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In the coming weeks, as President-elect Donald Trump's second term approaches and his pledge to dismantle key agencies potentially comes closer to fruition, 4.3 million consumers are set to receive checks from one of the agencies the incoming administration wants to "delete."

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced Thursday that it will soon begin distributing a historic $1.8 billion to millions of people who were charged illegal junk fees or defrauded by credit repair companies including Lexington Law and CreditRepair.com.

NBC News reported Friday that U.S. federal judges unanimously upheld the mandate that an American citizen own TikTok if it intends to operate in the United States.

There have been ongoing concerns about the safety and security of the app, and the D.C. Circuit agreed, citing national security threats and taking data from users without consent.

The former wife of imprisoned Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes said on Friday she's deeply concerned that President-elect Donald Trump will grant her one-time husband a pardon.

Appearing on CNN, Tasha Adams told host Jim Acosta that her husband is dangerous and why she fears his potential release.

A former White House aide said that Donald Trump's nominee for defense secretary was vulnerable to blackmail due to his past behavior.

Pete Hegseth's attorney threatened legal action against a woman who accused the former Fox News host and Pentagon nominee of sexual assault, saying she had violated a nondisclosure agreement after accepting a settlement over her allegations, but former Trump aide Alyssa Farah Griffin told CNN the whole scenario made him unqualified to lead the Department of Defense.

His approval rating might be at rock bottom, but New York City Mayor Eric Adams may bring his lack of popularity to a new political party.

An October Marist Poll cited 69% of New Yorkers who wanted to see Adams resign after his federal indictment.

According to former Republican speechwriter Elise Jordan, she doesn't see a pathway for embattled Pete Hegseth to win over enough senators to become Donald Trump's secretary of defense.

During an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Jordan slyly suggested that Hegseth –– whose future is under a cloud over allegations of public drunkenness and accusations of sexual assault –– could be wasting his time walking the hall of Congress with his wife trying to round up support.

In that vein, she suggested that the former Fox News personality is a "zombie" nominee unwilling to admit that his nomination is dead.

ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Senate Dems consider whether Biden should ‘clear the slate’ and pardon Trump

Asked if Trump is letting his top Pentagon pick dangle, she told hosts Willie Geist and Jonathan Lemire, "I think he will let him hang on."

"Pete Hegseth is like a zombie nominee; he is wandering around. He is in the game, but is he really alive? No one is quite sure," she explained. "It is very hard to imagine [Senators] Tammy Duckworth and Joni Ernst signing off on someone who has said the things about women in combat that Pete Hegseth said."

"The sexual assault allegations aside, the fact that Pete Hegseth said he will quit drinking when he becomes a D.o.D. secretary? That's outrageous," she exclaimed. "That's what background checks screen for; people who do not have substance abuse problems because they can be easily blackmailed."

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Donald Trump's allies don't trust the motivations of the leading opponents to Pete Hegseth's nomination for defense secretary.

The president-elect's choice to lead the Pentagon has been meeting with senators this week to reassure them about reports of his alleged sexual assault, excessive drinking, sexual harassment and questionable financial management, but Trump aides working on his nomination have assured the transition team they have not yet counted three GOP senators opposed to his confirmation, two sources told The Guardian.

After the failure of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) to make it to a Senate confirmation hearing after Donald Trump tapped him to be his next attorney general, GOP resistance to secretary of defense nominee Pete Hegseth has the president-elect's inner circle in a panic.

That is the opinion of Washington Post journalist Jacqueline Alemany who stated on MSNBC that there is a growing fear that Trump is getting pushed around by Republican senators.

With Hegseth struggling to win over reluctant conservative lawmakers due to allegations of a drinking problem and an accusation of sexual assault, the president-elect facing is the prospect of two of his highest-profile Cabinet choices going down in flames.

ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Senate Dems consider whether Biden should ‘clear the slate’ and pardon Trump

According to Alemany, that is a growing concern within the former president's inner circle.

"This has been the one benefit of having other candidates that are more overtly controversial," she told the hosts. "There's –– it's been a little bit of a deflection tactic from some of the other more, some of the other candidates and nominees who also have controversies, controversies that haven't yet spilled out into public view yet."

"But what you're saying exactly is why Trump aides are telling us behind the scenes that backing Hegseth and continuing to stand by him is so important," she reported. "To show and not allow this narrative to set in that the GOP-led Senate has essentially neutered Trump's power and his mandate to appoint people into his positions, people who are loyalists who are going to carry out his campaign promises and his MAGA mandate."

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FBI director nominee Kash Patel has openly boasted of plans to use the government to exact revenge on President-elect Donald Trump's political enemies.

But Paul Rosenzweig, the former deputy assistant secretary for policy at DHS during the George W. Bush administration, thinks that Patel may have already blown up his own plans to go after Trump critics simply by talking about them in the open.

MSNBC host Jen Psaki made an appearance on "Morning Joe" on Friday and weighed in on whether Pete Hegseth will make it to his Senate confirmation hearing as the embattled ex-Fox News host is buffeted by reports alleging drinking problems and accusations of sexual assault.

Speaking with "Morning Joe" co-hosts Willie Geist and Jonathan Lemire, Psaki, a former President Joe Biden press secretary, suggested there is a big difference between what is being said in public and what is said behind the scenes.

"I think there's what's happening publicly and then there's what's happening privately and what's happening privately really tells you the whole story with nominations," she explained before recalling, "This didn't always used to be the case; it used to be many years ago that senators would come out and say 'I'm going to vote for this person' or 'I'm not going to vote for this person,' but now because so many Republican senators especially are concerned about being a target of Trump, all of this is basically quiet defiance."

Donald Trump has largely left his choice for Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, to fight his own battle for winning approval of Republican Senators who will decide Hegseth's fate.

Reports have suggested Trump isn't working the phones for Hegseth, which is something he reportedly did do for his failed pick, Matt Gaetz. At least one GOP Senator has hedged her bets on whether she would support Hegseth.

Pete Hegseth is making the rounds on Capitol Hill trying to reassure senators over allegations about excessive drinking, sexual misconduct and other concerning behavior, but CNN's Michael Smerconish said there's an obvious indicator that his nomination is toast.

Aides working with Hegseth have told Donald Trump's team there aren't enough "no" votes to sink his nomination, but Smerconish doesn't think he has the full support of the president-elect, even if his allies are pushing hard to get him confirmed despite worrying reports about his background.