Trump’s Out-of-Left-Field Nominations Set Up Potential Senate Fight

From the The Morning Dispatch on The Dispatch

Happy Thursday! So much happened in Congress yesterday that you'd be forgiven for missing that the House held another hearing about UFOs . Because of course it did.

Quick Hits: Today's Top Stories President-elect Donald Trump and President Joe Biden met in the Oval Office on Wednesday, restoring a tradition of the president-elect meeting with the outgoing administration that Trump failed to uphold when Biden was elected in 2020. Biden called for a "smooth transition" and told Trump that his team would "do everything we can to make sure you're accommodated."

Trump on Wednesday selected GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, as his pick for attorney general. Gaetz, who has a law degree from the College of William & Mary and worked briefly as an attorney at a law firm in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, is a far-right hardliner who has been one of the president-elect's most loyal supporters in the House. Later on Wednesday , House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that Gaetz had resigned his seat in Congress, effective immediately. Punchbowl News reported that the House Ethics Committee, which is investigating allegations against Gaetz that include sexual misconduct, was scheduled to hold a vote on whether to release its "highly damaging" report in the coming days. The panel lost its jurisdiction to investigate upon his resignation, though the report could still be released.

Trump also tapped former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard , who served as a Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii from 2013 to 2021 but has since switched parties, to be his next director of national intelligence. Gabbard has long been an extreme opponent of American foreign intervention and has defended Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, saying that she was "skeptical" of the reports that he bombed and gassed his own people during the country's civil war. Her nomination would require Senate confirmation.

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday endorsed House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, to continue in the leadership role in the incoming Congress. Trump's endorsement could head off at least some of the opposition to Johnson among hardliners in the House GOP, who have significant leverage over the speaker in a Congress where Republicans are projected to hold on to a razor-thin majority.

Senate Republicans on Wednesday elected Sen. John Thune of South Dakota to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell, his close ally, as their leader. Thune, who will lead the Republican majority during the next Congress, prevailed after two rounds of voting, defeating Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who was eliminated in the first round, and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. The race followed McConnell's decision to step down from his post as the Senate's Republican leader after 18 years at the helm.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Wednesday that the consumer price index (CPI), a key measure of inflation, increased in October by 2.6 percent year over year and 0.2 percent monthly—up slightly from September, when inflation increased by 2.4 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively. Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, held steady at a 3.3 percent annual increase. "While many prices remain high, the rate of inflation has declined materially from post-pandemic highs and looks to be on its way to reaching the Fed's 2 percent target," said Alberto Musalem, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, in a Wednesday speech calling for cautious but continuing interest rate cuts.

A judge in Washington ruled Wednesday that an antitrust complaint against Meta—the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp— will go to trial . The Federal Trade Commission's 2020 suit alleges that Meta overpaid for its acquisitions of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014, illegal actions intended to maintain its monopoly over social media. Meta had contended that the case should be dismissed because the company faces competition from platforms like X and TikTok.

The New York Times first reported on Wednesday that the Justice Department last week indicted a CIA official on charges that he disclosed classified documents related to plans for Israel's strike on Iran last month. The FBI arrested the official, Asif William Rahman, in Cambodia on Tuesday, and he is set to be transported to Guam to be charged on two counts of willful transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act. Documents attributed to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency were released on a pro-Iranian Telegram channel last month, detailing Israel's movement of military assets to launch an attack following Iran's missile strikes on Israel on October 1.

Advice and Consent The first several names President-elect Donald Trump announced to fill his administration seemed to suggest his Cabinet and coterie of close advisers might cut against some of his most anti-establishment instincts.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, for secretary of state. Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida, a former Army Green Beret, as national security adviser. Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York for U.N. ambassador. His former campaign manager, Susie Wiles, as White House chief of staff.

Former Vice President Mike Pence told Sarah and Steve he was "very encouraged by the early appointments by the president-elect" on Tuesday at the Dispatch Summit. At the same event, former GOP Rep. Mike Gallagher told Mary he was likewise heartened by the selections.

But four names do not an administration make.

Subsequent appointments have suggested that the likes of Waltz, Stefanik, Rubio, and Wiles were just more data points to indicate that Trump is ultimately prioritizing loyalty. Since news of those first picks broke, he has moved to fill his administration not just with people who have defended him but who, in some cases, are also on the very fringes of acceptability even to a Washington remade under a Republican majority.

On Wednesday afternoon, Trump announced he was nominating Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida to be attorney general, calling him in a post on Truth Social "a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney" who will "end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans' badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department."

Trump did not mention that Gaetz—a loyal ally of the former president—has also for months been under a House ethics investigation concerning allegations that he had "engaged in sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, accepted improper gifts, dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct," according to the House Ethics Committee . Last year, the same department Trump now wants Gaetz to lead ultimately declined to charge him in a yearslong probe into allegations of sex trafficking.

Aside from the strong whiff of personal scandal, Gaetz also has been a bomb-thrower in the House of Representatives who was primarily responsible for ousting Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker last year—though those days seem to be over. Later on Wednesday, Gaetz abruptly resigned his House seat, and Punchbowl News reported that the ethics panel was just days away from voting on the release of a "highly damaging" report about his alleged misconduct. The report may still become public, but the committee no longer has the jurisdiction to continue its investigation.

Senate Republicans, who now hold a 53-seat majority, will be faced with a decision about whether or not to vote to confirm Gaetz along with Trump's other nominees. But many of them on Wednesday weren't interested in talking about it.

"I don't really know him other than his public persona, so we'll handle it like any other nomination, and then we'll do our job as providing advice and consent and see how it goes, but I don't have any basis on which to judge him at this point," Sen. John Cornyn of Texas—who earlier that day lost his bid to become Senate majority leader to Sen. John Thune of South Dakota—told reporters of Gaetz.

Cornyn added that he would not "prejudge" any of Trump's nominees. Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma said he did not "have any comment on any of the nominations yet" before he and his colleagues went through "the process."

But Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who is often a swing vote in a Republican-held Senate, said she was "shocked" by the Gaetz nomination. "This shows why the advice and consent process is so important, and I'm sure that there will be a lot of questions raised at his hearing," she told reporters. "Obviously, the president has the right to nominate whomever he wishes, but I'm certain that there will be a lot of questions."

By contrast, Rubio gave his fellow nominee his full-throated support. "I've known Matt for a very long time. I think he'd do a great job," he told reporters Wednesday .

Though certainly Trump's most eye-popping nomination so far, Gaetz is not the only one of the president-elect's nominees whose credentials and personal history make their confirmation a questionable proposition. Trump on Wednesday also selected former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii to be the director of national intelligence, a role that oversees all 18 U.S. intelligence agencies. Gabbard—a veteran of the U.S. Army Reserve—has been a constant critic of mainstream foreign policy consensus, first as a Democrat and now as a Republican.

In 2017, she met with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, saying in 2019 that he "is not the enemy of the United States because Syria does not pose a direct threat to the United States" and questioning whether he had actually used chemical weapons on his own people . She has also blamed NATO expansion for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and in 2022 said Ukraine should commit to being a neutral country .

"The first one I heard about was Tulsi Gabbard, and my immediate reaction was to say, 'Well, that's hilarious,'" former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton told on Wednesday of the news of Gabbard and Gaetz's nominations. "She's no more qualified to be director of national intelligence than the chair you're sitting in. And then I heard Matt Gaetz, and I realized that it made all of the other nominees look like towers of strength."

Trump's nomination of Pete Hegseth, a Fox News anchor and decorated military veteran, to be the secretary of defense has likewise raised eyebrows, even among his own coworkers at Fox: "You're telling me Pete is going to oversee two million employees?" one employee reportedly told CNN .

Hegseth, who hosts the weekend edition of the Fox & Friends morning show, served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay as a member of the Army National Guard, and has led the veterans advocacy group Concerned Veterans for America. He frequently pans the "woke" military and in his recent book called for the next presidential administration to "clean house" at the Pentagon. During Trump's first term, he successfully convinced the president to grant leniency and pardons to U.S. service members accused of war crimes.

Hegseth has none of the significant managerial experience or high-level national security chops that are typical of a candidate to lead the U.S. military. Trump, though, reportedly thinks Hegseth has "the look, " and apparently decided to nominate him just 24 hours after Hegseth had emerged as a potential candidate.

Trump's unorthodox selections are likely to face headwinds in the Senate, but in recent days the president-elect has seemed to signal an effort to sidestep the Senate's "advice and consent" role entirely. In the lead-up to the Senate leadership vote, from which Thune emerged victorious on Wednesday, Trump demanded that the candidates endorse letting him conduct "recess appointments."

The constitutional provision allows presidents to unilaterally appoint officials, who would otherwise have to face confirmation, when the Senate is out of session—though anyone appointed that way can remain in the role only until the end of that Congress. And, oh yeah, they won't get paid.

But Trump, who floated the idea explicitly as a way to speed up the confirmations, wasn't just suggesting he take advantage of a natural break in the Senate's schedule to get things moving—not that they have those anyway. After the Supreme Court ruled recess appointments can be made only if the Senate is out of session for more than 10 days, senators built "pro-forma" sessions—minutes-long meetings during which no business is usually conducted—into the calendar every few days to block such a workaround. But Trump seems to want them to voluntarily step aside to allow his picks through with no resistance. The new majority leader signaled an openness to that possibility on Wednesday, but in the context of Democrats trying to obstruct the hearings.

Going down the voluntary recess appointment route could be thorny, as Semafor's Burgess Everett reported , if not entirely unworkable. Calling a recess requires only a simple majority vote, but Democrats could delay that by offering endless amendments to any resolution that would trigger the recess. Republicans would need 60 votes to stop them—meaning they would need Democratic support they'd be unlikely to get. The Republicans could try to change the rules to overcome that, but it's a risky proposition for the precedent it would set.

The Constitution also gives the president the authority to adjourn Congress, under Article II Section 3 —an idea being surfaced by pro-Trump figures online. It would be a dramatic step, but perhaps not outside the realm of possibility.

The Bulwark's Marc Caputo reported on Wednesday that Trump is serious, at least, about making Gaetz the nation's top law enforcement official. And Bolton said the brazen picks in Gaetz and Gabbard track with his understanding of the president he served: "This is the full face of Donald Trump and his understanding of government."

Worth Your Time The Economist reported on the potential loss of political consensus in Ukraine. "For now, there are two dates on Kyiv politicos' lips: January 20th 2025, the date of Mr Trump's inauguration, the first moment for any possible ceasefire and lifting of military law, and May 25th, the earliest mooted date for an election," it writes. President Volodymyr Zelensky faces a possible electoral challenge as Ukrainian troops are struggling to hold back new Russian offensives: "If elections were held tomorrow, Mr Zelensky would struggle to repeat the success of the landslide win he secured in 2019. Nearly three years into the Russian invasion, he is no longer seen as the undisputed war leader he once was. Internal polling seen by The Economist suggests he would fare badly in a run-off against Valery Zaluzhny, the other wartime hero. The former commander-in-chief was dispatched to be ambassador to Britain after falling out with the president last year. He has not made his political ambitions clear yet, though many are urging him to run."

Presented Without The Hill : RFK Jr.: 'Stuff' Trump Eats 'Really, Like, Bad'

In the Zeitgeist Need a break? Yeah, us too. Take 17 minutes and watch this NPR Tiny Desk concert from award-winning 20-year-old South Korean pianist Yunchan Lim:

Toeing the Company LineIn the newsletters: Dispatch Politics crew took a look at who might fill J.D. Vance's Senate seat in Ohio, Scott explained () what Biden and Harris got wrong about inflation, and Nick argued () that the Trump Cabinet picks' most important qualification seems to be that they are good on television.

On the podcasts: Jonah is joined by John Podhoretz on The Remnant to discuss Cabinet appointments, U.S.-Israel relations, and why political mandates are dumb, and Sarah is joined by Judge James Ho in a live taping of Advisory Opinions with a potential Supreme Court nominee.

On the site: Charlotte examines how Trump's appointments and a recent move by Benjamin Netanyahu could alter the course of Israel's multifront war.

Let Us Know What do you think about Trump's nominations so far?