Watch why the choice of Matt Gaetz is so surprising
President-elect Donald Trump picked Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general. CNN’s Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent Paula Reid explains why the nomination is surprising.
Here’s who has been selected for roles in the Trump administration
Donald Trump is announcing key positions in his incoming administration as he prepares to return to the White House.
On Wednesday, Trump officially made a pick for one of his most important Cabinet positions, choosing Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general.
Trump also officially announced Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as his choice for secretary of state.
In his first selection, the president-elect last week picked his campaign manager Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff, the first woman to ever hold that role.
Here’s what has been announced so far.
Monday:
- Former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin was picked as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
- Rep. Elise Stefanik chosen as the US ambassador to the United Nations.
- Tom Homan, who served as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in his last administration, tapped to be “border czar.”
Tuesday:
- South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem selected to be the next secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
- The president-elect tapped Pete Hegseth, a veteran and the co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend, to be secretary of defense.
- Florida Republican Rep. Mike Waltz was picked as Trump’s national security adviser.
- Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the new “Department of Government Efficiency.”
- Trump selected former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as the next US ambassador to Israel, and longtime friend and real estate developer Steve Witkoff to serve as special envoy to the Middle East.
- Veteran Republican lawyer Bill McGinley will serve as Trump’s White House counsel.
- John Ratcliffe, the former director of national intelligence, was tapped to be the CIA director.
Wednesday:
- Trump chose Rep. Matt Gaetz as his pick for attorney general, according to a post from Trump on Truth Social.
- Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was chosen to be secretary of state.
- Trump named former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard as his pick for Director of National Intelligence.
- Stephen Miller will serve as assistant to the president, as well as deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser.
- James Blair, Trump campaign and Republican National Committee political director, will serve as assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs.
- Dan Scavino will be assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff.
- Taylor Budowich has been named assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel.
- Sergio Gor has been named the Presidential Personnel Office director.
What else we are watching:
- Discussions about a future role for North Dakota governor-turned-Trump-ally Doug Burgum have evolved into that of an “energy czar,” according to two sources.
- Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, who has called for immediately cutting aid to Ukraine, is under consideration for several posts.
- There are several names being batted around for the Treasury role, including Scott Bessent, who prepared Trump for his economic club speeches. Transition co-chair Howard Lutnick, who is the head of Cantor Fitzgerald, is also making a pitch for the job, two sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.
This post has been updated with the most recent selections.
Trump ally Sergio Gor tapped to be director of the Presidential Personnel Office
Trump ally Sergio Gor, who ran a Trump aligned super PAC this election cycle, has been tapped for Presidential Personnel Office director, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
Gor declined to comment.
The office is expected to play a key role in vetting and hiring Trump loyalists across the administration.
During the last administration, the role was held by Trump loyalist John McEntee.
Semafor was first to report on the selection.
Trump considering his attorney Todd Blanche as deputy attorney general, sources say
President-elect Donald Trump is seriously considering naming his lead attorney Todd Blanche to serve as the next deputy attorney general, the second-highest position in the Justice Department, according to two people familiar with his thinking.
Blanche has represented Trump for the last 18 months and defended him during his criminal hush money trial in Manhattan this year. He has grown close to the president-elect in that time period and is often seen with Trump in Palm Beach or when he travels.
Because of his proximity and Trump’s trust in him, it was widely expected inside Trump’s inner circle that if he won, Blanche would likely follow him into the federal government.
One person close to the matter cautioned that no final decisions have been made.
If nominated, Blanche would need to be confirmed by the Senate before running the department that is one of the most prioritized by Trump.
On Wednesday, Trump announced that he’d selected Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz as his pick for attorney general, likely setting off a tough confirmation battle even in the Republican-held Senate.
Read more details here about Todd Blanche
Wisconsin Republican acknowledges defeat in Senate race, but questions result and weighs asking for a recount
Eric Hovde, the Wisconsin Republican who nearly unseated Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, acknowledged this week that he lost the election but also raised questions about the legitimacy of the result as he mulls requesting a recount.
Even as they celebrate President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, right-wing figures such as tech billionaire Elon Musk, as well as some prominent 2020 election deniers, have seized on Hovde’s refusal to concede. They have embraced his baseless claims on social media that there were statistically “improbable” results and “inconsistencies” with the vote count.
CNN projected last week that Baldwin would win a third term, and the latest unofficial results show Hovde losing by less than a percentage point. He fell short even while Trump narrowly carried the state: Baldwin and Vice President Kamala Harris finished with very similar vote totals, but Hovde lagged behind Trump by about 56,000 votes.
Despite delegitimizing the result and saying he was giving “careful consideration” to a recount, Hovde also did something Trump did not do in 2020: acknowledge that he lost.
Read more here about the Wisconsin Senate race
House Ethics Committee was set to meet and vote this week on releasing its report about Gaetz
The House Ethics Committee was due to meet this week to vote on releasing a report about Rep. Matt Gaetz, who resigned from Congress on Wednesday after President-elect Donald Trump announced he will nominate him for attorney general, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.
The long-awaited report was expected to be released as soon as Friday, those sources said. But with Gaetz’ resignation, it’s uncertain if the information will ever be made public.
The Ethics Committee, which has been investigating Gaetz for years, had a narrow window on when it could release its actual report. Because the bipartisan committee doesn’t allow reports to be published close to an election, it could not release the information around the time of Florida’s August primary or the November general election.
Republicans are projected to win the House. Catch up on everything that happened in Washington, DC, today
Republicans will retain control of the House of Representatives, CNN projects, a victory for the party that has had a majority in the chamber since 2023.
This gives Republicans a sweep of the federal government. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump announced more cabinet picks.
Here’s what you need to know:
Trump announced the following Cabinet positions on Wednesday:
- Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz was picked to be attorney general. Gaetz resigned from Congress today. Under Florida state law, there’s about an eight-week period to select and fill a vacancy, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson.
- Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was named as Trump’s pick to be the director of national intelligence.
- Sen. Marco Rubio was picked to be Trump’s secretary of state.
More on Gaetz’s selection: House Republicans gasped as they found out about Gaetz’s selection while they were in a closed-door meeting. Gaetz has been a critic of the Justice Department. If confirmed, he would be in control of the investigative files that detail the evidence the FBI uncovered in the sex trafficking investigation against him. The DOJ deemed the files too sensitive to release even to congressional investigators.
Trump’s federal cases: The DOJ has asked a federal appeals court to pause its appeal seeking to revive the classified documents case against Trump and his two co-defendants, while prosecutors decide next steps. Separately, special counsel Jack Smith continues to discuss with DOJ leadership the mechanics of winding down Trump’s federal prosecutions, with the intention of stepping down before Trump retakes office, according to a DOJ official.
House leadership: Mike Johnson was nominated to be House speaker unanimously, sources told CNN. Johnson, who is currently the speaker of the House, will now face a floor vote on January 3, where he will need to receive 218 votes. Republican Rep. Steve Scalise was also reelected as House Majority Leader, sources said. Before the vote was held, Trump addressed the conference, and boasted about winning swing states.
Senate voting and election: In a secret ballot voting, the GOP elected John Thune as the next majority leader. John Barrasso will be the assistant majority leader, Tom Cotton will serve as Republican conference chair, Shelley Moore Capito will be the Republican policy committee chair, James Lankford will serve as Republican conference vice chair, and Tim Scott will be the national Republican senatorial committee chair. Separately, the Pennsylvania Senate race between incumbent Democrat Bob Casey and Republican challenger Dave McCormick will head to a recount as unofficial results show the race to be within the one-half of one percent margin to automatically trigger a recount under state law.
Trump and Biden: Trump told the New York Post that he and President Joe Biden “both really enjoyed seeing each other” and expect to see each other again just before Inauguration Day. The meeting was “very cordial, very gracious, and substantive,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. The meeting lasted approximately two hours, and included White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and incoming Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
Harris Fight Fund fundraises off of Gaetz announcement
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign — which has been rebranded as the “Harris Fight Fund” following her electoral defeat earlier this month — is fundraising Wednesday following the announcement President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate controversial Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz as attorney general.
The swipes at Gaetz and Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, mark the first explicit references to Trump’s cabinet picks the entity has made in an email appeal since its rebrand — up until now, fundraising appeals have largely focused instead on raising funds for disputed Senate and House races down-ballot.
“Donald Trump is making good on his promise to install loyalists who will do his bidding and that starts with nominating Matt Gatez [SIC] to be Attorney General,” the appeal warns. “They will weaponize the DOJ to protect themselves and their allies and we must stop them from executing Trump’s plans for revenge and retribution.”
Hostage families say Biden discussed those held by Hamas during Oval Office meeting with Trump
Family members of American hostages being held by Hamas told reporters at the White House Wednesday that President Joe Biden told them he’d discussed the hostages during today’s Oval Office meeting with President-elect Donald Trump.
Jonathan Dekel-Chen, whose son Sagui is believed to be among the hostages still being held by Hamas, said that Biden expressed an openness to working with the incoming Trump administration to negotiate a deal to secure their family members’ release.
“On our part, we impressed upon the president, of course, the urgency of getting the hostages home before another rough winter as hostages … we ask, and we have asked, the president and his senior staff, as well as the incoming administration, to begin work immediately together, arm in arm, in order to not delay in any way,” he said.
“The president absolutely, and the national security adviser yesterday, absolutely confirmed their willingness to do so — we call upon here, the incoming Trump administration to do the same,” he added.
In a readout following his meeting, the White House said Biden “reaffirmed the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to getting the hostages home to their loved ones and families.”
House GOP leadership announces new rules package raising motion to vacate threshold
House Republicans announced Wednesday an agreement to raise the threshold to invoke a motion to vacate in exchange for amendment changes.
The motion to vacate rule currently allows just a single member of Congress to call for a vote of no confidence against the Speaker of the House. The new agreement raises that threshold to nine.
Rep. Andy Harris of the House Freedom Caucus said the new agreement would be able to “eliminate the controversial issues” in order to “deliver on the president’s agenda.”
Confirming CNN’s earlier reporting, the group announced they have raised the motion to vacate from one being able to invoke the motion to nine in return for getting rid of amendments.
“We understood that by — we had an opportunity to set the motion to vacate at a higher than number one, that motion to vacate will be set at nine in return for getting rid of some amendments that probably would have divided this conference. Andy did a good job of explaining to Main Street leadership why those amendments would have divided the Republican conference,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson, a member of the Main Street group.
Matt Gaetz has resigned from Congress, speaker says
House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz resigned today as he prepares for the attorney general confirmation process.
Johnson said Gaetz resigned now in hopes that Republicans could fill his seat in time for the new Congress, where Republicans are expected to have a very narrow majority. Johnson said under Florida state law, there’s about an 8-week period to select and fill a vacancy.
The new Congress starts on January 3.
“So, Matt would have done us a great service by making that decision, as he did on the fly. And so, we’re grateful for that,” Johnson said.
Johnson said President-elect Donald Trump informed him this morning that he was nominating Gaetz for attorney general.
CNN has reached out to Gaetz about his resignation.
Texas Republican says “we’ll have to see” if Mike Johnson can get enough vote to remain speaker in January
Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy said “we’ll have to see” when asked on Wednesday if he thought Mike Johnson could earn enough votes to become speaker of the house again in one round in January.
“We’ve got to see how things go in negotiations and lame duck. And you know, anything that’s going to happen with the expiring government funding,” he said.
Roy was involved in negotiations between the conservative Freedom Caucus and governing-focused GOP Main Street group to reach a deal to raise the motion to vacate threshold to nine votes.
In exchange for raising the threshold, lawmakers also agreed that there would not be retribution for dissenters who vote against procedural votes.
Roy said there were “strides” made on Wednesday to “get us on the same team,” again emphasizing the importance of advancing President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda.
“We worked hard with Mike here on the rules process. I think we had some success here,” he said, adding now House Republicans need to figure out other structural issues and also “talk about the actual policies.”