Republicans

CNN reports: President-elect Donald Trump is considering shaking up the leadership at the FBI by firing the director and installing an experienced former agent and MAGA loyalist in the top two roles. Trump has planned for months to fire Christopher Wray if he was elected, but in recent days has struggled to find a compromise of selecting a new director …

Punchbowl News reports: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) led a failed effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson earlier this year. Democrats ended up saving his job. Yet now, less than seven months later and with a subcommittee gavel soon-to-be in hand, the MAGA firebrand is expected to support Johnson’s reelection as speaker come January, according to multiple GOP sources familiar …

The Hill reports: Republican senators are pouring cold water on the idea that President-elect Trump could force the Senate into an extended recess next year so that he would be able to fill key positions in his Cabinet without going through the Senate confirmation process. Republican senators and aides say that Trump allies who claim that the incoming president would …

Newsweek reports: Donald Trump’s nominee for Attorney General Pam Bondi has held ties to the Church of Scientology at various points throughout her career. A fundraiser for Bondi’s reelection campaign in 2014 in Clearwater, Florida, was organized by six prominent Scientologists, the Tampa Bay Times reported at the time. Christina Johnson, Bondi’s campaign spokeswoman, told the newspaper that Bondi was …

The Washington Post reports: During the Trump administration, Republicans were much more likely to say their economic positions had improved — and under Biden, far more likely to say it had worsened. Since 2022, more than half of Republicans have said their economic situations have declined over the past year. But suddenly, over the last month, that’s shifted. Among Democrats, …

USA Today reports: On Jan. 9, 2009, Linda McMahon filled out a vetting questionnaire to serve on the state board of education in Connecticut. On it, she indicated she earned a bachelor’s degree in education, according to a copy of the original form the governor’s office provided to USA TODAY. She did not. McMahon, a billionaire and wrestling executive who …

The Associated Press reports: Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. told Fox Business on Sunday that the transition team had backups in mind for his controversial nominees should they fail to get confirmed. The swift selection of Bondi came about six hours after Gaetz withdrew. Gaetz posted on social media that he looks “forward to continuing the fight to save our …

The Sioux Falls Argus Leader reports: Sen. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) introduced the “Returning Education to Our States Act” to the Senate on Thursday afternoon, according to a press release from his office. The bill would eliminate the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and redistribute its work to other federal departments. Educators and education lobbyists across the state have voiced …

The Hill reports: House Democrats will push to release the Ethics Committee report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) despite Gaetz’s decision Thursday to withdraw his name from the running to lead the Justice Department in President-elect Trump’s incoming administration. Rep. Sean Casten [photo] (D-Ill.), who had introduced a resolution Wednesday to force a House vote on releasing the report, …

The Washington Post reports: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy vowed “mass headcount reductions” to the federal government in an opinion piece Wednesday that sketched out their vision for President-elect Donald Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” in the greatest detail so far. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Musk and Ramaswamy laid out their plans to slash federal regulations, cut government …

Law & Crime reports: Gaetz and Greene sued the cities of Riverside and Anaheim over a political rally that was scheduled to occur in July 2021. While the court allowed the lawsuit against the municipalities to move forward, U.S. District Judge Hernan Vera strongly rejected attempts to sue organizations like the NAACP, LULAC, the League of Women Voters and various …

Courthouse News reports: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to block the implementation of Proposition R, a ballot measure passed by Dallas voters that decriminalizes marijuana possession within the city limits. Also known as the Dallas Freedom Act, the measure passed Nov. 5 with close to 67% of the vote. It amends the Dallas City Charter …

Axios reports: Matt Gaetz’s former congressional colleagues, in both parties, raised a collective cheer Thursday as the onetime Florida congressman withdrew his nomination for attorney general. But the question members were left still asking: Will Gaetz return to be sworn in for his term in the 119th Congress? “This is the only decent thing Matt Gaetz has ever done,” said …

CNN reports: The woman who says she had sex when she was a minor with then-Rep. Matt Gaetz told the House Ethics Committee she had two sexual encounters with him at one party in 2017, sources familiar with her testimony tell CNN. The woman, who was 17 years old at the time, testified that the second sexual encounter, which has …

CNN reports: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of Health and Human Services, has a long history of scathing critiques against Trump, labeling him a “threat to democracy,” a “bully,” and, as recently as July, a “terrible president.” But Kennedy’s harshest attacks date back to Trump’s rise in 2016, when on his radio show “Ring of …

Axios reports: Some House Republicans are prepared to block Trump from using a recess appointment on attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz. In the case of recess appointments, the House can use a procedural trick to block a president from bypassing the Senate. Several House Republicans would vote against any motion to go into recess, Axios has learned. For Trump’s plan …

Fox News reports: House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer is expected to establish a subcommittee that will work with the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to eliminate government waste, Fox News Digital has learned. A source familiar told Fox News Digital that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., will chair the Delivering …

CNN reports: A lawsuit alleges Linda McMahon, who President-elect Donald Trump tapped to lead the Department of Education, knowingly enabled the sexual exploitation of children by a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) employee as early as the 1980s — allegations she denies. The suit alleges McMahon, her husband, the WWE and TKO Group Holdings, the league’s parent company, knowingly allowed employee …

The Hill reports: Senate Republicans are warning confirmation proceedings for former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) will be like “Kavanaugh on steroids,” referring to the contentious hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. “The most humane way not only to Mr. Gaetz but to the dignity of our process, the best thing to do is to convince the president …

Politico reports: Donald Trump wants to give former Rep. Pete Hoekstra another turn as a diplomat. Trump announced Wednesday that Hoekstra, who served as ambassador to the Netherlands during his first administration, is his pick for ambassador to Canada for his second. “In my Second Term, Pete will once again help me put AMERICA FIRST,” Trump said in a statement. …