Trump to visit Biden at White House as new presidential transition staff takes shape: Live updates – UK Times

Donald Trump has announced he is nominating Pete Hegseth, a veteran and Fox News host, as his Secretary of Defense.

“Pete has spent his entire life as a Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country,” Trump said in a press release on Tuesday night. “Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First. With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.”

“Pete is a graduate of Princeton University, and has a Graduate Degree from Harvard University,” Trump added. “He is an Army Combat Veteran who did tours in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan.”

Lord Mandelson is seen as the leading contender for the Washington job, as the Labour government comes under pressure to woo the president-elect.

“I apologize to absolutely nobody,” Hinchcliffe said to thunderous applause at the top of his live podcast and comedy show Kill Tony on Monday.

“Not to the Puerto Ricans. Not to the whites. Not to the Blacks. Not to the Palestinians. Not to the Jews,” he added, “and not to my own mother, who I made fun of during the set.”

Donald Trump has tapped his former national intelligence director John Ratfliffe to lead the CIA.

Trump has also named Bill McGinley — who formerly served as Trump’s Cabinet secretary — as White House counsel.

McGinley had recently worked alongside indicted former right-wing media personality Christina Bobb on the Republican National Committee’s “election integrity” team.

“Bill is a smart and tenacious lawyer who will help me advance our America First agenda while fighting for election integrity and against the weaponization of law enforcement,” Trump said in a statement.

Ratcliffe, a former congressman who served on Trump’s impeachment team during his first impeachment, later was nominated to replace Dan Coats as Director of National Intelligence, to which he was narrowly approved in the Senate by a vote of 49 to 44.

A month before the 2020 election, Ratcliffe declassified 2016 Russian disinformation that claimed Hillary Clinton had approved a scheme to tie Trump to Vladimir Putin and hacking of the Democratic National Committee — disinformation that was previously rejected by a Senate committee.

Ratcliffe “has always been a warrior for Truth and Honesty with the American Public,” Trump said in a statement.

Real estate developer and Trump donor Steve Witkoff has been named as a special envoy to the Middle East in Tump’s incoming administration.

“Steve is a Highly Respected Leader in Business and Philanthropy, who has made every project and community he has been involved with stronger and more prosperous. Steve will be an unrelenting Voice for PEACE, and make us all proud,” according to a statement from Trump.

Witkoff also is the co-chair of Trump’s inaugural committee, and he was golfing with Trump when the alleged second attempted assassination was averted at the former president’s Florida golf club.

Flynn, who briefly served in the Trump administration, made the remarks on X/Twitter on Tuesday in response to a tweet by controversial far-right activist Laura Loomer.

“It would be very easy to catch someone doing this. Give everyone that is there a one question poly (this is very easy to do). Ask them one question, “have you communicated with any media outlets in the past week?” You’ll see the leaks disappear,” Flynn said in response to a tweet by Loomer, a hard-right conspiracy theorist who traveled with Trump on the campaign trail.

Mike Huckabee, Trump’s pick to be the next ambassador to Israel, told CNN in 2017 that he didn’t agree with the use of the word “settlements” to describe Israeli occupations on the West Bank, which are illegal under international law.

He also said there is “no such thing” as the West Bank, the largest of two Palestinian territories that comprise the Palestinian state.

“I think Israel has title deed to Judea and Samaria,” Huckabee told the network, referencing the Biblical terms for the West Bank. “There are certain words I refuse to use. There is no such thing as a West Bank. It’s Judea and Samaria. There’s no such thing as a settlement. They’re communities, they’re neighborhoods, they’re cities. There’s no such thing as an occupation.”

The president of the pro-Israel nonprofit J Street, Jeremy Ben-Ami, said in a statement that the selection of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as Trump’s next ambassador to Israel shows that “the mask is off.”

“This announcement is further proof that ‘pro-Israel’ for Trump is totally disconnected from any concern for Jewish values, safety or self-determination,” he said. “It’s all about what ‘pro-Israel’ means to extremists in the MAGA base.”

“Between Rubio and Huckabee, Trump and Netanyahu, we know the Trump Administration’s approach to Israel-Palestine will trample our values and endanger Israelis and Palestinians,” he added. “Biden has a narrow window of opportunity to blunt the impact before he leaves office – he must use it.”