Trump cabinet updates: Vance says president-elect ‘deserves’ loyal cabinet

Donald Trump never looks happier than when he’s selling something.

Josh Marcus writes:

Donald Trump has announced he’s going to nominate former Florida Republican congressman Matt Gaetz to serve as attorney general.

In a statement, the president-elect praised Gaetz, 42, who has frequently defended Trump and criticized the various criminal and congressional probes against the Republican.

“On the House Judiciary Committee, which performs oversight of DOJ, Matt played a key role in defeating the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, and exposing alarming and systemic Government Corruption and Weaponization,” Trump wrote on Wednesday, calling Gaetz a “Champion for the Constitution and the Rule of Law.”

Gaetz has faced multiple allegations of wrongdoing of his own, including a federal sex trafficking probe that ended without charges against him and a House ethics inquiry.

Here’s what you need to know about Gaetz, who was once dubbed the “Trumpiest Congressman” in Washington:

Donald Trump does not appear happy with opposition to some of his choices for his cabinet and other senior positions in his upcoming administration.

The president-elect wrote on Truth Social:

This is what the Radical Left Lunatics do to people. They dirty them up, they destroy them, and then they spit them out. They are trying that right now with some great American Patriots who are only trying to fix the mess that the Democrats have made of our Country. WE WILL WIN!!! MAGA

As Laken Riley’s killer is found guilty of her murder, Donald Trump posted the following to Truth Social:

JUSTICE FOR LAKEN RILEY! The Illegal who killed our beloved Laken Riley was just found GUILTY on all counts for his horrific crimes. Although the pain and heartbreak will last forever, hopefully this can help bring some peace and closure to her wonderful family who fought for Justice, and to ensure that other families don’t have to go through what they have. We love you, Laken, and our hearts will always be with you. It is time to secure our Border, and remove these criminals and thugs from our Country, so nothing like this can happen again!

The chief executive of Delta Air Lines says the incoming Trump administration will be a “breath of fresh air” for airlines after what he called government “overreach” under President Joe Biden.

The airline industry has chafed under consumer-protection regulations imposed by the Biden administration. And Delta is facing a federal investigation into its slow recovery from a global technology outage this summer.

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Here’s Eric Garcia to explain what a “recess appointment” is…

Senate Judiciary Democrats request the complete evidentiary file from the FBI regarding the investigation of former Republican congressman Matt Gaetz, “including documents memorializing interviews, in the closed investigation of former Congressman Matt Gaetz’s alleged sex trafficking of minors.”

Gaetz has denied all the allegations against him.

Pete Hegseth, who Trump has nominated to be the next secretary of defense, has been widely derided for a lack of qualifications to lead the country’s largest federal agency and its 3 million service members and civilian staff members.

In a recent podcast appearance, Hegseth said the nation’s military “should not have women in combat roles” and that men are “more capable” in those positions.

Alex Woodward reports.

Trump’s pick for NATO ambassador is an anti-abortion crusader who has routinely attacked the Biden administration through legal groups tied to the former president.

When Jeff Sessions resigned in 2018, Trump tapped Matthew Whitaker as the acting attorney general, overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections — a probe that he had repeatedly criticized.

While running for Senate in 2014, he told a group of college students he was “100 percent pro-life” and supported a bill that would grant so-called fetal personhood, which would grant constitutional protections to fetuses beginning at conception — effectively outlawing abortion.

“I don’t want to criminalize females who find themselves in crisis,” Whitaker said at the time. “But at the same time, I do believe life begins at conception.”

Whitaker has also said that judges need to have a “biblical view of justice” and questioned the judgment of a secular judiciary.

As a member of the board of America First Legal, he said the group “strongly believes in the Constitutional and God-given right to life” and is “pleased” that the Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to Roe v Wade.

“America First Legal looks forward to engaging on this very important case, and will work to assist all states that are protecting the unborn,” he added.

Whitaker also is co-chair of America First Policy Institute, which has offered up a raft of policy proposals to the incoming Trump administration.

Through America First Legal, Whitaker has also criticized the Biden administration’s approach to the US-Mexico border (“showing a blatant lack of respect for American sovereignty and the rule of law”) and filed legal briefs defending Trump in his classified documents case under special counsel Jack Smith.