Trump completes cabinet nominations as GOP lawmakers defend choices: Live updates

On the campaign trail over the summer, Donald Trump claimed that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “misses me,” and that relations between their two countries would improve with a second Trump term.

At a defense expo in Pyongyang this week, the North Korean dictator had a very different message, as Josh Marcus reports.

Firebrand Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is gloating about cuts she could help enable as part of Elon Musk’s government efficiency drive.

MTG told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures what she has in store for her new subcommittee covering the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The subcommittee will operate under the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, headed by Rep James Comer of Kentucky, and will work alongside DOGE, led by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, ostensibly to cut government waste and spending when Donald Trump becomes president.

Greene promised a “deep dive” into every government department and program, with one recommendation being to have leaders of so-called “sanctuary cities”, whose policies protect immigrants, explain why they deserve federal funding.

Donald Trump Jr. has emerged as the most influential Trump family member in the transition as the president-elect builds the most controversial cabinet in modern U.S. history, according to a half dozen sources with knowledge of his role, elevating inexperienced loyalists over more qualified candidates for top positions in his administration.

Trump, who fiercely prizes loyalty, has long relied on family members for political advice, but which relative has his ear is known to vary.

This time, it is Don Jr., who has helped cabinet contenders sink or rise to the fore – from championing Senator JD Vance as Trump’s running mate to blocking former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from joining the cabinet, according to the sources, who include donors, personal friends and political allies.

Don Jr. is due to join conservative venture capital fund 1789 Capital, although one of the sources said he will continue to host his politics-focused podcast and support candidates that espouse Trump’s brand of politics.

He will provide advice to his father in the White House, the source added, although they cautioned that Don Jr. was unlikely to be involved in day-to-day deliberations.

Don Jr. and the Trump-Vance transition team did not respond to a request for comment.

In addition to ensuring candidates are loyal to his father, Don Jr. typically seeks out contenders who embrace an anti-establishment worldview, including protectionist economic policies, and a reduction in military interventions and overseas aid, according to a handful of the sources and Don Jr.’s own comments on social media site X and in public.

Two of the candidates Don Jr. championed may face a rocky confirmation process in the Senate: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who Trump plans to nominate as the top U.S. health official, and Tulsi Gabbard, who Trump plans to nominate as intelligence chief.

Kennedy is an environmental activist who has spread misinformation on vaccines. Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman, implied that Russian President Vladimir Putin had valid grounds for invading Ukraine and stirred controversy when she met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the midst of his bloody crackdown on dissidents in 2017.

A recently released police report from the 2017 incident revealed that the woman, who has not been identified, told police that Hegseth blocked the door to stop her from leaving his hotel room and took her phone away before sexually assaulting her. Hegseth has maintained that the encounter was consensual.

A Republican senator has warned his colleagues must “step up” to appoint Donald Trump’s cabinet picks or face recess appointments.

Bill Hagerty of Tennessee was on ABC’s This Week that the idea of recess appointments “is and should be on the table”, adding that previous presidents in modern history including Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton had utilized the constitutional clause allowing appointments when the Senate is not in session.

John Bowden reports from Washington, DC.

During an appearance on MediaBuzz on Sunday, Leslie Marshall, a Fox News contributor, made an impassioned and highly personal case against the nomination by Donald Trump of Pete Hegseth to be his defense secretary.

Hegseth, a veteran and presenter on Fox News, has been at the center of a storm this week since allegations emerged that he sexually assaulted a woman at a conservative conference in 2017.

Host Howard Kurtz noted reporting by Mediaite, who obtained the police report on the incident from California law enforcement, that stated that Hegseth was very drunk and got into a fight with the woman, who repeatedly said “no” and that a rape kit confirmed there had been a sexual encounter.

Hegseth maintains that the encounter was consensual.

Marshall took a deep breath: “I dreaded talking about this today. I met Pete a long time ago. We spent, middle of the night, waiting to go on during 2016, before the election, and I like him as a person.”

Citing the Unifrom Code of Military Justice, she said: “With all due respect to my former colleague, we know that there were three cases of adultery for Pete Hegseth, and it is relevant. And the reason why it’s relevant is, Article 134 of the UCMJ considers adultery against the military, which the Department of Defense is part of. You can’t lead an entire organization and all these people if you can’t lead by example, one.”

Marshall continued: “Two, I am a rape victim, and I can tell you there’s a reason one in 10 rapes go unreported, and it’s very difficult for a woman to go in and have a rape kit done. It’s physically, mentally, and emotionally very difficult to go through that process, as I have. And I can tell you, that just very personal, in my deep core… Somebody doesn’t go into the hospital and subject herself to that. And I have to say, I, as a woman and as a victim, I believe the victims, and this is a problem for me. And then on top of that, although Pete has an incredible military career, he doesn’t have the leadership career in the military that I feel the Department of Defense requires as their head.”

Kurtz thanked Marshall for sharing her personal experience relating to the matter: “I appreciate your candor in describing your own personal experience that obviously was very moving, and gives us a different perspective.”

On ABC’s This Week, Senator Amy Klobuchar emphasized the importance of FBI background checks for Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees.

“I want to make a decision on each one of them on the merits, as I’ve done in the past, and I can’t do that without the background checks.”

During an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Senator-elect Adam Schiff of California brushed off Donald Trump’s “enemy within” comments from the campaign trail in which he was directly named because of his role in the impeachments and investigation into the January 6 Capitol riot.

During his appearance on Meet the Press this morning, Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri said it was a “slur” to call Tulsi Gabbard, Donald Trump’s pick as director of national intelligence, a Russian asset.

NBC’s Kristen Welker played a clip of former UN ambassador Nikki Haley saying of Gabbard, a veteran and former Democrat rep: “This is not a place for a Russian, Iranian, Syrian, Chinese sympathizer. DNI has to analyze real threats. Are we comfortable with someone like that at the top of our national intelligence agencies?”

Welker asked Schmitt if he was comfortable and whether he would vote for Gabbard’s confirmation.

He replied: “I think it’s — it’s really interesting that anybody that has a different political view now is being cast as a Russian asset. It’s totally ridiculous. Tulsi Gabbard has served in our military. She served as a congresswoman from Hawaii, as a Democrat, I might add, part of this unique coalition that President Trump has put together and won and got that mandate. But I think it’s insulting. It’s a slur, quite frankly.’

He continued: “You know, there’s no evidence that she’s an asset of another country. She served this country honorably, and by the way, she cares deeply about our Constitution and civil liberties and making sure people aren’t being targeted by these intelligence agencies. So again, I think this is a reformer who can come in, who maybe is not part of the same Washington cocktail party circuit that people in the intel community are used to, but maybe that’s exactly what we need right now. President Trump listened to the American people when they screamed about these issues. They want to be heard. They feel like Washington is broken. And I think bringing somebody in like Tulsi Gabbard is welcome news.”

Richard Hall and Andrew Feinberg have been looking into Gabbard’s history with Russia.