Mentioned in this edition: Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr., Javier Milei, Nayib Bukele, Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, Vivek Ramaswamy, Kamala Harris, Chris Murphy, JD Vance, Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr., a possible FBI director, abolishing the DOE, and more.

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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

⚖️ Trump selected a new attorney general after Gaetz withdrew. The now-former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) announced that he was withdrawing his name from consideration as the US attorney general, likely due to his lack of support in the Senate. The president-elect made his new pick: former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who, according to Trump, was “very tough on violent criminals, and made the streets safe for Florida families.”

🚔 Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth’s police report was unredacted. Hegseth, who had been accused by a woman of sexual assault in 2019, has denied any wrongdoing. The police report features interviews from the woman and from Hegseth, who has said the encounter was entirely consensual. The DA ultimately did not press charges.

🐘 JD Vance is lobbying Republican senators on Trump’s cabinet picks. Vance, who as vice president will also be president of the Senate, is rapidly becoming Trump’s point man on Capitol Hill. Earlier this week, he accompanied Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Pete Hegseth to meetings with senators. He has also played a large role in the selection of the cabinet.

💲Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy laid out their plans for DOGE. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Musk and Ramaswamy lambasted bureaucratic spending and confirmed that their new Department of Government Efficiency would be a government agency, operating closely with the White House Office of Management and Budget. Previously, it had been uncertain whether it would be a formal government office.

🦅 THE EXECUTIVE

• Vice President Kamala Harris, who has yet to meet with President-elect JD Vance, is vacationing in Hawaii.

• Trump is now considering former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers (R) to lead the FBI, while appointing Kash Patel as deputy director.

• Trump selected former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, a close ally, to be his Ambassador to NATO.

• Trump’s transition team rejected a candidate for an upper Health and Human Services position because his pro-life views were too controversial.

🏛️ CONGRESS

• Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) introduced the "Returning Education to Our States Act" to abolish the Department of Education and reassign its duties to other departments.

• Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said Democrats need to move away from neoliberalism if they want to win future presidential elections.

• Republicans struck a deal with Democrats, allowing them to approve some of President Biden’s judicial nominees on the condition that Democrats save four appellate court judge slots for President-elect Trump.

Latin American leaders are showing Trump the way

President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet picks are out of the ordinary from past Republican administrations, or even his first presidency. Some are more traditional, like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) for secretary of state, while others are anti-establishment figures, like former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence (DNI).

Trump’s out-of-the-box picks may have been inspired by two extremely popular leaders south of the border: Argentine President Javier Milei and El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele…

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Silicon Valley vs. the populists: The battle inside Trump’s camp

Ever since Donald Trump’s first presidential run, he has had a circle of tried-and-true loyalists around him, some of whom took action to challenge what they believed was a stolen election in 2020.

Some have been put on trial for him, like Boris Epshteyn, who was indicted for attempting to create alternative slates of presidential electors to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state of Arizona. Others close to Trump, like Steve Bannon, went to jail for refusing a congressional subpoena issued by the House’s January 6 committee…

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