show that it is Americans who are doing the smuggling across the border.   Trump has also argued that the influx of immigrants is causing a crime surge in the U.S., although statistics show violent crime is on the way down. FBI statistics do not separate crimes by the immigration status of the assailant, but there is no evidence of a spike in crime perpetrated by migrants.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Trump claims a win on immigration after a call with Mexico’s president. But she suggests no change   Surveillance tech advances by Biden could aid in Trump’s promised crackdown on immigration   Presidents have used immigration ‘parole’ since the 1950s. Now it could disappear under Trump   Who are the Border Patrol chaplains? And why does the agency need more of them now?   Schools are bracing for upheaval over fear of mass deportations   Trump selects longtime adviser Keith Kellogg as special envoy for Ukraine and Russia

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Inside The Plan To Let Trump Track Millions of Immigrants

For the last year, private prison companies and corporate interests have been quietly lobbying to place millions of immigrants under electronic surveillance, according to records uncovered by The Lever. Now that a second Trump administration will soon assume power, with a former prison lobbyist set to be his top legal adviser, there are signs the plans are already moving forward.

https://www.levernews.com/inside-the-plan-to-let-trump-track-millions-of-immigrants/

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Donald Trump’s call for ‘energy dominance’ is likely to run into real-world limits President-elect Donald Trump is set to create a National Energy Council that he says will establish American “energy dominance” as he seeks to boost U.S. oil and gas drilling and move away from President Joe Biden’s focus on climate change. The new council will have sweeping authority over federal agencies involved in energy permitting, production, distribution, and regulation, with a mandate to cut bureaucratic red tape. Read more.

Why this matters: The president-elect’s energy wishes are likely to run into real-world limits. For one, U.S. oil production under Biden is already at record levels. The federal government cannot force companies to drill for more oil, and production increases could lower prices and reduce profits.    Trump has played down risks from climate change and pledged to rescind unspent money in the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden’s landmark climate and health care bill. He also said he will stop offshore wind development when he returns to the White House in January. Even so, his Nov. 15 announcement of the energy council says he will “expand ALL forms of energy production to grow our economy and create good-paying jobs.”   Trump has promised to bring gasoline prices below $2 a gallon, but experts call that highly unlikely. Trump’s bid to boost oil supplies — and lower U.S. prices — is complicated by his threat to impose 25% import tariffs on two of the largest sources of U.S. oil imports, Canada and Mexico. The oil industry warned the tariffs could raise prices and even harm national security.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ FACT FOCUS: Posts misrepresent Biden administration spending on EV charging stations   Democrat Derek Tran defeats GOP Rep. Michelle Steel in Southern California swing House district   Avocados, tequila, and other iconic Mexican products are jeopardized by Trump’s tariff threats   Judge upholds a Missouri law requiring voters to show photo ID to cast a regular ballot   Federal court dismisses defamation lawsuit against Fox News for Jan. 6 conspiracy theory   Zuckerberg dines with Trump in Mar-a-Lago

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⚖️ Trump's deportation limits

Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios

Immigration court numbers — along with the mechanics of deportation — suggest that President-elect Trump's push for mass deportations of criminals could take some time, Axios' Russell Contreras reports. Here's a slice of the math behind the incoming Trump administration's "worst first" plan for prioritizing deportations based on public-safety and national-security threats: Fewer than 0.5% of the 1.8 million cases in immigration courts during the past fiscal year — involving about 8,400 people — included deportation orders for alleged crimes other than entering the U.S. illegally, an Axios review of government data found. Add to that more than 400,000 undocumented immigrants with criminal convictions in the past few decades, many of whom are being held in federal, state or local facilities. About 29,000 of those felons have been convicted of homicide or sexual assault. 💡 Reality check: Study after study has indicated that immigrants — those in the U.S. legally or undocumented — commit crimes at lower rates than U.S. citizens. 🧮 By the numbers: There are roughly 24.5 million noncitizen immigrants in the U.S., including those awaiting asylum decisions or otherwise here lawfully, according to the Pew Research Center. Immigration courts recorded 1.8 million new cases from Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, reviewed by Axios. Just 0.47% of those cases involved possible deportations based on alleged criminal activity. What they're saying: Trump will marshal all resources for "the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals, drug dealers and human traffickers in American history," Trump-Vance transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, the incoming White House press secretary, said in a statement. The Trump transition team declined to address the low number of current immigration cases involving immigrants who've committed crimes. Trump's incoming border czar, Tom Homan, told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo: "We know a record number of people on the terrorist watch list have crossed this border. We know a record number of terrorists have been released in this country."