Trump and Vance reaffirm support for embattled Pete Hegseth: Live updates

Federal Election Commission documents published Thursday revealed that Musk handed over more than $230 million to the America PAC — a political action committee that the Tesla billionaire created and which ultimately grew into a vital fundraising organ for the Trump campaign.

In the few weeks before Election Day, Musk made three separate $25 million donations to America PAC, the filings show.

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Mr Perdue, who lived in Hong Kong during a 40-year career as a business executive, will be “instrumental in implementing my strategy to maintain peace in the region and a productive working relationship with China’s leaders”, Mr Trump added.

In his time as senator from 2015 to 2021, Mr Perdue advocated for the US to build a more robust naval force to cope with foreign threats and was labeled “anti-China” in a 2019 Chinese think tank.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports.

In her first television interview since her husband Donald Trump won the presidential election, incoming First Lady Melania Trump appeared on her spouse’s favorite morning show Fox & Friends to discuss her son Barron’s impact on the “bro vote,” the president-elect’s infamous dance moves, and how she’s handling the transition into the White House.

Along the way, Mrs. Trump also took the opportunity to pitch a “stocking-stuffer” version of her coffee table book, as well as a limited-edition set of Christmas ornaments and collectibles that she said would make a “great gift.”

Justin Barangoa has the story.

“Severe” sanctions are warranted, they argued.

Alex Woodward explains what’s happening to the former New York mayor.

The think tank behind Project 2025, the conservative blueprint linked to President-elect Donald Trump, is launching an effort to back Trump’s imperiled selection for secretary of defense in its latest attempt to wield influence in the incoming Republican administration.

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said Thursday that his group will spend $1 million to pressure senators unwilling to back Pete Hegseth, whose nomination to lead the Pentagon has come into question due to his views on women serving in combat and reports about his personal behavior. A number of Republican senators have declined to commit to backing Hegseth or have asked for more information about his drinking and treatment of women.

“It’ll be messaging right now with their constituents about how out of step they are with the Trump agenda,” Roberts said in an interview, who argued that criticism of Hegseth was being driven by “the establishment.”

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The GOP senator told CNN on Thursday that, in his opinion, it is up to Democrats to vet nominations, and that members of his own party should be inclined to automatically confirm them.

“Who’s to say we’re a better vetter and picker of people than Donald Trump?” Tuberville told CNN on Thursday.

Ariana Baio reports.

Manning, 37, was among a group of trans demonstrators who staged a sit-in inside the women’s lavatory opposite House speaker Mike Johnson’s office on Thursday, according to The 19th.

The protest called on Democrats to fight back against Johnson’s new bathroom rule, which requires trans people in the Capitol building to use only the facilities corresponding to their birth sex.

Io Dodds has the story.

Gustaf Kilander has the story.

CBS has filed a supplemental argument asking why Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the network over the Kamala Harris 60 Minutes episode was filed in Texas.

In another filing, they argue that Trump’s attempt to claim CBS violated the state’s consumer protection laws is an attempt to “police editorial decisions made by news organizations with which one disagrees.”

“Under President Trump’s interpretation, the [law] would become a weapon for any candidate to challenge media coverage they did not like,” attorneys wrote.

Trump’s allegations that the 60 Minutes segment was deceptively edited and cost his campaign “to the tune of several billion dollars is not only far too speculative and inherently improbable to warrant standing, it is also irrelevant.”

He brought the lawsuit “in his individual capacity, not on behalf of his campaign,” attorneys note.

And even if he didn’t, his claims are moot, they said: He won the election.

Here’s more from Alex Woodward on the lawsuit filed by then-candidate Trump against the network: