Politics

After a Friday night flurry, Trump’s Cabinet is complete

Published

1 year ago

November 23, 2024

At 6:52 p.m. on Friday, President-elect Donald Trump announced his choice for Treasury secretary. Minutes later, he tapped a director for the Office of Management and Budget. Then came his picks for Labor secretary, deputy national security adviser and surgeon general.

The evening flurry lasted just over an hour, and in that time Trump announced nine high-ranking administration officials. And on Saturday afternoon, Trump announced Brooke Rollins as his pick for agriculture secretary, rounding out the core roles in his Cabinet with the spate of nominations.

It was the latest episode in a buzzing Trump transition that is starkly different from 2016, as the president-elect and his team — insulated from reporters at Mar-a-Lago — are making often surprising decisions at breakneck speed.

Just two and a half weeks since Election Day, Trump has announced names for 20 key administration roles, including leaders for all 15 executive agencies. He has yet to officially tap four remaining top positions, which include trade representative, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, administrator of the Small Business Administration and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy — roles that can be elevated to cabinet level at the president’s discretion. Overall, Trump will have to make about 4,000 political appointments, approximately 1,200 of which will require Senate confirmation.

“America, the Trump Cabinet is officially complete,” Trump’s campaign account wrote in a now-deleted post on X, referring to the selection of the president’s core Cabinet positions.

The velocity and volume of this process stand in contrast to Trump’s last transition, when he leaned on his more experienced team to make a steady stream of establishment selections. This time around, that drip has at times escalated into a fire hose as Trump, armed with hindsight and empowered by the GOP, has named anti-establishment loyalists to top positions.

Treasury

In a transition process characterized by rapid-fire decisions, Trump took his time deliberating on who to choose to head the treasury. His ultimate selection, hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, was the heavy favorite in the days after the election, but the process was complicated after one of Trump’s transition heads, Howard Lutnick, started pushing hard to get the job.

Bessent’s and Lutnick’s camps spent days trying to undermine each other’s candidacy, according to people familiar with the situation. This tussle sometimes spilled out into public view, such as when Elon Musk posted on X that Lutnick would be the better choice over Bessent, who the Tesla CEO and Trump appointee characterized as a “business-as-usual” pick.

The infighting frustrated Trump, people familiar with the transition process said, and he decided to add more names to the mix. A day after announcing Lutnick would instead become Commerce secretary — with special authority over trade — he brought in former Federal Reserve board member Kevin Warsh and Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan for interviews at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday afternoon.

Neither sold the president on the job, the people said — and Warsh is expected to be a candidate instead to chair the Fed when that position opens in May 2026 — leaving the path open for Bessent to ultimately clinch the nomination.

Labor

In selecting Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer to lead the Department of Labor, Trump defied expectations that his pick would take a hard line against unions. Transition officials had been in touch with Chavez-DeRemer for several weeks, according to three people familiar with the matter, and there was a sense among people involved that she was in a strong position to edge out Trump’s former deputy labor secretary Patrick Pizzella. Plus, Trump was eager to move quickly.

Conservative warnings about her support for the PRO Act — legislation that would strengthen union efforts — and strong pro-union stance didn’t ultimately phase Trump. She had notable backing, including from some GOP leaders who had raised her name directly with Trump. And Teamsters President Sean O’Brien was pushing Chavez-DeRemer’s name in private, arguing the largest union in North America was eager to work with the Trump administration to improve the lives of working people — including many who had voted for Trump and shifted the Republican power balance.

Trump met with Chavez-DeRemer Thursday at Mar-a-Lago ready to make up his mind. The interview went well, and he offered her the job in the room, according to another person familiar with the matter.

Unlike many of Trump’s picks, Chavez-DeRemer’s announcement was largely well-received on both sides of the aisle. Trade union groups praised her pro-labor record, and some Democratic members of Congress signaled an openness to the vetting process.

National security

Firebrand former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka was seen as a contender for deputy national security adviser. Instead, Trump named Gorka as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism within the White House National Security Council, elevating him to a powerful — but comparatively low-profile — role.

Former national security adviser John Bolton — a notorious Trump defector — on Friday slammed Gorka as a “con man,” saying on CNN “I wouldn’t have him in any U.S. government.”

Trump ultimately settled on Alex Wong, a more traditional national security adviser who worked on North Korea policy in Trump’s first administration, for the No. 2 spot on the National Security Council.

Surgeon General

Trump’s pick for surgeon general, physician and Fox News contributor Janette Nesheiwat, has been embraced by several public health leaders as a solid choice for the administration — especially against the backdrop of Trump choosing vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

Dr. Peter Hotez — a vaccine scientist and outspoken critic of the Trump administration’s response to Covid-19 and who has slammed the choice of Kennedy for HHS — said Nesheiwat was a good appointment in a post on X Friday night.

“She is very smart, thoughtful, interested in learning, and a compassionate doctor, and … a truly nice person,” he wrote.

Eric Bazail-Eimil, Daniel Payne, Meredith Lee Hill and Victoria Guida contributed to this report.

Politics

Kamala Harris backs Jasmine Crockett in bitter Texas Democratic Senate primary

Published

2 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Former Vice President Kamala Harris is wading into the heated Texas Democratic Senate primary recording a robocall for Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the final days before Tuesday’s election.

“Hi, this is Kamala Harris, and I’m calling to encourage you to please go vote for my friend Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary,” Harris says in a pre-recorded message, which was first reported by the Texas Tribune.

“Texas has the chance to send a fighter like Jasmine Crockett to the United States Senate. Jasmine has the experience and record to hold Donald Trump and his billionaire cronies accountable,” she continues. “It’s time to turn Texas blue.”

Harris’ endorsement marks a major jolt for Crockett in her intensifying primary fight with Texas state Rep. James Talarico on the final day of early voting in the state. The outcome of the Democratic primary, and the equally turbulent Republican primary, could prove pivotal in determining whether Democrats have a chance of taking control of the Senate.

Crockett and Harris have forged a close relationship — Crockett served as a co-chair of Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign and spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, where she detailed Harris’ mentorship when she first arrived in Congress. In a December interview, Crockett said she sought advice from the former vice president before entering the Senate race.

Crockett’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The endorsement comes as Crockett has drawn criticism for her handling of media coverage of her campaign. A reporter for The Atlantic said Crockett’s campaign removed her from an event due to her past coverage and her campaign reportedly called the police on a CNN reporter who visited a campaign office. Crockett has said there is “no evidence” the reporter was ejected from a campaign event.

Since her 2024 defeat, Harris has only weighed in on a handful of electoral contests, but this is her first time backing a Democrat ahead of a contested primary. She traveled to Tennessee in support of state Rep. Aftyn Behn’s closer-than-expected defeat to Rep. Matt Van Epps in December.

She also endorsed some other close allies who sought higher office, including New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno, who worked on Harris’ 2019 presidential campaign before running for mayor last year, and Dan Koh, a former White House aide in the Biden administration running in Massachusetts’ 6th Congressional district.

The endorsement offers a test of Harris’ political capital in the wake of the 2024 election. In interviews and appearances tied to her book tour detailing the whirlwind presidential campaign, Harris repeatedly refused to rule out running for political office in the future, despite passing on running for governor of California.

Politics

Bannon blasts Trump campaign aides in Texas Senate showdown

Published

13 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

DALLAS — When President Donald Trump pops up in Texas for an event at the Port of Corpus Christi on Friday, he’s not expected to put his finger on the scale in the closely watched Republican Senate primary between incumbent John Cornyn, state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt — all of whom will be in attendance.

But Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign team’s involvement with Cornyn’s reelect is opening a fresh wound for some pro-Paxton MAGA types.

Tony Fabrizio, Trump’s top pollster, is working for Cornyn’s campaign, and Chris LaCivita, one of Trump’s top campaign hands, works as a senior adviser for the pro-Cornyn super PAC Texans for a Conservative Majority. Steve Bannon, the longtime MAGA torchbearer, has taken issue with Fabrizio and LaCivita’s involvement.

“My belief is the Trump team should have stayed out of this race, absolutely,” Bannon told Blue Light News from a rented ranch in North Texas, where he’s been broadcasting his “War Room” show.

Asked about Bannon’s criticism of their involvement with Cornyn’s reelection efforts, Fabrizio did not respond — but LaCivita texted Blue Light News a fiery reply: “Associating with Senator Cornyn is better than being a lacky [sic] for Epstein,” he said, an apparent reference to Bannon’s newly surfaced ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Justice Department’s release of documents in January revealed extensive exchanges that Epstein had with Bannon as he mounted a political influence campaign across Europe. Bannon has said little publicly about his relationship with Epstein, but he did previously call for an independent investigation into the files. Bannon didn’t respond to a request for comment on LaCivita’s response.

The intraparty conflict also foreshadows what’s likely to be an increasing number of such battles for the future of the Republican Party. Bannon, who’s all in for Paxton, is portraying the expected runoff between Paxton and Cornyn as nothing less than the battle for the soul of MAGA.

“The Paxton situation is critical, because he has been the MAGA guy since Day One,” Bannon told Playbook. Paxton, Bannon said, is more than just a candidate in a contested GOP primary. “He is a symbol of the heart of the grassroots MAGA movement.”

A White House official told Blue Light News “the president is neutral until he’s not,” and added that “John Cornyn votes with the President.”

LaCivita declined to share the backstory of how he and Fabrizio ended up working with Cornyn.

But the White House doesn’t seem bothered. “We don’t regulate the business/political choices of private individuals — if they are a part of our world — in a race where the President is neutral,” the White House official said.

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