Don’t stand in the way of my cabinet picks, Trump tells Senate

Donald Trump has demanded that the incoming Republican Senate leader fast-track the approval of his cabinet.

The president-elect has not endorsed a candidate in the race for the Senate leadership but Rick Scott, a Florida senator, has emerged as a frontrunner after gaining support from key Trump backers Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson and Marco Rubio.

Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social that any Republican seeking the post of Senate leader should back recess appointments, which are made when the Senate is not in session, so his cabinet can be formed "in a timely manner".

Allowing recess appointments would be a break with tradition and essentially bypass the Senate, expanding the president's power. The last time one was made was under Barack Obama in 2012, after which the Supreme Court ruled recess appointments were effectively unusable.

Mr Scott has expressed support for such a move saying he would do "whatever it takes" to get Mr Trump's nominations through as quickly as possible.

"We have got to change the way the Senate is run to get Trump's agenda done," Mr Scott told Fox News on Sunday.

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Harris to make first appearance since conceding election

Kamala Harris, the vice president, will make her first appearance since conceding the election on Monday.

Ms Harris will join Joe Biden in laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, CNN reported.

She will also attend the National Veterans Day Observance at the Memorial Amphitheatre, where Mr Biden is due to give a speech.

The vice president is not expected to speak at either event.

Musk: New Senate leader must respond to will of the people

Elon Musk, one of Donald Trump's closest allies, has said the new Senate leader "must respond to the will of the people".

Mr Musk has endorsed Rick Scott, a Florida senator, to become the new leader after he said he would consider recess appointments to fast-track Mr Trump's cabinet appointments.

Read our 8.42am post to understand more about recess appointments.

Berlin: Phone call with Trump was 'very friendly'

Donald Trump and Olaf Scholz held a "very friendly, very constructive" 25-minute phone call on Sunday, a Berlin spokesman said on Monday.

The two agreed to stay in touch during the conversation on Sunday evening but did not discuss individual topics in depth, rather taking a broader view of things, the spokesman said.

Trump cabinet: what we know so far

Donald Trump has already made the first official hires of his new cabinet.

Susie Wiles will serve as chief of staff, Tom Homan will serve as the 'border czar', while Elise Stefanik will serve as the US ambassador to the UN.

But who else could serve in Mr Trump's administration? Here are some of the rumoured names:

Attorney general - Aileen Cannon, Jeffrey Clark, Ken Paxton

Secretary of state - Marco Rubio, Vivek Ramaswamy, Richard Grenell

Defence secretary - Christopher Miller, Michael Waltz, Robert O'Brien

Treasury secretary - Scott Bessent, Robert Lighthizer, John Paulson

Robert F Kennedy Jr is reportedly under consideration to become the head of the health and human services department, while Elon Musk could head up a new "department of government efficiency".

Some names have been explicitly ruled out by Mr Trump, including Mike Pompeo and Nikki Haley.

Trump confirms US ambassador to UN

Elise Stefanik has accepted Donald Trump's offer to become the next ambassador to the United Nations.

"I am honoured to nominate Chairwoman Elise Stefanik to serve in my Cabinet as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter," Mr Trump, 78, told the New York Post.

Ms Stefanik, who has become a key Trump ally, said she was "honoured" to serve in his cabinet.

"During my conversation with President Trump, I shared how deeply humbled I am to accept his nomination and that I look forward to earning the support of my colleagues in the United States Senate," she added.

Healey: World yet to see Trump's Ukraine plan

John Healey, the Defence Secretary, said the world will have to "wait and see" what Donald Trump "really proposes" to end the war in Ukraine.

Mr Trump repeatedly promised before he was elected on Nov 5 to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Officials in Kyiv and the rest of Europe this could mean forcing Ukraine into making concessions, including giving up Ukrainian land.

But Mr Healey appeared to think Mr Trump had got the tone right during his apparent call with Putin last week.

"If the reports of his call with [Vladimir] Putin last week are right then president Trump is exactly right to warn Putin against escalation of the conflict in Ukraine," Mr Healey told BBC Breakfast.

"And our task as a nation supporting Ukraine, one of its leading supporters, alongside allies like France, is to step up our support to reinforce the position that Ukraine has at this period where it's under great pressure from Russia."

Step down and make Harris president, Biden told

Kamala Harris lost big last week, meaning Donald Trump will become the 47th president - or will he?

Jamal Simmons, Ms Harris' former director of communications, has said Joe Biden should step down so that she can become president as a "symbolic gesture".

"Joe Biden has been a phenomenal president, he's lived up to so many of the promises that he's made. There is one promise left that he can fulfil: Being a transitional figure," Mr Simmons said on CNN.

"He could resign the presidency in the next 30 days, make Kamala Harris the president of the United States. He could absolve her from having to oversee the January 6 transition of her own defeat."

There is no indication that either Mr Biden or Ms Harris are seeking such an arrangement.

Meet the anti-pollsters who called all 50 states by ignoring public opinion

The race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, if the polls were anything to go by, was extremely close.

Except, it wasn't: Mr Trump was destined to win – according to one group of political scientists who forecast the exact result, state-by-state, nearly a month ago.

Peter Enns and his team studied every election since 1980 and came to the conclusion that just two issues are truly consequential in determining election results: the economy and the popularity of the incumbent president.

In marked contrast to polling, which largely under-calculated the swing towards Mr Trump this time around, Mr Enns's model involves no direct contact with Americans on how they intend to vote.

Mr Enns, a Cornell University professor and co-founder of Verasight, told The Telegraph: "We plug in the 2024 numbers from 100 days or more in advance, and then say okay, if these past relationships hold, that lets us predict what will happen in each state, right?"

He was right. In a special forecast published in October, Mr Enns and three other political scientists predicted that Mr Trump would win 312 electoral college votes. As we now know, he did.

Read the full story here.

Progressive Democrats push to take over party leadership

Progressive Democrats are pushing to take over the party leadership as in-fighting breaks out following Kamala Harris's election defeat.

Left-wingers are hoping to install Ben Wikler, the Wisconsin Democratic chairman, to take over the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and swing it away from the current centrist leadership ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Pramila Jayapal, who leads the Democrats' progressive faction in Congress, has said she would "love to see somebody" who is "like a Ben Wikler", Politico reports.

Her intervention may mean Left-wing Democrats swing behind Mr Wikler, who is seen as an effective fundraiser and has been credited with reviving his party's fortunes in Wisconsin, if he launches a bid for the position.

Read the full story here.

Kremlin: There was no call between Putin and Trump

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have not spoken on the phone, the Kremlin said on Monday.

The Washington Post first reported that the call took place on Thursday. Reuters also reported that the call took place.

Putin has no specific plans to speak to Trump at the present, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who said the reports were pure fiction.

Starmer plots to thwart Trump on Ukraine

Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron are expected to plot a last-ditch attempt to thwart Donald Trump's efforts to scale back US support for Ukraine.

The British and French leaders will discuss on Monday whether Joe Biden, the US president, can be persuaded to give Ukraine permission to fire Storm Shadow missiles deep into Russia, according to UK Government insiders.

The Telegraph has been told there are hopes in London that Mr Biden will finally give the approval Kyiv has sought for months in an attempt to secure his foreign policy legacy.

The knock-on impact of the impending Trump presidency on the Middle East and the possibility of a trade war with Europe are also expected to be discussed.

What are recess appointments?

Donald Trump is urging the next leader of the Senate to push through his cabinet appointments "in a timely manner" using recess appointments.

Typically the president nominates his cabinet picks, which are then voted in officially by the Senate.

But the Constitution allows the president to temporarily install nominees when the Senate is in recess - defined as a break longer than 10 days.

Such appointments could still be blocked if Congress or the Senate refuse to formally go on a long break.

Mr Trump was unable to make any recess appointments during his first term, nor was Mr Biden, after a Supreme Court ruling in 2014 which stated Barack Obama had overstepped constitutional power by doing so.

Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush made more than 100 recess appointments.

Joe Biden struggled to walk across the sand and needed help from his wife Jill Biden during their holiday in Delaware on Sunday.

The outgoing president could be seen repeatedly losing his balance on Rehoboth Beach.

C-SPAN

Trump 'urged Putin not to escalate Ukraine war'

Donald Trump reportedly warned Vladimir Putin not to escalate the war in Ukraine in a call after the US election, writes Benedict Smith.

The two men are said to have discussed how to return peace to Europe, during a post-election phone call, according to The Washington Post.

Mr Trump is said to have raised the issue of Ukrainian territory captured by Russia, although precisely what either man said is unclear.

He also reminded Putin that the US maintained a substantial military presence in Europe.

Read the full story here.

Who is Rick Scott, frontrunner to become Senate leader?

Rick Scott, a senator from Florida, has emerged as the frontrunner to become the next leader of the Senate.

He has not been endorsed by Donald Trump but has the support of Elon Musk and Marco Rubio - two figures likely to feature in the president-elect's cabinet.

Mr Scott is running against John Cornyn of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota, both of which were key allies of outgoing leader Mitch McConnell.

Mr Trump once warned the Florida senate to "be careful" after he suggested popular federal programmes such as Medicare and Social Security should be renegotiated every five years.

Senate Republicans are due to vote for the next leader in a secret ballot on Wednesday.

Trump appoints hardline immigration official 'border czar'

Donald Trump announced late on Sunday he was bringing back hardline immigration official Tom Homan to oversee the country's borders in his incoming administration.

Mr Homan will be "in charge of our nation's borders ("The Border Czar"), including, but not limited to, the Southern Border, the Northern Border, all Maritime, and Aviation Security," Mr Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

"I've known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders."

"Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin. Congratulations to Tom. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic, and long awaited for, job."