House Ethics Committee to vote on releasing Matt Gaetz sex allegations report: Latest updates – UK Times

The Pennsylvania Democratic senator who beat Dr Oz at the October 2022 midterms tells our own Eric Garcia he is prepared to confirm his erstwhile opponent, albeit through gritted teeth.

The president-elect’s team has just issued this stinging dismissal of the author of the hit Trump books Fire and Fury, Siege and Landslide (2018-21), writing in a statement:

“A number of us have received inquiries from the disgraced author Michael Wolff, whose previous work can only be described as fiction. He is a known peddler of fake news who routinely concocts situations, conversations, and conclusions that never happened.

“As a group, we have decided not to respond to his bad faith inquiries, and we encourage others to completely disregard whatever nonsense he eventually publishes. Consider this our blanket response to whatever he writes.”

The above is undersigned by the following names, all senior members of Trump’s staff.

• Susie Wiles
• Chris LaCivita
• Danielle Alvarez
• James Blair
• Taylor Budowich
• Justin Caporale
• Steven Cheung
• Tony Fabrizio
• Vince Haley
• Brian Hughes
• Jason Miller
• Tim Murtaugh
• Tim Saler
• Andrew Surabian
• Travis Tunis

Donald Trump’s transition team is said to be “upset” with Pete Hegseth because he “hasn’t been honest” about the sexual misconduct allegation from his past – prompting insiders to consider other options to lead the Pentagon.

Hegseth was tapped last week to become Trump’s defense secretary but now those in the president-elect’s inner circle are “quietly preparing a list of alternative” candidates, Vanity Fair reported.

“It’s becoming a real possibility,” a source told the outlet.

Here’s more from Rhian Lubin and Katie Hawkinson.

The president-elect has called on Republican senators to grind the business of the upper chamber of Congress to a halt in order to stop Democrats from confirming any more judges before the end of President Joe Biden’s term.

Senate Democrats held votes late into the night on Monday to confirm Biden’s picks to the federal bench, prompting this angry Truth Social post from Trump:

There was also internal GOP annoyance with Vice President-Elect Vance, secretary of state nominee Marco Rubio and others who skipped those Monday votes, enabling Chuck Schumer’s Democrats to greenlight Biden’s choices with less opposition.

“If we don’t show up, we lose,” huffed North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis, according to The Hill.

“I don’t care what the reasons were. We have fewer than 15 scheduled legislative days. You have to show up. Period. End of story. There’s nothing more important.

“We’ve got potentially dozens we could have shoved down our throat – except for us being here.

“We’ve got to talk to these folks like adults and show up.”

Gustaf Kilander has more.

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski’s house call on the president-elect appears to have gone down extremely badly with their viewers, as well as pundits on both sides of the political divide.

James Liddell has the latest.

Here’s Rhian Lubin to look at the TV doctor’s long history of questionable quackery, from “miracle cures” to weight loss gimmicks and hydroxychloroquine advocacy during the pandemic.

If you’re not familiar with McMahon, here’s a starter pack:

For more, here’s our resident wrestling buff Greg Evans with the insiders’ response to Trump’s choice.

In New York, Manhattan prosecutors have urged the judge overseeing Trump’s criminal hush money trial to reject his attempts to toss out his conviction and derail his sentencing.

But District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his team do not oppose a delay in the proceedings so they can address Trump’s upcoming arguments to dismiss the case, according to a letter to New York Justice Juan Merchan on Tuesday.

Trump’s sentencing was initially scheduled for next week, on November 26, roughly three weeks after he won the 2024 presidential election.

He will return to the White House on January 20, potentially upending the multiple criminal and civil cases against him.

Prosecutors have also floated delaying a sentencing hearing until 2029, “after the end of Defendant’s upcoming presidential term.”

While prosecutors are “mindful of the demands and obligations of the presidency” and understand that Trump’s return to the White House “will raise unprecedented legal questions,” they also “deeply respect the fundamental role of the jury in our constitutional system.”

Bragg’s office has asked to respond to Trump’s motion to dismiss the conviction no later than December 9.

“This is a total and definitive victory for President Trump and the American People who elected him in a landslide,” Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement.

“The Manhattan DA has conceded that this Witch Hunt cannot continue. The lawless case is now stayed, and President Trump’s legal team is moving to get it dismissed once and for all.”

Here’s Alex Woodward’s report.

Vice President-Elect JD Vance is due on Capitol Hill today leading a delegation of Trump administration nominees that will reportedly include Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, Elise Stefanik and Doug Collins in order to lobby Republican senators and try to tie down their support ahead of the upcoming cabinet confirmation hearings, according to CNN.

Both Trump himself and Gaetz have reportedly been hitting the phones as part of their effort to secure the latter’s place as attorney general, with Missouri Senator Josh Hawley saying the ex-Florida congressman had implored him “to give him a shot” at the role.

Meanwhile, veteran GOP senator Chuck Grassley, who is set to be the next chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has stirred the pot by urging the House Ethics Committee to publish its report on Gaetz, perhaps suggesting he’ll use it to oppose his nomination.

“I think that if they want a speedy consideration of this nomination… we’ve got to have as much transparency as we can have,” Grassley said.

“You’ve heard my colleagues, especially on the Republican side, say that they have some questions… and I think it would help faster consideration, the extent to which they would make as much available as they can.”