Congress

Calling all nat sec wonks: These are the transition positions you should be paying attention to

Published

2 years ago

November 11, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump’s national security transition team is already taking shape, giving early insights into who could staff his national security and defense team once he takes office in January.

The speculation around Cabinet secretary posts is hogging a lot of attention, but lower-level appointees in the National Security Council, State Department and Pentagon could have outsized influence over the direction of Trump’s foreign policy. And transition officials often end up joining the administration in influential posts.

Here’s who’s in the room or in the mix:

The State Department

Brian Hook, former State Department policy planner and special envoy for Iran, has been tapped to lead the State Department transition team.

The Pentagon

Robert Wilkie, former Veterans Affairs secretary in the first Trump administration, is leading the Defense Department’s transition team.

The White House National Security Council

Joel Rayburn is expected to play a role in Trump’s NSC transition team, several people familiar with internal campaign and transition deliberations said. Rayburn was a Trump appointee for Middle East policy in the State Department and an adviser to Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) — who is himself a leading contender to be Trump’s secretary of state.

Michael Anton is also expected to play a role, several people said. Anton was a former National Security Council spokesperson under Trump. (The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment on this or other positions.)

The intelligence community

Trump’s former director for national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, is involved in transition planning for national security policy. (Blue Light News first reported his name and others on this list last week.) Cliff Sims, who served as a deputy director of national intelligence in the first Trump administration, is also playing a leading role in national security and intelligence transition matters, according to the people familiar with internal campaign and transition matters.

Global trade issues

Trump’s former trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, and Lighthizer’s former chief of staff, Jamieson Greer, are playing a leading role in economic and international trade transition policy.

Cybersecurity

Joshua Steinman, a former Trump NSC official, is a leading contender for the NSC’s top cyber policy post. Others who could be involved in the transition’s cybersecurity team and take up top administration posts include Sean Plankey, a former NSC and Energy Department official, and Karen Evans, a former Trump Homeland Security Department official.

One key litmus test that could be a deciding factor for who joins Trump’s national security team once he takes office: Loyalty.

People close to the president-elect aren’t being subtle about how loyalty could matter above all else for job seekers in a second Trump term. As Mike Davis — a contender to be Trump’s attorney general — put it in a post on X:

“Dear Trump Job Seekers: Long time, no chat. Before asking me for help, I am going to ask you to provide me specific and concrete evidence of your łoyalty to Trump. If you cannot provide a lot of that, stop asking me. Political appointments require both competency and loyalty.”

A version of this report first appeared in National Security Daily, our guide to everything happening from the SitRoom to the E-Ring, with the inside scoop on defense, national security and foreign policy. Sign up for the newsletter to get the goods in your inbox.

Congress

House GOP leaders eye quick vote on Senate-passed stopgap

Published

7 hours ago

August 26, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House GOP leaders are aiming to put a Senate-passed stopgap spending bill on the floor early next week, in the first days back in session after a five-week recess, according to three people granted anonymity to disclose private discussions.

The continuing resolution would reset the Sept. 30 appropriations deadline for Dec. 11, after the midterm elections.

The quick vote, coming almost a full month before the government funding deadline, underscores how Republican leaders are intent on avoiding a government shutdown before voters go to the polls in November. Before the summer recess, the House passed a slightly shorter stopgap funding bill largely along party lines.

The Senate version, however, was negotiated with Democrats, and GOP leaders are considering passing the bill under suspension of the rules — a fast-track process that requires a bipartisan two-thirds majority, the three people said.

Most Democrats opposed the earlier House-passed stopgap because it did not include legislative language to ensure funding would not go to certain immigration enforcement activities. But some Democrats are now suggesting they could be open to supporting the Senate version.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, called the Senate measure “a welcome improvement” from the House bill.

The Senate measure has Republican support as well, with House Rules Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) saying earlier this month that she believed it would pass under suspension. The White House has also issued a statement of administration policy in support of the bill, which includes language the administration supports postponing a ban on intoxicating hemp products set to kick in this fall.

But some Republicans loyal to President Donald Trump could raise concerns about another provision, demanded by Senate Democrats, temporarily blocking the White House from finalizing its proposal to put political appointees in charge of approving federal grants.

Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.

Congress

Senate Democrats urge Netanyahu to stop surge of violence in West Bank

Published

7 hours ago

August 26, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Democrats urged Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to intercede in the “surge” of violence in the West Bank on Wednesday, in a letter expressing their concern and opposition.

The letter comes after reports of mass arrests of Palestinians and settler attacks on mosques in recent weeks. Senate Democrats raised concerns that continued settlement, expansion and fighting will harm Israel’s security.

The Democratic Party remains divided, as tensions over the relationship between the U.S. and Israel continue to dominate debates ahead of the midterm election.

“We urge you to take measures to prevent and intercede in this violence, establish a credible mechanism to investigate violations of law, and to make clear that the Government of Israel will not tolerate violence by its people, just as it does not tolerate violence against its people,” the senators wrote in the letter.

The letter, drafted by Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), includes the signatures of 45 of the 47 senators who caucus with the Democrats.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — a longtime critic of Netanyahu’s government — and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), arguably Israel’s most vocal supporter among Senate Democrats, were not among the signers.

Spokespeople for Fetterman and Sanders did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Schiff’s efforts come weeks after the California Democrat told Blue Light News he would not swear off future support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the powerful pro-Israel lobby.

However, Schiff sharply criticized Netanyahu, saying it was “heartbreaking” the way he had “so damaged Israel, its standing in the world, and the loss of life as a result.”

Congress

Trump’s trade moves add to GOP’s midterm anxieties

Published

13 hours ago

August 26, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Republicans were already struggling to defuse simmering voter frustrations over the cost of living ahead of the midterms. Then President Donald Trump rekindled his trade wars.

Trump’s latest actions — especially his decision to impose 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, inviting retaliatory duties from America’s No. 2 trading partner — has sparked new pushback from GOP lawmakers and candidates.

His moves are set to reverberate especially hard in a handful of states crucial to the party’s hopes of keeping their Senate majority. That includes northern border states, such as Maine and Michigan, as well as agriculture-heavy battlegrounds like Iowa and North Carolina that have been buffeted for more than a year by Trump’s embrace of hardball trade tactics.

“We’ve got 71 days, and right now we don’t have a positive message to tell farm country,” said retiring GOP Sen. Thom Tillis, whose North Carolina seat is at risk of flipping into Democrats’ hands in November.

Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Canada is creating “tension,” Tillis added, and that “the party that owns that tension is the party that will probably suffer the consequences in November.”

Even the president’s latest bid to ease price pressures on Americans has generated unease among Republicans. While he touted his decision last week to temporarily allow the duty-free import of 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef as a win for consumers, the announcement was met with little praise from GOP lawmakers, who instead worry the bigger political impact will be to alienate key constituencies in rural states hosting competitive House and Senate races.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said in an interview Tuesday he’d spoken this week with the small farmers and ranchers who would bear the brunt of Trump’s beef import holiday.

“I think it could hurt us at the polls,” he said. “That’s a very strong group.”

The beef imports have jolted races in Iowa, where GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is running to succeed retiring Sen. Joni Ernst, said in a social media post that the imports were “a bad idea” that would create “more uncertainty and instability for our farmers.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Zach Nunn, another Republican who is seeking reelection, said Friday at the Iowa State Fair alongside Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins that Trump is “right” that “we want to make sure that people can afford to eat” but that “we don’t do it on the backs of our cattlemen.”

But it’s the hefty Canada tariffs that could create the bigger problem for the GOP. Four border states — Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire and Alaska — as well as manufacturing-heavy Ohio are on the front lines of both the midterms and Trump’s North American trade war.

The economy is consistently the top issue for voters of both parties. Fifty-six percent of U.S. adults said cost-of-living concerns are among the top issues facing the country in a recent Blue Light News Poll.

A notable share of Trump’s own voters hold negative views about the current state of the economy — and how he is trying to improve it. A 33 percent plurality of Trump’s 2024 voters said rising prices are among the biggest failures of Trump’s second term, according to the survey conducted earlier this month by London-based Public First. Just 16 percent pointed to improving the cost of living as one of his biggest successes.

Among Trump voters who said things are less affordable now than a year ago, most blamed the Iran war (52 percent), but a sizable share (42 percent) blamed Trump’s tariffs on imported goods.

Vice President JD Vance defended the Canada tariffs Monday during a stop in Maine, saying Trump was taking long-overdue action to address unfair trade practices. But Sen. Susan Collins, who did not appear at the Vance event citing a scheduling conflict, told reporters over the weekend that she believed the Canada tariffs were a “mistake.”

“We produce a lot in Maine — our blueberries, our potatoes, our lobster, our lumber — that is processed across the border,” said Collins, who voted to undo prior Trump levies targeting Canada. “If it comes back with a huge tariff on it … that increases the cost of eating, building homes.”

Former Republican Sen. John Sununu, who is running to recapture his New Hampshire Senate seat this fall, said in a statement to Blue Light News Tuesday that “it makes no sense to start a trade war with our closest neighbor” as Democratic nominee Rep. Chris Pappas suggested Sununu “stands with Trump.”

“Canada is an important and valued trading partner for New Hampshire,” Sununu added. “As Senator, I’d encourage both sides to continue to negotiate and keep trade flowing between our countries.”

In Alaska, a group aligned with Senate Democrats has been hammering GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan with ads for months related to “raising costs” and tariffs as Democrats have sought to put in play a state Trump won handily three times. Multiple political forecasters now view the Alaska Senate race as a tossup between Sullivan and former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola.

Campaign representatives for Sullivan and for former Rep. Mike Rogers, who is the GOP Senate nominee in Michigan, did not respond to requests for comment about the Canada tariffs.

The fallout from a trade war with Canada could also impact Republicans’ affordability message as they attempt to hold onto the House.

“The president picked an unnecessary fight with a friend,” retiring Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said in a text message Tuesday. “The trade war will hurt both Americans and Canadians and for no good reason.”

The latest trade anxiety is landing amid broader economic woes that can be traced in large part to energy price spikes associated with the Trump-initiated war with Iran — a conflict that has dragged on for months longer than many GOP lawmakers privately hoped. Democrats, in turn, have spent months using those price spikes and voters’ dissatisfaction with the war as ammunition to sink Republicans in key states that could hand them majorities in both the House and Senate.

Republicans have taken comfort in the Democratic infighting that has marked primary season and the ascendance of hard-left nominees in many races — including in Michigan, where the GOP hopes to flip the seat being relinquished by retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. The new Canadian tariffs, however, threaten to distract from Rogers’ campaign to paint Democratic opponent, Abdul el-Sayed, as too extreme for the state.

“Americans are paying more for everything because GOP Senate candidates have served as a rubber stamp for Trump’s chaotic tariffs at the expense of their states,” DSCC spokesperson Tommy Garcia said in a statement Tuesday. “Come November, voters will hold them accountable for making life more expensive.”

Senate Republicans decamped to their home states earlier this month hoping that they would be able to use the August recess to focus on selling last year’s GOP tax cuts and a growing economy as they try to convince voters to overlook their cost-of-living concerns.

Republican Sen. Mike Rounds, who is seeking reelection in the reliably red agriculture state of South Dakota, said he thought his party is “in pretty good shape” to keep the majority. He added, though, that Republicans will need to “work hard” and “focus on what voters back home care about, which is the price of gas, price of groceries, making sure that in our ag economy we’re focused on helping to bring prices up for our commodity products.”

Others in the GOP have put voters’ affordability concerns in less rosy terms, including Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.).

“I’ve been the voice that’s been saying, ‘You people are living in a cave if you don’t see that folks out there … are hurting,’” Justice told reporters last week. “And we need to absolutely be more in tune with them.”

Erin Doherty and Grace Yarrow contributed to this report.