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RFK Jr. is seeing how far the Kennedy name will take him

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Winning the votes of two of the leaders of the anti-Trump resistance in the Senate would seem like a long shot for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in his bid to win confirmation as President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary of health and human services.

Then again, Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren are Democrats who represent Massachusetts, and Kennedy is… a Kennedy, the son of a Democratic senator and nephew of two other Democratic senators.

Kennedy’s decision to meet with the Bay State’s Senate delegation on Thursday shows, to some political insiders, the lasting power of the Kennedy name in the state, which launched the political careers of Kennedy’s namesake father and uncles John F. Kennedy and Edward Kennedy.

“The Kennedy name is still strong and has a lot of lasting power in the Bay State,” said Brad Bannon, longtime Massachusetts pollster and CEO of Bannon Communications Research. “It’s smart politics for Kennedy — and Warren and Markey.”

Before he dropped his own presidential bid over the summer, Kennedy was polling in the high single digits in a matchup with Trump and President Joe Biden in Massachusetts. He ultimately did not appear on the state’s ballot.

Markey and Warren voted for very few of Trump’s first term nominees, even compared with their other Democratic colleagues.

A Markey spokesperson said the senator is “hearing from his constituents about Mr. Kennedy’s nomination, as well as all of Trump’s nominees,” and that he’s meeting with many other nominees.

Markey, who upset one of Kennedy’s nephews, Joseph P. Kennedy III, to win his Senate seat in 2020, haspreviously said Kennedy is an “unqualified, unserious and dangerous” choice for HHS. And Warren has saidshe would laugh at the nomination “if it weren’t so scary.”

Even many of Kennedy’sown family members have decried his run for president and later endorsement of Trump.

But the Kennedy legacy remains strong — even beyond Massachusetts.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who sits on the Finance Committee that will have to approve Kennedy’s nomination before it goes to the Senate floor, told reporters that he and Kennedy had “some interesting conversations” about the senator’s experience with Kennedy’s uncle Edward, who served as a Massachusetts senator for nearly five decades and was the second-most senior senator when he died in 2009.

He was “sort of the lion of the Senate back when I first got here,” Cornyn said. “And what a larger than life personality he was.”

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Congress

Trump discusses his viral moment with Obama

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Donald Trump is talking about what appeared to be a warm moment between him and Barack Obama.

Trump concedes the pair did seem to be on friendly terms when cameras captured them chatting, and Obama laughing as they sat next to each other Thursday at the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter.

The president-elect was asked about it later in a Fox News interview from his home in Florida.

“It did look very friendly, I must say,” Trump said. “I didn’t realize how friendly it looked. I saw it on your wonderful network, just a little while ago before I came in and I said ‘Boy, they look like two people that like each other.’ And we probably do,” he said.

Trump didn’t say what he and Obama were talking about in the viral moment.

“We have little different philosophies, right? I don’t know, we just got along. But I got along with everybody on that. You know we met backstage before we went on, and I thought it was a beautiful service, but we all got along very well.”

Trump answered questions from Fox News’ Peter Doocy for roughly 20 minutes ahead of the president-elect’s meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago.

He again criticized state and local officials in California for their handling of the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles and reiterated his interest in Greenland and making Canada into the 51st state.

He didn’t have an answer on whether he supported the Biden administration’s talks with the Taliban for the release of Americans held in Afghanistan, saying he would be looking into it on Friday. Asked about recent mysterious drone sightings, he vowed to release a report the day after his inauguration “because I think it’s ridiculous they’re not telling you about the drones.”

Trump also said his team is working on scheduling meetings with several foreign leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. He said his team has also been in communication with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

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Another Fox News alum invited to join the new Trump administration

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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.”

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Trump’s pick for Sweden ambassador didn’t clear the Senate when he nominated her the last time

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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.

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