Donald Trump has picked Fox News contributor Leo Terrell to serve as senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Justice Department, Harmeet K. Dhillon.

Trump said Terrell, a civil rights attorney and talk radio host in California, will work closely alongside Dhillon, a former vice chair of the California GOP who represented the state on the Republican National Committee.

The president-elect also announced that former Nevada Senate candidate Sam Brown would be taking a position at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Trump called Terrell a “highly respected civil rights attorney and political analyst” and said in a statement Thursday that he will be a “fantastic advocate for the American People.”

Fox contributors set to join the new administration also include Tammy Bruce, Trump’s pick for State Department spokesperson, and Pete Hegseth, his choice to lead the Pentagon.

The president-elect also announced Thursday that he was tapping Brown to be undersecretary for memorial affairs at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Brown, a Purple Heart recipient with a captivating personal story, narrowly lost the Nevada Senate race to incumbent Democrat Jacky Rosen in November.

“He fearlessly proved his love for our Country in the Army, while leading Troops in battle in Afghanistan and, after being honorably retired as a Captain, helping our Veterans get access to emergency medications,” Trump said in a statement. “Sam will now continue his service to our Great Nation at the VA, where he will work tirelessly to ensure we put America’s Veterans FIRST, and remember ALL who served.”

Donald Trump is trying again with Christine Jack Toretti — this time nominating her to serve as the next ambassador to Sweden.

During his last administration, Trump tapped Toretti, a businesswoman and GOP fundraiser, as his pick to become the ambassador to Malta. The Senate never confirmed her, returning her nomination in 2019 and again in 2020, with Democrats questioning the quality of some of Trump’s nominees. Toretti at the time was reported to have had a restraining order filed against her for allegedly putting a bullet-riddled target sheet in the office of her ex-husband’s doctor.

In a statement Thursday, Trump called Toretti an “incredible businesswoman, philanthropist, public servant, and RNC Committeewoman for the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” touting her lengthy resume, including her role as chair of S&T Bancorp and as the former director of the Pittsburgh Federal Reserve Bank.

If President-elect Donald Trump has his way, “everything the American consumers buy from Canada is suddenly going to get a lot more expensive,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned during an interview with BLN on Thursday afternoon.

Trudeau shared a list of imports facing the 25 percent tariffs Trump has threatened to slap on Canadian imports: oil and gas, electricity, steel, aluminum, lumber and concrete.

The prime minister joined Jake Tapper in studio Thursday for his first one-on-one interview since he announced plans to resign from high office by March at the latest.

Trudeau was in Washington to attend the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter, who served as an honorary pallbearer for Trudeau’s father almost 25 years ago.

Tapper also quizzed the prime minister on Canada’s experience with devastating wildfires and asked the impact of Trump’s rhetoric on Trudeau’s decision to call it quits earlier this week. (Trudeau denied any influence at all.)

Trudeau dismissed the president-elect’s musings about annexing Canada and taking control of America’s northern neighbor by economic force.

“Canadians are incredibly proud of being Canadian,” he said. “One of the ways we define ourselves most easily is, well, we’re not American.”

Trudeau, who did not interact with Trump during Carter’s funeral, credited the incoming president as a “skilled negotiator” hoping to distract attention from his tariff threat.

The prime minister’s relative silence with reporters stretches back to December.

Following the shock resignation that month of Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s deputy prime minister and finance minister, Trudeau canceled a traditional round of year-end interviews.
When he announced his resignation on a frigid day in Ottawa, he fielded only a handful of questions.

Canadian journalists might grumble about the prime minister picking an American interviewer as his first interrogator of 2025. But the prime minister enjoys airtime stateside. He found time last year for the Freakonomics podcast and Vox’s “Today, Explained.”

In 2022, Trudeau joined the Pod Save America crew.

BLN aired the Trudeau interview while the prime minister’s fierce rival, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, held a press conference in Ottawa. Poilievre is the odds-on favorite to succeed Trudeau no matter who leads the Liberals into an election expected this spring.